Very nice video intended to dispel myths about the armor knights wore and concepts of European Medieval swordsmanship. People today commonly think a knights armor was extremely heavy and made movement difficult. There are even incorrect depictions in the movies that it took a crane or multiple people to get a knight on horseback. The reality is the suit weighed less than a standard soldiers kit of today and a properly fitted suit distributed the weight across the whole body. These guys arent trained like knights and their armor is likely not as well fitted as a decently wealthy knight would have had, yet they have no problem getting up from a prone position. Medieval swordsmanship was also just as refined and skillful as any other sword based martial art. The movie portrayals of people just slapping their swords together clumsily was not how real combat went down. Swordsmanship of the medieval knights was brutal, scientific and devoted to the problem of defeating a heavily armored opponent. There are even better videos showing medieval sword fighting by people much more skillful than these guys. The entire sword was utilized (blade, pommel, guard, etc) for striking or disarming, and a knights sword had to be straight and pointed to pierce between gaps in plate. As great of a sword as a katana is, using one against a set of gothic knights armor would have gotten you killed - a slashing weapon was ineffective against plate armor and a katana was not designed for piercing (also the myth of a katana cutting through steel is again just a myth - a sharpened length of steel is not cutting another piece of steel). You needed either a long pointed sword or a blunt weapon like a mace (the blow would break bones beneath the plate) to use against a plate-clad knight. Or you could do what the English did and use regiments of longbowmen armed with bodkin tipped arrows.
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 01:08:07 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015