|
The most widespread type of sword in the European High Middle Ages (often referred to as "knightly sword" in modern terminology) was a straight, double-edged weapon with a single-handed cruciform hilt and a blade length of about . The type is frequently depicted in period artwork, and numerous examples have been preserved archaeologically. The high medieval sword of the Romanesque period (10th to 13th centuries) develops gradually from the Carolingian sword (spatha) of the 9th century. In the Late Medieval period (14th and 15th centuries), use of derived or late forms of these swords continued to be used, but now often as a sidearm, especially of the estoc type, now called "arming sword" and contrasting with the two-handed, heavier longsword. After the end of the medieval period, the arming sword develops into the early modern rapier. ==Terminology== The term "arming sword" (''espées d'armes'') is first used in the 15th century to refer to the single-handed type of sword after it had ceased to serve as the main weapon, and was on its way to being used as a side-sword.〔Oakeshott (1997:44).〕 "Arming sword" in late medieval usage specifically refers to the estoc when worn as a side-arm,〔George Cameron Stone, ''A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor'', 2013, (p. 18 ).〕 but as a modern term it may also refer to any single-handed sword in a late medieval context. The terms "knight's sword" or "knightly sword" are modern retronyms to specify the sword of the high medieval period. Period terminology for swords is somewhat fluid. Mostly, the common type of sword in any given period would simply be referred to as "sword" (English ''swerde'', French ''espée'', Latin ''gladius'' etc.). During the high medieval period, references to swords as "great sword" (''grete swerd'', ''grant espée'') or "small" or "short sword" (''espée courte'', ''parvus ensis'') does not necessarily indicate their morphology, but simply their relative size. Oakeshott (1964) notes that this changes in the late medieval period, beginning towards the end of the 13th century, when the "bastard sword" appeared as an early type of what would develop into the 15th-century longsword.〔"The size of a sword has not hitherto determined its type, but here, and in swords of the 14th and 15th centuries, it will be found to do so. The reason here is partly that the XIIIa's are very big weapons, partly because in their own time they were distinguished from their smaller contemporaries by the ter 'espées de Guerre' or 'Grete Swerdes'. () The two-hander of the 13th-15th centuries was not, as in the 16th, a specialised form of weapon; it was just an outsize specimen." (Oakeshott 1964, p. 42)〕 The term "romanesque sword" does not see significant use in English, but it is more current in French (''epée romane''), German (''romanisches Schwert'') and especially in and Slavic (Czech ''románský meč'' etc.), identifying the swords by their being contemporary with the corresponding Romanesque period in art history (roughly 1000 to 1300). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Knightly sword」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|