Knightly sword
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In the European High Middle Ages, the typical sword was a straight, double-edged weapon with a single-handed, cruciform hilt and a blade length of about 70 to 80 centimetres. This type is frequently d
Sword, dated c. 1250–1330, British Museum
Great Seal of Henry II of England, showing the king as an armed horseman, c. 1154.
Detail of a sword being drawn from its scabbard, Morgan Bible fol. 28v, c. 1250.
Soldiers in mail armour with swords, German miniature of the Massacre of the Innocents, c. 1250.
Spatha
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The spatha was a type of straight and long sword, measuring between 0.5 and 1 metre, with a handle length of between 18 and 20 centimetres, in use in the territory of the Roman Empire during the 1st t
Knightly sword
…most evident morphological development is the appearance of the crossguard. The transitional swords of the 10th and 11th centuries are also known as Norman swords. Already in the 10th century, some of the "finest and most elegant" of the Ulfberht type of "Viking" (actually Carolingian/Frankish) swords began to…
Roman era reenactor holding a replica late Roman spatha
Roman spatha in Reichsstadtmuseum, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany.
Roman cavalry reenactor wearing a replica spatha
Depiction of swords with hilts fashioned in the shape of eagles' heads (Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs, c. AD 300)