29. How the The Longsword Swept Europe
The heyday of the European longsword lasted from the mid-fourteenth to mid-sixteenth centuries. Usually weighing 5 to 8 pounds, longswords are characterized, as the name indicates, by their length. They featured straight and double-edged blades measuring between 33 inches to four feet in length, plus long handles designed for a two-handed grip, of between 6 to 15 inches. The longsword’s other distinguishing feature is its cruciform hilt, which gave it a pronounced cross shape.
Longswords were designed to deal with the emergence of increasingly tougher armor, particularly plate armor against which standard swords such as the knightly sword were ineffective. In proficient hands, the longsword could defeat such armor. They first emerged early in the Hundred Years War (1337 – 1453), and for the following two centuries longswords were used by knights in plate armor, whether from horseback or on foot. By the late 1400s, the longsword’s use had begun to spread to unarmored foot soldiers as well – a usage first pioneered by Swiss mercenaries.