A question about swords

[TarionzCousin]

Bent Swords Being Straightened in Battle

If it's of any worth, a common occurrence in norse and icelandic sagas is when in a battle one side fights so long that swords become dull and shields shatter -I recall it being told with more colorful words, fairly similar through the different works.

Also I vaguely remember something about celtic swords actually bending, being made of just iron. But I'm not very sure of that, and certainly not of where did I hear or read it.

In some of the viking sagas, they describe swords bending AND vikings straightening the blades during the battle. The quote below is from http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/arms.htm near the middle of the page.

"Even so, some stories describe how, during an extended battle, swords became so dull and dented they no longer cut (e.g., Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar chapter 109). And, the stories describe instances in which a sword blade bent during a fight. In chapter 49 of Laxdæla saga, Kjartan was ambushed. He was not carrying his usual sword, a gift from the king, but rather a lesser sword. Several times during the battle, Kjartan had to straighten his bent blade by standing on it."

 

[pawsplay]

Some bits of misinformation in the above:

Guantlets traditionally didn't protect the palm. The best you might hope for is thick leather the thickness of a modern leather work glove. Therefore, guantlets couldn't protect the fingers from a sharp edge. The sharpened point and business ends, therefore, tended to be simply the top 3rd of the blade.

My point was that methods were found for plating the back of the hand, because the fingers were vulnerable. I'm not sure I understand your objection.

Quillons were not simply meant to stop the hand from slipping upward on the weapon, but were instead used to protect the hand during blocks/parrys as swordplay grew more sophisticated. They weren't designed to stop cuts on the interior of the hand.

That isn't what I said at all. I said the area lower than the quillions was generally not very sharp. The reason for that is simple; you can't use it to slash with, because the quillions were in the way.

I'm not sure what you're point about the interior of the hand is, because I didn't say anything about that.

What I was trying to point out is that even with steel gauntlets, a sword blow could chop off a finger. Hence, defenses were used to cover the hands entirely... quillions, ring guards, bells, armored mittens, clamshell gauntlets... things that prevented the blade from ever striking a finger. Quillions are not that helpful against a mace, hence, I mentioned them in connection to defending the hand from swords.

 

[Enkhidu]

My point was that methods were found for plating the back of the hand, because the fingers were vulnerable. I'm not sure I understand your objection.

This is what I was addressing with that bit about guantlets with no palm:

First of all, you could grip a sharp blade with the gaunlet.

That opening sentence colored my reading of the rest of your post. So when I saw the bit about the quillions, I kicked into "that's not right at all" mode even though I agreed with the last 75% of the post..