What are the differences between the Broadsword and the Longsword?

[jasper]

Try reading some of the following.
Oakeshott, Ewart books and articles.
A Knight and his Armour, A Knight in Battle, A Knight and his Castle, A Knight and his Castle, A Knight and his Horse , A Knight and his Weapons, Dark Age Warrior*, The Archaeology of Weapons , The Sword in the Age of Chivalry . Journal of the Arms and Armour Society of London, A Royal Sword in Westminster Abbey in The Connoisseur Magazine 1951*. The Sword in Anglo-Saxon England *, Fighting Men (with Henry Treece)*, The Blindfold Game*, Sound of Battle (with Leonard Clark)*, European Weapons and Armour, Records of the Medieval Sword*, Sword in Hand*, Sword in the Viking Age* (not yet published). http://www.oakeshott.org/

Burton Richard Francis The book of the Sword *

Hans Talfhoffer Fechtbuch*

 

[gizmo33]

Lars Porsenna's account above is what I've seen in several different sources.

The Summary:
sword, arming sword, warsword (and I think longsword=warsword) are terms from the medieval period. I think two-handed (German - zweihander) and flamberge are also historical.
bastard sword and broadsword (really refers to a cavalry saber?) are collectors terms from later eras.

But that only accounts for the original uses of the terms. With DnD, I think sword names took on a life of their own, and came to mean something to gamers based on a sort of "logic". Gamers noticed that there were different types of swords, those of later eras seem to evolve more of a point, I guess eventually leading to the rapier and epee - leading to speculation that these must be "longswords". I guess it wasn't just gamers, I have a vague recollection of hearing the term "broadsword" used to refer to a medieval-style sword, to emphasize the width of the blade. I don't recall reading anything from Gygax about his exact use of the terms, and it's possible that he just adapted stuff in common use in the wargaming community when the PHB was written (although you can glean a few facts about size, weight, and other names from the weapon chart).

At this point I'm happy with using the standard DnD definitions of sword types; other gamers know what I'm talking about. But if you're talking to weapon historians, or doing research, being aware of how the terms were used originally (or at least recognize that your terminology might not be theirs) can help avoid confusion.

 

[Steverooo]

The Encyclopedia of the Sword:

Copyright 1995 by Nick Evangelista. Page 79:

"BROADSWORD. A sword with a straight, wide, single-edged blade, often employing a basket-type hilt. An average blade length would be 36 inches.
The broadsword was the favorite military sword of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries (although it was also used in the sixteenth century). It was also the weapon commonly used by the lower classes.
One version of the broadsword, the Highland broadsword,* was adopted as the national sword of Scotland. Another, the schiavona,* was Italy's version of the weapon.
REFERENCES
Castle, Egerton. Schools and Masters of Fence. London: George Bell, 1885.
Wilkinson, Frederick. Swords and Daggers. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1967."

Page 364:

"LONG SWORD. The long sword was of the two-handed variety. It was invariably a cutting weapon and was always, because of its length and weight, used on foot. Blades of these weapons often reached five feet and more in length.
The long sword family includes the claymore, the spadone, the espadone, the zweyhander, and the flamberge.
Also called a "great sword."
REFERENCE
Castle, Egerton. Schools and Masters of Fence. London: George Bell, 1885."

 

[Steverooo]

Records of the Medieval Sword

Copyright 1991 by Ewart Oakshott.

Oakshott doesn't even use such names, but his own nomenclature of "Type I" through "Type XXII", with several "a" and "b" sub-categories...

 

[Steverooo]

A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration, and use of Arms and Armor...

Copyright 1999 by George Cameron Stone. Pages 150-1:

"BROADSWORD. A sword with a straight, wide, single-edged blade. It was the military sword of the 17th century as distinguished from the civil sword, the rapier. It was also the usual weapon of the common people. It generally had a basket hilt with a complicated guard of loops and shells."

The terms "Long Sword" and "Longsword" do not appear.

 

[Galethorn]

As many have said before (but hopefully with a few extra points and some added clarity...)

Actual Terms Used Historically
Longsword: A light two-handed sword, which started out as a longer version of the one-handed cutting swords of the early middle ages, but evolved into especially stiff and pointy cut-and-thrust weapons.

Broadsword: A type of infantry sword that came into vogue during the renaissance, which was characterized by a basket-hilt, and an emphasis on the cut over the thrust; they are specifically associated with the scots. Oh, and they were double-edged, and much wider than the rapiers or sabers that were being used at the same time.

Bastard Sword: A sword with a blade of one-handed proportions, but with a handle long enough to use with both hands; they were much more common in the late middle ages, and often featured complex quillons (AKA crossguards).

Short Sword: Any single-handed sword during the era at which the longsword was in vogue (the late middle ages).

Greatsword: An especially big and heavy longsword that could stand up better to use against armor.

Two-Hander: Even bigger than a greatsword; came into use in the early renaissance to deal with pikemen (or so the theory goes).

Warsword: A particularly big cutting sword during the early to high middle ages, usually usable with one hand or two, but best with two.

What The D&Disms Were Actually Called
Longsword: Sword (in the early middle ages), or Arming Sword (later on), Short Sword, or (almost at any time) a One-Hander. Or, if it had a longer hilt, a Bastard Sword.

Bastard Sword: Longsword (if it's at the smaller end of the spectrum, and/or good at poking), Warsword (if it's an earlier one that's good at chopping), or Greatsword (if it's a big one).

Greatsword: Two-hander (AKA Zweihander or Spada de Dui Mani) or Bearing Sword.

Shortsword: Baselard, Poignard, 'Long Dagger', Ballock/Kidney-Dagger, or Coustille (for the big daggers), or Gladius (if it's really old), Cinqueda (for the ones that start of really wide and get really pointy), or even just 'short sword' if you don't want to use french or italian words.

 

[Mercule]

There are a lot of different usages of most weapon terms, depending on when and where you are seeing them in use.

Asking how a broad sword differs from a longsword is like asking whether a morningstar has a chain (FWIW, IMC the answer is "no", that's a flail).

The explanation that I like best (mainly because it's paradoxical, but I think it was supported by EGG) and the one I give to my players is that a broad sword is narrower than a longsword. A broad sword is a heavy fencing weapon or a narrow common sword. The appelation of "broad" comes only in relation to the fencing weapons (eg. rapier) that are its contemporaries and that it would be compared against. Stat-wise, a broad sword would either be statted as a longsword or a rapier, depending on which side of the mid-point the particular model fell on.