Which were the medieval factions that used Two-handed swords?

[FJMS1988]

Hello everybody, I am doing some historical corrections in the Stainless Steel 6.2 mod and I would be very happy if someone could help me. I am actually adding new type of weapons to some factions and I want to know which were the ones that used Two-handed swords like the german Zweihänder or the Spanish Mandoble in order to add this type of sword to the correspondent factions. Thank you very much in advance.

[Ulf]

Scottish (Highland) Claymore

[hellheaven1987]

Well, longsword could be used one-hand or two-hands, so I say all West Europe??

[Landsknecht_88]

For the Zweihänder, German mercenaries.

While implemented in Germany in the 14th century[citation needed], it gained renown during the 16th century as the hallmark weapon of the German Landsknechts from the time of Maximilian I.

Landsknechts (singular Landsknecht, German plural Landsknechte, sometimes also in English publications) were European, most often German, mercenary pikemen and supporting foot soldiers from the late 15th to the late 16th century, and achieved the reputation for being the universal mercenary of the European Renaissance.

The landsknechts typically came from Swabia, Alsace, Flanders, and the Rhineland, but ultimately the regiments were made up of men from all parts of Europe.

[FJMS1988]

Well, longsword could be used one-hand or two-hands, so I say all West Europe??

Yes, please, tell me.

[FJMS1988]

I’m also interested in knowing if the Polish and the French used this type of sword and the Norse factions too, Denmark and Norway in this case. Thanks.

[intel]

I’m also interested in knowing if the Polish and the French used this type of sword and the Norse factions too, Denmark and Norway in this case. Thanks.

Polish warfare saw extensive use of German mercenaries in areas of Silesia, Pomerelia, Lesser and Greater Poland- that's due to both gradual germanisation Silesia and Pomerelia underwent, excesive use of german mercenaries in Hussite wars, internal conflicts and wars with Teutonic Order (especially in Thirteen Years War, where both sides (Poland and T.O.) hired thousands of mercenaries. However, the Zweihander earned little popularity within Poland itself and polish nobililty. Undoubtely it was used in germanised parts of Poland and in wars that saw use of mercenaries in late medieval/ reinessance period.

[konny]

Hello everybody, I am doing some historical corrections in the Stainless Steel 6.2 mod and I would be very happy if someone could help me. I am actually adding new type of weapons to some factions and I want to know which were the ones that used Two-handed swords like the german Zweihänder or the Spanish Mandoble in order to add this type of sword to the correspondent factions. Thank you very much in advance.

I don't know in which time frame Stainless Steel 6.2 is playing, but my best guess for the Middle Ages would be: none. These weapons were insanly expensive, could not be used from horseback and not together with a shield. Three reasons why I would assume that no one (or as good as no one) used them in the Middle Ages.

They were of some prominence in the Early Modern periode, used by small bands of specialists whos task was to cut a path into the pike formation of that time frame.

[removeduser_4536284751384]

I don't know in which time frame Stainless Steel 6.2 is playing, but my best guess for the Middle Ages would be: none. These weapons were insanly expensive, could not be used from horseback and not together with a shield. Three reasons why I would assume that no one (or as good as no one) used them in the Middle Ages.

They were of some prominence in the Early Modern periode, used by small bands of specialists whos task was to cut a path into the pike formation of that time frame.

surely many knights used them while dismounted?

[Claudius Gothicus]

surely many knights used them while dismounted?

A Mandoble/Bastard Sword or a Zweihander? Because a Zweihander is quite a nuisance to actually carry to the battlefield itself.

[hellheaven1987]

surely many knights used them while dismounted?

No, 14/15th Century knights used polearm as their main weapon since it was better against plate armor.

Yes, please, tell me.

This article is better one.

And some videos.



konny: Can you tell me what is the two-hand weapon the knight on white horse used??

[Ringeck]

konny: Can you tell me what is the two-hand weapon the knight on white horse used??

It doesn't really have a name. They are sometimes referred to as "Blade-on-a-stick" or "Maciejowski Choppers" because they are pretty rare in art and the Maciejowski Bible was one of the first works where they were noticed. I don't know of any that size that have survived.

Remember that standardized weapon names is (to an extent) modern phenomenae for our convenience.

[hellheaven1987]

It doesn't really have a name. They are sometimes referred to as "Blade-on-a-stick" or "Maciejowski Choppers" because they are pretty rare in art and the Maciejowski Bible was one of the first works where they were noticed. I don't know of any that size that have survived.

Remember that standardized weapon names is (to an extent) modern phenomenae for our convenience.

A TWC member once told me the official name of that weapon is Kriegknife, which I find it quite umbelievable...

[konny]

No, 14/15th Century knights used polearm as their main weapon since it was better against plate armor.

They were able to use polearms in the very late 14th and the 15th because their armour was strong enough to make the shield obsolete, save for the initial charge.

konny: Can you tell me what is the two-hand weapon the knight on white horse used??

looks like a shortened polearm, like the one the footsoldier with the red gambeson to the left is holding on this pic:

This can, of course, not be called a regular weapon for knights in that periode because you cannot use it together with a shield. And it is still smaller than the Zweihänder I was talking about.

[wowbanger]

Certainly the Swiss had adopted the two-hander by the fourteenth century, but so had Germans, Italians, Burgundians, French, Scots and knights of the Military Orders. We know that the Swiss, Burgundians, Venetians and later the German Landsknechts used it as a regulation weapons; to what extent any of the others did is not clear.

Taken from Journal of Western Martial Arts, available here.

[FJMS1988]

Thank you very much for your help, indeed. And what about the Polish, the Danish and the Norwegians, does they used two-handed swords too?

[Aetius]

http://totalwar.honga.net/unit.php?v...smen&encode=en

Swabian swordsmen

[Henry of Grosmont]

http://totalwar.honga.net/unit.php?v...smen&encode=en

Swabian swordsmen

You're jesting here, but many of Swabian neighbors, Savoyard mercenaries (fearsome participants of the HYW - mostly on the French side) had a Zweihander as their weapon of choice.

[Kjertesvein]

I heard the Gotland footmen used 2 handed swords

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

...according to CA.

No seriously, I'm putting my money on kenny's words. Tho I would mention those pesky swedes did find their way around in what seem to be the later medieval periode to equipt themself with such 2 handed swords. Or let my friend Ossy explain for a moment:

Swords also increasd in size, although there had been large swords wielded with two hands at an earlier date. The new long swords or hand-and-a-half swords were now of two kinds. A lighter and more refined version weighed little more then a single-handed sword but had an acute point and reasonable rigidity, which made it suitable for both cutting and thrusting. The second type was a developed of the earlier heavy 'sword of war'. It again had a point suitable for thrusting, but was also a massive cutting weapon capable of destroying anything except solid plate armour. The larger hand-and-a-half swords seem to have been popular in Scandinavia, since several of them survive in museums and private collections.

~Osprey, Men-at-arms. Medieval Scandinavian Armies 1300 - 1500.

[Entropy Judge]

Can you tell me what is the two-hand weapon the knight on white horse used??

It looks like a hanger or a falchion to me. Er, you are referring to the brown horse with the white covering at left, right? The only white horse (center right) doesn't seem to be carrying a rider with a visible weapon.