How heavy is an arming sword?

Between 2 and 3 pounds. Surviving medieval examples are remarkably consistent in this range.

What is the difference between an arming sword and a longsword?

An arming sword is used in one hand, with a 28 to 32 inch blade and a single-hand grip. A longsword has a longer blade and a grip built for two hands.

Is an arming sword the same as a broadsword?

No. Broadsword properly refers to the later basket-hilted sword, though the word is often used loosely for any wide straight blade.

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The Arming Sword: The Knight's Everyday Blade

One hand, a shield in the other, and eight hundred years of service.

What it is

The arming sword is the classic single-handed cruciform sword of medieval Europe, roughly 1000 to 1500. Straight double-edged blade of 28 to 32 inches, simple cross guard, a grip for one hand, a heavy pommel to counterweight the blade.

It was worn with a shield or buckler, and it was the sword a knight actually carried day to day. The great two-handers were specialist arms; this was the standard.

Weight, and the myth again

2 to 3 pounds. That is the whole range. Surviving examples in museum collections are consistent and unambiguous, and anyone quoting ten or fifteen pounds is repeating Victorian fiction.

Arming sword, longsword, broadsword

A longsword has a grip long enough for two hands and a blade of 33 to 43 inches. If both hands fit comfortably, it is not an arming sword.

Broadsword is a loose word. Properly it means the 17th-century basket-hilted sword; popularly it means any wide straight blade. Avoid it if you want to be understood.

The Oakeshott typology is the honest vocabulary — Type XII, XIV, XVIII and so on describe blade profile and cross-section. Sellers who cite Oakeshott types generally know their stock.

What to check before buying

Full tang running the length of the grip, with a peened pommel. Threaded pommels loosen.

Carbon or spring steel — 1060, 1075, 1095 or 5160 — properly tempered, if you intend to cut with it.

Distal taper: the blade should thin from guard to point. A blade of even thickness end to end is a wall hanger, and it will handle like a crowbar.

Balance point two to four inches ahead of the guard. Further out and it fights you.

The wall this cry speaks of

The Long Blades

Where this steel hangs

Medieval Swords for Sale

Asked of the house

How heavy is an arming sword?: Between 2 and 3 pounds. Surviving medieval examples are remarkably consistent in this range.
What is the difference between an arming sword and a longsword?: An arming sword is used in one hand, with a 28 to 32 inch blade and a single-hand grip. A longsword has a longer blade and a grip built for two hands.
Is an arming sword the same as a broadsword?: No. Broadsword properly refers to the later basket-hilted sword, though the word is often used loosely for any wide straight blade.

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