Medieval Gauntlets and Using Longswords
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- Medieval gauntlets affect weapon use in a number of ways. Here we look at how gripping the longsword is affected by 'Milanese' mitten gauntlets of the 15th century. Gauntlets from Art of Steel ( / aos.rv.ua ).
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Im just imagining a pair of knights throwing down their gauntlets before grappling like hockey players do before they fight.
It feels like its been a while since we saw a longsword-related video, it's a welcome sight! I like early modern weapons fine, but medieval warfare is what originally got my subscription :)
One more thing on the wheel pommel that i found quite useful wearing heavy steel gloves and a helmet: you will always know where your edge's going. You don't need to see it (and you can't in a fully enclosed visor) but you are most of the time can be sure of hitting with the edge. That will be vital for the combat i believe. And it's strangely omitted by modern hema-fighters sometimes where there a lot of hits done unintentionally with the flat.
Yes, and intentionally flat too, I just watched a cringe video today where almost all hits from both fighters were flat...it took soooo much to not comment.
At our club, flat hits don't count at all. My -sensei- teacher mentioned however these wheel pommels weren't always properly aligned with the edge in the past, so the crossguard was considered more important regarding edge alignment. And as a ball pommel is (a bit) more easy for changing stances and other movements, these have become a more popular. The ball pommel btw. suggests it should be gripped, in contrast to the disc pommel of Indian tulwars.
@@Ezyasnos That is interesting, I would love to see which swords were, and weren't, aligned with their wheel pommels: Rolan Warzecha's research suggests pommels could be aligned off-center as right- or lefthanded, to help edge-alignment. He hasn't said anything about wheel pommels, though.
I like fishtail pommels. You can grab them like a ball, but they give you strong orientation cues.
Now i'm curious to see gothic fingered gauntlets used and see how those do for using a longsword. Since Germans tended to have slightly longer hilts and more flexible gauntlets it seems.
Yeah
Yeah, I would imagine that a fighter trained in a style that excluded gripping the pommel would just have a sword with a longer grip.
Even in plenty of German sources you can see the people gripping the pommel (In Meyer and the Wallerstein Codex for example) and you can often see how the grip is changed to adapt for certain techniques.
Thank you Matt, this was both entertaining as thought provoking. I feel like this kind of thought can help us see things in a new light and might explain some enigmas as well in the future.
It's amazing how the prevalence today in the interests of martial arts and gear of the past is revealing fundamental misconceptions in many common historical perspectives. You learn so much living (and fighting) like people of the past, so much more than from studying artifacts on their own, or from writing, art, etc.
Battle of Agincourt, I'm looking at you 👀
Great topic. Opened wider understating of Longsword in Armoured fighting.
+scholagladiatoria *Several boxing leagues of the early 20th Century through today had rules for weighted soft gloves resembling mitten gauntlets, excepting the metal.* EVERLAST® has several models with this resemblance. English mitten gauntlets had better wrist flexibility for wielding infantry polearms (such as the war bill) than Milani, which were devised for cavalry as wrist protection against enemy infantry blows.
I know you've had it for a while, but the new audio setup sounds great! Your original run of videos (the tulwar, pata for example) had a ringing that made it physically uncomfortable to listen to on good headphones, so I only got to watch when I could wrest control over the living room TV. But your new mic sounds great everywhere!
This was a great video. I never thought about the specificities of fighting in gauntlets. I appreciate the depth of knowledge you bring to the practical aspects of martial combat.
Excellent points Matt. Thank you for sharing this with us. Cheers
You had me at gauntlets. You kept me at longsword
Underground pollaxe fight club? Or can you not talk about it?
A lot more interesting than I first thought. Certainly having a lot of handy weapons is huge asset.
Those gauntlets look *so good*!
The "context of armored fighting" from Captain Context. Yay!
Great analysis!
you should do a small follow up on hand rondels for fingered gauntlets. they are a quick and easy way to make fingered gauntlets acts as mitten/ clamshell gauntlets. i only getting into the sport and its how i got my practice kit set up
Context!
really good point at the end👍
Makes me wonder what a modern engineered solution would look like. These kinds of topics always do. Thanks for the video, enjoyed it.
sounds like a shout out to Matt
Thank you.
Awesome info! Thanks!! I think the differences between German and Italian systems with respect to pommel grabbing and even the differences in guards (namely the crossed ones) is due to more focus on Blossfechten aspect in Liechtenauer's system. I.e if you have no gauntlets, there is no need to grab the pommel! (may be that what Dobringer meant when he said don't grab the pommel :) ,also in Fiore there are some guards geared more towards armored fighting and they don't cross hands.
I do a lot of armored longsword fighting and I use hourglass mitten gauntlets. They do have their limitations and restrictions, but I find that you can still use a Longsword very well and with a lot of finesse. The thing I find more limiting is actually the weight of the armor (mine is about 25-30 lbs heavier then it was historically so take it for what it's worth). I find that I actually have to simplify my fighting to preserve energy. When fighting for long periods of time in armor conserving energy is just as important as skill. It's difficult
So gauntlets, in my experience, don't add many limitations because you are already using simpler technique. You have to learn to be as effective as possibly with using as little energy as possible so some moves are just not practical in armor (at least the heavier armor used today in armored combat). It's actually gotten to the point where a sword feels more comfortable to me while wearing gauntlets.
I enjoyed the video! Will there be a video of that Langeid-sword on your wall, or is that a patreon-only? Asking for a friend..
I miss your Albion Ringeck!
So interesting and well explained!
I used very similar mitten gauntlets with pole arms (SCA). They are the only way to go for that. And the farther apart the hands are the faster you can move the weapon. I find myself mostly using Katana stances with longswords and gauntlets. I also use a ball pommel on long and great swords to make gripping it more comfortable.
This makes me curious how practical a different style of "half mitten" gauntlet would be.
Instead of the "half of each finger in a mitten style then fingers extending from it" what if you have your thumb and index finger separately fingered, and just the lower 3 fingers in a mitten style piece? A little more freedom of movement with that upper part of your hand which is most likely to be making use of that flexibility, but still with the added protection of a connected piece of armour covering the lower - and easier to hit - part of your hand.
I have found that it is critical on how the thumb is cut away. If the thumb has a large cut out around the knuckle with an over lapping thumb piece then no issues with swords.
Do we have a time frame for the new windlass releases matt?
Not exactly, but spring time I think.
You mention having restricted wrist motion as a negative. I don't see this at all, as hyperextending the wrist like as you shown (which may have been exaugurated for emphasis?) can (in my case has) caused wrist injuries. I find that using your fingers and relaxing/strengthening your grip (even in my spes heavies) provides extremely good mobility without hyperextending the wrist.
I am now wondering how much range of a motion do you lose when you add in the Pauldrons with the Gauntlets?
Im curious would it be the same for the Greatswords? Their handle is longer but is it long enough to give the gauntlets the same freedom as the poleaxe would? I know several illustrations of half and full mitten gauntlets worn by Landsknechte with Greatswords but would they need to restrict the usage of some techniques?
Where are the sockets for the infinity gems? Design flaw.
I might have missed it, but is the sword on the far right (left to the shield) new? What sword is it?
I wonder if these difficult/uncomfortable guards/positions are only a problem because you arent wearing vambraces under the gauntlets? I would think that the gauntlet wouldnt cause any pain or stress if it was applying pressure to a steel plate instead of your bones. If anyone has experience with that, let me know. Obviously the mobility will be the same, but the comfort or pain in theory would disappear, right?
So could gauntlets be the reason for long hilt of katana?
Mind letting us know what those gauntlets cost? Mine are mild steel and are pretty battered.
The rude French knight in Monty Python And The Holy Grail wears those styles of gauntlets. LOL. 😄
whats the sword on the upper right corner? insteresting hilt
My absolute force gauntlets pretty much force me to have a pommel grip with my feder
Outstanding video, just what I was looking for.
Out of curiosity (I am fully aware that it is impractical and absolutely not done). Could one shoot a bow while wearing fingered hourglass gauntlets?
Where do you get the fetta
What do you mean longswords weren't common EDC? My D&D character carries a longsword everywhere they go. Oh, and a blazing torch too!..even indoors, or in broad daylight. I mean, what could be more convenient than having a nearly four-foot-long weapon, swinging at one's hip, whilst weaving through the evening rush at the pub? In fact, why not carry two!? xD
I'm not an expert, but from what I know a historical source specifically telling to "not grip the pommel" could 'mean' the exact opposite, i. e. lots of people doing just that!
If it was completely uncommon, why even write down not to do that? Instead, if let's say a conservative instructor encounters lots of people gripping the pommel - because it works for them! - he might feel the need to put down in writing what all those 'pesky young people' are doing wrong. ;-)
Something I have been curious about in this same train of thought is the breastplate, does having a breastplate on make it difficult or awkward to grip a longsword? I've never worn one so I'm not sure on how much it limits the ability to move your arms together.
well kinda similar as gauntlets, it restricts your shoulder mobility in the front, like you can't cross your arms that easily in them, you can do it just like crossed wrist guards in gauntlets but it's just not comfortable, so usually if you throw on a full set of plate, you can "forget" about finestra on the right side since the breastplate is restricting you in the shoulder area, the gauntlets in the wrist, in this topic brigandines are somewhat superior but they are much less protective. i usually notice when i fight in armour that my main go-to guards are, posta breve, porta di ferro, dente di cinghairo, or posta di donna, maybe sometimes i throw in a left finestre but thats rare aswell, i mostly either "hang out" in the low guards or in finestra. Also bare in mind that in armour no kidding once you realize what it's capable of you'll feel like terminator lol, so you will be less worried in protecting yourself and more interested in dealing damage, sure i try to protect my gaps, but i don't "overprotect" myself, so you are much harder to lure into situations you don't want to be in. Like if i see someone cutting at my left shoulder, i know my pauldron can stand it so i just thrust/cut for his gaps at the meantime. armour is fun :D
@@krisania96 That is exactly what I was wondering, thanks for the fantastic answer! That was a really cool read.
can you shoot a musket or crossbow in those mitten Gauntlets?
Wait, there are people who insist you're not supposed to grip on the pommel???
I'm not so sure about the "for use on foot" vs "for use on horseback" split when it comes to gloves. First issue is that there aren't two categories there, but rather three: foot, couched lance charge and horseback melee. In a charge, gauntlets are doing almost nothing to protect the hand, especially with late medieval lances that have hand shielding on them.
And when it comes to horseback melee and fighting on foot, do you really not need the articulation on horseback? Arguably, you need it more to reach over the horse, or to reach the infantry below you.
I don't know what the reason for the differences is (you'd probably need a massive comparative study to even start to answer that), but assuming it is horseback vs foot out of hand is probably not it.
Lance used for battles almost never had a hand guard.
I imagine he is resting on some of the work by Tobias Capwell, who did a fair bit of comparative study and and experimentation especially as it relates to English versus Gothic and Italian trends in full-plate armor. While it is not a hard binary, there are trends in the styles, some of whose features were found to be more suitable to one style of combat over another for many users.
People often tend to have problems with context.
🤠👍🏿
Quick question: Did any groups of Europeans prefer gauntlets that had back of hand and wrist plates but no finger plates, or is that a purely Asian design?
I believe that Eastern Asian and possibly Central Asian design was influenced by the need for cavalry, even heavy cavalry, to serve multiple roles that included shooting bows and crossbows from horseback. Covering the fingers with armor would inhibit using ranged weapons.
@@Intranetusa I wonder if Eastern Europeans, who used much more in the way of horse archery in a similar manner to Asians, used such plate-less-finger gauntlets, then?
@@nevisysbryd7450 I don't know for sure, but I have seen paintings and modern images of Polish Winged Hussar heavy cavalry as leaving their hands bare or not wearing heavy-plate gauntlets. The Straz Hetmanska (1800s?) painting of a Polish Winged Hussar portrays him as leaving the fingers bare while also carrying a bow behind their backs. That would mean at least some Winged Hussars followed the Eastern & Central Asian tradition of heavy cavalry leaving their fingers nimble & less protected in order to engage in horseback archery. Unforunately, TH-cam doesn't allow me to post links, but Wikipedia's article on Polish Hussars has a painting of what I'm talking about as the first picture.
I don’t really see why it matters much how you grip a sword. Now to be fair I’ve never handled one.
as much as gripping a fork and knife, try to eat holding the cutlery upside down. its not really comfortable. in short things have a way of handling which facilitates the use of those things at an optimal level
Another "gripping" video 😁
It made me wonder if the "ice pick" style of holding rondel daggers was influenced by the use of these types of gauntlets making it more difficult to align a knife for a thrust with "sword grip".
Well, based on the unarmored treatises I've seen the ice-pick grip is also used heavily even without gauntlets, likely due to the optimal targets still being the face, throat and upper chest which are best attacked from above.
That certainly sounds plausible to me!
biomechanics as well
stabbing down with the icepick grip uses the same muscle groups as you would with a downward strike from a full sized weapon
very strong, much damage good
There's also the theory that when under stressful situations downward blows come far more naturally and aggressively than any others. Why not take advantage of human nature and utilise them?
I've heard someone claim that this is the reason that rondel daggers have, well, rondels. The large disks cover and protect the two parts of the hand that the mitten gauntlet doesn't.
Love me some “Knowledge de Matt Easton” during lunch.
Seems to me that what you lose in mobility you make up for with the extra protection of the armour. I.e. you won't be able to do as many fancy guards when fighting in armour, but the fact that you have armour on makes you able to tank the strikes you can't parry.
Absolutely. Did SCA combat for over a decade with gauntlets. IF they are fitted correctly with practice you have 85 to 90% of your mobility. In exchange your hand will be knocked aside by a blow long before you feel it.
I'm a fantasy comic artist and this channel gives me so much insight that helps my clothing, armour, and weapon designs feel more lived in and functional. The little things add so much value! Apart from a handful of unarmed martial arts I've only ever trained with Naginata in the Tendo Ryu style which has fairly different forms and footwork to HEMA forms that I've seen so it would be nice to get some practical demonstrations from an experienced HEMA practitioner in future. Love what you're doing Matt!
Thumbs up for putting in the effort to make drawings feel more realistic.
That's so cool, I'm a fantasy comic artist too! Do you have any links to your work?
Large pauldrons and a helmet can also be quite limiting to the use of a longsword over your head. When I do armored longsword duels, I use smaller, lower profile (and less protective) pauldrons than the ones I use in melees to get better range of motion.
That's exactly why I prefer wheel or rounded fishtail pommels in HEMA. With bare hands in drills, a scent stopper is fine. But once you throw the gloves in you lose some dexterity and some feeling of the grip. With a wheel I can much more easily control my edge alignment and switch between standard and a sideways thumb grip for zwerchauen, schielhauen, etc.
I remember when I started sparring with my SPES heavies and a fencing jacket. It was a colossal difference and I couldn't believe how often I'm gripping the pommel simply because it's more comfortable and allows for better control during the fight. Great points all around, cheers!
I call BS for the "DO NOT grip the pommel" issue. How else you would unscrew it (stealthly) to end them rightly?
Carry a sack load of pommels. Then you don't even need a sword.
@@sameerthakur720 Nah, that doesn't work. They have to be charged on the sword to work to their fullest extent.
I sometimes wonder how much the effigies of lords and other high-ranking knights really represent the fighting kit of ordinary men at arms. I can easily imagine that the armor on nobles was far more optimized for defense and total coverage, while the actual fighting men had kit that more favored mobility, vision and breathing.
@@shinobi-no-bueno I agree that the weight and cumbersomeness of plate armor is overestimated in the popular mythology, but I think that a full plate harness was beyond the means of most regular men-at-arms, except in the 15th-16th century when professional soldiers became a thing.
Good points, the interaction between weapons and armor is still a relevant issue to this day, or should I say, has become relevant again with the re-introduction of armor to warfare.
How you hold a rifle and what dimensions you would favor from the rifle's furniture in an unarmored situation differs quite significantly from how you would hold said rifle or which dimension you would favor from it's furniture if you are fully equipped.
A protective vest combined with load-bearing equipment will add to your own bulk and restrict your range of comfortable movement, a helmet may restrict you, a headset, if worn separately underneath the helmet may add restriction and a gas-mask will absolutely restrict you.
Many modern rifles have adjustable length stocks to account for varying anatomical dimensions of soldiers, but also to accommodate varying levels of restriction from protective equipment.
Has anyone ever done a "tacticool" sword with an adjustable-length grip?
True. It’s surprising how much a vest changes manipulation of a rifle. And of course changes placement and draw for a carry weapon.
Hmm...it seems that your fingertips like to slip out a bit from under those plates, maybe those additional fingertip covers would be a good idea :) ?
I would love to hear about the history and evolution of hand protection in general, but mostly with polearms. Not only all types of gloves, but shields (when they were the only thing to protect hands) and crossguards on different types of weapons (but don't forget polearms, I'm kinda obsessed with them). I don't like swords much, but I'd like to know more about complex guards of later period swords, rapiers and sabers as well.
"The Italian humanist historian Paulus Jovius writing in the early 1500s also described the two-hand greatsword as being used by Swiss soldiers to chop the shafts of pikes at the battle of Fornovo in 1495."
Hi: Any chance you all can test this out on some pikes? Having, years ago, reenacted with some ECW-types in a pike block, my preference would be to see a bidenhänder tested against a small group/formation/school? of pikes, rather than just a single pike.
Skallagrim has a video on that topic. The basic idea seems to be too use the mass of a greatsword to prevent enemy pikemen from effectively using their weapons which then allows your own pikemen to close in and finish them off.
I wonder if there's utility in that tactic in knocking pike heads off. It seems unlikely that the wooden haft would be significantly damaged, but perhaps in a mass-produced weapon like a pike that you might end up with poor end connections.
It might be a long shot given the leverage and how they're held, but I also wonder about simply knocking the pike out of the man's hands. That would probably make an instant encumbrance for the unit, having a bigass pole bouncing around.
Almost all the german primary sources i've read so far place the greatsword in every second or third rank and they give the reason that is: to defend your own pikemen from being bypassed by people with shorter arms. Interestingly enough many sources do mention that pikes should have langets else the cavalry would lop off the heads. So it seems that it was possible but that this wasn't the purpose of greatswords. They were ofc used for skirmishing and other things as well but nowhere they write about them specifically lopping off pike heads. For example Hans Wilhelm Kirchof or Adam Junghans von Olnitz.
I know some reports of such events but none of them is very clear (one being second hand report) and one having far more halberds than greatswords in attacking group. With halberds we do know that this was done by putting them into the ground or beating them to the side. For example aurelio cicuta mentions this where he also says that great swords wouldnt be able to cut pikes.
From my own experience with this weapon it may be possible under the right cirucmstances tactically there would be better solutions.
Obligatory pronunciation correction for "Feder": the length of the sounds should be like (Darth) "Vader", otherwise it'd be written "Fedder".
Having said that, super-interesting video as usual, thanks! :)
Can you make a video about lances? Can couched lances be parried? Were they dropped and/or broken during a charge and need to be replaced? How commonly were they used against infantry vs cavalry?
Careful with the thumbs on your gauntlets, Matt. They look less than great. They aren't grounded, and look pretty flexible. I've had both thumbs broken fighting polearms with free-thumb mittens (rather than covered thumb). Obviously you know what you're doing. Just a word of caution.
Unfortunately, 'grounded' thumbs are a modern invention. I don't really want to go down the HMB type sport armour route, and these are simply based on how the original period gauntlets are constructed.
@@scholagladiatoria i have almost the same gauntlet, but short cuff and "modern" hmb style thumbs. not authentic, but i think thats acceptable, it looks like a period gauntlet but as being a musician and audio engineer i really need my fingers functioning in my day to day life :) so it's a good compromise i think.
@Ford the plates on the thumb reach down to the shaft of your weapon on the sides and front making it a "shell" that basicly "grounds" any hits so that the force of the strike goes into the shaft/hilt of the weapon you are holding, or in some case you can even get a fully enclosed thumb tip.
These type of fingers usually don't have leathers just rivets as articulation, much more protection, much less mobility, and not the most historical way, but you'll survive anything in those with your fingers intact.
@Ford It has a wire going to the ground in case you get electrocuted
@@scholagladiatoria I figured that was the case. Cheers.
I'm curious about the question of exactly what longswords were designed for. I think of medium-sized ones like the Albion Munich as marvelously flexible sidearms, suited for many scenarios. Based on Albrecht Dürer's *Knight, Death and the Devil*, Paulus Hector Mair's fight book, & many other sources, we know men-at-arms wore such longswords. They serve well enough in the capacity for striking one-handed from the saddle. An estoc would be better for thrusting & a sabre for cutting, but such a longsword does both fine. On foot in armor, it again performs as slightly worse estoc, used with a halfsword grip. On foot in no armor or incomplete armor, the long handle allows for a number of potent techniques. Period fencing manuals suggest longswords saw widespread unarmored use. Contemporary mix-weapon sparring tends to favor rapiers over longswords, though you can find skilled longsword fencers who at least one their own against skilled rapier fencers. Few historical sources address the matchup. George Silver rated the two-handed sword quite highly & wrote that there was no question weapons made for two hands have the odds over the single-handed sword or rapier. We don't know exactly what Silver's two-handed sword look like except that it had a blade of the same 37-40in length as his "short sword." It was probably quite similar to a standard HEMA feder, a few inches longer than the Ablion Munich. The same goes for Gérard Thibault's two-handed sword, though both his & Silver's may have been rather more substantial than a standard feder. Thibault gave instructions for how to defeat the two-handed sword with single rapier, but paid it considerable respect, placing it after the rapier & dagger & rapier & shield. In any case, medium-sized stiff longsword is at least a pretty good weapon sidearm for unarmored fencing. So this type of longswords made not be the absolute best sidearm for any given situation, but they're decent across the board. I don't know for sure, but I believe the folks who made them had versatility in mind.
You answered your own question: You want the perfect weapon for every possible scenario? Have fun dragging an armoury around. You want a single weapon that is "good enough" in any situation? Get a long sword.
7:42 The Spes heavies are exactly like that. In fact I have even less mobility because the wrist/forearm plates are even longer and flare out more. e.g. 8:02 that position is completely impossible.
I was thinking this, as well. The heavies seem to approximate the limitations of this style of gauntlets quite nicely! I'll gladly trade the mobility for survivability, myself.
I watched a couple videos some time back of a guy who took a pair of SPES Heavy Sparring gloves and modified them for greater mobility, while minimizing loss of safety. I managed to find part one: th-cam.com/video/DKKLcLou05M/w-d-xo.html
@@caseydubois3645 Cool, thanks
I try to impress upon people that the always and never rules are not absolutes, they are general rules with exceptions.
You start people out with the general rules 1st, and then add in exeptions as they advance beyond the basics.
An obvious example might be single handed swords and the off hand. You start out teaching people to always keep their off hand back and/or out of the way so that it doesn't become an easy target. As they advance and grasp the basics, you start showing them things that will have the off hand forward. Grapples, suppression, bracing, half swording and so on.
I find it interesting how gauntlets disadvantage crossing the hands. My school tends to avoid that for grappling context as it binds both your hands, but the use of armor may also have influenced that doctrine.
With the sword in armour, from the perspective of Fiore, shouldnt you use the postas di spada in armour like, posta sagittaya, vera crose, crose bastarda, serpetino lo soprano instead of Fenestra, posta longa and coda longa?
Gauntlet swords are where it’s at
I disagree! Sword gauntlets are far superior!
Hi Matt. Are you going to introduce us to that Swedish looking sword that recently appeared behind you?
I have a helmet from the same workshop and am quite happy with it, and those gauntlets look nice too. But they seem a bit large for you - does the inner side of the palm cut into the handle of the weapon?
Those look very nice and accurate to be sure and they'll protect very well. Except where they don't. You're going to want to be very mindful of your finger and thumb tips.
While sacrificing some accuracy I've found I far prefer Grettir gauntlets to all others for (in order) protection, mobility, weight and accuracy but that's my own priority sequence.
How much do they affect someone's fighting style? Should a HEMA participant practice in them as much as possible? How about during the middle ages / Renaissance?
Whats your thought on flexible offhand? So instead of crossing your wrists, your offhand leaves the handle/pommel and joins your swordhand position or reinforcing your swordhands wrist. So depending on the strike direction/guard position, your offhand switches flexible between pommel and swordhand position. my personal experience is, that i have stronger strikes and blocks by "abandonning" the pommel instead of crossing the wrists.
I have a question maybe you’ve answered this before. How much of a nights life, his waking adult life was spent actually in full armor. Let’s say 14th century. How many days of the year would she actually on average be in full armor? Would he be in full armor a quarter of his days, of course up to retirement. A fifth? And I mean training and war combined.
One thing that's not explicitly said here that I think is quite important. My understanding is that many of the guards in the standard unarmored longsword systems developed in a context with a high degree of emphasis on keeping your hands back (out of harm's way) because they are otherwise tempting targets that are quite easy to damage.
Once you have gauntlets (and presumably other armor) on, that completely changes the equation. So what if you're stance(es) are vulnerable to sniping at the hands and wrists. Those attacks will do absolutely nothing.
It's worth mentioning that the "Doebringer" manuscript bit about not gripping the pommel was referencing Liechtenaur's blossfechten, so fighting without armor against a similarly unarmored opponent, and even then, it was advice regarding cutting mechanics, so gripping the pommel when thrusting or winding, or while wearing armored gauntlets, still doesn't go against that text. And as others have said, other German language texts don't really say anything on the matter, and images from many if those texts (including those in the Liechtenauer tradition) show pommel gripping.
"These are for poleaxe fighting." YEAH! "Not this sharp one here but some wooden and rubber one." ohhh 😭.
Couldnt the "gripping the pommel" question also be simply dependent on whether the sword is well put together or not? Stability is made up of the quality of steel, if the pommel is threaded or peened, how well-executed the craftsmanship and style of fixture is, etc. so maybe just learn what works with your weapon? Imagine gripping the pommel for a hard swing and the weaponsmith didnt harden the tang properly or just had low quality steel available, so the 5mm that the pommel is threaded onto just break off and there goes your handle aswell.
You didn't mention what an absolute pain it is to pick anything up, or how much more difficult they make it to just grab things in general. From personal experience I found fingered gauntlets way better for use with a sword than clamshells, they are just much more flexible and take up less space.
My favorite part of this video is the clattering metal sounds.
I think gauntlets made to this pattern would have provided excellent protection against war-hammers, but I can see why the English much preferred articulated wrists and fingers.
gorgeous vid as always. You should clunk by next autumn here. For our medeival festivities. Cause there are some points you be rambling past.
I use Hourglass Gauntlets with a fairly large bell over the wrist and forearm and they provide a ton of movement, but I still run into the same problem with guards that cross the wrist, the bells knock into each other. Another draw back to the hourglass shape is that you can get the tip of your opponents weapon caught inside the bell. Now, its only happened to me a couple times (probably because it isn’t a valid target in our sparring system, for safety reasons) but we do see in the treaties this being used as an offensive technique. Lovely pair of gauntlets and great video!
Interesting that mitten gauntlets became common after fingered ones, despite having a simpler shape and presumably being easier to make. Maybe they were facing more weapons optimized against plate armor so the emphasis on protection needed to increase?
Maybe wearing them together could be a good way to use the advantages of both- At least, if the hand that needs more flexibility isn't the one that also needs more protection, with the particular way you're fighting.
1:56 "Perhaps for the Italian knight who wanted these gauntlets, most importantly..." *does italian hand gesture*
hmm food for thought. Never considered how gauntlets would change the dynamic like that.
Once I spotted the migration era sword hanging in the background (to the right of the frame), I couldn't concentrate on what you were saying because I have to keep looking at it and admiring it. Can you please do a video to talk about it?
I wish common longswords had a bit longer pommel. Surely it would have been an issue in history unless you really are supposed to put the off hand on the pommel. Just isn't enough room for mobility otherwise.
It's all about the... wait for it... CONTEXT!!!
Yep if you don't have a shield you better have some good hand protection cuz those incoming blows are going to land somewhere.
HEMA gloves Flanders: Its like wearing nothing at all...