Medieval Sword POMMEL Types - How They Affect Grip (or NOT!)
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Medieval sword pommels come in a wide variety of types, but most can be boiled down to a few principle forms. Some of these pommels form a part of the hilt which encourages interaction with the grip of the hand, while others don't.
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scholagladiatoria I noticed that some medieval pommels are shaped like mace heads. Was this intentional for practical uses like the infamous murder stroke?
@@GojiraGhoul Do you mean the scent-stopper pommel?
Vlad Tepes That’s what they’re called? Then yes.
The "mordhau" strike is usually made with the crossguard being the point of impact, not the pommel. And almost all of the medieval European pommel types are just fine for pommel strikes.
I’m gonna morning you can give you some
Thanks for helping us get a handle on that.
....
Get a grip man
@@patrickgrounds2157 I would but trying to cut baggage.
Nice
I was just surprised he could handle it...
The glee on his face when he mentions Raid. Priceless
He's one of the few TH-camrs that I actually believe when he says that he plays it.
I’m glad you mentioned the research Roland Warzecha is doing on single handed sword pommels. I find his research extremely fascinating and it’s partly what got me interested in medieval swords, historical fencing and particularly sword and buckler/shield use. I know there are many different ideas and opinions about the subject but I appreciate seeing different peoples opinions and points of view.
“Nobody’s going to be ended rightly” - Matt Easton, ineffective combatant.
"It could be shaped like a, er... a skull and crossbones or... a rampaging bull." Tells us more about the psychology of our beloved host and presenter than it tells us about pommels. LOL. Great video, as always, thanks.
I feel like gripping the pommel... even if it's the thick round one... could be a way to move the percussion point outward and turn it into a chopper with a good windup. Also, during two-handed use, having the back hand on the pommel makes the sword more agile. The scent stopper pommel allows you to move the sword close or far from your body with a tight grip on the hilt and a looser grip on the rounded lower hilt/pommel so your grips aren't fighting each other. The lower hand is the loose hand that provides more agility than strength for a two-hander. For a one-hander the pommel offers an extended grip with more chopping power and less balance. I could even see fully palming the pommel for a longer range chop. A pommel isn't for thrusting, the guard is. The hardest swing of all, with the best reach, is to let the hilt slide as far out during the swing as possible using centripetal force and a looser grip. The pommel should do what it can to help with that.
I also wonder if the hollow pommels had anything to do with vibration dampening and if the big thick round ones didn't help in half swording or even just any ol' business of trying to shove a sharp stick into a resistant object. I wonder if there's a correlation between pommel roundness and blade stiffness. I wonder all kinds of things. I should go work. ... ...
Really enjoyed hearing your take on pommel construction and grips. I've always found that I prefer a narrow-ish and solid wheel pommel on arming swords and a scent-stopper or turret type pommel on longswords, basically because of how I like to use each type of sword. This video helped give me a better understanding of why other types might possibly have come about or been preferred by others, as well as why I prefer the types I do. Thanks!
48min about sword pommels? Everyday we stray closer to god.
This was very informative!
Thanks Matt😊
Really brilliant video , thanks for all the effort you put into it, and mannnnn I'm wanting your arming/longsword collection..
NICE I literally searched up yesterday for such topic and BAM today you post it. Clack NICE
Splendid stuff, Matt - well done as always :). Who would have thought in our time on SFI that you would grow to be such an authoritative voice :).
brilliant that you discussed pommel evolution with the development of hand protection.would like to see more exploration along these lines,also involving body amour and fencing styles,edge versus point.
My father used to fight with his saber effectively hooked off his pinkey finger, (as in from the very bottom of the hilt) he swore it gave him more control. This subject would have fascinated him!
Pommel is to a sword what doorknob is to my front door...
Could we get a 40 min discussion about medieval door knobs? Was there any kind of lock for an avg peasant's room? Were there nearly as many locks to pick in any avg room as in Skyrim? Would people have their own room or just sleep in a pile like rabbits?
This is something I feel like Shadiversity and/or Lindybiege would cover as they focus on the broader lifestyle of the era than merely combat orientated stuff
Love it! He's all Team Cobra Kai!!!
Great video once again, and I keep learning something new from these artifact weapons.
Missed an opportunity to say that you hadn't penetrated the topic as deeply as you wanted to.
I hate when you break out the lancaster. I just have to slobber over it. Such a gorgeous sword
Just today I was looking through pommels at my city museum and wondering about them. This came in handy!
_Medieval Sword POMMELS, How Do They Affect Grip?_
Answer: *RIGHTLY*
Swiftly.
Roland has also noted asymmetry in early pommels and his ideas on rotation of the pommel out of the plane and coincide with my observations. I suggest that the softness of the iron tangs would have made adjusting swords to each individual's grip a relatively trivial task.
EXCELLENT video !!! Can’t wait to hear about the Roman pommels. I’ve always wondered why the pommel is ball shaped (seems like it interferes with the wrist when cutting) - and why the grips are square instead of rectangular...
Strike first, strike hard, no mercy.
Nice shirt
Cobra kai never dies
Just recall that celtic swords with horns at the end. Perfectly suits that "late" grip
The La Tène style ones that have humanoid hilts? Because I was just thinking that a dark age sword would be held in much the same way as a Hallstatt sword(one with a sombrero shaped pommel). Those things look like they’d require a lower grip to be of any use.
@@lowlandnobleman6746 yep. Bronse and iron ages antennae swords
Alright, that was interesting. But what about grip shapes?
When I was at HEMA group, most of the feders I've seen had straight simplistic grips - no waisted grips, no spacers, no cord underneath the leather, just straight or slightly tapering grips with leather or cord wrap. I understand that most of the feders are basic training tools, but some are not, some are custom-made. Why most of manufacturers and customers don't bother with it?
An idea would be that a sword with a really wide pommel might have been used upside down, such as when swung from a horse at footsoldiers. It would ensure you never lose your sword while doing that. Plus the hollow pommel would make it easy to drop the blade down. A massive, heavy pommel might slow a downward swing because the blade would be too light in relation to it.
One way to secure the weapon in the hand, even under point impact is to secure the fingers (but not the thumb) inside a small fabric loop attached to the pommel.
Lots of good information here!
I can especially use the Visby gauntlets. I'm writing a goblin army and trying to design their armor, and small plates fastened to heavy leather sounds just about perfect.
I'm also trying to imagine a compromise between brigantine and lamellar. Fantasy armor that would actually work is tough.
It's interesting talking about length of grip, when I'm looking at swords for re-enactment fighting I would always go with a longer grip section than if I were using the sword in a real fight. The reasoning has usally been around safety, with a great sword if your fighting people without much armour a longer guard acts as a great break for pulling shots without stopping you having a faster swing before.
This is the content I love .
They can't cover all those topics? I have to cover every topic from how much weight a wagon wheel can sustain to digital art to what season and climate is best for rye vs wheat to MySQL databases to what sort of geology & minerals would be found where to internet marketing to what the differences are between Gaelic, Brythonic, & Goidelic to C# coding to how a sword's pommel affects its use. I recently spent a whole day trying to figure out how a group of people can move a megalith and another day figuring out why they'd want to.
Well according to Talhoffer's manuscript, the pommel served multifunctional purposes. I favor a scent stopper pommel myself, second by a mace styled pommel for smashing face if I end up on the business end of my sword but in also like the Black Prince' style too. Good video, very informative and adding the history is a professional addition. 👍👍
The katana doesn't have a pommel like we typically think of it, but I've never heard of any instruction saying you shouldn't grip the katana there (I have seen instruction that say you should grip it there sometimes).
I have a sidesword with a very short (8cm) grip, and a deliberately unaligned disc pommel. Whether you hold it in a hammer grip or a "proper" sidesword grip, it's definitely tight.
To me, a short grip definitely improves handling, as having the mass of the pommel closer to the hand prevents it from having a sort of pendulum effect. The difference is extremely apparent if you compare it to a sword with an excessively long grip (*cough* Regenyei *cough*). It's also generally comfortable to have your hand cradled/squeezed in by the hilt, combined with the finger over the crossguard it's incredibly secure that way. The pommel is misaligned a bit to prevent its edges from biting into the hand, and (possibly because of the way you hold a sidesword) it doesn't affect edge alignment in any way - the finger on the ricasso is the most important aspect for that.
That's really interesting, thanks. I'm fond of sideswords but not enountered a misaligned pommel. I have found square and 'cats's head pommels somewhat uncomfortable on some examples.
Fingering the ricasso does mean that you don't need as long a grip, and I find that having an overly long grip interferes a bit with moulinettos.
Excellent pommel throw intro.
A hand stop like this also reduces hand fatigue. Which on a long enough timeline means not losing your grip, but in the short term it also means not tiring your forearms out so much just holding on to the thing. Which means you can fight harder and longer with less effort.
12:31 I'm an engineer and what you are saying makes sense from a physics standpoint as well. A properly balanced tool, be it a weapon or a spanner, aims to give maximum leverage when performing the task its made for. With a properly balanced sword, it would make sense that the ways you showed holding it would allow for greater control over its center of gravity. There would also naturally be variation and alternate schools of thought on the matter. Not only that but the saber like grip could have been the vary thing that LEAD to the development of saber like swords. Someone wanted to stab more than slash and got someone to make a sword for it.
How to Recognise Different Types of Pommels From Quite a Long Way Away
3:12 to skip raid add.
Thank you!
Thanks!
I was sitting the other day thinking, "Roland Warzecha hasn't done much research into pommels". I clearly underestimated
I remember reading in the Chanson de Roland that Roland had Holy Relics in the pommel of his Durendaal? Could it be the case?
I find a fishtail pommel fits comfortably in the palm of my hand allowing me to grip it with the hand barely contacting the leather grip. This allows maximizing the effective grip of a longsword or creating a bastard sword with a relatively compact hilt that can still be held comfortably in two hands. Thinner wheel pommels can also be comfortable when held this way. In contrast, thick wheels and scent stoppers seem ill suited to this hold.
Scent stopper and fishtail pommels both seem well suited to holding the grip with one or two fingers intentionally or unintentionally sliding onto the pommel. Wheel pommels would discourage this method of holding the sword.
As you mentioned, pretty much any pommel will work if holding the sword with both hands entirely on the grip; however, thick wheel pommels (and a lot of fantasy pommel designs) are impractical to use any other way.
Thank you for this video Matt. Can you elaborate more on how these different types of pommels are fixed to the swords. Are they all screwed? I guess round ones can be screwed but how is fishtail pommel is fixed exactly aligned with the edge? Is there a different method?
Longer grips on "Viking" sword = tennis elbow. I have two.
Edit, have you seen Roland's newest examination of hilts finding that some pommels are twisted slightly to better enable those grips? Edit 2, you have (y)
Circular Pommels also lends itself to engraving/stamping Crests and such upon them for Knights or Lords so as a way to identify themselves in the confusion of a fight.
@scholagladiatoria could it be that armored gauntlets required thicker pommels to help with weapon retention?
Hi Matt! Several years ago, you mentioned in a clip (don't remember which one) that someone had shown you a very big blade, and you had ordered that blade with a brazil nut pommel and cross guard. I don't think we ever got to see it in a video though. Was it the sword you showed in the beginning?
Yes that's it :-)
I wonder if the pommel of swords aid in drawing the weapon. On knives and daggers, a larger hook like or bar/disk shapped pommel is very helpful for getting a good grip as you draw it. Especially if you're drawing it under stress and without looking. It's also helpful with gloves and frozen fingers. I have no practical experience with swords however.
Does the type of Guard also make a difference? I'm thinking that based on the Sword Buyers Guide, the ideal Pommel & Guard Combo (for the period 1150-1340 AD) would consist of Pommel: I, J, G, H, or K & Guard: 1, 2, 3, 6 or 7 for Oakeshott Type X, Xa, XII, XIIa, XIII, XIIIb, XIV
There is also the influence of the change in technology. The Viking and Brazil Nut pummels are hand made. The round pummels are turned on a lathe. That does not change how you hold the sword, but it does explain the change in style. Technological changes also change design for the same function.
The point raised about Brazil-nut pommels is also valid for Viking era ones. The variety of types is huge, and some pommels are very fat, either on the pommel cap (e.g. type S), which does not really change anything for the grip, but also for the upper and lower guard, such as some type H which have guards so wide as to make them look like a weird rondel dagger (we're talking more than 3.5cm in some cases). I'm very puzzled by these extra wide yet very angular pommels.
For 1h swords, a pommel based grip *can be like a cheek weld on a rifle.
Yeah, you need to sight it, and sort the adjustments, but once you are Zeroed in on it, you can grip it the same way and be accurate with it time after time.
Edge alignment, sight alignment. Part of making a relationship with your specific tool, and either adjusting your weapon, or yourself, so that the repeatable combo becomes reliable and adjustable.
“Raid ?” bug spray innit !
If there is a universal response to questions put to subject matter experts, it almost certainly boils down to..."it depends."
Well...
That depends as well.
for my own swords i started off making a wheel pommel because they were the iconic style and would allow a decent place to put my coat of arms, however as soon as i did my first test fit i hated the feel of it.
what i came up with was a reverse curve on the bottom, a bit like a shortened sent stopper the flowing out to an 'ace of spades' shape.
this kept it a short pommel and comfy for grip, it is flatter not 360 round, it also mirrored the same area on the cross guard, the cross guard is of a dragon wing type.
ideally i'd like to make the cross guard from titanium as its a little over weight due to the wing shape.
the sword is a short sword with a long leaf type blade (made from a uk taxi spring)
I had heard somewhere that they found that the pommel on the Henry V sword didn’t actually end up being hollow? That could easily be misinformation that I picked up along the way, though.
I’ve got to say that this is a video I was glad to see was as long as it is, as this topic is one that fascinates the hell out of me. I’m trying to choose a design for a Longsword for myself at this point, and the biggest sticking point for me at the moment is the pommel I go with. It’s hard to overstate how much they factor in the way a sword handles.
I like the shirt. It's a badass logo.
A very interesting topic. Would like to hear your idea about the Tulwar and Shamshir handles that handle completely different from most European swords.
Some of the pommels look like they were optimized for striking with. Either in the backhand or mordhau. Some of the scent stoppers look like mace heads with rounded flanges. Even some quillons look a bit like miniature axes.
Is there any credence to hollow pommels being used to contain separate items, such as a saint's bones or something?
Nice shirt!
@scholagladiatoria Do you think the deeply recessed wheel pommels could have fit organic (wood, bone, etc) decorations that may have had carved, painted, etc. designs that simply just did not survive the hundreds of years? It wouldn't add an awful lot of weight and a simply useless recess could have been for weight reduction alone but for a deep and very angular one that could fit a small disc inside, it made me consider the possibilities. Let me know what you think!
Question: might the design or characteristics of a pommel make a difference in ease and efficiency of unsheathing one's sword, particularly if in a hurry, and would the mechanics of doing so differ whether on foot or on horseback? I suppose what I am really asking is under what circumstances might a sword be drawn using the pommel, primarily, rather than the hilt, if any?
Around the 17 minute mark: but how many different swords would a person back then use back to back? Or how often would he pick up a different sword to use it? I would think not that often. Maybe when buying a new one , trying out a few, but then the person would probably pick what he could afford and from those what works best or looks best for him. And when gettin issued one, i would guess there's no trying others, just take what you get and hopefully learn how to use it.
on the variance in alignment of sword pommels and edge alignment: Medieval swords were bespoke items, each made for a specific customer and were expensive. Is it possible that each was different depending on customer preference?
Pommel jokes aside, I wonder how the murder stroke affected pommel design, if at all.
Well the teutonic estoc haves an oversized and overweight pommel with kind of flanges and it is supposed to be adopted for that reason
Funny I thought the exact same thing.
Well if you have something like the brazil nut pommel it's more pointy so theoretically that should have more percussive power. However if it's put on something with a short grip, like my Albion Reeve, it makes the handshake grip almost impossible. However it also gives way more cutting power since you have to use the hammer grip.
There art of spiked pommels that clearly add to the impact of a murder stroke with a spike.
@@SuperFunkmachine Indeed, there are some pommels which reminisce a morningstar.
Size of the wheel pommel - could it be that the size is dictated by style in how it presents itself when worn? Or maybe as an aid in pulling it out/locating it's placement on the belt when armoured?
Great overview of sword pommels. What is the diameter of the wheel pommel on the Dynasty Forge bastard sword ?
Thanks for this information. Are you going to make more videos on sword "anatomy"? (If that's even the correct term). It's a quite interesting and useful subject
The term 'anatomy' is best left to biological contexts, perhaps 'construction' or 'structure' would be a better term, if you want one.
Or design
Still, everyone knows what was meant by the term anatomy in the context. So that counts as successful language use. Using the nominally correct term and such are added finesse, but not necessary. Also, that fact there were no comments about anyone's mum pita or way ahead in teens of TH-cam comments
@@dogmaticpyrrhonist543 I know, and I agree. That's why I added, "if you want one" at the end, and I made the comment because the OP was doubting if 'anatomy' was the correct term.
@@Vlad_Tepes_III yes, sorry, it wasn't meant as a response to your comment, but encouragement to addicted.
I always assumed that the large pommel on the viking era sword could, together with the short and relatively flat ended „crossguard“, help to support the centergripped shield. You can brace the hilt of the sword against the shield to prevent it from swiveling around when hit while the large pommel and short guard protect your fingers.
You probably would want it so swivel. Watch roland warzechas vids here on youtube. Its high value stuff!
Roland warzecha (channel name too)
I use a rounded romboid flat pommel on my training swords just because they are easy to make with my limited toolset
The form of the Viking Sword is the form of Tors Hammer! That ment the you are protected by Tor, and you have the strength of Tor with you in every Battle. 🤠
This was very insightful - is it possible that pommel size increased with the rise in plate mail and the practice of the mordhau? I could see a wider pommel being more useful for a kinetic strike against a helmet than a thin one.
I recall watching an old black & white movie where a guy who doesn't know how to sword fight grabs a sword by the pommel and starts spinning around in a circle, (eyes shut tightly) taking out several attacking bandits before losing the sword which launches & takes out the leader of the bandits who is dueling with someone else who knew how to fight.
Oddly enough, I have never seen that technique described in any treatise on swordsmanship.
Matt, could you make a video on 13-14th century war/greatswords (Oakeshott 13 a, b)? I think those are terribly underrepresented in comparison with various arming swords (true one-handed) and longswords.
So if a flat type of pommel seems misaligned, is it possible that it was made for a left handed user?
Hi matt
Can you make a shot intro to how you sharpen a sword, I am very interested to know, how they did it and what they used ads grind stone, pluds how they keeped rust from the blades.
By the way it was a interesting take on pommels thanks for that.
does the material of the pommel affects it's shape?
A wise man once said it's all about "Context".
Roman pommels please! great video
Matt, is there a trend in European Swords to go from double edge to single edge over time? What influenced that change? Thanks
is there a reason you shouldnt use the pommel to rest your left hand on. i can find that extremely useful for a bit of extra leverage and it would explain the huge henry V pommel
Don't have much opportunity to see medieval stuff here in Australia. But the shape of the Brazil nut was interesting. Sidebar. What came first? Pummel as in hitting or pommel as in the end of a sword?🇦🇺🇦🇺😷😷🇦🇺🇦🇺
Pummel is derived from the act of pommeling someone with the pommel of your sword.
I would also add never underestimate how important fashion was. Swords were definitely a status symbol and hat was probably reflected in pommel design
I can imagine this being impacted not only by user preference, but also ergonomic requirements due to an injury (or just physical differences). For example, imagine if you had an arm or wrist injury at a younger age (fell off your horse during a hunt perhaps), and this dictates a different grip (or limitations in how you can employ different grips).
We have modern examples of military equipment and weapons being customized or specifically designed to account for injury or physical limitations. The Sam Browne belt comes to mind as an obvious one, but also soldiers with certain arm or wrist injuries prefer can different foregrips on their rifles (talking about present day military rifles here like an M4).
I suppose the medieval period would be no different- you have to make your equipment and tools work for you (when possible), not the other way around!
Perhaps the Artisan finishing the Swords tailored them to the owners/users preference and, as such every weapon was a custom item.
Some of us realize that was mostly one take with no script. Impressive.
It was really good to not see you walking forwards and backwards.
Behold. The ultimate context video.
Is it just me?
The viking era sword pommels look a lot like a representation of Thor's Hammer?
That one for sure does (and it looks awesome), but the vast majority don't seem to resemble it so much. Check out Jan Petersen's classification of viking age sword hilts for a look at the quite widely varied hilt styles of the period.
What about bronze age swords, their grips and pommels?
Wild theory- shilt grip for short gripped swords.
Nice shirt
Henry 5th sword pommel is just a bigger codpiece or for more armour.
Surely peening, nut or threading dictates - 1. nut with alignment better than 2. threaded no alignment better than 3. peened alignment better but harder to field fix than peened no alignment.
Oke matt I have to point this out to you Chinees marshellarts has one specifiek type of hand grip used for litterly all weapons. The grab there weapons securly with only two fingers ( the index and tumb) and the rest are just there to controlle the weapon. Half the time most off your hand is open not even around the handel while using a dao. So I highly doubt that the chinees style ring pommel was used for a viking style grip sinds there hands are trained to be very loos on the blade except for index and tumb that would bite into the handel like a beartrap sow holding it that low would mean that if it starts sliding they would be litterly holding just the ring pommel and this doesn't make much sense now does it?
Not an expert in any means, but having watched a lot of your videos, as well as other youtubers that talk about this, i've noticed that in general italian sources tend to prefer more "thrusting" techniques, as you said with the finger ring, wich started on italy, and some german sources seem to prefer cutting, such as the way of holding the longsword you showed, so i'm guessing that italian sources would say to grip the pommel simply because it makes using the point a little easier, and german ones would not want it, using styles of grip that help with cutting.
syupah, myte!
How were early mediaeval swords made with all those complex internal angles and polish. I know modern blacksmiths use rotary tools and belt grinders, but I find it hard to imagine doing the same thing just with files and grindstones.
I'm sure this has probably been mentioned elsewhere, but it's possible that the size of the pommel was merely for prestige. Since is was hollow, it could have been a way of making Henry V seem stronger to others than he actually was.