"Did People in the Middle Ages Fight as Well With..." Topic

…. Swords as Portrayed in Movies?

"Firstly, virtually no movies about the Middle Ages are "very realistic." Most are little more than fantasies minus the dragons, with costumes, weapons and settings completely made up by the film makers with some kind of vaguely "medieval" theme in their heads. Most of the rest are a bizarre jumble of weapons, armor, costumes and artifacts from all over the medieval period, regardless of the century in which its set. So we get Vikings in fifteenth century helmets and Crusaders with fifth century swords. Pretty much anything you see in a "medieval" movie can be assumed to be wrong — because it usually is.

The swordplay you see in "medieval" movies is also not based on anything from the period. It is usually just the kind of stagecraft fencing style that has evolved out of theater productions and is used in movie fight scenes. It's designed to look flashy and be as broad and vigorous as possible, while at the same time being relatively safe for actors and stunt workers. The moves are choreographed and designed to add drama. So they contain a lot of elements never seen in real sword bouts — like the fighters getting up close and pushing their swords against each other (why?) — and none of the elements you would see a lot of — like all the cautious and wary circling around each other looking for a moment to attack…."
Main page
link

Amicalement
Armand

What about just casting a spell against your opponent? Surely knights didn't travel without their ubiquitous wizard sidekicks. The article didn't cover that.

If you had a sword, you'd better learn quick or it would probably be the weapon used to chop your head off.

Dan
PS. Besides, it looks like there were other ways to kill zombies back then: :)
TMP link

Stick the pointy end in the other guy, right? Anything else is showing off.

I disagree with the article saying swords were 'not just clubs". I have read in a number of places that the sharpness of the edge was not that important. Rather, the thinner edges concentrated the force of the blow into a smaller area, which on an armored opponent meant really nasty contusions.

Well since they don't pay stuntmen enough to die or kill for a part I can forgive a 5th century sword in a 10th movie with fencing moves I no longer go ape over 1870's pistols in 1850 westerns.

What tears me up is the backwards wielding and sword twirling BS popularized in Conan Movies and Xena TV.

"Everyone knows" that one samurai could have killed every single knight in Europe, because knights were just punks and didn't know how to use the weapons >they trained with every day.

Did they fight like in the movies? No. Movies are meant to be entertaining. Watch an Olympic fencing match. Wonder where all the excitement is. That's why movies have "fake fighting".

Could knights fight well with their weapons? They were professionals. Weapons were the tools of their trade. Might as well ask if a carpenter is good at using a hammer.

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Clearly movies over dramatise sword play. If a fighter was to spend any time twirling swords around; jumping about; dancing or mouthing off petulant challenges it wa highly likely his opponent would just spring forward and run him through!!