Over-arm spears?

[Ranika]

Straight and curved swords often existed side-by-side, but served seperate purposes. Celts used curved swords (the Carduci and Parisi both used them, and they're mentioned in the Tain) as well as straight-edged swords. Presumably, they served different purposes and different fighting styles. To whine and moan about the superiority of one over another is patently ignorant of the realities of weaponcraft. Weapons don't simply appear out of a void, but they're developed for specific forms of warfare and for styles that accomodate their weighting and shape. Curved swords are not that difficult to make, depending on how one works metal (the poorest quality Celtic swords often had 'leaf' blades depending on period and region, which were a weapon of poor warriors; if they were difficult to make it's unlikely they would have been using them). And Europeans long had various curved swords (the French version of a falchion has a curvuture to it), mainly used for engaging lightly armored enemies and to double as a tool on campaign (using them like a machete). However, the common fighting styles greatly favored the straight-edged swords (which were not intended to smash armor; they existed commonly in regions where armor wasn't necessarily a factor).

On horseback in western Europe, spears, axes, cudgels, etc., were preferred over swords, though a sword could be coupled with a lance or spear to be used if one was bogged down after a charge (but then was little more than fighting in a melee from an elevated position; one did not charge with the sword if they had a different weapon available). The straight-edge sword wasn't some bashing hunk of iron, it was a very well-developed, light weight, particularly well-balanced weapon. It wouldn't have been so popular if it were difficult to use. Its value lay in manueverability, versatility, and relative quality compared to other weapons of the day (another point of reference, curved swords were more popular in the middle east; however, they often had them made and imported from Italian merchants, so the ability to make them was clearly apparent, but their value in local Italian warfare was about nil; a sword that can both easily cut and thrust was prefered for the necessity of stabbing joints in armor and other weak points, something a sheering sword would have more difficulty exploiting).

[O'ETAIPOS]

Thanks Steppe Merc, now I'm not alone!