Swordsman

Lore & Background

The Roman legionaries and other forces of the Roman military, until the 2nd century A.D., used the gladius as a short thrusting sword effectively with the scutum, a type of shield, in battle. According to Vegetius, the Romans mainly used underhanded stabs and thrusts, because one thrust into the gut would kill an enemy faster than slashes or cutting. However, some depictions of Roman soldiers show them using slashing and cuts. Gladiators used a shorter gladius than the military.

The spatha was a longer double-edged sword initially used only by Celtic soldiers, later incorporated as auxilia into Roman Cavalry units; however by the 2nd century A.D. the spatha was used throughout much of the Roman Empire. The Empire's legionary soldiers were heavily trained and prided themselves on their disciplinary skills. This probably carried over to their training with weaponry, no Roman manuals of swordsmanship have survived. One translation of Juvenal's poetry by Barten Holyday published in 1661 makes note that the Roman trainees learned to fight with the wooden wasters before moving on to the use of sharpened steel.

In fact, it is also found that Roman gladiators trained with a wooden sword, which was weighted with lead, against a straw man or a wooden pole known as a palus (an early relative of the later wooden pell). This training would have provided the Roman soldier with a good foundation of skill, to be improved upon from practical experience or further advanced training. Little is known about early medieval fencing techniques save for what may be concluded from archaeological evidence and artistic depiction.

What little has been found, however, shows the use of the sword was limited during the Viking age, especially among the Vikings themselves and other northern Germanic tribes. Here, the spear, axe, and shield were prominent weapons, with only wealthy individuals owning swords. These weapons, based on the early Germanic spatha, were made very well. The technique of pattern welding of composite metals, invented in the Roman Empire around the end of the 2nd century A.D., provided some of these northern weapons superior properties in strength and resilience to the iron gladius of early Rome.

As time passed, the spatha evolved into the arming sword, a weapon with a notable cruciform hilt common among knights in the Medieval Age.

Did You Know?

• The earliest known fencing treatise is the I.33, dealing primarily with arming sword and buckler combat.
• Domenico Angelo established a fencing academy in London in 1763 and emphasized fencing as a means of developing health, poise, and grace.