The Longsword had its hey-day between the 14th and 16th centuries where its popularity never waned. The Longsword by nature as well as name was indeed quite long, with the straight double edged blades of 3 foot in length being quite common and an overall length of 3ft 9ins, but it was by no means unwieldy.
The Longsword was designed for double handed use with relatively long handles to assist in wielding a sword that could be as much as 4 lbs in weight, although different swordsmith's made Longsword's that weighed as little as 2.2 lb.
The Longsword was a multi-purpose sword in that it was ideal for striking, slashing and thrusting manoeuvres. In some instances of combat the sword could be used as a club whereas the chain-mailed gloved hands of the swordsman would grab the blade with both hands and smash the heavy solid steel cross guard with heavy quillions and pommel down on an opponents head as the old medieval drawing below testifies.
It is not often that a sword can boast all round combat capability, but in the late medieval and Renaissance era's the Longsword was literally cutting edge technology.
The Longsword actually evolved from bronze age technology and transcended into the medieval era where it gradually developed into a longer sword but still retained its original cruciform appearance of the straight cross guard. It was in 1350 that the Longsword was realised for its true worth as an all round combat weapon, with its two handed grip that often saw the other handle providing a large amount of leverage at the pommel end.
Below is an excellent Youtube video of two practitioners of the Longsword giving a demonstration of the swords capabilities in one on one combat.
Tactics that could be employed in getting the best out a Longsword was to use an overhead slashing attack that could shear the blade through a knights helmet as if it was made from tinfoil. Like the Claymore, Hand-and-a-half sword and in some respects, the Bastard sword the Longsword was equally capable of penetrating a suit of armor with a two handed and forceful straight lethal stab.
On the battlefield the Longsword was favored by knights on horseback as it could easily reach out to strike foot soldiers on the ground, in fact if is wasn't for the advent of armor piercing arrows and indeed later...firearms, then knights would have used the Longsword for a much longer period of time.
Perhaps the most notable individuals to use the Longsword style of sword were the Scottish Highlanders and Germanys Landsknecht mercenaries. These mercenaries in particular had amongst their number swordsmen know as Doppelsoldner, they were regular serving soldiers that hired out their talents on their days off. They would carry huge Longsword's and attack charging cavalry and knights and more often than not, they bring them down and kill them.
Longsword's enjoyed about 200 years of solid daily use but they declined in the late 16th century and by the start of the 17th century the Longsword was obsolete as a practical weapon as there was no call for them. Forever consigned to the history books.
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