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Well, cutting and thrusting is what it's for, and what a leafblade is pretty good at. The only swords that hack are called axes (and not even all of those are meant for hacking). It would seem to me that they could be used for both - because of the leaf shape they seem better suited to slashing (as a scimitar would seem superior in that respect to a straight blade, which would seem to hack rather than slash) than a straight blade since the blade was somewhat curved Only with the Mindelheim swords (Hallstatt) it seems that thrusting got out of fashion. What sort of fighting style was used by a warrior wielding one? Were these primarily slashing swords or stabbing swords or both?īoth. Most are around 60-70cm though, and slightly longer during the Hallstatt period.Ĥ. There's a large range, from dagger size up to about 90cm. In the UK and Ireland, outside of bronze rapiers, only leafbladed swords have been used. On the continent, from time to time straight-bladed swords have also been used either alongside or instead of leafshaped bladed. They became really common roughly 1400BC, and disappeared at the end of the Hallstatt, when swords disappeared alltogether. The first leafshaped blades appeared in the early bronze age, roughly 1700BC. But leafblades have been used throughout the whole of Europe. I wouldn't use the term Celts at all, as not even archeologists can figure out who were Celts and who weren't (it's determined by the language they spoke, and since it's prehistoric, we don't have much insight in that). Posted: Thu 23 Nov, 2006 3:35 am Post subject: Re: Leaf shaped blades (La Tene, Hallstatt, other) Thought some of you might be familiar with the institution. I grew up in Worcester MA, USA - home of Higgins Armoury. Along with whatever answers and insight you can provide, any links that might further illuminate me on the subject will also be GREATLY appreciated. Who used this sword? What peoples? (I'm concerned for the most part with the peoples of Europe)Īgain - thank you all in advance. And this is related, I suppose, to 6 - why did they go out of style? Was it a flaw in design, or aesthetics, or the innate difficulty in forging a sword with such curves?Ĩ. What would the disadvantage be? Are they weaker because of the thinner middle? More unwieldy in battle?ħ. What would the advantage, in your opinions, of a leaf-shaped bladed sword be? The aforementioned ability to slash and thrust?Ħ.
![leaf bladed battle axe vs d scim leaf bladed battle axe vs d scim](https://medievalextreme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/BDD0D960-C851-42FC-B835-BC84F8D4E2B1-570x570.jpeg)
What sort of fighting style was used by a warrior wielding one? Were these primarily slashing swords or stabbing swords or both? It would seem to me that they could be used for both - because of the leaf shape they seem better suited to slashing (as a scimitar would seem superior in that respect to a straight blade, which would seem to hack rather than slash) than a straight blade since the blade was somewhat curved, and seeing as how the blade tapered to (what seems to me to be) a sharp point, they seem ideal for stabbing as well.ĥ. Could you describe the general size of a sword with a leaf shaped blade? Were they generally shortswords or long swords?Ĥ. What were the time periods that these leaf shape blades were most widely used?ģ. Was this the blade-style of choice of the Celts of Western Europe? A lot of authorites on the subject seem reluctant to associate either La Tene or Hallstatt culture with the Celts, but as far as I can tell if they are not one and the same, they at least overlap.Ģ. I've seen, online, both bronze and iron swords of this style. I know they were at least somewhat prevalent in europe from the Hallstatt through the La Tene periods, and then seemed (?) to die out afterwards. I wanted to inquire about swords with leaf-shaped blades. I'm obviously a newbie (both to the board and ancient arms in general) so please forgive me if either this has been asked before, or is a silly question. Posted: Wed 22 Nov, 2006 3:33 pm Post subject: Leaf shaped blades (La Tene, Hallstatt, other)