#carrying swords

[petermorwood]

Hi!

I see you know things about sword and armour and such as it comes up on my dash and I thought I’d bother you with a question.

I like to draw, though i tend to ignore characters with weapons as I don’t know much about them. If I was drawing someone, they don’t really have a backstory I’m just doodling - but someone who would travel with a sword; where’s the best place to carry it? At the waist? Or carry it separately? And I mean a sword someone can carry in one hand. I know there’s loads of different swords and types and each might have a different answer, but I thought I’d ask you anyway, any advice is more what I know at the moment XD

Thanks!

Since your question is about research for drawing, this answer is going to be image-heavy. (What a surprise...) ;->

TL;DR - A one-handed sword was usually worn on a waist-belt, or attached to one by extra straps.

I'm not bothering with back-carry, a modern fantasy. Look up my tags "back-carry" and "back-scabbard" for plenty more info on that topic.

In the mid-14th century the belt dropped to hip level because of Fashion, as shown on the Black Prince's tomb.

Less often (though Vikings, Roundheads, pirates and Scottish Highlanders all did it, they weren't medieval) swords were also hung from a shoulder-belt (baldric - no "k" unless you want Blackadder)...

...which may sometimes have been strapped down with a waist-belt, Sam Browne style, to prevent the sword from bouncing around too much.

Japanese katana / tachi are used two-handed, but I'll include them because they're no longer than a European one-handed sword and are also worn at the waist.

The tachi, a old-style military and court sword, was suspended edge-down from a belt while the katana, a newer-style and mostly civilian sword, was pushed edge-up through a waist sash (obi):

Period art of Renaissance Irish warriors - kerns - often shows them carrying their swords in one hand...

...but while assembling pics for this post, I only found four instances of medieval men-at-arms doing a similar hand-carry. Two are here...

...and the other two are here, at extreme right and left - you can tell the sword's not belted in place because the fastening-flap is hanging loose with no laces through it.

In art from the early Middle Ages, this lace-and-flap arrangement seems far more common than a buckle. This carving shows how it works very clearly - NB that the over-shoulder belt (guige) has nothing to do with the sword and is attached to the shield.

The following pics illustrate various ways European one-handed swords were worn, usually with armour.

Despite what movies and fantasy fiction suggests, swords (daggers were another matter, nearly everyone carried those) were so rarely worn with civilian clothing that the word "rapier" may have evolved from "espada ropera", a sword worn with "robes", i.e. just clothes, not armour.

Here's one of those rare examples. There are a couple more at the bottom, but they're from the mid-1500s, when armour had started falling out of use except (usually) as a badge of rank for VIPs.

All the rest feature armour from the early to the late medieval period.

Hope This Helps! :->

[koobiie]

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[cyanorhis]

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[bacchuschucklefuck]

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–Carry On

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