One of the hazards of practicing historical European martial arts – you know, swords, halberds, that kind of thing – is watching movies. There are so many crazy misconceptions about how hand-to-hand combat worked (and didn’t work) in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance that at some point you just have to sigh.

This great video goes over the basics, and as is often the case, the truth really is stranger than fiction.

Some of the highlights:

• Properly fitted and made armor weighed about half of what a modern combat load would be. (When weapons, etc. are factored in, it’s basically identical).
• A cutting blow to plate does exactly…nothing. Maybe give you a dent. Maybe. A piercing blow to plate, on the other hand does, well, um, also nothing.
• So how the hell do you injure a medieval tank, a.k.a. a person wearing full plate? You get in close, probably knock their weapon away, grab your own sword (assuming that’s what you are using) halfway up with one hand, then stab your opponent with the pointy end through an eyehole, the unplated groin area, an armpit or kneepit, or even through the base of the foot (true story).
• But what about using a sword with the cutting part? Sure. But not against someone in full plate. Your opponent’s horse, or that poor s.o.b. in brigandine or half-plate or nothing at all? Yeah, they’re fair game for a cutting blow.
• Knock ‘em down. Someone in properly made plate can, in fact, do cartwheels and jumping jacks (as the video demonstrates), but knocking them down can give you an opening to draw a dagger or other pointy thing and stab them in some truly embarrassing ways.
• What about the AK-47 of the medieval period? You know, things like halberds and warhammers? There have been some interesting tests with these, and the amount of force these can deliver is astonishing, but even so, it takes using a spiked end driven full-force to have a chance to pierce most plate, though knocking someone down or deforming their armor are all viable possibilities as well.

Bottom image of “half-swording” from the Codex Wallerstein.
Via on YouTube.