Editing Longsword (section)

==Evolution==
The longsword is characterized not so much by a longer [[blade]], but by a longer grip, which indicates a weapon designed for two-handed use. Swords with exceptionally long hilts are found throughout the High Middle Ages. For example, there is a longsword in The Glasgow Art and History Museum, Labelled XIIIa. 5, which scholars have dated back to between 1100 and 1200 due to the hilt style and specific taper, but swords like this remain incredibly rare, and are not representative of an identifiable trend before the late 13th or early 14th century.

The longsword as a late medieval type of sword emerges in the 14th century, as a military steel weapon of the earlier phase of the [[Hundred Years' War]]. It remains identifiable as a type during the period of about 1350 to 1550.<ref>{{cite Q|Q105271484|page=56 |url=http://www.e-reading.co.uk/bookreader.php/135704/The_Sword_in_the_Age_of_Chivalry.pdf |access-date=15 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215195610/http://www.e-reading.co.uk/bookreader.php/135704/The_Sword_in_the_Age_of_Chivalry.pdf |archive-date=15 December 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref>
It remained in use as a weapon of war intended for wielders wearing full [[plate armour]] either on foot or on horseback, throughout the late medieval period.
From the late 15th century, however, it is also attested as being worn and used by unarmoured soldiers or mercenaries.

Use of the two-handed Great Sword or ''Schlachtschwert'' by infantry (as opposed to their use as a weapon of mounted and fully armoured knights) seems to have originated with the [[Growth of the Old Swiss Confederacy|Swiss]] in the 14th century.
<ref>{{cite book | last=Boeheim | first=Wendelin | title=Handbuch der Waffenkunde: Das Waffenwesen in seiner historischen Entwicklung | date=1890 | publisher=Seemann Verlag | isbn= 9783845726038| page=261ff | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NNVgAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA261 | access-date=11 June 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304070921/https://books.google.ch/books?id=NNVgAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA261 | archive-date=4 March 2016 | url-status=live }}</ref>
By the 16th century, its military use was mostly obsolete, culminating in the brief period where the oversized [[Zweihänder]] were wielded by the German ''[[Landsknecht]]e'' during the early to mid 16th century. By the second half of the 16th century, it persisted mostly as a weapon for sportive competition (''[[Schulfechten]]''), and possibly in knightly [[duel]]s.
[[File:The Brescia Spadona 05.jpg|thumb|<small>Replica of the ''Brescia Spadona'', a 15th Century "hand and a half" longsword named after the city where it now resides, in the Museo Civico L. Mazzoli in [[Brescia]], Italy. It has a tapered [[Oakeshott type|type XVIIIa]] or [[Oakeshott type|type XVIa]] blade and an octagonal pommel.</small>]]
Distinct "bastard sword" hilt types developed during the first half of the 16th century. [[Ewart Oakeshott]] distinguishes twelve different types.<ref name=oakeshott />{{rp|130}}  These all seem to have originated in Bavaria and in Switzerland. By the late 16th century, early forms of the developed-hilt appear on this type of sword.
Beginning about 1520, the [[Swiss sabre]] (''schnepf'') in Switzerland began to replace the straight longsword, inheriting its hilt types, and the longsword had fallen out of use in Switzerland by 1550.
In southern Germany, it persisted into the 1560s, but its use also declined during the second half of the 16th century.
There are two late examples of longswords kept in the Swiss National Museum, both with vertically grooved pommels and elaborately decorated with silver inlay, and both belonging to Swiss noblemen in French service during the late 16th and early 17th century, Gugelberg von Moos and Rudolf von Schauenstein.<ref name=oakeshott />{{rp|133}}<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.peterfiner.com/current-stock/item/1548/ | title=Peter Finer | quote=Two further silver-encrusted swords possessing pommels of this type can be seen in the Schweizerisches Landesmuseum, Zurich...The first belonged to Hans Gugelberg von Moos (recorded 1562–1618), and the second to Rudolf von Schauenstein (recorded 1587–1626), whose name appears on its blade along with the date 1614. | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717014730/http://www.peterfiner.com/current-stock/item/1548/ | archive-date=2011-07-17}}</ref>
The longsword, greatsword and bastard-sword were also made in Spain, appearing relatively late, known as the ''{{lang|es|espadon}}'', the ''{{lang|es|montante}}'' and ''{{lang|es|bastarda}}'' or ''{{lang|es|espada de mano y media}}'' respectively.