Editing Longsword (section)

===History===
[[File:Parzival und Condviramur.jpg|thumb|200px|1440s illustration of one- and two-handed use of the longsword. Note the sword being used one-handed is drawn shorter and may also be intended as a large [[knightly sword]] ([[CPG 339]] fol. 135r).]]
[[File:Cpg359 46v.jpg|thumb|200px|Example of two handed use vs. half-sword, dating to {{Circa|1418}} ([[CPG 359]], fol. 46v).]]

Codified systems of fighting with the longsword existed from the later 14th century, with a variety of styles and teachers each providing a slightly different take on the art. Hans Talhoffer, a mid-15th-century German fightmaster, is probably the most prominent, using a wide variety of moves, most resulting in wrestling. The longsword was a quick, effective, and versatile weapon capable of deadly thrusts, slices, and cuts.<ref name="medcombat">{{cite book | last=Talhoffer | first=Hans | editor=Rector, Mark | title=Medieval Combat: A Fifteenth-Century Illustrated Manual of Swordfighting and Close-Quarter Combat | date=2000 | publisher=Greenhill Books | isbn=1853674184 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/medievalcombatfi00talh_0 }}</ref>{{rp|15–16}} The blade was generally used with both hands on the hilt, one resting close to or on the pommel. The weapon may be held with one hand during disarmament or grappling techniques.
In a depiction of a duel, individuals may be seen wielding sharply pointed longswords in one hand, leaving the other hand open to manipulate the large dueling shield.<ref name=medcombat />{{rp|plates 128–150}}

Another variation of use comes from the use of armour. [[Half-sword]]ing was a manner of using both hands, one on the hilt and one on the blade, to better control the weapon in thrusts and jabs. This versatility was unique, as multiple works hold that the longsword provided the foundations for learning a variety of other weapons including [[spear]]s, [[Quarterstaff|staves]], and [[polearms]].<ref name="medcombat" /><ref>{{cite book | last=Lindholm | first=David | title=Fighting with the Quarterstaff: A Modern Study of Renaissance Technique | location=Highland Village, Texas | date=2006 | publisher=Chivalry Bookshelf | isbn=9781891448362 | page=32}}</ref> Use of the longsword in attack was not limited only to use of the blade, however, as several Fechtbücher explain and depict use of the pommel and cross as offensive weapons.<ref name=medcombat />{{rp|73–73; plate 67}} The cross has been shown to be used as a hook for tripping or knocking an opponent off balance.<ref name="medcombat" />{{rp|plate 58}} Some manuals even depict the cross as a hammer.<ref>{{cite book| author =Talhoffer, Hans | title=Fechtbuch | url =https://archive.org/details/fechtbuchausdemj00talh | year=1467|language=de}}</ref>

What is known of combat with the longsword comes from artistic depictions of battle from manuscripts and the Fechtbücher of Medieval and Renaissance Masters. Therein the basics of combat were described and, in some cases, depicted. The [[German school of swordsmanship]] includes the earliest known longsword Fechtbuch, a manual from approximately 1389, known as [[Nürnberger Handschrift GNM 3227a|GNM 3227a]]. This manual, unfortunately for modern scholars, was written in obscure verse. It was through students of Liechtenauer, like [[Sigmund Ringeck]], who transcribed the work into more understandable prose<ref>{{cite book | author=Ringeck, Sigmund | title=MS Dresd. C 487 | url=http://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Codex_Ringeck_%28MS_Dresd.C.487%29 | access-date=15 December 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130916105354/http://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Codex_Ringeck_(MS_Dresd.C.487) | archive-date=16 September 2013 | url-status=live }}</ref> that the system became notably more codified and understandable.<ref name=linholm2003>{{cite book | last=Lindholm | first=David |author2=Svard, P.  | title=Sigmund Ringneck's Knightly Art of the Longsword | location=Boulder, Colorado | date=2003 | publisher=Paladin Press | isbn=1581604106 | page=11}}</ref> Others provided similar work, some with a wide array of images to accompany the text.<ref>{{cite book | author=Talhoffer, Hans | title=Thott 290 2 | url=http://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Talhoffer_Fechtbuch_%28MS_Thott.290.2%C2%BA%29 | access-date=15 December 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130916094026/http://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Talhoffer_Fechtbuch_(MS_Thott.290.2%C2%BA) | archive-date=16 September 2013 | url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Italian school of swordsmanship]] was the other primary school of longsword use. The 1410 manuscript by [[Fiore dei Liberi]] presents a variety of uses for the longsword. Like the German manuals, the weapon is most commonly depicted and taught with both hands on the hilt. However, a section on one-handed use is among the volume and demonstrates the techniques and advantages, such as sudden additional reach, of single-handed longsword play.<ref>{{cite book | author=dei Liberi, Fiore | title=Flos Duellatorum | url=http://www.aemma.org/onlineResources/liberi/flos_dellaSpada.pdf | language=it | access-date=15 December 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140716025650/http://www.aemma.org/onlineResources/liberi/flos_dellaSpada.pdf | archive-date=16 July 2014 | url-status=live }}</ref> The manual also presents half-sword techniques as an integral part of armoured combat.

Both schools declined in the late 16th century, with the later Italian masters forgoing the longsword and focusing primarily on [[rapier]] fencing. The last known German manual to include longsword teaching was that of [[Jacob Sutor|Jakob Sutor]], published in 1612. In Italy, ''{{lang|it|spadone}}'', or longsword, instruction lingered on despite the popularity of the rapier, at least into the mid-17th century (Alfieri's ''Lo Spadone'' of 1653), with a late treatise of the "two handed sword" by one [[Giuseppe Colombani]], a dentist in [[Venice]] dating to 1711. A tradition of teaching based on this has survived in contemporary French and Italian [[stick fighting]].<ref>See, for instance, Giuseppe Cerri's ''Trattato teorico e pratico della scherma di bastone'' of 1854.</ref>