Skallagrim End Him Rightly4/22/2021
After watching Skallagrims video titled, End Him Rightly - A bizarre tactic in a Medieval fighting manual (Gladiatoria MS KK5013), found here.It intrigued me and my mind started to wonder about how this source material reflects threads and sword making.Now Im not going to get into using this technique but rather go into threaded pommels in general.
Im by no means an expert, I dont think Skallagrim is either, however his knowledge and experiences with swords probably dwarfs my own. I do however know a little about machine tool and threads in general. To that Ill speak about and my own thoughts on Medieval threaded pommels and what the manuscript tells about during this time period. As stated in the video, threads werent common until a century after the manuscript was written. Skallagrim End Him Rightly Full Of DesignsModern history is full of designs and other technological leaps that were due to weapons. Most notably firearms, Eli Whitneys attempts at standardizing parts which nowadays is required for mass production along with other technological gains directly related to arms production, such as nuclear power and so on. ![]() This link, mentions screws being used in the 16th century, which is interesting since it states that, Screws were also widely used in assembly armor. When screws are inserted into metal their threads must be fairly accurate in order to fit properly into the receiving threads. This tells us that the most basic equipment was around to make threads that fitted well enough between two mating parts. A screws thread is defined by its diameter, pitch, handedness, taper, and a few other criteria. So 16th century threads were widely used, so it would make sense that threading equipment was around on a limited bases in the 15th century. There are of course questions to how the handle stayed on and how much engagement the threads actually had. If the handle had a rivet under its wrap or were somehow tightly fitted to the tang, than this would make sense, as modern swords would fly out away from the handle without a pommel connected to the tang. The other question regards the threads and how a swordsman could unscrew the pommel off in battle. With the coursest and shortest length of threads, the pommel would have a hard time staying on and what was shownwritten about would make sense. Using a modern threaded sword, the pommel eventually loosens itself up and may cause issues during its usage. Even if the Medieval sword had fine pitched threads that engaged well over a short length of the tang, it still would come loose, and I have my doubts on its maneuverability. Its of my opinion that what was depicted in the manuscript is a sword that was probably a one off sword made by a smith who knew a guy that made threads and wanted to try something different. While the author may have seen it and mentally thought of the technique himself or heard of someone using it successfully. Either way, I bet he added it for its carnival freak show like qualities and its a good thing too, it tells us about technology and probably one of the first gimmicky things that didnt pan out well for the time but was written about. I say this and yet I wonder to what extent this is or isnt true, gimmicky wise, but overall thats what it seems like to me at least).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |