Sword Manufacturing of the Early, High, and Late Medieval Period - Essay Example

History History The middle age, also known as the medieval period was the period of time between 500 AD to 1500 AD. This period was further divided into three parts. the early medieval period, which lasted from 500 AD to 1000 AD, the high medieval period between 1000AD to 1300AD and the late medieval period between from 1300 AD to 1500 AD (Bishop, 2001). Sword making benefited a lot and acquired several major improvements during the middle age period.A Medieval sword additionally held extraordinary symbolic importance and featured emphatically in the formal Ceremony of Knighthood.

This symbolic importance was even shown in the Medieval swords design as the cross guard was framed over the handle of the sword to resemble a Christian cross. This gave the Knight the privilege to utilize the sword to protect the Christian religion. Medieval swords additionally highlighted some type of engravings. The engravings on Medieval Swords could incorporate the sword owners name and prayers to God. Engravings could likewise be simply decorations.Enhanced sword designs occurred around 1,300 and 1,500 A.D. Striking inventive sword designs had a longer grip, which permitted swordsmen to utilize two hands in battle.

Long swords began to be generally utilized during the Late Middle Ages. The fame of the long sword developed because of enhanced functionality in cutting and thrusting as well as its far reaching ability (Wigelsworth, 2006).Early middle ageSword smiths in northern Europe found a strategy for sword making whereby different bits of iron as well as steel bars of diverse hardness were joined by bending and folding them together. This was the method used in Europe during the early middle Ages. The capacity to work metal along these lines to make high quality swords depended on the quality of the metal used.

This process was quite long and the sword smiths could take a substantial amount of time before completing one sword. This meant that the production of swords was quite slowHigh Middle AgeAccording to Nelson & Theuws (2000), high middle age was a period of great innovation in sword making. It is during this period that sword smiths tried out different processes to acquire the best raw materials for sword making. During this period, the sword smith got to understand the processes of acquiring high quality swords without using unnecessary processes.

It is during this period that the production of swords began to increase.Late Middle AgeDuring the late middle age, the sword smiths had perfected their skills in sword making and were aware of the important processes needed to acquire proper metal for sword making. This meant that they were able to do away with processes that were not important and they only focused on the processes that would add value to the production process. This resulted to an increase in the supply of swords and the quality of swords also improved.

The weight and length of the swords was made to increase effectiveness of the use of these swords.According to Williams (2003), changes in sword hardness could then be acquired by suitable heat-treatment, in spite of the fact that the relationship between carbon content and hardness ability was not well understood. Heterogeneous razor sharp edges were ideally extinguished to create hardness in futile spots.References:Top of FormTop of FormTop of FormTop of FormBishop, M. (2001) the Middle Ages Boston, Mass: Houghton Mifflin.

Nelson, J. L., & Theuws, F. (2000) Rituals of power: From late Antiquity to the early Middle Ages Leiden: Brill. Wigelsworth, J. R. (2006). Science and technology in medieval European life Westport, Conn. [u.a.: Greenwood Press. Williams, A. (2003). The knight and the blast furnace: A history of the metallurgy of armour in the middle Ages & the early modern period. Leiden: Brill. Bottom of FormBottom of FormBottom of FormBottom of Form