The Spatha and the Knightsword
Used by the Romans and Medieval Knights these swords gave birth to Myth and Legend
Growing from the Roman Gladius, these swords became the legendary blades of the middle ages that lasted in combat in one form or another for over a thousand years.
The Spatha was the first of the Iron Age straight swords, in use throughout the 1st millennium. Introduced in the Roman Empire in the 1st century as a cavalry weapon, the Spatha remained popular throughout the Migration period and the Viking Age, until it evolved into the arming sword (also referred to as a knight sword) of the Middle Ages which was carried as late as the Renaissance. This gave the spatha and its offspring design an active service life on the battlefield of some fifteen hundred years
The thousand year period of use saw evolutions mainly in the construction of the blade and variations in hilt and pommel design. Generally spatha was between 28 and 38 inches long and two to four inches across the blade with a gentle narrowing from the tang to the tip. The construction of these swords was generally in layers with soft iron and carbon steel intertwined into a composite blade. Unlike the Gladius of ancient times the spatha was worn on the left of the soldier because the longer blade could only be drawn crosswise.
First used by Roman auxiliary cavalry in the first century AD the spatha was adopted by most legionaries of the rank and file within a hundred years. By 400AD Germanic and Viking barbarians had taken the sword design for their own use and by 700 AD most professional warriors in continental Europe carried this type of sword with small variations seen from nationality to nationality.
The Norman army of 1066 carried the spatha's final design which by that time had reached nearly a meter in length (39 inches) and had a full cross guard. Earlier designs of the Romans and Vikings tended to be smaller and lacking all but the most simple hand guards. The spatha morphed from this final design into that of the classic medieval Knights sword (or arming sword) shortly after this time period. These swords were used with a small shield or buckler and were the primary military sword of the mounted knight as late as the 1350's. Knights typically carried these weapons with them even while not in armor. These swords are the basis of many legends and fantasy stories with their most famous example being that of the mythical "Excalibur'.
The knight's sword only declined in use after the time of heavy armor, being augmented by the heavier two handed long swords. They were only replaced fully by the rapier swords of the Renaissance around the 16th century.
