Katana or European Longsword

[Stoat]

The shield wall. That was what guided weapons of pre-norman times. The interlocked shields meant that swords of anything over 3' long were impractical because there simply wasn't the space to use them. Instead the front rank would have a long bladed heavy knife, similar in many ways to a Roman gladius. This allowed for stabs at the legs/groin of the opponent. The second rank tended to have a mixture of long hafted axes and short spears. The axes used for ripping shields down/forwarded to help break the wall, and spears for stabbing into any spaces the axes could make. Many dead men would remain held upright simply by the press of bodies. Imagine, if you can, the stench of alcohol, fear, death, blood, faeces and urine.

The shield wall was not a nice place to fight.

Long swords, whilst carried by most, were only used in skirmish fighting where there was space to wield them.

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