So, while trying to think of what to write for this passion blog my mind had gone on a tangent and I had thought of a German medieval weapon known as a Zwei-Hander. Its translation is two-hander and it is essentially a really big sword. I already have a Scottish Claymore, which is also a sword but I decided to look up the price of a Zwei-Hander replica. Turns out it is not that expensive for one of not so good quality.  Its priced at $60, but that’s for a sword that looks like a Zwei-Hander but not one the same size. The topic of this blog, however, is the weapon itself, not my dreams of owning one.

The Zwei-Hander is of German origin and was used primarily in the 16th century by a group of German mercenaries known as Landsknechte. Due to its large weight and length, it was commonly used in a similar manner to a polearm (basically any weapon with a stick and something attached to the end of it). It was strung across the shoulders when it was carried and had no sheathe.

Its practical use was to be against large pike formations. A pike formation is usually a line of men with spears or something similar all protruding out towards the enemy. What this accomplished was a wall of impalement. Running into it was certain death for unarmored men or horses. The Zwei-Hander was used to be swung at the pike formations to either knock the pikes off their path or to break the thin wooden poles and allow passage of other soldiers.

The characteristics of the Zwei-Hander was a large handle for two hands and a large hilt to protect the arms and hands of the wielder.  It typically had small protruding pieces of metal that acted as an aid when parrying a strike. The blade of course was massive, typically reaching past a meter in length and on the occasion was curved similar to that of a burning flame.

So why do I care? Well, I’m not a big fan of fantasy movies that have stupidly large weapons that are impossible to carry. I like watching realistic movies. Medieval ones include The King and The Outlaw King which are both on Netflix if you are interested. The Zwei-Hander is as close to the humungous swords found in entertainment like videogames and cartoons as you can get, and not only that but they are very appealing to the eyes.

Picture Cites: https://academyofhistoricalmartialarts.weebly.com/blog/history-of-european-martial-arts-part-xiv-zweihander

http://myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.28265.html

https://weaponmasters.com/zweihander-great-sword/

https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/58/3431/two-zweihander-style-twohanded-swords