SWORDS WITH ROUNDED TIPS

MEDIEVAL SWORDS WITH ROUNDED TIPS in the 11th to 14th century

The form of the blade tip that was dominant.

Introduction
A sword without a pointy tip? Today, this usually causes surprise and a search for an acceptable explanation. Maybe the sword broke? Maybe it's due to corrosion? However, research and analysis of sources will lead us to completely different conclusions.

Many years ago, when I had the opportunity to see for the first time swords in Malbork Castle, before the reconstruction of the exhibition and also several times later, I wondered why so many swords dating from the 12th to 14th century have rounded tips. A bit intuitively and a bit deceived by modern reproductions, I assumed then that the tips had simply crumbled, corroded, broken or been filed down, but generally they were once sharp, pointed, all of them. The truth, however, was to turn out to be different.
I also always got irritated when I saw these oval (or flatten) tips at modern tournaments used by reenactors. Even when I look through thousands of illustrations in manuscripts and photos from museums every day, I somehow 'didn't want to notice' the obvious fact. Over the years, I have developed a certain 'manner of perceiving' swords and it was hard for me to admit how wrong I was. And I guess I'm not the only one.
The fact is that: The vast majority of sword blades from around 1000 to 1350 had rounded, oval, spatulate tips (at least 65-70% as shown by historical sources and preserved originals) and it was designed intentionally.
Pointed, sharp, spiky tips are found in a smaller proportion of swords and historical sources in this period (around 30-35%). This applies mainly to one-handed swords, but many long swords also had oval or triangular tips. Sharp, spiky tips became most common in the 14th century and later. Although they were present throughout, they were a much rarer form before that.
We should not confuse this rounded tips with a 'blunt' blade, because the edges were of course sharp for effective cutting, with a reinforced section. However, their tips were mostly spatulate.

Was this really what the original swords were like?
Why was this so and was it so common?
Why aren't swords made this way today?
Why don't we pay enough attention to such an important and key detail, which after all affects fighting techniques?

I will try to answer this in the following article.

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To better understand the subject, it is necessary to study the extensive database of swords from the 10th to 14th centuries.
It is worth noting that oval tips have been found in swords and historical sources since the 9th century. However, I will focus on the time period that interests me the most, and which includes swords with the classic form of the medieval sword.

Original swords in museums

The best database and source material is of course original swords in museums. It turns out that, upon closer inspection, we find a lot of swords from the period between the 11th and 14th centuries with oval tips. This is not the result of degradation, corrosion or a break in the tip. It was sometimes thought that after breaking the narrower, pointed tip, the blade was filed down and already had this form. But if one wanted to keep the sharp tip, it could easily be filed down and shaped into a narrow, sharp point. So this does not make sense and is not a proper explanation.
The only explanation for these tip shapes, found in such numbers, is a deliberate design and a specific purpose.
The multitude of swords in museums perfectly reflects in real life what we see in manuscripts, which can be accurate in such details.
It should be noted that in museums we also see swords with sharp points dating from this period, which is normal and obvious. In this article I have selected examples showing only the type of blades discussed in the topic.

Manuscripts
A very good and helpful source base here are manuscripts and thousands of illustrations to which we have easy access. After analyzing dozens of manuscripts from this period, we are surprised by how many swords have a clearly shaped sword tip in an oval, not pointed form.
Of course, one can say that this is just the artist's mannerism, simplification, schematic and symbolic drawing miniatures. But after all, they were created by various artists over the course of almost 300 years and in museums we find confirmation that this is one of the more popular shapes of sword tips. So it is not just an artistic mannerism. Especially since in many manuscripts we see sharp sword tips, so it was distinguished.
It should be noted that in the manuscripts we see swords with sharp points, which is obvious. In this article I have selected examples showing only the type of blades discussed in the topic.

Sculptures
Sculpture in the Middle Ages takes many forms, from statues, through sculptures on cathedral portals, effigies, to reliefs on smaller scales, but it is always more detailed and precise than the small, schematic illustrations in manuscripts.
That is why sculptures are a valuable source of information. Here too, in most cases, we find swords with round tips, which confirms the thesis that most swords in the period 11-14th centuries had just such.

Characteristics, reason and purpose
Among the swords with distinctly oval tips, there are several groups. I would like to focus mainly on those with the flattest tip, which in a way characterize the design features of such blades and it is clearly visible that they were designed from the outset in this shape, for a specific purpose.
By creating reconstructions of such swords, based on accurate data of several original swords, I have been able to better understand some aspects of the intentions of the designers and users of these swords.
From the point of view of practical use, such a sword has specific features that can be felt during use. In some cases, it seems a bit flexible in the second half of the blade, where the blade is cleary thinner, but this only copies the original features. By studying these 'non-visible' features of the original swords, one can try to understand an important aspects of tactics and battlefield conditions. I believe that a certain degree of flexibility could have been an advantage, thanks to which the weapon was avoided 'jamming' and breaking. Especially in close combat, siege or narrow corridors. This does not mean that such a sword does not have adequate stiffness as a whole. It's probably a bit more flexible in the engraving part than we're used to, but not 'too much' at all.

The tip, in some cases, seems more delicate due to its thickness, requires the use of the sword with precision and sensitivity, then it becomes a specialized weapon. As if the last 10-20 cm were a precise knife with which you reach and cut vulnerable points and eliminate the opponent. I also noticed that this oval tip creates a kind of 'angles'which in fact strengthens the very tip of the sword. This is unattainable in 'standard sharp tips' with spiky end, because they are very narrow.
This feature suggests that they were intended exclusively for cutting, as one can conclude. The lack of a blade narrowing leaves more wider area to the very tip of the blade, somewhat 'increasing' the effective range of a hard strike, even with the very tip.
What is most surprising is that a large part of these swords had tips that were not only 'not sharp', but were completely oval or sometimes almost angular (flat-tipped).

Among these swords we have many long, single-handed examples, where one would expect a long reach for an effective thrust, but instead have completely oval, flattened tips, seemingly unsuitable for piercing. In the manuscripts, however, we find many illustrations where a man in chainmail is pierced with such a sword. It would be rather difficult to do with such a tip and a less rigid blade, but not impossible. We can assume that this is a creative invention, but at the same time many other swords had blades that narrowed into a sharp tip, so piercing was certainly possible, depending on the type of sword.

Conclusions
One might be tempted to conclude that in the common view we did not think that there were many such blades (or rather sporadically), and it turns out that they were common in Europe in the 10th-14th century and definitely dominated. This is a kind of groundbreaking change in the view of the type, appearance and purpose of the sword. It can be said that the evidence shown (only a handful of selected examples from hundreds of others) leaves no illusions about it.
Medieval swords, when we talk about the period between the 10th and 14th centuries, mostly had blades that ended in a blunt way, without a sharp tip. This means that we must perceive them, for the most part, as weapons intended mainly for cutting / swinging blows and to a much lesser extent for thrusting and stabbing.
Practice and tests that I conducted also confirmed this, especially in the case of one-handed swords, which are usually accompanied by a larger shield, are best suited for cutting. By 'cutting' I mean chopping, striking and moving the edge. Of course, this narrows the range of fencing techniques in a way, but it does not make the sword less effective. Apparently, such a design of geometry was justified and was the most effective for users.

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Examples of my swords:
https://artofswordmaking.com/gallery/nieuwegein-sword-12thc
https://artofswordmaking.com/gallery/early-longsword-brazil-nut-pommel
https://artofswordmaking.com/gallery/classic-sword-rounded-tip-13thc
https://artofswordmaking.com/gallery/crusader-sword-early-13thc

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