How to Attach a BELT to a Medieval Sword Scabbard: SIMPLE MODE!
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- A simple way that medieval belts were often attached to sword scabbards, with Zac Evans ( / zacevansjouster )
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It's also worth mentioning that as soon as you draw your sword, the scabbard is actually prone to being damaged by bending/breaking, especially if you say accidentally step or fall on it, which can happen easily in a fight. So, in scenarios like a duel or a tournament, it's very much possible people would prefer to not keep the scabbards permanently on their belts.
Seems like it would just be in the way anyway tbh
That is a very good point. In those scenarios the combatant's seconds or retainers would just hold the scabbarded sword and offer the weapon when it's about to start.
this issue is much less with vertical carry than horizontal carry.
a broken scabbard is also seen on the Ceasar tapestries, which shows it was a known phenomenon in the period.
Tod also has a very good video on how to knot sword belts, including simple knots for one handed swords
ua-cam.com/video/bHLh3VQGrHI/v-deo.html
Reminds me of the 1-point-sling; 2-point-sling: 3-point-sling; rhodesian-sling; etc. discussion that we have today:
the vast mayority of people propably used the cheapest/most simple option aviable (2-point-sling in todays scenario). And the rest were specialized sollutions that some people would go for.
First!...? I had a scabbard made for my Albion "Burgundian" by the Idaho-based maker Christian Fletcher. It may not be period-correct for a late 15th century sword, but I just decided to keep things simple, and had him make it with a baldric.😁
Thank you for the video. This’ll be useful when I’m sent to another world.
Imagine Isekai'ed Matt Easton.
@@Jim58223 i imagined isekaied Metatron tho.
@@Jim58223 it'd be the worst thing Truck-kun ever did.
@@Jim58223 I know I'm not the only one seeing a post-Truck Easton walking around a generic isekai world complaining about all the sloppy anachronisms.
Actually this is very useful. I have bought replica swords before with no idea how to connect the (beltless) scabbards to a belt.
Have a look at Tod Cutlers' Channel he shows how to attach a belt to a plain sword a lot more clearly
This was pretty clear. I can only watch so many videos on the same subject.
Simplicity has a beauty of it's own.
There seems to be a shift in sword belts around 1310-1330. Prior to this, from say 1100-1300 swords seem to be interlaced with a belt. There are a lot of depictions of belts around the surcoat, and a separate sword belt. When the sword is removed, the sword belt is wrapped around the scabbard. (Ex: Heinrich von Hessen's memorial c1298)
However, around 1320-1330 the scabbards appear to be tied to the belt in a way that the ties can quickly be removed, or they are clasped to the belt with brass or other fittings. The Fitzralph, de Creke, and de Bacon brasses are notable for showing this transition. Then they transition into the placque belts, before finally being superseded by the more simple belts like you've shown in your video - around 1410-1420. (ex: Sir John Erpingham brass)
I refer only to brasses though, and there are no brasses of common soldier kits so, this is only a slice of a larger pie for what I described.
this usually also means the earlier style is worn a little further forward on the person and slightly higher relative to their hip joint, this means the sword is wrapped a little around the person behind their shield. Later shield designs are curved in a different way allowing access to the swrod in a different way, affeting the choice of suspension.
hilt design can also make a big difference, with the grips becoming longer and being more in the way if worn more diagonally especially when interacting with other weapons, rein arm or shields.
The real question is how to wear a buckler? I've driven myself up the wall looking for the best solution in contemporary art.
I'm fairly certain that's it's usually just set on the sword handle
I think I've seen pictures with hooks on the scabbards, maybe for bucklers
@@Glimmlampe1982 they don't stay straight unless you hold the sword while walking.
While from a different creator, this is a take on that topic. ua-cam.com/video/eMPimoGMOM4/v-deo.html
@@will2777 I can't fit my buckler over any of my sword handles
My latest longsword came with a beautiful black leather wrapped, wood cored scabbard but no belt.
I tried to fit it in a weapon frog but it was too thin for the buckles, so I ended up using belts like that too, risers would make it a lot more secure though, future reference 🙂
belts were also used to carry a lot of other things before pockets were invented
I've made Baldrics for all my swords, well all four of them. I find that is a easy way to carry them, plus easy to remove when sitting down.
The simplest knot for attaching a scabbard would be a clove hitch.
One thing about earlier periods like the Roman and early medieval swords being mounted on a shoulder strap with the hilt around nipple height and the scabbard vertical and held in against the side by the belt. And how that changes the drawing of it
Yeah, you'd pretty much draw it straight up. Very convenient in tight formations of infantry.
What I find curious is that a lot of the artwork consistently shows sword belts hanging very low, and very loosely, but with no visible way of staying up. Any idea how people kept their extremely loose sword belt with 2-3lb of steel hanging off it from falling down around their ankles?
another great video; though just slightly surprised you didnt give Todd a quick shout out as a reference on the subject
You didn't get back to the practice of cutting slits in the sheath's leather cover to pass a belt through. Seems to me that would kind of make that belt a dedicated sword belt given Tod Cutler's video on how to do it showing it to be somewhat tedious for an everyday activity, but it would be nice to have my suspicions verified.
Otherwise excellent explanation of why it's okay to hang one's sword pretty much any way one wants, taking into account whether one is walking or riding etc.
I expect you'll do more videos on which methods went in and out of fashion at different times and In different places? Please?
It's just like "fashion" (even when functional fashion) today and across cultures and times.
One: whatever works, works, and people aren't always so "precious" as to care.
While the more aristocratic and powerful are the type who *sometimes* want all the bells and whistles, not only are they sometimes the ones who don't--they're the very ones privileged enough... not to care. 😉
Which then, paradoxically, sometimes even ends up in swings of fashion where the elitist/upscale *is* the simple/minimalist, while the gauche/maximalist becomes the sign of the vulgar/common. 😜
"And the wheel goes round and round and round..."
It's something I've thought about before, but I think that reenactment/HEMA/living history unintentionally selects people who have more disposable income than would be typical for the lifestyle that we are trying to recreate.
I think it would be really interesting to see someone assemble historical kit on an approximation of a period budget and explore what that would actually end up looking like.
Or just being a reenactor who is at a low income
The issue with that is... we dont have the guild industry of scabbard makers, cutlers, beltmakers (ok we have beltmakers)
In the modern world, we have a couple of dozen people making scabbards worldwide ..
..unless its hanwei, deepeka, windlass etc who are making their swords with scabbards..
So the economy of scale, the ubiquitousness of expertise is completely off and completely wonky..
So any comparison wouldnt work..
But the difference is that people of the time bought these as proper.. life expenses, if that makes sense... and also the law stratified the required gear so that poorer people wernt bankrupted trying to buy a suit of armour, but instead just had to bring, say a bow, 24 arrows and a sword.
supply of this equipment was largely done centrally for poorer people (like cities or endentured people.)
so any sword you might get would still probably have a scabbard, and many people never paid for some of their own equipment.
in actual practice, re-enactors are largely very poor people, actually. and personal production is often replacing monetary expendature.
i myself managed to become a jouster, with my own horse and full armour etc (and tents) on an income of 10.000€ per annum around 2004, living in the Netherlands. (that is well below mean income and well below the poverty line for that year, and that income level persisted for roughly 9 years, in case you think i was using money saved up)
@@airnt and as mentioned poorer people had to bring less stuff
@@williampanagopoulos656 the point is that they were probably pretty well equipped.
nearly everyone had a decent helmet, nearly everyone had some sword or messer, they all haad a primaary weapon and by far the most had torso protection.
muster rolls exist of english, french and german armies, and soldier are often classified (for pay purposes) by their equipment.
so we have minima for each of those.
in the Burgundian army they are the most explicit
so even the town militias we know what they wore and we know how many were picked up on being under equipped and we know that basically all had these basic items and a significant part had a lot more.
having 20+% men-at-arms (German) to 30% (French)
or 20% men-at-arms or coustilliers (Burgundian) +(30% mounted archers and 10% mounted valets and crssbowmen being largely mounted in many occasions too)
is well established for 15th century armies.
Fredrick the Victorious rides ahead with his vanguard and sort out the whole campaign on one occasion with roughly 4000 mounted men, about 2/3rd men-at-arms and 1/3 mounted crossbowmen.. yet he equips the men at arms with crossbows too, on the fly. (that is several thousand crossbows coming from somewwhere)
so a lot of things were supplied, so perhaps the poorer people didn't always bring it themselves, if that is what you mean.
@@airnt i was thinking of the english assizes of arms of.. 1138? And 1218? and the scandinavian leidang laws also from the 12th century i believe
Hard to know about knights in full armour as they had their mount and attendants to carry most. Day to day, they, baliffs, sheriffs and such, would also have a purse, dagger and other items on a belt before pockets.
How ever you attach it - don't put it on your back!
P.S. Matt, would you review bar fight scene with swords (and swords themselves) from movie "The Krays" (1990)?
Shad would disagree
Same goes for japanese Swords.
Tuck them into the Sash while in Armour is annoying and uncomfortable so the way to do it is to take the Sageo (Sword Band) form two loops over the Saya with a bit of space and then tie it to your hips.
The space between the loops decides how it will hang.
And of course there are also more complex helpers to achieve the same but thats one way to do it.
I think Todd has done a video on types of knots/hitches...might be collab time again 😀
How was Jason’s belt attached to his sword in the short video he did on belts?
Swords are easy. How did they keep their socks up without elastic fabric
How about the lazy method? Tug it into your belt or sash?
I haven't seen any historical depictions of it in the West, but I'm sure that it must have been done at least occasionally with shorter blades, especially knives and daggers...
Also, how often were swords taken on and off?
For one, it can be quite inconvenient to carry a full-sized sword every day. It may be restricted carry in certain places (cities, inns, churches, royal courts, etc.) and then there's the dilemma of carrying additional clothing. I know it's not quite historical, but for simplicities sake: imagine that you attach your sword to your belt and then go out and notice you need a coat. This restricts your access to the items on your belt and if you close your coat it will be even more restricted to the point that you need to remove your belt and put it above the coat! That's certainly one thing where cloaks are superior, but then again, tunics, etc. have been worn and if you need to add or remove a layer, this can become quite a nuisance, especially if you're doing it often... Plus, the belt might also have the dagger, a knife, your purse, a fire kit, some other trinkets, perhaps a pistol (end of middle ages)... and you might also wear a water container in addition to your belt and later also a musket. All this gets in the way of removing a layer...
Matt. Your armor is just beautiful. I really wish I had a set like that. I have full maille in crusader’s style but it’s just the basics with maille leggings and gauntlets and coif. I have not progressed to the metal plate in any form yet so it’s next on my list. I have been researching the styles through the years but yours has my eye like a teenage boy looking at a super car
I use a clove hitch, sometimes a constrictor or very rarely a strangle knot for attaching my scabbard. Clove hitch gives a slight tilt and easier to remove. Constrictor holds vertically and tight. Strangle gives a more tilt and holds tight. All three knots are similar with just two turns around the scabbard or whatever you're attaching.
Reminds me of hanging a spirit rigged yard.
Great video guys. Will be trialling your belt knot at tewkesbury. Simple can be so effective. Keep up the good work.
Awesome way Zac! Thank you Matt for bringing this up and sharing with us.
Great video, Matt. The knot reminded me a lot those shown in a video that Tod Cutler did a couple of years ago.
Belts to make your scabbard wearable: ua-cam.com/video/bHLh3VQGrHI/v-deo.html
Interesting thanks :) When did the simple note end as a way of wearing a sword? It would be interesting to see the evolution of belts and notes.
imagine how will these belt attachment methods go along with modern clothing and lifestyle
I'm partial to using a cat's paw knot on my katzbalger to get it hanging horizontally on account of that big beefy figure-8 guard. It also just feels very appropriate given the names
About dozens of different belt knots for attaching a scabbard - nowadays we have dozens of different necktie / cravat knots. I eagerly wait for the video showing different belt knots.
I do wonder how Polish saber was attached to the wide kontush belt (kontush sash)... though this is from a later period.
Tod (on his Tod's Workshop channel, if you don't know it) also did a few videos on scabbards/belts, even one with Matt IIRC. That's another good resource on belt knots.
Reminds me of a clove hitch
Honestly unless one is traveling, going to war or has another specific need to wear a sword carrying a sword in the hand has a lot of advantages. Not tripping or hitting others, ease of getting in doors or sitting down, the scabbard can be used for a parrying stick if needed and if in hand is ready to go. Etc
This is especially true of longer swords.
Why not hang a sword on a walking staff?
@@junichiroyamashita I suppose one could. I've never thought to but I don't see any reasons one couldn't. Maybe when I'm done being sick I'll make a vid trying it.
If I remember correctly one of fiore's plays involved smashing the scabbard into your opponent's face as you draw, and for this to be possible one must be carrying the scabbard in hand.
@@epifloyd7357 I believe so. I also believe Fiore recommends carrying sword in hand when in a town/city, using the scabbard to bind an opponents weapon then drawing the sword
@@epifloyd7357 I think the guy was sitting down, and he was suddenly attacked, and he was just holding the sword. If i remember it correctly he could have removed his sword for convenience when sitting down. It really in many of these belt setups would be fast to remove, and put on how is just best at that moment.
I must vehemently disagree that vertical carry is annoying in close formation.
In fact quite the opposite.
especially knee in knee (as opposed to stirrup to stirrup) you don't want anybody with a diagonal carry.
the sword hanging down the leg is fine, or hanging stright down just behind the hip is also fine.
also longswords are actually seen vertically quite a lot, look at the Wolfegger Hausbuch, where nearly everyone has a sword hanging straaight down.
In Flemish and German art the shorter swords are more likely to be carried horizontal or diagonal, in particular very short messers.
I must admit this is just personal experience on my part. I have seen a horse being prodded and bothered very heavily by a scabbard hanging incorrectly that ruined a whole display.
@@ZacharyEvans yes, me too, very much so.
in fact all of those were diaagonal carry, dozens of times!
I'm knot convinced.
Do you think this belt method is more effective than a sword frog? Curious on your professional opinion. Thank you. Wonder film. The Lord bless you.
Might be a stupid question because it does depend on an individual’s size, but how long or how much extra length do you want in a medieval say 15th century sword belt?
Sabre for me anyway is better seated on a angle as the vertical hang gets in the way of the legs.
17thc Hungarian and Polish hussar but pre brass trimmed plate which is really late.
The Palasz or konczerc / estoc is attached too the horse tac.
🎩Hi when I was doing re-enactment stuff many years ago I used to wear a baldrick for my sword. Which ment I could just throw the whole thing off if I needed to. Ie as in pike blocks.
At last you have answered the age old question..."How's it hanging?"
Is it acceptable at living history and reenactment events to ask "how's it hanging?"
0:35 a wild Drachinifel appears.
Where is the Pinterest link to the sword belt images? Thank you!
If you have a look in Ashley's book of knots you will find a clinch knot which is very effective but hard to get undone but it does not move or a simple clove hitch seems it would do the thing
I’m using a frog looks better and makes it less needed to have a super long belt
You wouldn't want to bash people with the end of your thing, no. 😏
So for earlier scabbards, is it the angle of the dangle or the belt of the Celt?
in art, are belts attached easily because it's easy to draw easy knots?
Got a question: What kinda messer do you guys think would be ideal to carry/you would be able to carry it (in most places)? I'm thinking the ones that are kinda like fat Bowie knives.
On the fat Bowie front, I was seeing Skallagrim using a Landsknecht Emporium Gustav in his "Sickle to the Face" video from a few days ago. Looks like it would fit the bill.
You need quite a long belt for these knots. I don’t think I'd be using the same belt from my street clothes. 😉
In fact it was normal to have a long end to the strap hanging down in front, so that it not a problem at all. Zac and I literally do use the same belt for both and it is historically normal.
@@scholagladiatoria Fair enough. I used this knot and it required a belt that hangs down to my shins. I guess some people must have worn a belt that long but it seems rather silly, even for the time period. Do you think they wore belts that long specifically incase they needed to tie a scabbard to it?
@@mysticmarbles Thinner belts need less length. As they wrap around themselves, the thicker your belt the longer it needs to be.
@@ZacharyEvans I know. I make scabbards and I typically use something around 5/8 inch for knots like these. The knot still up takes around 16-22 inch of belt depending on the scabbard width. That's a lot of floppy leather hanging around your knees if you choose to wear it without the sword but I guess that's how they rolled.
Well, that gives a new insight in the phrase : "how is it hanging?"
I may try this with my 5th to 11th century swords.
Wait a minute....Did I see Drachfinel in your group of reenactors?
You did. There's an interview with him on my channel.
Thank you for this video.
Apologies way off topic, but curious to know if you've tried throwing spears with the North American Indigenous Peoples "Atl-Atl" spear launch device?
It's quite ingenious; thought you might enjoy delving into it seeing as your other great videos offered discussions on the Indigenous Peoples use of the Tomahawk. Thanks, Eric.
Only 15 minutes?!
Thank you, my Windlass Wakefield Hanger now has a Medieval Belt from Poland attached.
That is fascinating. Thank you.
Where did you two get your belts?
+scholagladiatoria *Scabbards can be crafted to fit any sword, dagger, &c.* A belt to running-fit the hip should have enough slack for a leather-over-wood dagger scabbard in vertical waist carry.
If you keep it dangling that loosely, then you can also reallyy use it as a back scabbard.
7:59 MY MANS IS CAKED UPPPP WTFFF
Where did you get those belts?
About people carrying their swords on their hands, I found that with my katana I could just position it inside my belt and it would hang diagonally. So they wouldn't even need to make a knot, if they just needed the belt to hold it temporarily. This was with a wider belt, but I imagine it would work.
If this is anything like shoelaces, there will be a website with all kinds of stats about the knots. But it's probably not like shoelaces, most people have shoelaces, whereas not even most people who like swords do knots on their belts.
I bought and modified a 2-handed Xiphos (made it lighter so that I can wield it one handed) that came with a cheap sheath so I hand crafted a wooden scabbard for it. This video really helped me a lot to figure out how to add a belt to it and saved me a lot of money trying to add a bunch of unnecessary things to hold it in place.
How common were frogs?
I was knot amused.
In the Shot at 0:35 is that Drach on Nicholas' right side?
Yes, Drach trains in my HEMA club and we are mates. I'm seeing him on Friday :-P
Good video ⚔️
5:20
how about with just an leather scabbard, no wood core/lining/stiffener ?
There seems to be very little evidence for pure leather scabbards. Historically they seemed to fall over on their scabbards less than the modern re-enactor, and if they did then they had more to worry about than breaking a scabbard...
@@ZacharyEvans Thanks
7:57 DONK
Huh...
So we were right all those years ago in the SCA.
Just tying our live steel to our garb.
Even a slipknot would probably work with leather
My favorite D&D characters cobble together their best gear from different adventures over a prolonged period of time, which is a big part of the fun, so there is little incentive to buy a complete, pretty set to start. Get what you need as a bare minimum to begin, with the full expectation that you will upgrade individual pieces as you go along. The end result will look hodgepodge, but the overall kit will have sentimental value because you found it and chose those pieces yourself, rather than just forking over gold pieces for someone else to sell you what they chose to design and make available at the time.
Matt the knot your friend did is an (enclosed backhand hitch)!
It is the bases for a bunch of mooring, winching, climbing & tugging knots.
Not authentic for try sitting doing most daily tasks with a fixed load not on a sheath/scabbard.
You think every tom dick & harry used a sailing/climbing knot back then?
Perhaps a few but not likely as why wouldthey use a securing knot!
If you want to know why most of the art shows no knot visible it's because they often didn't use any for sword sheaths.
What they did was rivet or sew a strip in the back of the sheath as a pass to feed any belt through.
A sword belt is nonsense because most just used an everyday ordinary belt found in the Middle Ages!
If knots were used on a belt, it was normally some decorative split or nonsplit wrap weave followed by a flat stopper or passing back long weave of some kind.
Basically, lacing!
You have very simple laces & you have 1's that are overly complex for aesthetics with it all being personal taste!
You look at all these effigies, but you think a peasant or common levy even owned a leather belt?
They just used a bit of cord & if you want a better idea of how sheaths are suspended from the waist look up cordage strung scabbards.
will give a lot better idea!
The "black belt on black scabbard" part could have benefitted a lot from manually setting the exposure, so you're not depending on the camera deciding whether it wants to show the scabbard, or the relatively bright background.
where can you buy these belts?
I usually get mine from Tod's Workshop. Worth getting one with a steel tongue, even if the buckle is brass.
@@ZacharyEvans i looked at didn't find any leather straps.
found a different site though, but thank you!
Constrictor knot, half knot, Slipknot