Today we take a look at another custom piece from Arms and Armor. This is a wide bladed type XVIII longsword modeled on examples form the late 14th century. We've named this sword after Sir Henry Percy, who earned the sobriquet of Hotspur due to his eagerness to engage his foes. The Scots, after having been repeatedly charged by Sir Henry started to refer to him as Harry Hotspur, and the name has stuck for the past six hundred odd years.
A statue of Henry "Hotspur" Percy
This custom longsword is a type XVIIIc, similar in some ways to our Leeds Castle Sword, but with a shorter and stouter blade.
As always, we hand make all of our products at our shop in Minneapolis, MN. Our hand ground blades are made of 6150 carbon steel hardened and tempered to 50-52 Rockwell. Our goal is always to produce beautiful pieces that work, feel, and function just like the historical originals on which they are based. Check out the video below.
Nathan Clough, Ph.D. is Vice President of Arms and Armor and a member of the governing board of The Oakeshott Institute. He is a historical martial artist and a former university professor of cultural geography. He has given presentations on historical arms at events including Longpoint and Combatcon, and presented scholarly papers at, among others, The International Congress on Medieval Studies.
Craig Johnson is the Production Manager of Arms and Armor and Secretary of The Oakeshott Institute. He has taught and published on the history of arms, armor and western martial arts for over 30 years. He has lectured at several schools and Universities, WMAW, HEMAC, 4W, and ICMS at Kalamazoo. His experiences include iron smelting, jousting, theatrical combat instruction and choreography, historical research, European martial arts and crafting weapons and armor since 1985