Why didn't medieval people wear SWORDS on their BACK?

[Music] bracings I am shad and in this video we get to revisit one of my favorite topics that being back scabbard and more specifically why it wasn't used more often in the past when sorta actually employed you know for for self-defense and all that stuff now the reason why we're actually coming back to this topic is that it's it's been brought back into interest because it's it's a topic that will be very hard to ever be done with it because we're always exploring different ideas the ways where it's possible and also perhaps uncovering new points of evidence as to why or why not I don't know for myself I've not recently done a lot of research on this topic try and find out some more information that I'm gonna be sharing with you and so recently is this brilliant new youtuber who's just you know his in our sword community and is making content his name is Navy and his YouTube channels coordinate V or sword savvy because on his banner a sword savvy and he made a video on back Scabbers showing that there's another way in which it can be executed where you don't actually need a you know specially made back scabbard like I have here which is really brilliant and that of course has created the discussion once again so you really should go subscribe to Nate's YouTube channel is brilliant and I'm going to be testing out his method of that drawing the sword from you back as well as a couple of others to specifically that might have more historical validity there is already historical validity to you know wearing ass on your back but in the medieval period that's where we actually find a very like a large lack of evidence so not only is this one of my favorite topics because I liked the look of having a sword in your back but I also find legitimate functional advantages with wearing it this way and I've made a whole video exploring that in fact it is - right now don't know what happened in the future but it's my most popular video to date with over 4 million views and like I said in that video I explore the pros and cons and the big feature is that I introduce and demonstrate my back scabbard and yeah it it is working just as well as as ever I got really really brilliant so yeah it works of course it still works and it is that detail that makes this a really intriguing subject for me because it does work okay that's been proven in multiple different ways but because there are also legitimate advantages to it and I actually mean that I really do find that there are and it raises the question as to why wasn't this done more prominently in the past because if it works why not okay and it's a really great question that's the main thing we're going to explore like I said but before we dive into that I do want to just quickly go over some of the advantages of having a sword in your back versus having your sword on the side the biggest one for me is running but specifically running with having your hands-free because you can absolutely run with a sword on your side but it will flap around okay and just to kind of show you what I mean yes so when you're running you see this it's it's jumping it's flipping and it's just it's just not the best thing so you instinctively want to hold it now there are strapping methods that hold a sword even more securely and it would flap around less because that but it still will flap around especially jumping up and down now like I said they've way to fix that is to hold it there are moves run in your hands so the most secure way of wearing a sword is having it fixed in two locations if it's only fixed at one point well that's a pivot point and it'll flap around and so that's why on most sword you know hanging systems there will be two points that help secure it especially if the second point is wrapping around the back like that you know it's like that it holds it but not perfectly okay it'll still flap around as a result and so a far more secure way of connecting the scabbard to your body is separating the points of contact and keeping them very close and that's exactly what we see on the back scabbard you have the bottom connection point and the top connection point and so that keeps it really really secure now my first video I had it looping around my bottom belt but you know big brain moment has been done by so many other people is a third strap right here this additional belt here prevents it from lighting down because to slide down this part of the boat needs to slide up but that's being held down and that is connected right down here and sorry as a result this is even more secure and stop sliding yeah and it doesn't force my blower belt to hang up and then it is there ready to go and that industry right back that I got so with that this is actually fixed way more secure like okay like you can I can jump up and down I can run around and I actually have a video of me doing cartwheels really putting that to the test so coach you get that video as well not gonna bother doing cat was right now because the cartwheel was the point of reading like when you were actually outside I'm pulling up yeah you did need like a strap just to hold it in but what I will show you and this is an idea that some people have assumed and it really depends on the type of scabbard that when you bend over it'll fall out well it's it's it's not full yet okay it is really good and snug and secure there if I can I get it there we go so you really need a jerk it to get it to slide out but when it's in there like that normal movement like this secure not a problem and then when you need it very quick very easy just like that so that is by far the main benefit but it's actually an interesting point of reference to look back on to try and find the answers to why that it wasn't done historically so remember that okay best biggest advantage is how securely it is fixed to your body and then we'll be coming back to you that point a bit later on so there are a couple of tangential comparisons that you know should be made try and determine the pros and cons but a lot of these ones I personally find then the differences are so minor it wouldn't matter either way for instance our comfort yeah it's a weight on your shoulder this is a weight on your side like a personal preference I think would come in there what is generally better to have things hang on your hips or your shoulders both can support lots of weight so again no real massive one way or the other speed of drawing now this is one that I actually found can be a bit of a misconception that because you need to move your arm over a larger distance to grab your sword that therefore is going to be slower to draw they're just in testing this I find that is actually almost so close you can't even really see differences because one of the other things is that it only applies to my type of scabbard where I actually don't need to draw it out as far right of that sheath as I do need here to get the sword out of you know a normal sheath you draw out the full length of the blade to get it out especially when you got a big long one like mine but with this one you only need to draw it you know half the length of the blade and it's good to go out and so the actual time it takes to get it out of the sheath is far far less then right there I generally don't like these because there is bias involved in everything but I'll just uh legitimately try and draw it you know these swords as fast as I can all right so I hands at the side everything if I go there all right now I actually think I probably could do fast occurs sword is a little stuck in the sheath which this one tends to but I tell you what in terms of a speed comparison of putting it back quicker actually putting the sword back in the sheath longer on the side then on the back because it's very intuitive but it doesn't really matter because putting the sword away is it nearly as crucial as getting the sword out so now G does stick say yeah that's a little loose I really don't buy so I'm trying to be as fast as I can so so that's that and then follows just saying yeah it's hard to tell which one was faster I actually think a backscattered might have been cited the fact you could I tell you you know getting better at putting it back you can feel when the blade is snug as I get a sound cue and a tactile kind of cue to know that's in bang and I remember another video where I was having trouble and I said practice will make perfect had a lot of practice now putting it back easy City so again hands at the side even if one is quicker than the other and just from my own understanding in you know brain time measurement there I actually think the back Scout it's a tiny bit faster but honestly the difference is so minut it doesn't matter it doesn't matter so no real pro con there either there is a very big con through the back scabbard versus the size cabin this might be one of the more significant reasons even though I'm jumping a gun because I still want to explore Nate V's method of doing this and then get to the reasons why it wasn't done historically but I guess we're gonna get one of those reasons before because it is a big problem corner and that is cloaks man people probably don't understand how prominent in common cloaks were in the medieval period they were used for warmth keeping off the rain fashion they were very common okay for a lot of people not everyone of course but for a lot of people if you're going outside you'll be wearing a cloak yeah I have a whole video exploring you know employing cloaks in combat and the differences and I get this thing yeah and do some tests and it might be some workarounds but overall very difficult to wear a cloak and incorporate such a back scabbard straight away and so that's the issue the answer is of course don't wear a cloak do you always need to know you don't always need to but in the times where you do you could get it over it would be awkward and so it's not to say it makes it impossible it's not like well because more difficult wear a cloak it's not impossible I shouldn't say it's impossible because more difficult backs crabbers are like no no and what's interesting is cloaks in fantasy sometimes are used a lot but not in like when it's visually depicted cloaks aren't very common in terms of the action like you don't see the witch are wearing a cloak because when you really want to jump and flip around well I think a cloak getting away more than a bug scabbit so general consensus is you teed off again got a whole video on if you really take a cloak off in combat and pros and cons so next pro and con I actually think this is a really big point in the back scabbards favor over the side scabbard and that is not a lot so I've already done running and jumping but when you need to climb or crawl on the ground or wade through water of some kind if you're in a swamp or things like that and like warlike hole battles were waged in condition in swamps and stuff like there was some battles here in Ireland and it's when their the war dart was used a lot and there's actually pictures of you know Nobin and people who fought in those wars without shoes on to reflect the fact that you know they fought in these wars in marshes and they didn't wear shoes because so that good water like just stuck in the ground and other things so they just went barefoot so absolutely and if you're doing that you would want to keep the sword out of the water or marsh you could do it and your sword will just get wet you would want to clean it very quickly and if it's already pre oiled you could actually protect it it depends how long it's not like deal and if you wanted to avoid issues like that having the sword in your back it's almost completely unless it's really high sneaking perhaps it's a slight pro in the back scale of Saveur because this one can swing around more high chance of hitting something because people say that you know this is going to hit things when you're walking around in my experience from having won both it's about the same honestly that like there's very high chairs this is I have had this hip things on the side and some like I just need to be a little mindful and careful as you do with a sword on the side so maybe that's even honestly sorry next advantage and I think this one might be more significant than people realize we talked about wearing the sword but when you draw one of these swords well you're still going to be wearing the sheath now what's interesting is that most methods of attaching a scabbard or sheath to your belt is made to balance it when a sword is in and so for some not all of them but for some when you draw the sword out this becomes unbalanced completely and will flap down and just hang like that and actually becomes less secure and will swing around even more and so that's a detrimental thing with a with a side scabbard but back scabbard when the sword is here okay this is in a very secure spot so not a problem either let's get that in there now I've mentioned this last one briefly already but I actually want to kind of emphasize a little bit more is putting the sword away now I cannot put this sword away in its sheath one-handed without looking at the scabbard it flips around too much I have no point of reference I simply can't do it you would think intuitively it would be impossible it perhaps even harder on your back but this is where my own design has a big advantage and makes it a different game as I mentioned does that really matter because once it's you know if the fighting is done you just look at it put it away two-handed take your attention off but what if you actually needed to change weapons and you didn't want to throw your weapon away and you're in combat and you need to do it quickly but say you're in a fight where you grab your sword out you're doing thing and you just need a quickly change your weapons or grab something you need to your hands quickly maybe you're in a grout wall or something's grappling here you probably wouldn't take the time but you just needed it it could be a reason all right multiple reasons even or you just need to put the sword away quickly one-handed and then do what you need to do and then you can grab it out again and so putting the sword away alright with this backscattered is actually a lot easier than that and and so I think the proof of concept has been proven a lot that so that's one it isn't a game changer and ultimately for nowadays virtually in fantasy it's going to be a bit of personal preference what you want for your character either and if you're actually wearing a sword what you prefer if you're going to be reflecting something historical still I like in the medieval period we're gonna get to that I'm gonna explore the prevalence II and perhaps reasons why but now I want to explore some of these other methods starting off with Nate's one so with Nate's method and I don't think is the first one to propose I'll come up with this idea I'm not saying you copied anyone else it's just that when you think you have a problem it's very intuitive to actually come to the same ideas and that's that's the same with my back step but I'm not the first person to think of putting a opening on the side of a scabbard and open it up I didn't copy anyone but I came to that same idea just by looking at the issue logically though I've never seen anyone added the guiding flap wing of the back side to help put it back in and I think I've demonstrated again and again again it works beautifully in fact it's working better than when I first started cuz I had less practice well just get the practice down this thing the guiding flap works beautifully in putting the sword away so I think I could credit that to being my own invention I still came up with the opening myself but I'm saying like perhaps no one else's figured out before I I don't know I just haven't seen it and it does work so conventionally when people are saying you can't draw a saw that's on your back they are always referring to drawing it on the same side as your main hand using it and of course you run into a classic problem yet your arm reach isn't enough to bring it out and so people have just kind of said that's the issue there's no point in arguing any further it can't be done just wear it on your side now even though that's not true it can be done Nate's shown it and a spirit when you make a different scabbard I've shown it it actually does I think give inside us to perhaps why it wasn't done historically because we've seen in real life that when there's such an easy alternative just wearing it on your side there's no real need to try and work out any solution you just look that because it's already there you have a solution bang you don't need to try and play around with it smart people right I've looked at this problem many times before it just simply says it can't be done that is evidence to show that that's probably a big reason why people the past just sort there's no point in trying maybe it can be done but why you can just wear it on your side and you're all good as the saying goes necessity is the mother of invention it's only when you if there's a problem to be solved or you have a reason to really try and figure out to do something that you end up inventing or figuring out a method to do it and the question is historically was there a need not really think about that I'm kind of missing the latter part of this video with us now I'm just kind of addressing reasons why historical medieval people probably didn't do this as we go as they come up and this is one that's come up and it's that how often would a medieval soldier Knight anyone who is wearing a sword be first running jumping wading through marshes things like that the obvious answer is not very often in actual fact in many of the instances where they would be running the sword is already going to be in their hand and drawn and they might end up charging the enemy they don't always charge by the way and so even on the battlefield running it is something you do less than what is depicted in Hollywood and things like that they will march approach the enemy in an actual formation okay but if they do charge there if they retreats you're probably running then and if you're pursuing a retreat King you know enemy you'll be running as well and all those instances you'll be holding it and so you wouldn't really need to think about a better way of strapping or wearing a sword when it's she's that keeps it more secure when you're doing these active activities because you're just holding it when you're doing it so again no real necessity need a go no reason why people need to go either way to do it there is another obvious kind of thing as to might explain to people not some wearing a sword in your back in with the intent to draw it but carrying it over long distances that's where what many people have said not just me said yeah it makes sense to carry a sword in your back if you're traveling over long distances of course someone must have done it historically so now getting back to soothe a method that nate is proposing in his brilliant video you really need to go watch it check it out okay instead of having the hilt of the sword on the same side as the army drawing yet he says what about if the sword is here and you reach across your body and grab it like sorry and then you draw it out like that because you have a longer draw so now let's actually fix this to my back and test it now to give this method every chance of success I think you need to go out of your way and look for a method of fixing it that will help out so hanging it or attaching it to your back with straps that are meant to attach to your side probably isn't gonna help out as much and that might be very well be the way Nate is doing it but if I'm gonna be doing it instead of having it hanging off a belt where it's separated and can slide around things I add I feel you'd actually want that you know one belt coming up straight and then another belt coming down straight and so it's on your back like that instead of hanging off the belt because that's gonna make more problems and so I have this you know leather kind of frog thing that actually came with one of my kids wooden swords meant to hang a thing and I'm just made an attachment to slide this through like so it's gonna be too damn big I did it with the longsword and I'm try and get with this arming stone and it actually doesn't fit the AMEX order but the thing is Nate has shown it okay and so I wanted to reproduce it and duplicate it and show you that it does work alright pending on the size of the sword and Nate points that out and he says it does work for long swords and yes does work for longswords not the really long long swords depending on your arm length but for like an arming sword I already showed you that on this side problem but on this side not a problem at all alright you get absolutely right now it requires the the scabbard to flip up a little bit but especially if it's a bit lower and in terms of people saying it's a danger even they point out it might be endangering yourself here the plates pretty darn close to the side when you doing it there it's just the face is more sits close to your eyes which is winner what really triggers their alert kind of a reaction but it's no more questions just dangerous and you're careful and you can just draw it out I don't see has an issue as well now putting it back requires practice Nate clearly practice this a lot but yeah his method works perfectly fine length of saud day that's where we get to the issue I actually made this to fit my longsword not the arming sword so this will actual l-let me uh take off this side strap here and now you put it in right so I've made it to fit this and alright so that's actually pretty secure we've got a top strap as top belt bottom belt and we can fix it across knee I'll spoil has already mentioned that I ran into troubles doing it this way but I'm still going to show you because it also demonstrates how securely it's fixed onto your back doing this method as well we just were throwing and so that's what I'm going to show you and I can also show you one of the potential difficulties strapping it this way works best when you have that third or second boat whatever you want to call it strapped on the side so I have a you know a bit of a thong right there that I can just wrap around here and get the effect there so that's going to be pretty secured now in terms of comfort now this is attached it's actually it's actually pretty secure okay so in terms of people saying it's flapping around too much depends how it's fixed it's always going to be depending on what your belt thing is so if this was hanging off like a side bolt I'd run into issues but because I've attached a more secure method like this actually really really good like surprisingly we're not running around this is like secured really effectively and if I try and swing around does fun that's where the that's where it can get a bit oh okay you know so you see this action here but running it works anyhow if you're gonna be using arming sword master sword sword a longsword Nate has shown it can work all right and if it was tighter it would stop the sliding back but for me for this long sword too long any what what happens that I can grab it now Nate said for a longsword get it on to the side of the shoulder so I'm gonna try even that like really bring it around okay like that really try and give this every chance had growing it on the side like it was a stretch you could do it you could draw it okay so Nate was right absolutely putting it back or now it is close to my face a he grabbed it so let me double check that practice I don't want to discount something when all it takes is practice but this is this is all good to begin with oh I don't want to push that any further but what I will do is differently the old old comical way of you know trying to get a sword out okay so that is back in secure right so a couple things that basically need to happen to get this to work the belts all coming loose now I didn't fix it as tight as I should so one of the things that really either happen to get Nate's method to work is that you can't fix the bottom part of the scabbard to the back it needs to be able to slide up like this for you to pull it out and that does cause it flare a fly all around but it works okay it works for most swords when you get into the really long ones that that's when you do run into trouble I even though I was able to pull this sword out you know getting it onto the back onto my shoulder like this it would affect the quick drawing thing you'd have to reposition the sword to grab it and then pull it out it can be done right here and when something can be done with enough practice you can get super fast so I'm not gonna try and gauge the end result of how effective it is based on my current ability with it but made is showing here's a lot of practice especially putting it away and sorry we're depending on the type of sword my conclusion is this is absolutely a perfectly valid method of wearing a sword on your back say awesome night thank you for sharing it with us and really looking forward to seeing what you make in the future so if wearing a sword on your back can be done and there are functional reason to do so there are benefits to do so and even situations in which individuals will prefer like for me I actually prefer it granted some of it is bias because I do like the way it looks and when it comes to you know preferences in fashion that is very culturally influenced one of the reasons I'm you know like it is probably very likely the fact that I've seen it in pop culture so much and it's just imprinted on my subconscious at that that looks cool it has this cool strong thing but even without having even with having said that ok does not mean that there wouldn't have been someone in the past who would have liked that even against the cultural norms of the day is that most people honestly would have been affected by the cultural norms and this was the fashionable way to wear a sword as well as all the other functional reasons and that would have the most you know overriding you know influence as to where a sword would be one there is evidence of swords being worn on the back in the past there are pictures from Japan other place in Asia to China there's also some interest in the scale Gramsci had this one in his own video on the matter is that there are certain you know Celtic graves of people buried with swords underneath them on their back essentially now he does mention that that is in confirmation that they wore at they were just buried this way but there is a Celtic statuary that looks like it has a sword to pickle on the back as well this idea because there are functional reasons and it is a practical method of doing it that way of showing that means obviously it appears at some points in the past appear in the medieval period I have found no evidence for it when I say I event in the past couple of days I'm not understand I've literally scaled through thousands thousands of pictures of medieval artwork going in areas you know where you can access them that aren't generally known by the public because I figure if there is an image of a medieval artwork showing a sword on the back if it appeared in any of the common sources it would have appeared somewhere on the incident already so I need a look at areas that probably haven't been you know looked at as often and what's really great about the modern day as a lot of museums are digitizing their illuminated manuscripts another medieval hour because you can actually get access to huge amounts of this you know these medieval artworks that are generally however find on the Internet and I've only just been coming available and just on a side note like the the days that were not days but the hours I think I've spent a six six nine hours or so just scouring the internet looking for artwork that might show you know swords on the back I found some really interesting images I like just injured a bizarre one sometimes it's just interesting ones I found this great source that showed portraits of Bavarian Dukes that date from the early 1500 so this is just at the end of technically the official medieval period but it's right on the transitional period and it's just it shows fashion it shows style and one of the things that drew me towards that I was looking at towards the latter end of the medieval period where swords are began there might be more functional reason to wear on your back but even in these portraits where they're wearing big at least long swords and one that looks like a great sword right that's what they're all on the side stone there were some maybe images there's something on his back but but ultimately no there's nothing definitive and so after looking through thousands of images not a single sword on the back or indication of it being on the back really you know paints the picture now absence of evidence is not evidence for absence okay so just because we can't find it doesn't mean it was never done but the more often it was done the more likely it would have appeared in artwork like this because swords are depicted in that works quite a medieval works quite a lot and so the lack of depictions of swords on the back with medieval artwork at least an indication that it was very rare okay so why was that the case if there is functional reasons to do it so I've been thinking about that and I've come to some interesting kind of conclusions because the first one we were to talk about fashion and tradition that's it that's a far bigger one than you might think and so once it's already established this is the way that you wear a sword people are going to wear a sword that way to fit in and the people wearing the other way it stared out sometimes people want to do that but more than that you you know as a reason why people don't wear underwear on their heads in the modern day this things have certain functional reasons and you wear them where they hear people do it sometimes but for the large majority people who just want to conform to what is generally understood as fashionable of course a question is why was the fashion established thin because when the first people started wearing swords why was it picked to be on the side and then on the back and then after that decision was made tradition can come in and it becomes more ingrained and there's actually a very big reason that I haven't heard anyone you know mentioned that when I think about this could be a really significant reason was to that would exclude wearing a sword on your back in a lot of situations battlefield warfare situations specifically now it's not because many of the people were opposed to wearing things on their back they did but that actually might be the answer they might not have worn swords on their back because they were already wearing something else on their back already beforehand yeah that's right shields all right and before two-handed swords came in okay one-handed swords you're basically considered under armed if you're going to battle and you didn't have a shield shield is like one of the most primary and common you know things that you carried into warfare you'd have an axe you'd have spear something like that but a shield is almost a necessity in so many types of warfare not just admit early medieval period in medieval high medieval period look at warfare from earlier periods like a classical period shields are everywhere and when you're traveling even over long distances and in short one of the classic ways to wear a shield on your back just with a strap like this all right now if I already have this in place could I feel the sword on my back yes I could it would be more awkward I have to take my shield off out of with the sword and the shield back on and so that creates more barriers to getting that done when the an easier solution just where the store on the side in fact I feel at a place I'm wearing a long sword with a shield one hand sword yeah that's a bit better and so one-handed swords actually far more common than two-handed swords okay even in the times when two-handed swords are use run him swords was still hugely prevalent alright in actual fact long swords represent a minority of sword use in the historical picture than one have my father than one-handed swords okay and one of the advantages of one-handed swords is you got a free hand what are you gonna do with it so I actually have methods of just swinging it up that's actually pretty easy first time I try that but grab it and I'm right and you're ready to go and by the way having the strap around your neck while you're holding your shield very common historically look at all these hours okay and the ones I found more often actually representative of the Chi fields and he DeShields but yeah alright having it strapped you know doing all you what you need to do and then once you're done well you just and you're ready to walk around so that I think is what a big reason why the beginning the initial birth of wearing saw scar from where the initial birth happened before the haver Barry but seriously if you're wearing a shield very unlikely you would wear a sword also so link sorry mate when you're doing the double thing maybe all it's for a way to do the double thing but again we come back to that idea about necessity being the mother of invention I'm confident that there is a way to make wearing a shield okay on your back and having a sword there will work but why would I need to try and figure that out when this works fine there are advantages and disadvantages but there's adventures here the cloak thing is a big one and so because I might lose some of the events just again arguably equivalent different advantages for the back and I actually think it's a far equivalent trade-off why would I bother when getting similar amount of advantages versus versus disadvantages requires more work ingenuity thinking when I don't even need to waste the time big reason I think now out of practicality in a function this would have remained the norm for a very long period so if you always mentioned again again I don't it's hard for me to acknowledge medieval as for the year 1000 because for me I saw I chronically identify castles knights with the medieval period and you don't really see him before them and so maybe could you call it the Dark Ages I don't like Dark Ages either better yeah so looking at 500 to 1000 shields all the way through and then in the high medieval period the period that I really had to devise the medieval period from the 1000 all the way through to 1300 1400 shield is still around okay and even in the situations where you take off the shield suddenly you have tradition fashion ingrained in the society so strongly why would you really need to try and think around the issue of to get the sword on your back especially when some of the advantages of getting a sore on your back can be done in an alternative way of side carrying and this is a historical thing okay this is really interesting but if you're wading through bogs or you just need it off the ground so it might not clatter when you need to crawl something like that or if you're climbing there is a method to do that but still have it on the side let me show you yep that is the Baldrick Baldrick a belt slung over your shoulder now if you won't think how well the Baldrick is some generally what I found is more classically identified with Renaissance rape years can won't classically be displayed by being hung on a baldric but no Baldrick's were used very much in the medieval period look at these artists e-resources these are some of the resources I found in all my you know searching and searching and searching because I wondered that if the sword is on your back generally is going to be attached through a baldric it's gonna mirror in the back and so if I search keyword Baldrick I might actually find someone who saw a strap and there might be on the back there's an interesting point of reference to try and search for perhaps but what I did find was of course swords worn with a baldric okay now what I find really interesting there's like why why would you wear a sword on a baldric over on your belt well comfort again if you prefer the weight distributed on your shoulder that on the hip that's one now in terms of how attached it will fly flip around even more so than the more secure built detachments so why do it well what if you wanted to do this to get the sword out of the way and off the ground I think that's and you just hold it with one hand you know it wouldn't stay there permanently unless you hook to the belt onto something but look at that you have a oh by the way if you're wondering I have a different Scabbers and so I didn't want to have to like take off all the bells and everything and so I attached into one of my lab Scabbers in yeah there is a scabbard made for this slop sword both by Kalamazoo bright great brand by the way the calamus old witch's sword and so I wonder if I can two names what method I need to swing it sorry can't do it not like that but anyway it is actually a really really cool thing and it looks pretty cool I really cool detailed scattered so you wouldn't do it to draw the sword on your back but if you're wading through water and marshes time to get the sword out of the way hike it up like that and then once you're ready back down and then you can draw it ready to be used and yeah quick shout out to Kalamazoo this isn't sponsored by the way but I bought I bought these with my own money because really good quality just really good quality a lot of swords made a video on them so yeah but I do have an affiliate link from the other video I made on them so I just check that down if you're interested anyway Baldrick's there we go swords worn on the side on a baldric and when you are in that situation where you need some of the advantages of wearing a sword on your back it can convert to a back scabbard instantly do I know if that's what they done historically about we know [ __ ] worn but do I know they did it with Baldrick no idea all right I still have not found any you know depiction of you know that and would be interesting you that this would confirm it if we found a sword on the back from medieval period but if the sword was hanging you know in a different angle to the thing maybe or maybe it was Nate's method but that's an interesting result of hiking a baldric up to be on the back so now our all my searching guess what I did find I actually did find his this is my contra to myself he Mia I did find an image of a sword being worn on the back but not high on the back not the classic you know a fantasy thing but this is absolute evidence that swords were sworn on the back in the medieval period that's what I'm saying okay I we have references of you know things the outside the medieval period but have a look at this picture alright how that's is interesting so I've duplicated it here and what you have is a two loops okay one loop attaching the belt and then a connection point and then a wider loop that hangs over your neck and so this seems to be the method just like that and why do they print where they might prefer the weight I mean it's around the neck but of course there are other ways to you know prevent that and things but this legitimately looks to be the way and people could say with shad this is actually a method of wearing a sword on your side having the Baldrick looped down to get you know it's not really more stable alright and in this picture they're just depicted it on the back like that and I get that of course as probably is the case but it seems to be that they are from this picture and we can explore to try and figure out the advantages of wearing a sword like this sorry it's out of the way of your hands you know this no nothing sticking you out I mean I met previous video her explore the bow yeah I could be a dad in fantasy I do mention that too and his swords hanging out like that getting away after swinging around and stuff and so if I had a belt that I was wanting to wear on my side but I needed it out of the way from the front part this type of method where I had a baldric like this alright now I need to use my bow time to get this sword out of the way so I can do it well yeah sliding this along the belt the belt is so tight actually really difficult it takes time you have to like to get it back behind this is quick it easy thing now it's out of the way I can do what I want and then perhaps I put it back or this image could be that the guy wore it like this all the time we don't possible all right and yes I saw there because the sword can be grabbed just as easy I just like that and sorry you know if you're wanting to end up this like it but if you want to grab the sword ready to use just there there I'm good and then putting it away just as easy and then hanging just like that but this this is a historical method is on our work that is my very detailed look add back scabbards once again the pros and cons and of course reasons why we see it far less in the medieval period specifically because there is evidence of it happy of sort of being on the back outside as I mentioned and gone over and I put on my regular back scabbard now because there is one last thing that I do want to mention which I probably could have put earlier on to make it more flow more easily but hey you say what you can when it comes to you mind is that back stabber like this less like in the middle period because it requires a custom scabbard we are only calling it custom now because it's unconventional to the norm if this was the norm a regular scabbard that's connected all the way up on each side would be considered custom okay with how elaborate some of the scabbards were in the medieval period especially with specific you know rigging mechanisms because there is art work showing swords hung from belts just through a loop sometimes through the belt itself ah that was my other reason maybe I'll say it now where I'm at because yeah there are scabbards made with their own separate belt but say you didn't want to make like a dedicated belt to where your sword you generally already wearing a belt and so you can avoid the extra work and wearing a sword on your back that will always usually require an additional belt from the one that you probably already wearing even if it's just a quart of rope which he calls a rope lots in the medieval period just around the waist and so save your time and money and making its own dedicated belt hang thing you can just loop it through your bolt like that you know that there is probably the most intuitive and logical reason why swords have always been more commonly worn on the hip than on your back because you already have a belt around your waist and it's the most easiest convenient thing to just slip it through the belt that exists there and then it's hung and that can create the tradition and the idea the fashion that this is where swords belong and that is out of the way so that is actually one of the bigger reasons combined with shields that warfare for the larger portion of the medieval period involved shield and best place our carry she was on the back combined with cloaks okay cloak will go over the sword already those are three big reasons sword through the belt cloak and shields why the first idea of where to wear your sword is going to be at your side then there are more elaborate ways to wear a belt and we have seen historically that builds oftentimes had their own belt that they hung from separate to your waist belt now to me that takes as much additional work and fiddling then making something like this like if you were doing it you wouldn't make an additional scab but that would be the main scabbard and to make us covered like this I don't see it any any more work than making a regular decent scabbard just like that you just make something like this and then because you did the belt that you have it attached to no more work so make a belt like that as the belt that you know this is going to hang by and so the idea that back scabbards weren't done because they take additional work doesn't doesn't fly it doesn't make sense because normal sidewalks cabins often talk a lot of work especially the fancy ones just as much work as that and so these ideas I've just found really interesting personally and I wanted to share them with you and having said all this I really do feel the backscattered absolutely can fit in a fantasy setting logically and functionally and can work brilliantly well alright sorry I just like showing it because every I call okay and I do like the look alright now we have a different aesthetic different fashion idea that this looks utilitarian it looks you know heroic and things are just like yeah bye wait he meant he doesn't have a proper scabbard but the the pet sort of power very short and maybe had a and in a medieval setting even sticking with some of the iconic medieval look you can impose a different you know fashion mindset honest a different aesthetic an aesthetic that is more appealing to a modern audience and mix it up a bit and I think because of that that's where the necessity came in that's where at me and a lot of people's like alright we like the look can you do it and after I've done it I found very little benefits to it okay and it's interesting weighing up the pros and cons so absolutely keep it in fantasy I think it's great fun and depending on your preferences I personally think it looks very cool and so I thank you for watching guys is one of my favorite subjects as you can see and hopefully I'll be able to make more videos on it in the future hope you've enjoyed hope to see you again as well so until then there [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Shadiversity

Views: 466,977

Keywords: sword, swords, scabbard, sheith, back scabbard, shabbard, wear, wearing, carry, belt, baldric, backscabbard, sword on back, medieval, history, fantasy, witcher, the witcher, middle ages, shield, shields, viking, knight, knight's, castle, castles, longsword, greatsword, he-man, lord of the rings, dungeons and dragons, dnd, d&d, roleplaying, rpg, role playing, game, video, larp, hema, historical european martial arts

Id: -H65RlAklDc

Length: 45min 35sec (2735 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 06 2020