Arming sword The arming sword ( also sometimes called a knight ' s or knightly sword ) is a type of European sword with a single - handed cruciform hilt and straight double - edged blade of around , in common use from the 11th to 16th centuries . It is a common weapon in period artwork , and there are many surviving examples in museums . History and use . The arming sword was the standard military sword of the medieval European knight . The term came into use to differentiate the standard single - handed sword from other recently developed types such as the war sword and great sword . It is so called because it was worn with armour . It was typically used with a shield or buckler ; however , there are many texts and pictures depicting effective arming sword combat without the benefit of a shield . According to medieval texts , in the absence of a shield the empty ( normally left ) hand could be used for grabbing or grappling opponents . The arming sword was overall a light , versatile weapon capable of both cut and thrust combat , and normally boasted excellent balance . After the longsword came to predominate , the arming sword was retained as a common sidearm but came to be referred to as a shortsword , later evolving into the cut and thrust swords of the Renaissance . Morphology . Although a variety of designs fall under the heading of ' arming sword ' , they are characterized as having single - handed cruciform hilts and straight double - edged blades designed for both cutting and thrusting . Blade length was usually from ; however , examples exist from . Pommels were most commonly of the ' Brazil - nut ' type from around 1000 - 1200AD , with the ' wheel ' pommel appearing in the 11th and predominating from the 13th to 15th centuries . Arming swords correspond to Oakeshott types XI , XII and XIII . The type is a development of the High Middle Ages , first apparent in the Norman sword s of the 11th century . As such they are a continuation of the early medieval " Viking sword " , which ultimately derives from the spatha of Late Antiquity and the Migration Period . A combination of the Oakeshott and Peterson Typologies shows a chronological progression from the Viking sword to a " transitional sword " , type X , which incorporated elements of both Viking and arming swords . This " transitional sword " continued to evolve into the presently defined arming sword . Oakeshott contrasts the arming sword both from what he calls the " great swords " — describing the latter as having longer and broader blades — and from what he calls " hand - and - half swords " which he describes as similar in size but with a longer grip ( typified by the subtypes XIIa and XIIIa that were in use simultaneously with the arming swords in the latter part of the High Middle Ages , c . 1250 – 1350 ) . He notes these subtypes as the progenitors of the later two - handed longsword s of the Late Middle Ages , in use c . 1350 – 1550 . For this reason , scholars occasionally refer to these " great swords " improperly and anachronistically as " longswords " . By contrast , the arming sword would evolve into the later " shortsword " worn as a sidearm while wielding the two - handed longsword .