If you want to mess ’em up, unscrew your pommel and throw it! Wait… what??
This is a really strange “technique” shown in manuscript KK5013, which is part of the Gladiatoria, a German series of manuscripts from the 15th century. They deal with armored combat in a judicial duel, armed with spear, longsword, buckler and dagger.
This seems to be evidence of swords with threaded pommels as early as the late Middle Ages, and it’s also a really strange and apparently utterly impractical idea for catching your opponent off guard. I cannot imagine that anyone could possibly pull this off successfully.
********************************************************************************
My favorite online store for buying swords (worldwide shipping):
Want to help fund future videos?
My Facebook page:
History is a lie. What if … past never existed ?
This never gets old.
Could it have had to do with the angle of the thread? In the historic illustration you showed, the threading was at a very steep angle, whereas modern screws have threading that are almost horizontal by comparison. The screw with the steeper angle would be easier to undo because the thread does not loop around the shaft as many times, and the fit wouldn't be as tight as modern screws, so maybe removing the pommel was as easy as flicking your wrist.
I like to dual wield my swords so I have an extra pommel, just in case
never bring a sword to a pummel fight.
sooooo… what is to keep the knight from having it previously unscrewed with even a retaining bolt. Then you toss the pommel at the eye slit and follow with a spear or sword to the eye slit?
is it possible that the screw system was a little bit different in 15 centuries ? like easier to take it off ? or in duel way you prepare this in advance ? is it really fair ? hope you will see this comment
This is where the Infection began…
dude simply unscrew it 3/4 way before the fight. it wont be loose enough to fall, but not on enough to be 100% still. like is being able to move it 1 mm each side that important in a fight for death?
I would suspect it's probably just a joke. Why not? People had humor then too.
Maybe it's something like gamers telling each other to "hit Alt F4" to unlock some secret.
What if the person who decided to try the tactic knew that it'd be turned into a meme in the future?
https://youtu.be/y_s-zV0zmHY
That manuscript shows just how versatile medieval broadswords really were!
Make it spin and fall in your hand, if hits the helmet would fell like being inside a bell
Maybe it was intentionaly put in a manual to phase out idiots from dueling..
The first threads had a wider step than modern ones, so unscrewing would be far faster.
I'm guessing they had courser threaded screws maybe 3 threads per inch.
Why not throw the buckle instead?
the mother of pommel memes
Medieval threads were much thicker and lower in number than modern screws. They were working with comparatively soft metal, with skinny threads, it would bend or break quite easily. But the thick threads they used made it require less twists to remove it. It would probably only be two or three solid twists to remove a period accurate threaded pommel.
It says "end him" right? Couldn't it be sort of a finishing move? When your opponent is already down unable to fight, you dramatically unscrew the pommel and smash it at him.
Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyytyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyytyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyytyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyytyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyytyyycopyandpastelolyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyytyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyytyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyytyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyytyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyytyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyytyyy
4:45
"Screwing away at that thing"…."obvously Something coming"…. You don't say.
Starts an authentic historic youtube channel.. gets trolled by an early century original manuscript. The Beauty in this; among the irony.. is incredible . 10/10 lol'd out loud.
Dude you're now a meme
here from the slingshot channel HAhahahaaaa
This is ground zero for the pommel meme. A video which will soon shake the medieval scene.
Is this where the meme started?
If the sword does indeed stay secure when you unscrew the pommel you could prepare by unscrewing it 3/4ths of the way. And then proceed to launch a 3kg projectile over 3 metres.
Yes I did just add the trebuchet meme. Don't look at me like that.
I get the strategy, distract your opponent from a safe distance, by throwing something at them and then quickly move in for the kill. Okay, so why limit yourself to only one throw that takes so long to prepare for? Why not carry an entire sack full of stones? Or how about some nice, big, dried out dirt clods, that would explode into a dust cloud against his helmet visor, sending dirt and debris into his eyes? And as long as we're throwing stuff at the dude's face, why not just carry some small clay jars, filled with the foulest shit imaginable and then shatter them against his visor, making it almost impossible for him to breathe in the noxious fumes? Better yet, just carry some small, sealed clay jars, filled with oil and large wicks and then set them on fire and throw them. Wow! War is some really evil shit, but with very specific rules. Weird.
Dude you can hide the unscrewing part a little more… like make it the MOST apparent thing ever right to prove your point? Unscrew it slowly, hide it, through out the battle then surprise steel pummel to the face!
Keep you in the dark
And so it all
Began
Being that the weren't machining screws back then to 40 tpi, I would imagine five or six turns would release the pommel.
Medieval pokemon
tis but a scratch large dent in visor
im pretty sure they had very crude threading it prolly took 2-4 turns and it was off, not fine bolt threads we have today.
Top 10 anime secret weapons
Seems like a legit tactic….
"T's just a tomfoolery, sire!"
On a more serious note, would a swordsman carry a spare pommel? For whatever reason, and in the lack of correct translation, the author is referring to that? Not sure why they would carry an extra, but maybe, I dunno.
what i don't get is how no one has mentioned that they weren't threaded with 50 threads per inch back then, it was probably off with a quarter or half turn.
What if before the fight the pommel was loosed a lot already?
i know this is an old video and probably no one is gonna read this, but i would presume that the thread for the pommel would be shorter (only one or two twists to remove it) in the 15th century since that is what the artwork makes it look like.
To your dome troll !