By the 15^th Century, swords and arms of the time were reaching something of a zenith.  At the beginning of that time, men were still wearing heavy armor to ward against arrows, pikes, swords, and other weapons common on the battlefield of that era.  It is the height of the Hundred Years War and Joan of Arc would lead beleaguered French forces to retake Orleans from English forces and thus bringing a slow end to very long and tedious conflict, and paving the way for France to finally build a nation apart from that of England.  By the end of the century, everything would change as gunpowder would render this century’s arms and armor practically obsolete.  Until then, the 15^th Century Longsword becomes a principle weapon for any knight, horseman, or nobleman.  Also known as a “bastard” or “hand-and-a-half” sword, this weapon featured the best that steel crafting of the time had to offer after centuries of trial and error to produce a strong sword that had reliable cutting power and tenacity.  Unlike the elegant and hyper sharp Japanese katana, the purpose of medieval swords like the longsword wasn’t so much to cut but also to punish, to bludgeon, and take as much punishment in parrying blows as it dished out.  In effect, what you have here is a sharp baseball bat that can hack through any unprotected limb as easily as a machete can hack through vegetation.  The 15^th Century Longsword is a marvelous weapon of a time when Europe was transitioning from upheaval to upheaval to upheaval, going from a truly medieval time of the Black Death to the discovery of the New World.  It is a treasure for any historian and sword collector.