oak sih5

77

77

Figurę 70. Sword ofType XIIIB, c. 1200-1250; Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh. BL: 80cm.

"Twahandswerds" or "Espees a deure mains," but thcse are excep-tional. Surviving specimens from this carly period arc almost non-existent, though I do know of one which, once on loan to the Fitz William Museum in Cambridge, was recendy sold at Christies in London, but it is only five feet in length overall. If one considers the practical aspects of fighting with a great two-hander, the first thing which comes to mind is that both hands are needed to wield it; so, what becomes of the shield which every 1 lth-century warrior (or every warrior until the development of a fuli harness of piąte, in the second half of the 14th century) always carried on his left arm, and which, exclusively, he relied upon to parry the blows of his adversary? No. The two-hander with a fourteen-inch grip and a five-foot blade was not used at Civitate, or anywhere else until late in the 15th century, as a regular thing. Having said that, however, I rnust add that there is plenty of reliable evidence for the two-handed use of swords, back into the Celtic iron age. When this was done, the warrior slung his shield back over his shoulders and gripped the short hilt of his ordinary sword with both hands, either with the left hand clasped over the right, or gripping the pommel. The same thing is done by sorne of our tennis champions of today.

When the two armies came face-to-face on the 17th June, neither side really wanted to fight. The Normans were appalled at being in direct confrontation with the Pope and sent to ask for terms; but they had no intention of giving up their hołd of Southern Italy, and the Pope intended that they should. So negotiations broke down. The Normans now had to fight, to force the issue: they were far from their base and starving, for the country people had adopted a scorched-earth policy. They loathed the Normans and desperately wanted to be rid of them. So on the morning of June 18th, the Normans opened their attack on the little plain out-side the town, while Pope Leo stood watching upon the wali.

The fight was begun by the Norman right wing, let by Richard of Aversa, against the scruffy ranks of Lombards and Italians, who had no idea of how to fight a battle and were not drawn up in any sort of order. Richard and his knights went right through them. They broke and ran at the first onset, with the Normans in hot pursuit. However, while this was going on,

Humphrey of Hauteville, Robert Guiscard's brother, came up against the Schwabians, who were something else. Repeated charges failed to break them, and "thev wielded their two-handed swords with a courage and determination that the Normans had never encountered sińce they came to Italy" -as present-day historians still insist upon translating the Latin words for long swords.

Robert Guiscard had the left wing held back as reserve, and now he came in to rescue his brother's force. This will bring this chapter to an end on a blithe and warlike notę. Here is William of Apulia again, though not in absolutely literał translation. I have done violence to his steady hexameters and sought to give the feeling of what he wrote, rather than a literał rendering, but this in effect how he describes the finał act of the battle.