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Originally Posted by fernando
I wonder if there is solid evidence of that, as i have been reading otherwise; as if all three sword types, straight, alfanje and scimitar have shown up at the reconquest period.
Not that all such sources can be considered reliable, but some serious guy wrote that:
... in the combats following the 711 Arabic invasion, Asturians and Leonese used their (straight) swords of Roman tradition, in contrast to Persians and Arabs that exhibited the recurved models of their country of origin.
In a context that:
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Yes, Fer, there is much evidence that the islamic armies used straight swords easily until at least the 13th Century, if not latter. The nasrid caliph Boabdil used a straight sword. For easyness to find, just look into the books from David Nicolle. Which is your source? I donīt have much confidence in literary sources. They must be revised carefully. Remember that Cervantes did not fought the arabs in Spain, but the foreign turks on the sea, and in that time the knowledge of turkish weapons was already introduced in Spain. But you are not speaking of Cervantes, so, which is your source?
I also think that the most inmediate influence over the christian cavalry swords were not the roman swords, but the visigotic. Even the late roman cavalry sword, the spatha, is in great debt to the sword of the germanic peoples.
Regards
Gonzalo