westfailia:

the german sword/knife thing wasn’t a legal issue in the sense of who was allowed to own a sword (afaik it doesn’t seem to have really been a thing that sword ownership was restricted*, just carrying in populated areas) it was a legal issue of who was allowed to produce a sword. swordmaking was a guild monopoly, and if you weren’t legally a swordsmith you could get in serious legal trouble.

as a result, swords were harder to come by and more expensive, reserved for the upper classes by virtue of the guild monopoly (often literally) strangling manufacturers who weren’t part of the guild.

thus, messers became a thing. they’re more or less sword sized and in utility terms interchangeable with the sword but are forged and constructed like knives by blacksmiths who were legally restricted from making swords and were thus cheaper and more common.

*except in japan, where sword hunts were a very important part of consolidating power

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25. dr-hegemony said: I looked these up and the main difference seems to be the hilts, they’ve got knife hilts.
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29. dr-hegemony said: gotta love how so much of history is just petty bullship while people die
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