The term Longsword is a modern term for a sword that was primarily used two handed but was light enough to be gripped in one hand for some techniques. For more information on longswords, check their Wikipedia entry.

Swords have received a lot of attention from historians and warfare archaeologists. The most prominent one is Ewart Oakeshott who has created a classification of blades, crosses and pommels found in swords called the Oakeshott Typology. Regarding longswords, this typology includes the following blade types:

More info on the typology can be found there:

• Oakeshott Typology on Wikipedia
• MyArmoury.com
• Albion Swords
• The Oakeshott Institute

The following are links to a database of museum pieces:

• 13^th and 14^th century longswords
• 15^th century longswords

On closer inspection, it can be seen that some longswords have a very shallow profile taper and finish in a wider point (e.g. Type XIIa, XIII and XIIIa). Other types have a very pronounced profile taper and the blade terminates in a very acute point (e.g. Type XVa, XVIIIb, XVIIId).
Longswords with a wider point are not perfect for thrusting, especially if the opponent wears any piece of armour, even a padded arming jacket would probably provide suitable protection against a thrust from these blade types. These swords are better designed for cutting but their efficiency against the simplest metal armour such as a maille hauberk is severely limited. Improvement in armour design made it necessary to develop swords that could pierce through armour, for example through rings of maille hauberks or through gaps in plate armour. Improvement in blade metallurgy made it possible to develop blades with acute but strong points. Swords of type XVa, XVIIIb and XVIIId are later designs aiming to improve thrusting ability and defeat armour.
Indeed, thrusting with a longsword is a key technique in treatises. It means that for the purpose of HEMA, longswords inspired by the types XVa, XVIII are more suited. They are based on blunt edges and rounded points but their profile taper is representative of these sword types.

For more thoughts on HEMA techniques, see here.

Several interesting analyses of longswords can be found there:

• Alex Bourdas - An overview of the term “longsword”
• Alex Bourdas - A statistical analysis of longsword lengths

One-handed swords reveived the same level of attention as longswords from E. Oakeshott and we refer to that section for links on the typology.

To address a gap in sword classification (8th to 11th century), Alfred Geibig has also generated a classification that can be found on MyArmoury.com.

This is the Oakeshott analysis of one of David Tétard's one-handed swords, used for re-enactment with Dawn of Chivalry (13^th century) but that can also be used in HEMA (sword and buckler): here.

More info on poleaxes can be found there:

• MyArmoury.com
• www.MedievalWarfare.info