Does a Medieval Backscabbard Serve Any Purpose?

I'll be wondering a little bit about back scabbards, yes we know they weren't really a big thing in historical circumstances but they sort of keep coming up in popular culture and I had a bit of a brainwave. Now obviously an ordinary sword, this is a 12th century type of blade so it's not very long, would just go on like like this, it's not very difficult to put on, it hangs below your normal belt because swords typically hang a bit lower than other belts, it just sits there like that. It's very easy, you get used to it completely when moving around, it does stick out though so if you're in a civilian situation or traveling you end up, well I end up when I'm using it holding it quite a bit using this hand and then holding this to make sure it doesn't get in the way. Also when you're with horses this can if you spin around this can clock them in the legs, it doesn't do any harm, it's not very nice for the horse and you just get aware of it so you get sort of a certain amount of sword knowledge. However I had a bit of a mad thought, bear with me because I've not seen this in any illustrations, if we tie this up ordinarily, just put it in a loop it's effectively going to be a bit of a slip knot but can I wear it over my shoulder like that? Now that is very difficult to get, I can get the sword there and I certainly can't draw it but in terms of, actually it's come undone, probably won't work with this kind of a sword. Let me get a different sword, this is a very early sword so the the principle is yes it might go on your back over your slung over your shoulder. Let me get a longer sword with an actual buckle and have a look because there's some things I want to do and I'm going to go and try it on a horse as well. This is a late mid late 15th century hand and a half sword, bastard sword, so-called because it's neither a two-handed sword nor a one-handed sword, it does both. It's a diamond cross section, very good for piercing, very good for slashing, that's not the point of this video though but this is a very handy sword, I use it from horseback one-handed all the time. I've had it put in a slightly older, possibly slightly anachronistic scabbard for this period, normally they're a bit more loose suspended but I prefer this kind of a it holds the sword more closely to your side and doesn't bounce around nearly as much, it does bounce around but not as much. It occurred to me that you can just put it over your body shoulder like that and well it'll be very easy to carry and it doesn't stick out very much. I'm going to go and try this on horseback, you'll notice I've been training a little bit and I got caught by a branch on ghost the other day, I don't know if you can see that, yeah so scratched quite badly, it'll heal, doesn't matter, I misinterpreted where a branch was and got smacked in quite badly, bleeding, but it's fine now. I'm going to try a bit more going through speed through the woods with the sword like this on horseback. Now it is not ready to be used, I cannot, I cannot, I could just about get this sword in a very awkward way, completely exposing all of this side of my body, so it's a totally dreadful perspective to have a sword if you are expecting to fight, but if you're just carrying it and you're going through branches or lots of weeds or anything that's going to get in the way, I think it's not bad actually as a solution, it's terrible as a solution for having the sword ready, but it's not bad as a solution. We don't see it in the illustrations though, so it's possible that anybody with a blade like this had servants to carry it or it was carried on carts or wagons or whatever, but you can kind of get it, but you can't draw it, so you'd be useless. You'd have to take it off like this and pull it, which doesn't take too long, but it's not very elegant and not very dramatic, so if you were expecting combat you do not want to wear this kind of a sword, historically speaking anyway, on your back, but in 99% of occasions if you've got a carrier sword through the landscape it probably works reasonably well. As I was playing around with this sword I had another brainwave, so if you put it on you as I did before, very ahistorically just over there, I suddenly thought what happens if you wear a cloak over the top? I happen to have a cloak. I shall put the cloak over me, sort of carry it. Now I think that's probably reasonably well disguised. Could I? In a story anyway, if somebody's searching me obviously they'd find the thing and the scabbard and they'd see this strap here, but could you imagine in a story sneaking past guards with a sword, decent-sized sword, on your back? I think I have a feeling that actually might work. What do you think? Tell me in the comments. That was just a bit of a brainwave. Right, I'm going to go and get on a horse. I think I'm going to get on Silver Moon and try out one or other of these swords on him and see what it's like. Come on warlord. Here's a truly filthy winter warlord. I've decided to try it out on him because he's more familiar with the mail and swords in general and it's his turn for a ride. So I'm going to jump on him with this on my back and see what it's like. Good boy. If you're at all interested, this time of year is a bit of a weird one for horses because they're all shedding and so they roll in the mud as best they can and then the mud flakes off and takes their winter coat. Good boy. And stand. Good boy. I don't have medieval tack or equipment on but the sword is in place. Is it? I'm not sure it's vaguely plausible. That seems reasonable. Walk on. Good boy. Good lad. Right, well that's worked very well. Back up. Good boy. Back. Good lad. Good boy. Good boy. Yeah, so it seems it doesn't get in the way when you're mounting. You can just touch the pommel there. It's really awkward. If you drop your reins, which I can do on a good horse, you could... No, you're not gonna draw that. But you can carry it. That's what I mean. It's totally impractical when it comes to actually combat. But if you think you're going into combat, you draw your sword, don't you? You don't actually stand there. Samurai, I suppose, they went into urban situations and they're holding their sword and there's all sorts of behavioral components around samurai and their swords. But they're typically using swords in a more social situation. There's a different kind of thing. In medieval England, you weren't really supposed to wear swords in public, particularly. You had to have special reason for doing so. You had to be in the military or you had to be very senior noble and even then you probably were asked to leave your swords at the door or only carry them if you're going to war. So we'll see. So I'll go for a quick ride and report back to see what carrying it like this actually does. Good boy. Walk on. Well, the sword isn't causing any problems whatsoever, either to warlord or to me. There's a bit of weight on my shoulder, but it's like carrying a bag, really. That's what you'd expect. There's nothing you can do about that. And it's completely manageable. I am going fairly slowly, though, so I'm just pottering along at a reasonable walk. That's a brisk walk, I suppose, probably four miles an hour. And it's it's easy, easy peasy. But I'm just going to go a little faster in a second when I get out of this particularly muddy area and see whether it jigs around when I'm trotting, which I don't really like trotting. It's very upy and downy movement and sort of bad for the horse's back, especially a horse that's semi-retired like warlord. And I don't think it's very medieval either. I think they either walked or. Well, there are there are other pacing and all sorts of other medieval gates for a horse, but basically, I'm pretty sure they either walked or cantered. That was about it. Those are the two things they chose, and those are the easiest paces to use. Right. So let's go a little faster here. Good boy. Trot on. Yeah, not really a problem. Not doing anything. Male is making a bit of a noise. But no, absolutely no problem at all. So it's a very practical way of carrying a sword on your back from a terms of carrying it, not from the terms of being able to use it or access it very quickly. So, for example, if you were carrying multiple weapons, you might want a sword on your hip and you might want a sword on your back and a spear in one hand, too. So I wonder how many weapons you could carry on a horse. There's another thing to look into. Cool. Right. I shall continue my ride through the woods and I will see you in the next video.