Darksword Henry V Sword

The Henry V sword by Darksword Armory has a tapered blade crafted from 5160 high carbon steel that has been differentially heat treated to have a hard cutting edge of 60 HRC and a softer, flexing body of 45-50 HRC. This treatment creates a sword with an optimized hard edge that can resist dulling too easily, yet it can flex at its core to resist breaking when striking or parrying. Most European swords are mono-tempered with a hardness somewhere in the middle of these values to create an overall compromise of hardness, but this Darksword armory blade has opted to optimize the hardnesses by doing two levels of hardening on the blade.

The guard and pommel are of steel and the grip is wood overlaid with black leather. It comes with a scabbard of wood that has been tightly wrapped in black leather and fitted with a steel chape.

Henry V was the English King who presided over the victory at Agincourt, where he let the impetuous French knights and men at arms charge through a muddy, sodden field at the waiting English; many would never make it, felled as they were by a hail of iron-tipped arrows from the English longbowmen.

The Henry V sword was clearly meant for a king. The original been described by sword historian Ewart Oakeshott as …no mere funerary object, but a magnificent fighting sword which comes to life in ones hand. and the very epitome of fighting weapons one of the most beautiful medieval swords to handle I have ever known.

Oakeshotts praise is no mere fascination with coming into contact with an heirloom of a monarch, the sword itself is well balanced and agile and Darkswords replica captures this aspect of the Henry V sword well. It is a responsive and quick arming sword in the hand and its balance gives its user good control of the tip for thrusting. Its tapered profile clearly shows it to be a blade with as much an emphasis on thrusting as cutting – a fitting design for dealing with armored opponents in the late Medieval period. A simple, yet elegant arming sword.