Hank Reinhardt's The Book of the Sword by Hank Reinhardt

and events recorded in the sagas are also mentioned in other sources. There are some sagas, such as The Saga of Grettir the Strong , that many consider romance rather than a tale of actual happenings. Even so, they have the feeling of, "Been there. Done that."
    In Njal's Saga , the author tells of a warrior, Gunnar, whose home is surrounded by his enemies. A Norwegian visitor with the besiegers volunteers to go see if Gunnar is at home. As he climbs up the side of the cabin Gunnar stabs him with his hewing spear through a chink in the wall. The Easterner falls and walks back to his friends. They ask, "Is Gunnar at home?" and he replies, "As to that I can't say. But his halberd is." He then dies. Now, this is one tough man. One might think he is an exception, but this theme runs throughout the majority of the sagas. But do not think that these people were blind brute barbarians as the movies like to show. Far from it. Egil was one fierce, tough warrior. But his lament over the death of his son can tear out your heart.
    As at Visby, the sagas record blows to the leg. Again in Njal's Saga , Gunnar and another warrior, Kolskegg, try to take a ship. Kolskegg worked his way down one side of it and Gunnar the other. Vanidil came to meet Gunnar but his sword hit Gunnar's shield and stuck there fast. With a hard twist of his shield, Gunnar snapped the sword at the hilt. He struck at Vanidil so quickly that Vanidil didn't have time to defend himself and the sword sliced through both legs.
    Also in Njal's Saga there is the wonderful fight on the ice. This is the one where Skarp-Hedin goes sliding by and before Thrain can put on his helmet Skarp-Hedin crashes his ax on his head so hard that Thrain's back teeth spill out onto the ice. Tjorvi throws his shield into Skarp-Hedin's path, but he dodges it. Tjorvi then hurls a spear at Kari who leaps over the spear and then plunges his sword into Tjorvi's chest, killing him instantly. (Tjorvi doesn't seem to have been very good at throwing things, does he?)
    And speaking of spears, that brings us to puncture wounds.
PUNCTURE WOUNDS and HOW TO ACHIEVE THEM
    There is a great deal of misinformation about wounds and their effects floating around. Most of this is due to old wives' tales that no one ever questions, and a lot is due to Hollywood and a vast number of fiction writers. If you study the subject, and check out the books on trauma, you are surprised to find out two things, seemingly contradictory: people are easy to kill, and they are also difficult to kill. Another aspect that is very important is the mental attitude of the individual. I have read of people being shot with a small caliber weapon in a nonfatal area, and then dying! Now I realize this is a book on swords, but a shot with a .22 is really not much different than a stab with a small sword. They both make nice small punctures.
    I have been assured that if your leg is cut off below the knee, you can always kneel and fight on one foot! I have been assured that the reason so many stilettos were made with triangular blades was so that the puncture could not be sewn up! (I can testify personally on that one: properly treated puncture wounds are not sewn to begin with.) In short, there is a lot of nonsense out there. So let's deal with some of it.
    One of the most common comments is the deadliness of the puncture wound. "Two inches in the right place is all you need!" The operative words here are "in the right place."
    The rapier and the small sword were quite attractive weapons, and the small sword became a very elegant item of jewelry. No well dressed gentleman in the late 17th century would think of appearing without his small sword, whether he knew how to use it or not! They were considered, and still are today, the deadliest of swords.
    But people do not die as quietly and as easily as they do in the movies. All too many times you will see the villain run through with the hero's rapier, and he staggers and falls with scarcely a