In Europe, particularly during the Hundred Years' War in France and England, the longsword evolved as a versatile two-handed weapon for armored combat. Used by knights and infantry from battlefields like Agincourt, it countered plate armor improvements.

Longswords feature in Arthurian legends and Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, inspiring Spenser and Tennyson's poetic ideals of chivalry. They symbolize the tension between martial skill and courtly love in medieval and Romantic poetry.