Referred to as swerdes of were or Great War swords, larger sized knightly swords seemed to have been developed in Germany and there are frequent references to their use by medieval French chroniclers writing about knights employing the use of "big German swords". Essentially hand and half variants of the more usual cruciform hilted single handed sword these Great War swords are most probably the result of the need for a more powerful weapon to combat improvements in the armours being wore at the time. The longer grip of the great war sword facilitated a double handed cut landing a ferocious blow that greatly improved the chances of injuring an armoured opponent on the battlefield, however the sword was still light enough to, and most often was, used in one hand.