How long would the average sword last in the middle ages?

Question

Assuming normal wear and tear, how long before a knight had to replace his sword?

Answer 1

The question you are asking is kind of a flawed one based on our post-industrial relationship with our material life. This is because we few items and possessions as ephemeral, they have a predictable lifetime, then they break or become obsolete. But material historians and experimental archeologists like Alexander Langland would argue that in the pre-industrial era people valued their things as the product of significant labor, in part because they knew the person who made it and also because things, especially metal goods, were expensive.

So, a knight who had a sword commissioned would likely expect that sword to last him a lifetime and beyond and therefore would take care of it and have it repaired, resharpened, or refurbished. Pre-modern people had a far more intimate understanding of the value of things and so they took care of them such that they could last their entire lives. Short answer, the knight would expect to pass that sword to their children and then their grandchildren.