Medieval Weapons

The legend prevails that Rome ascended with the fall of Troy.  Aenas, the famed Trojan, escaped the destruction of Troy and made his way to Italy where he married a princess.  They bore two sons,  Romulus and Remus; the boys were left to die by the Tiber river.  A she-wolf saved them.  They decided to consecrate a city by the river where the miraculous she-wolf saved them.  They fought over the name of the city and Romulus son and thus began the powerful city-state of Rome.

Many historical events and persons of the ancient past are often shrouded in legend and they make great stories.  Whatever the origins of Rome, it became one of the most powerful states that ever existed under the sun.

The Legionnaire was the foundation of the Roman army.  The Legions of the early Roman army were an outstanding group, formidable in battle and in all areas of seige warfare.  They were also excellent engineers; they built roads, bridges, and water systems for the empire.

They were professional soldiers who served with each other often for twenty years.  They fought very hard for the empire, but they were more dedicated to their legion than to the state.  The system worked well for Rome, because each Legionnaire fought his heart out for his comrades  They were prohibited from marrying, so their loyalty was to their fellow soldiers  After service of twenty years, they were allowed to retire with a pension and an allotment of land.  Perhaps they married at this late stage of life.

They had the finest weapons of the day.  They often made changes to make them more efficient.  They wore a breast plate armor called lorica segmentata.  It was made of iron strips that were held in place by leather strips.  This replaced the solid breastplate which restricted movement.  They wore an iron helmet with a peak to prevent blows to the head.  They carried a colorful shield made of wood and metal.  The Roman foot soldier carried three weapons.  They carried a 7 foot javelin which is now referred to as a pilium.  By their side was also a pugio ( small dagger) and a two foot short sword (gladius).  On their feet they wore sandals with hobnails on the bottom.  With this equipment they conquered most of the ancient world.

The Roman Legionnaire was powerful, dedicated to his legion, and a very effective fighting machine.  The colorful Roman soldier is a popular character for reenactors or even with the individual that desires a unique Halloween costume.

The Vikings gave their swords names such as ‘Gramr’ (fierece), and ‘Fotbitr’ (legbitr).  Viking swords were also valuable family heirlooms, and were passed down from father to son.  They were decorated with gold and valuable stones set in the hilt. 

The Norse sagas are full of accounts of combat using swords.  The Lausaviser, a Norwegian epic,  recounts the story of the revenge of Einar, son of Ragnvald.  Ragnvald was a chieftain who ruled in Orkney around 860.  He was burnt to death in his own house by two of Harald Fairhair’s sons.  Einar fought with one son, Halfdan Halegga, and killed him.  Halegga was found the next morning on the side of a hill and his back had the shape of an eagle cut into it with a sword.  The ribs had been separated from the backbone and the lungs had been pulled out on either side to represent an eagle’s wings.  This was Einar’s victory sacrifice to Odin. 

The Viking blades were most often pattern-welded.  The pattern-welded technique was accomplished by the smith welding together long strips of iron and steel.  Then he forged them into square-sectioned rods, which he twisted or folded and welded together in groups of three or four.  These were used for the central core of the blade.  The edges of the blade were then welded to it.  After grinding and polishing, the twists and folds of the core pattern were brought out with acid. 

The crossguard was very simple.  There was elaborate decoration on the pommel.

The Vikings were some  of the most feared and highly regarded warriors of any age.  These Viking  swords with a soul were a mighty extension of the legend of the Norsemen.  Many reenactors choose the Viking persona for this reason.

Swords and Hilt Weapons published by Prion, 20 Mortimer Street, London WIT 3JW is an excellent resource for information on Viking and all other swords.

The following description appeared in a 1997 calendar, entitled Medieval Women.  The calendar was published by the Workman Group and the title described the women as the following:  “The Strong, The Resilient, The Accomplished.” One of the writings from this calendar told the story of those Medieval women who went to war in full armor, bearing swords and pole arms just like their masculine brothers.

“During the 9th and 10th centuries, noblewomen were often directly involved in war.  Emma, granddaughter of the Capetian king Robert the Strong, headed the defenses of Laon in 927, and led a siege against Chateau Thierry in 933 that resulted in its surrender: Aethelflaed of Mercia ruled part of England from 911 to 918 and defended it from the Vikings.  The medieval custom of siege warfare, in which an attacking army tried to invade or starve out a walled fortress, frequently meant that noblewomen had to be left in charge while their warrior husbands were outside the walls, conducting the battles.

For later medieval queens, especially those married to kings of distant countries, survival could mean a great deal of military strife.  Margaret of Anjou, married to the simpleminded Henry VI of England in 1445 educated her young son in “nothing else but cutting off heads and making war.” After the young prince was killed in the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, Margaret was put in the Tower of London for five years; she died in penury in 1482.

Average women might also expect to experience war; but they were often victims instead of warriors.  Joan of Arc, a peasant girl from a small town in France, broke the mold in the early 15th century by becoming a military leader.  She led the French army in several successful battles against the English army in the last stages of the Hundred Years’ War. When the English captured her in 1431, she was tried and burned for heresy.  Thomas Basin mourned her death his History of Charles VII:

“Joan was sent by God to save the kingdom and the people of France.”

Although wearable armor weighs from 35 to 60 lbs.,  the modern woman would look stunning in the ultimate Medieval costume.

We’ve all seen those enormous and at times gaudy swords often found in fantasy films, books, and comics. But many people often ask… would those swords actually work? There is some truth to the oversized and ornate fantasy swords, as such swords did exist in the past. The claymore, a two handed sword that originated with highlanders in Scotland, is big enough to not be out of place in fantasy. There were even larger swords that were more often than not designed to take down a knight and a rider with a single slash. While the claymore had practical uses, it’s about as large as a sword can become before it becomes useless except in specific situations. The giant swords used to take down horse and rider could be used for that purpose alone to their unwieldy size and the extreme strength needed for one swing.

Even the claymore would fall victim if it missed the target with consecutive blows, as a faster fighter with a sword and shield could deflect the blow and then jab at the wielder from behind the protection of the shield. The gaudy features that make swords look cool don’t do much to change their effectiveness, it’s more the length of the blade and the weight that contribute to its usefulness.

On the parched ground of the Middle East in early fall, 1096, a lone European knight walked among thousands of dead bodies.   He had been away from his post for days searching for  20,000  Crusaders  who had been called to accept the crusader’s cross by Pope Urban to rescue the Holy Land from the Saracens.   What he found in the desert sickened him.  The stench from the thousands of dead bodies was so nauseating  that he threw up. 

He walked among the dead and to his dismay found not one man alive.  He determined from the decaying bodies that this was the army on which so many hopes had been placed.  He was surprised that the weapons that were lying beside the dead were mostly sling shots, flails and maces.  There were a few Crusader shields among the bodies, and a few Medieval battle swords of that time.  He wondered why there were so few weapons, and he quickly realized why they were doomed.  He wondered if the rag-tag crew lying in the hot desert sun was the best that Europe would offer to save Jerusalem. 

He continued to trudge through the bodies, and he suddenly viewed the cloak of a Monk, and beside the holy man’s decaying body, there lay a scroll.  He unrolled the document, and began to read of the disastrous crusade of Peter the Hermit. 

“I joined Peter, a fellow monk who spoke with such inspiration that I knew that we could save this land for God.  Pope Urban issued the call to crusade and we answered.  Our recruits were not the rich knights with mighty arms; our crusaders were the poor and disadvantaged who desired to escape their sordid existence and do the Lord’s work.  They had few arms, but what they could make themselves or their flails which they used as farm implements.  But what we lacked in wealth and arms we made up for in devotion.  We knew that God would bless us.  I must admit that some of our recruits did not come here with the best intentions, because they have stolen and murdered even from their comrades.   I must say however, that for the most part our band of farmers, peasants and the disadvantaged have attempted to fight like the devoted Christians that they are.   We did well until we reached Nicaea; we sacked the city of the Seljuk, one of the major cities of the Turks.  We moved a few miles from the city in the hopes of securing a castle for a headquarters.  Then we saw a large contingent of troops in the distance.  We determined that they were Saracens with their mighty swords and swift horses.  I fear we will die soon.  We are no match for them.  They have surrounded us, and we have been here for days.  We are starving to death and there is no hope.  God wills that we die here.”

The knight wondered if ever again Christian pilgrims would subject themselves to such a disastrous result.  Would Crusaders ever free the Holy Land? 

The polearm is one of the oldest and most versatile of weapons throughout the ages. The modern definition of a polearm is a weapon with a blade or pointed tip attached to a long shalf. Prehistoric man likely was the first to use a sharpened long stick to slay his dinner, or his neighbor. 

Rome also developed a very effective polearm.  The pilium, a very sharp spear, was used effectively against the Celts.  The development of this weapon was one of the reasons Rome was successful in conquering a large part of the world.

Various types of this weapon gained prominence in the Medieval and Renaissance eras in Europe and elsewhere.  They were a means of dealing with cavalry; the foot soldier’s reach was extended to allow him to attack a mounted opponent while avoiding the blade of the knight’s sword. 

The classic models of the European polearms were the pike and the halderb. First appearing in the l4th century the halderb was a very versatile weapon.  It was usually a little over 5 feet long and had a spiked top that was useful for keeping mounted knights at bay.  It also had a hook that could be used to pull him from the saddle, and an axe head that could penetrate his armor.

The pike was a simple spear like weapon that had a metal head attached to a wooden shaft.  It came into use in the twelfth  century as a defensive weapon again cavalry.  The Swiss, however, turned the simple spear into an offensive weapon by employing a phalnx-like infantry formation.  From this formation they were able to use pikes as long as 22 and a half feet.  This strategy employing a simple spear allowed them to become the premier fighting force of the fourteenth century. 

In other parts of the world, the spear or pike was also widely used.  Samurai warriors are most often associated with the sword, but in battle they were supported by foot soldiers who used the yari (spears).  Perhaps the greatest spearmen in history are the Zulu warriors of Southern Africa.  Their military units, called impis, were armed with the short assegai spear.  They were able to conquer most of the region in the early nineteenth century.

The common soldier was the part of the military that used the polearm.  From prehistoric times to today, these are the warriors that shape our world.

Claymore is a term derived from the Gaelic “claidheamohmor,” meaning “great sword.” It was first used to describe the large cross-hilted broadsword used in the Scottish Highlands and by Scottish mercenaries in Ireland from the late 15th century to the early 17th century.  In its classic form, the claymore consisted of a straight, broad, double-edged blade, long, diamond-section quillons angling towrd the blade and terminating in quatrefoils, a quillon block extending to form a long spur on each side, and a tubular section leather-covered grip with a wheel-shaped pommel.  The blade was generally shorter than blades of Continental two-handed swords of the same period.

The claymore almost certainly developed from a late medieval cross-hilted sword that can be seen on some effigies and tomb slabs in the West Highlands and the Isles.  This sword exhibited two of the characteristics found on the claymore, namely, the long, downward-angled quillons and the central part of the quillon block extending in a long spur.  The dating of claymores is a complex and imprecise, although there is a claymore of classic form depicted on a grave slab from Oronsay dated 1539.  In the latter part of the 16th century, although retaining the characteristic form of quillon and blade, claymores sometimes had large spherical pommels.

A sword related to the claymore is known as the “Lowland” form because of the fact that several examples came from southern Scotland.  Lowland swords had angular, round-section quillons, the terminals arranged as turned knobs set at right angles; some have open rings affixed to the center of the quillons on each side.  They retained the feature of the quillon block extending to a spur on each side but, unlike the claymore’s, this spur was small and pointed.  The pommels of these swords were large and spherical, the long tubular-section grips being of wood covered with leather.  One form of the Lowland sword had quillons in the form of an arched cross, and in the center a solid oval plate bent down as an extra guard for the hands.  Although Lowland swords have been dated to the second half of the 16th century and those with arched quillons and plate have been dated to the early 17th, little evidence is at present available that would lead to a more precise dating.

Most of the blades of both the Highland and the Lowland claymores appear to be of German origin, whereas the hilts were made by Scottish craftsmen. These craftsmen were very creative in developing a hilt that could be handled effectively with a large blade, as well as protecting the hand.

In 1884 Sir Richard F. Burton’s The Book of the Sword was published by Chatto and Windus in London.  The volume was republished in 1987 by Dover.  For those who are drawn to the past and its more civilized lifestyle will appreciate some of Sir Richard’s reflections on the most honorable of weapons.  Keep in mind while reading some of the excerpts of his reflections on the sword that the words were written prior to 1884.  If you are an avid fan of the past and its traditions, this is an excellent read.  I found it at my local library. Here are a few of the relections of Sir Richard.

“The history of the sword is the history of humanity.  The ‘White Arm’ means something more than the oldest, the most universal, the most varied of weapons, the only one which has lived through all time.’

He, she, or it–for the gender of the Sword varies–has been worshipped with priestly sacrifices as a present god.  Hebrew revelation represents the sharp and two edged sword going out of the mouth of the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords.  We read of a ‘Sword of God, a holy Sword,’ the ‘Sword of the Lord and of Gideon’; and ‘I came not to send peace but a Sword, ‘meaning the warfare and martyrdom of man.

Uniformly and persistently personal, the Sword became no longer an abstraction but a Personage, endowed with human as well as superhuman qualities.  He was a sentient being who spoke, and sang and joyed and grieved.  Identified with his wearer he was an object of affection, and was pompously named as a well-beloved son and heir.  To surrender the Sword was submission; to break the Sword was degradation.  To kiss the Sword was, and in places still is the highest form of oath and homage. 

The Sword killed and cured; the hero when hopless fell upon his Sword; and the heroine, like Lucreita and Calphurnia, used the blade standing.  The Sword cut the Gordian knot of every difficulty.  The Sword was the symbol of justice and of martydrom and accompanied the wearer to the tomb as well as to the feast and the fight.  ”

The significance of the Sword has survived for many ages.  Today the same words can be used in reference to this magnificent weapon; it is a weapon that is deeply entrenched in art,  literature, religion, history and humanity.  There will never be a weapon that can ever again attain this affluence.  The firearm is a weapon that requires a little skill, aim-fire-kill or maim.  The Sword is graceful but vigorous.  Sword-play is an exercise that requires a skill that few are able to master. 

Swords still play a big role in modern society.  There are a few of us who still appreciate and love the images of the knight in shining armor, the armed knight bearing a crusader shield and a cross hilt sword, or  the Renaissance knight battling with a rapier.  History is repeated on weekends all across the world–the reenactor, the collector, the fantasy gamer, and the skilled sword maker keep the myth alive. 

This was a question I asked throughout my school time.  As a matter of fact in my Senior year, I almost did not graduate because I could see no earthly use in learning anything about Shakespeare’s Hamlet.  To me it was the most absurd of all the tons of absurdities I was forced to learn.  I forced myself to spend enough time with the tragic prince to squeak by with a passing grade.  History was also a “bummer” for me, too.

Later that summer a friend forced me to go to a Civil War Reenactment with “her” to watch her brother.  At that event I finally saw someone having a ”hoot” of a time with history.  I was fascinated with the pretend fight.  Always being a shy dude I was never really in with any special highschool group of kids.  But I saw these guys behaving like it was a football game, and they were winning the state playoff game or something.   They performed a simulated battle with cavalry, foot soldiers, cannons, rifles and swords.  I went to their battles a number of times that summer, but never joined the group.  I did learn that they were very adamant about how their clothing, and weapons had to be as realistic as possible. I did carry a sword to one of the Sunday battles with the thought that I would be one of the foot soldiers.  The sword was a cheap thing that I picked up at a flea market.  The pommel was a naked lady.  Needless to say, they did not let me march, because a college was filming the battle to show in an American History class. .  I was embarrassed about that silly sword, so I bought a cheap sabre, but I didn’t go back there for a few years.

I had a few jobs like helping a skilled automobile mechanic with menial tasks that I was able to do without taxing my brain too much.  I needed to keep up my old pickup. I had a lot of spare time so I played a lot of video games.  I played war on a computer and was really good at it.  I tinkered with my cheap sword; bought a scabbard and escaped my hum-drum existence by pretending I was some kind of Medieval war hero.

Then an event occurred that shocked me enough to do something with my life.  I enlisted and no longer played at war; it was the real thing.  The experience did a lot for my ego.  For the first time in my life I was proud of myself.  I walked many a mile with a rifle in my hand,  at the front of the troops  like the Pikesmen of old. 

I have seen a lot of the world and learned that good people are the same everywhere.  Like a lot of country boys I didn’t know the difference between “Iraq and Iran”.  Now I do.  I also know why the study of the past is so important.  I learned that there were Crusades that began more than a thousand years ago.  This conflict is overwhelming with no simple solution.

I do not know what happened to my “naked lady” sword.  I replaced it with a several battle swords.  I was taught swordsmanship by a wonderful Middle Eastern master and sage.  He helped me because I asked.   I practice regularly like the Medieval knights and Samurai warriors did years ago. 

History repeats itself many times over.  I found this out the hard way.  Now many people are engaged in reliving historical events, i.e. Civil War, Medieval, Renaissance, Roman, Viking, Celtic and on and on.  It is a great thing and a good way to build comraderie even if you are not the top jock.  Get into the past; it will help you with your future.

Tonight on NBC another movie will appear similar in nature to The DaVinci Code.  It is based on the book, The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury.  The movie obviously will contribute to the  questions surrounding the ancient military order. Many fictional and factual books have been published attempting to explain the mysteries of these crusading knights.  One of the most popular studies of the Templars is Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln. 

The book by Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln asks the question on which the mysterious legend is based: 

“Who and what were the Knights Templar? Were they merely what they appeared to be, or were they something else? Were they simple soldiers onto whom an aura of legend and mystification was subsequently based?”

The Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon was founded in 1118.  Its founder was Hugues de Payen, a nobleman from Champagne.  The objective of the Templars was to keep the roads safe for the pilgrims visiting Jerusalem which at the time was in control of Christians.  At the time there were nine knights and for a long period of time they admitted no one to their order. 

They moved into lavish quarters in the palace of the King of Jerusalem.  According to tradition their quarters were over the remains of King Solomon’s Temple and from their living place they derived their name.  Because they resided over the remains of this rich, elaborate temple, caused many to question whether they truly were impoverished, chaste and humble warriors for Christ when in fact to many they appeared arrogant and rich.  In fact they were rich, because they owned estates in most European countries, although when entering the order they were obliged to relinquish all their wealth and land holdings. 

Although their behavior and chaste commitment were questionable, they played a major role when the west was forced to try to recapture the Holy Land from the Saracens.  They were the most organized and disciplined of all the knights and foot soldiers who fought to recapture the land.  They wore white surcoats and cloaks, and later a red cross was emblazoned on their garments. The white clad Templars could be seen protecting the rearguard and van of all Crusader marches.  They were efficient and powerful soldiers–the best of fighters with the sword and lance.  They sacrificed their lives for the cause.  300 Templars were executed at Hattin by Saladin, the well known Saracen leader.

Were they the best of the Medieval knights or the worst?  Perhaps they were both.  Regardless, they have aroused a curiosity regarding their past. Replica Knights Templar swords, shields and clothing are some of the most popular among Medieval collectors and reenactors.