Medieval Weapons

As an interior designer you have to please your client. No matter what their taste may be, regardless if you agree or not, it’s not your decision. If your client has a vision then that’s all that matters. Sometimes decorating can take you to the extreme.

When I was asked to decorate a home office with medieval décor, I was a little taken aback. Where does one start? It seemed so far fetched, but it’s what the client wanted. I decided to go with a castle theme. I purchased a tall standing knight suit, a couple gargoyles for the desk, and heavy tapestry for the windows. At the end it turned out pretty unique. The client was happy and oddly enough so was I.

Growing up with brothers you got to experience a lot of interesting things. A brother’s imagination is like no other. They were obsessed with Dungeon and Dragons. They would be out in the front yard battling it out for hours.

One particular day they were in the front yard playing like they do and the most tragic thing happened. They had sticks as their fantasy swords and one brother accidently poked the other in the eye. It was unreal. I couldn’t believe it. Luckily, it was just a poke, but after that my mother banned playing make believe with sticks.

A sword is a long-edged piece of forged metal, used in many civilizations throughout the world primarily as a cutting or thrusting weapon. The sword was developed from the dagger when the construction of longer blades became possible, from the late third millennium BC in the Middle East. The first was made from arsenic copper and then in tin bronze.

Collectible swords has become very popular in the states. There are three types of swords, which include single and doubled edge, two handed, and a hand and a half. Collectors tend to have a wide variety of swords. Depending on the era, you can collect swords anywhere from the Shang Dynasty to the Western Zhou Dynasty. Swords are unique in design and blades.

Like their Greek neighbors, Spartan warriors used typical hoplite equipment in battle. The main distinguishing characteristics of Spartan armor are the crimson tunic and cloak. Spartan warriors also kept their hair long much later into history than other Greek city-state warriors; short hair was associated with slaves.

The Greek letter Lambda was also adopted in 420s BCE. It is thought to stand for Laconia or Lacedaemon, and was painted on the round shields of the Spartan warriors. The Spartan helmet is also instantly recognizable and still used as a symbol for many sports teams and universities. Spartan soldiers also wore leg greaves and flanged bronze cuirasses.

Spanish rapiers date back to 15th century Toledo. Spanish masters mixed hard and soft steel to give rapier swords strength and flexibility. These swords were narrow, long, and had a slight edge.

A rapier sword was used almost exclusively as a thrusting weapon. At first, the swords were used on the offensive, but eventually became a self-defense tool. It was primarily used by civilians for protection and for duels. In the 16th century, other European nations developed their own rapiers, such as the German Rappier which was used in sport fencing. Use of the rapier for civilian combat dropped off after the 17th century.

Prior to World War II, the butterfly sword was not well-known outside of China. The deadly swords feature a single-edged blade that is as long as a human forearm. This length allowed for concealment inside loose sleeves or boots. Typically, butterfly swords are wielded in pairs.

Butterfly swords, also known as butterfly knives, were only sharpened from the midpoint to the tip. This way, the dull part of the battle knives could be used to knock an opponent unconscious without being fatal. Another interesting fact is that butterfly swords were often kept in the same scabbard. This gave the illusion of a single weapon until the wielder was ready to attack.

During the Middle Ages social strata played an immense role in fashion trends. In fact, you could instantly tell a person’s station in life based on the clothing they wore. For instance, only the wealthy could afford fabrics such as velvets, furs, silks, and taffeta brought from the Middle East and Italy. They were died vibrant hues with extracts from rare plants.

Peasants were not so fortunate in their style of medieval clothes. Peasant men wore knee length tunics of plain colored fabrics, tied with a belt. Women of the peasant class also wore the coarse materials as long dresses. The only similarity between the two classes in terms of dress is that wearing layers was necessary to stay warm during the frigid winter months.

The use of maces in battle was quite common during the Middle Ages, as the weapon was quite inexpensive to produce. Many of the maces on display in museums today are highly decorated for this reason. Though a mace is just a type of club, the image of the spiked mace is what comes to mind for most people.

A deadly effective spiked mace is the flanged mace. The metal flanges, protruding edges of metal, allowed the wielder to pierce through even the thickest metal armor. In 12th century Kievan Russia the Pernach was developed. It featured six flanges and became popular across Europe for its ability to pierce plate armor and chainmail.

The battle shields of medieval times were greatly symbolic to the family or cause they represented. Family crests were often times depicted on the front of these shields and represented the beliefs and fighting spirit of each family or institution. From various furs, colors, lines and symbols, each shield stood for specific meaning and family honor.

Each color shed specific meaning to medieval shields: purple stood for royal majesty and justice; green stood for hope, joy and loyalty in love; and red was a sign of the warrior and military strength. While wavy lines could represent the sea or water, indented lines represented fire. And as for symbols; an apple or apple tree stood for felicity and peace; the chess rock stood for strategic thinking; and the eye stood for providence in government.

Today, we recognize helmets as the rock-hard outer casing that protects our heads during numerous leisure activities, extreme sports and even occupations. From horseback riding and cycling to rock climbing and construction sites, helmets are used to shield our heads, and more importantly our brains, from all kinds of potential catastrophe, no matter how likely the risk of harm.

The first kinds of helmets were used as battle helmets and can be dated back to 900BC when used by the Assyrian soldiers. These men wore dense leather or bronze helmets, which protected their heads from sword blows and other blunt objects as well as the risk of arrow shots while in fierce combat. Today, soldiers still wear helmets in while in combat, however, the modern helmet is constructed of lightweight plastic materials.