7 types of medieval weapons that will surprise you
Miscellaneous / / February 08, 2022
These include a shooting stick, a shield with a built-in flashlight, and a German dueling door.
1. Combat grip
This weapon calledG. C. Stone. A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor mancatcher, or man-catcher, although it is also appropriate to compare it with a grip. Well, such a horseshoe on a long stick, with which pots were taken out of the oven. That's just the man-head was intended, as you might guess, not for dishes, but for human heads.
Riders were removed from horses with a fighting grip. And this tool was especially useful when it was necessary to take the enemy alive. As we already told, in the Middle Ages, mostly commoners died on the battlefields, and they tried to capture all sorts of lords and barons and ask for a ransom for them. They were hooked around the neck with a slingshot, hurried and led to the camp. They did, because the armor, obligatory for those who could pay for themselves, did not allow spikes to pierce the neck.
2. Zweihender Flamberg
Contrary to popular delusion, flamberg is not a sword, but a type of blade. Wavy surface couldN. Evangelista. The Encyclopedia of the Sword to have swords and even daggers. But, of course, the larger the weapon, the more solid it is. And it is not easy to find a sword that looks more impressive than a zweihender (“two-handed”).
Flamberge in German means "flaming". The blade was named so because of the resemblance to the tongues of fire.
Waves on the blade turnR. F. Burton. The Book of the Sword such a sword in the likeness of a saw. The convex edge has a much more outstanding chopping and cutting quality than similar straight blades.
On the Internet, you can read that flambergs could “cut through” armor and chain mail. But it's not. If you tried to slash the armor with a flamberg, the blade would simply deteriorate without causing any harm. Therefore, no one in their right mind would use such an expensive and difficult to manufacture sword against an armored enemy. But the rivals in dense quilted clothes, gambeson, flamberg shredded with a bang.
The wavy sword inflicted very dangerous lacerations that were difficult to heal. And no one would dare to grab an enemy flamberg by the blade, although this trick was often used against swordsmen with direct weapons. A flaming blade would cut through even the heaviest gauntlet.
3. Lantern rondash
This contraption serves as both a weapon and a defense. In the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, huge heavy shields disappeared, giving way to small round bucklers the size of a saucepan lid or slightly larger rondache.
Italian gunsmiths decided improveJ. O'Bryan. History of Weapons rondash. They attached a plate gauntlet to it to make it more comfortable to hold (the effect was just the opposite, but it looked cool). A pair of steel spikes, reminiscent of Wolverine's claws, were fixed on the glove. This improvement allowed even a useless boxer to instantly send the enemy to the forefathers with one left hook.
In addition to spikes, a dagger or even an additional sword could be attached to the rondash, for which a mount was prudently left. But the main feature of this delightful product is the built-in oil lantern.
This rondache is like a Swiss knife, only an Italian shield.
The tool was used in night duels. Fencing during the day is not always legal, but at night you can arrange a showdown as much as you like. On occasion, you can even blind the enemy by successfully opening the shutter of the lantern.
In addition, such shields were occasionally worn by city guards patrolling the streets of cities at night. Rondash simultaneously served as both protection and a source of illumination and occupied only one hand of the guard. And the free one could strike at troublemakers.
But the lantern shield did not have a wide spread, because the oil from it often poured out during fights directly on the hand, so that the owner constantly risked setting himself on fire.
4. Shooting mace
Those who have ever played video games with a medieval theme know that a morning star is not only a rapper, but also weaponP. Newman. Daily life in the Middle Ages from Germany - a mace studded with nails. British gunsmiths saw in it a resemblance to aspergillus - the thing that priests sprinkle believers during worship. Therefore, the English version of this club was called the "sprinkler".
But you won't surprise anyone with a simple iron mace. But if you make her shoot, there will be a completely different conversation. One such well-preserved unit 1.8 meters long is now stored in the Tower of London. His madeCombination mace and gun - Holy Water Sprinkler/ Royal Armories collections commissioned by King Henry VIII of England. The one who had six wives, loved football without rules and fought with the constableswhen bored. And Heinrich's sprinkler could irrigate those who wished not with holy water, but with lead.
Three pistol barrels were built into this heavy mace, so that you could not only hit the enemy on the head, but also shoot him if necessary.
It is not clear, however, whether the king used the sprinkler for its intended purpose and how useful the integrated pistols were. One thing is obvious - even a person who has survived a bullet hit, no matter how strong he is, is unlikely to withstand a blow with a 3.5-kilogram spiked iron stick on the head. The courtiers delicately called the club "His Majesty's walking staff."
By the way, not only Henry VIII tried to cross a mace with a pistol. Individual German landsknechts too enjoyedR. Holmes. Weapon: A Visual History of Arms and Armor such morningstars. He fired - and went to distribute cuffs hand-to-hand. Reloading before the end of the battle was not provided: it would take too long to pour gunpowder into the barrel and push the bullet.
5. Godendag
Forging a decent halberd (this is such a hybrid of a spear and an ax) or a guisarma (a halberd with a fork) is quite difficult, it takes a long time for a blacksmith to mess around. But this is not necessary if you can get by with a good old shovel handle. With a certain desire, it is quite possible for them to kill a heavily armed knight. Well, assuming it's special cutting.
Godendag is a pole weaponP. Martin. Arms and Armour, from the 9th to the 17th Century 1.4–1.7 meters long, its end is bound with iron, a thick and sharp spike sticks out on the top. This tool weighs 2-2.5 kilograms. Such gizmos were used by the Flemish (current Belgians) against the French cavalry.
They stood up like this in formation, the first rank with long peaks, the second with godendags. A cavalcade of enemy knights rode on the attack. The first row of infantry mounted the horses on spears, the second one beat the horsemen on the heads with godendags. Naturally, two kilograms of iron and wood that flew into the forehead did not add health to anyone, and it does not matter whether the knight put on a helmet or not.
After a blow, it was considered good manners to greet the enemy noble chevalier, good-naturedly saying to him “good afternoon!”, Or “good tag!” in Dutch.
By the way, there is versionThe Goedendag / De Liebaartthat in fact godendag simply means "good dagger", from a corruption of French dague. However, this heavy club is too big for a dagger, don't you think?
Godentag became especially famous thanks to battleD. Nicholas. Medieval Flanders at Courtra. Then the foot Flemish army killed a whole army of French knights with their clubs and removed 700 pairs of gilded spurs from the dead horsemen. The spurs were then hung on the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Courtrai as a trophy. Like, the French are not welcome here.
6. Ribadekin
Before the modern gun genius invented such interesting devices as the Gatling gun and the Maxim machine gun, firearms were slow to reload. The rate of fire was rather low. It was necessary to push gunpowder into the barrel, then a shell, then tamp it all down... By the time you do all this, the armored landsknecht will have time to run up three times and hit the skull with a halberd.
medieval engineers decidedJ. F. C. Fuller. A Military History of the Western World problem in the most obvious way. If we cannot improve the rate of fire of one gun, then we will simply increase the number of barrels. As it bangs in one gulp, it will definitely kill someone.
So it turned out ribadekin, or "powder organ."
Ribadekin consisted of several small-caliber guns loaded from the breech (rear) part. They fired from it almost point-blank, so that the mediocre ballistic characteristics of the weapon did not interfere.
The first known ribadekin was used by the English army under the command of Edward III in 1339 in France during the Hundred Years War, and quite successfully mowed down the French infantry. He had twelve trunks.
7. Dueling Shield
If at least once in your life you were hit on the forehead with a door, then most likely you will shudder now. Even an ordinary interior can cause a lot of pain. And imagine what it would be like to get a tactical combat door ...
In battle, the duel tower shield, apparently, was not used. But in the "God's courts", that is, judicial fights - completely. The famous German swordsman and hand-to-hand combat trainer Hans Talhoffer in his 15th century treatise describedH. Knight. The Ambraser Codex by Master Hans Talhoffer popular fighting techniques with this weapon.
It turns out that it was possible to fight only on some duel shields, as well as with a shield in one hand and a weapon in the other.
Despite the comical appearance, such a tool could cause very serious injuries. The front triangular ledge was sometimes bound with iron to make their blows even more dangerous.
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