The Mace - Distinguishing Your Bludgeoning Weapons: Medieval Weaponry and Accoutrements

Flail. Mace. Morningstar. I’ve been asked what’s the difference?


Quite simply, they are all crushing weapons. The flail features one or more striking heads attached to a handle by a rope, strap or chain. Both the mace and the morningstar have the head affixed directly to the handle, and so are the two most similar of these three weapons. A mace may or may not have flanges or knobs but does not have spikes. A morningstar always has a spiked head, and most particularly, has a spike extending straight up from the top of the head. A flail may have spikes, but of course is differentiated from the morningstar by the head not being affixed to the shaft.


And now we've come full circle.


Each weapon is worth examining separately, so today we have the mace. Last month we looked at the flail, and next month we’ll examine the morningstar.

The Mace 

A mace is typically a strong metal or wooden shaft with a heavy head of stone, copper, bronze, iron or steel. The head could be smooth, although knobs and flanges were incorporated in some versions to allow the weapons to be used more effectively against wearers of plate armour. Damn knights! That said, the force of a blow from even a solid mace head without flanges or knobs was significant enough to injure a man even through plate armour.

Maces varied in length from 2 – 3 feet for infantry maces, through to the longer cavalry maces, with the longest being the two-handed maces. This was not a weapon designed to be used in close formation, and were most effectively used by heavy cavalry.

A popular belief is that clergy used maces to avoid shedding blood – evidently the inspiration for Dungeons & Dragons where clerics can only use blunt weapons, but there is little actual evidence for this practice in reality. The myth seems to be largely based on a picture of Bishop Odo of Bayeux wielding a club-like mace at the Battle of Hastings in the Bayeux Tapestry. However, other Bishops were depicted with the arms of a knight, contradicting such a theory.

Maces exist in modern society largely as ceremonial items, particularly in parliaments following the Westminster system, where they are carried in by the sergeant-of-arms (or other mace-bearer) and placed on the clerks’ table while parliament is in session. As well as being removed when the session ends, the mace is removed when a new speaker is elected to show that parliament is not ready to conduct business. 

Ceremonial maces are also used by the clergy as a symbol of jurisdiction, in parades as part of military bands, and in universities in a similar manner to parliament.

It's a Flail! A Mace! No, it's a Morningstar! Simple Chart To Work Out the Difference

 

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The Flail - Distinguishing Your Bludgeoning Weapons: Medieval Weaponry and Accoutrements

Probably a two-handed flail, judging by the
length of haft and chain. The head is of the
spiked variety.

Flail. Mace. Morningstar. I’ve been asked what’s the difference?

Quite simply, they are all crushing weapons. The flail features one or more striking heads attached to a handle by a rope, strap or chain. Both the mace and the morningstar have the head affixed directly to the handle, and so are the two most similar of these three weapons. A mace may or may not have flanges or knobs but does not have spikes. A morningstar always has a spiked head, and most particularly, has a spike extending straight up from the top of the head. A flail may have spikes, but of course is differentiated from the morningstar by the head not being affixed to the shaft.

And now we've come full circle.

Each weapon is worth examining separately, so today we have the flail. In later posts we'll look at the mace and the morningstar.

The Flail

The bottom weapon appears to be a single-handed flail
with a knobbed head.

The flail comes in two main varieties – one- and two-handed, the latter of which originated from the agricultural tool used to thresh grain. It was mainly an offensive weapon, having virtually no defensive capabilities. The key benefit of the two-handed version was that it could overcome your opponent’s shield – cool! On the downside, it lacked precision, and in close combat or close formations you were just as likely to brain the bloke next to you – OK, not so good.

The one-handed flail is most often depicted as one or more metal heads, which may or may not be spiked, attached to a short handle by a long metal chain. Multiple striking heads! More power! I'm almost having a Tim the Tool Man moment, and I will totally include a multiple-headed flail in the next book I write - this is just too cool to ignore. In the majority of cases, the chain on the one-handed flail is long enough that you need to be careful not to hit your own hand. Yeah all right - that's not so good, especially if your flail does have multiple heads.
 

Top Right - Multiple-headed flail. Middle Right -  Mace. Bottom Right - Morningstar with knobbed head and typical central spike. Top Middle - Morningstar. with typical central spike and smaller spikes. Middle - Mace with knobbed/ridged head. 

It's a Flail! A Mace! No, it's a Morningstar! Simple Chart To Work Out the Difference

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The Halberd: Medieval Weaponry and Accoutrements

Today we’re looking at the halberd – basically because a conversation I had on Twitter turned to this weapon as a curiosity and remarked on its under-appreciation.

The halberd is a two-handed pole weapon which features both a spear point and an axe head – talk about bang for your buck! A hook on the opposite side of the axe head helped to balance the weapon and could be used to pull enemy soldiers from their saddles. How can you go past such versatility?

The word ‘halberd’ is believed to be German in origin and essentially boils down ‘staff axe’. Well, yeah. I can see that it literally is an axe on a staff. This puts the halberd in the ‘polearm’ category, with other weapons mounted on ‘poles’ that could vary between 4 and 14 feet in length, although generally the halberd ranged from 5 to 6 feet. I’m not sure I'd want to try and carry a weapon 14 feet long!

Halberd for the Guard of Emperor Maximilian II

The weapon was most effective against mounted knights, as the long pole allowed sufficient force to be applied with the axe head to cause injury to a knight in full plate armour, or his horse. To combat this, armour for horses was developed, but even so couldn’t offer much protection against a blow from a halberd.

The halberd underwent constant improvements, including the addition of steel rims around the pole to deflect swords, or lengthening the haft to better combat pikes, or improving the point to fight pikes and spears and to push back oncoming horsemen. 

The weapon was that of a foot soldier and was relatively cheap to make. It was most effective as an offensive weapon, and was used most when pikes fought other pikes. When the units were increasingly used to defend others, such as artillery positions, the proportion of halberds in the pike units began to fall.

Halberdiers from a modern
day reenactor troupe.

Expert halberdiers were deadly. A peasant armed with a halberd killed The Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, and it’s suspected that a halberd put Richard III to his end as well. In modern times, the halberd is still the weapon carried by the Swiss Guard in the Vatican.

Next month I’m considering looking at the Lochaber axe, the glaive, or the khopesh. What do you think I should choose? Or offer your own suggestion! 

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Lisette Brody Interviews Ciara Ballintyne at the Writers' Chateau

Lisette Brody had a chat with me this week over on her Writers' Chateau - make sure you drop by to check out the full interview!

Later today you can expect the usual medieval accoutrements post - we'll be looking at the halberd!

The Bastard Sword: Medieval Weaponry and Accoutrements

A rather misleading name for what was essentially a longsword, or more properly, a hand and a half sword. So why exactly was it called a 'bastard' sword?

The name originates from the French 'epee bartarde', and may have been intended to signify the irregular nature or misleading appearance of the bastard sword. While it might be much the same length as a single-handed sword, the tang was long enough to allow the weapon to be wielded two-handed, which gave it greater versatility.

The bastard sword generally featured a double-edged tapered blade measuring 40-48 inches, and a hilt that allowed for two-handed use, measuring another 10-15 inches. It was favoured for its reach and superior cutting and thrusting, and was predominantly used by medieval knights. Despite its size, it rarely weighed more than 4.5 pounds. 

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New Blogging Schedule - Scotland, History, Mythology and More!

Whew! The A - Z challenge was fun, but boy am I glad it's over - it was getting a little gruelling there towards the end.

In the wake of the Challenge, I'll be returning to my usual bi-weekly posting routine with a few changes. So here's what you can expect going forward: 

• Mondays  - The usual Monday Morsel feature, but as I've just started writing Stalking the Demon, the sequel to my novella, Confronting the Demon, I'll be alternating morsels from In the Company of the Dead and Stalking the Demon.

• Fridays:

• In 2016, I'm returning to Scotland! It's been six years since my last visit, and this next one is so close I can taste it. To share the experience with you, every second Friday I'll be posting about one of our planned destinations on the trip. Come tour Scotland with me!
• Once a month I'll be posting an historical feature on medieval arms and accoutrements;
• I'll be reviving my mythology series, with a twist - instead of looking at mythological creatures, I'll be looking at various aspects of European mythology. This feature will also be appearing once a month; and
• If there's five Fridays in a month you'll get a special feature post, or otherwise from time to time I may make additional posts at a time of my choosing.

I hope there's something in the new feature to interest you, and I hope to see you soon. 

If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to check out my previous posts if you haven't already. If you're finding yourself here often, you might like to join as a member, sign up to the blog through RSS or email, or sign-up to my newsletter. Check out my March Newsletter if you missed it. 

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