by J P Fowler
Weaponry has been used nearly since the dawn of mankind. It has seen extensive use on many occasions, not the least of which is the period between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance — in an era most often called the Middle Ages. In the wars of the Middle Ages, different forms of weaponry excelled at different tasks. It was at its peak and arms technology advanced from simple daggers to the polearms and longswords of the 1400’s.
Swords are the most famous weapons from medieval times. In Europe, the most common type of sword was the longsword. As its name implies, it was a long thrusting sword. Thrusting was favoured in the west because a stab was more likely to be fatal than a slice. Also, it was much more difficult to parry a thrust than a swing. However, thrusting swords had disadvantages: An opponent’s defense was completely down when he made a thrust. Stabs also were much easier to dodge than slices. In the east, the Moslems made effective use of slashing swords. Slashes were much quicker and could easily change direction if the target dodged. Unfortunately, a slash had little chance of killing in one blow. The least common blade type, the chopping blade, eventually lost out to other types. Used mostly by the Franks in the dark ages, forward bent blades could easily hack through early armour. They usually had weighted tops and were used for chopping. All European swords had a hilt fixed above the handle to form a cross shape and guard the hand. The handle was called the hilt and was usually fixed to a weight or jewel called the pommel at the end of the sword. The hilt was fixed to the blade in one of two different ways. The two parts either were riveted together or forged as one piece. As a rule, the higher a person’s rank the more ornamented his sword would be. Heavily jewel-encrusted swords that have been discovered were probably never used for combat because of their immense weight. These swords were likely used in ceremonies.
Another type of bladed weapon was the spear. It was essentially a long pole with a metal point at the end. In general, a spear was about 2.5 - 2.75 meters long. Infantry spears were used sparingly until cavalry started controlling the battlefield. However, knights made excellent use of lances throughout the Middle Ages. Lances tended to be longer than spears but had the same purpose—to stab your opponent before being hit. They were usually 3.05 to 3.35 meters long; the invention of the stirrup allowed then to be driven with the full force of the horse. Polearms evolved to fit the need of infantry to have a fighting chance against cavalry. While many different types of polearms appeared, the most famous was the pike. Most, like the halberd, were just long spears combined with other weapons. Usually axes were grafted to the spearhead, but things like extra spear points also were used. At the end of the Middle Ages, three main types of polearms existed. The oxtongue was a very long spear with a double-edged tip. The poleax was exactly that: an axe on a very long pole. The last weapon was the glaive, literally a butcher knife on a wooden shaft. As the cavalry declined, the spear’s role changed. It now kept enemy infantry away from the archers and later, the gunners.
Cavalry was a major part of the middle of the medieval period. When the nomadic tribes attacked the European infantry, they easily outflanked them. So most nobles started to introduce cavalry to their ranks to counter the threat. These were the first European knights, although they were only lightly armed and armoured. However, at the time, maintaining a horse, weapons and armour was very expensive. To aid the poverty-stricken knights, the nobles granted them fiefs — usually small sections of land, although sometimes animals or money was given. In exchange for their generosity, the nobles expected a certain mount of service and loyalty. The weapons of early knights included maces, clubs and swords. Because stirrups were rarely used, the lance was only as powerful as the man carrying it was, so they were rarely used until stirrups came into widespread use. A knight’s armour got heavier and heavier as weapons improved. It got to a point that the knight could barely move on his own. As the lance and stirrup improved, cavalry charges could overrun any infantry emplacement — until the introduction of polearms, that is. Other weapons, such as the longbow, also contributed to the downfall of cavalry as lords of the battlefield. Dismounted knights and archers started winning the ‘cavalry’ battles. However, knights remained high on the social ladder for some time and tournaments continued to be popular far beyond the knight’s glory days.
As proven by the English at the battle of Crecy, longbows were deadly to cavalry charges. There were two types of arrows: flight and livery. Flight arrows were less common and livery bows were most often used. At the end of the arrow was a small notch, called the nock, into which the string was fitted. The shaft of the arrow was called the stele, while the head (in war) was called the pile. To ensure straight flight, the arrow was ‘fletched’ with three half-feathers. This particular construction of arrow was called the cloth yard shaft. The cloth yard shaft was usually thirty-seven inches long. However, most arrows were made the length of the archer’s arm. Two different arrowheads were used: the broad head for hunting and the pile head for war. A very wide head was used to tear down sails and riggings in naval combat.
The fine quality yew used to make the longbows was imported from Italy and Spain. At each end, a longbow was one and one half inches wide, tapering to one and one quarter at the centre. The back, or the side facing away from the archer, was flat. In contrast, the belly is partially rounded. Usually, the bow was approximately six feet long but one, named ‘Little John’ was almost seven! Each end of the bow had a small horn cap to hold the arrow-string in place. The string was made from hemp, lightly twined with linen. The bowmaking process was incredibly selective and the artisans, called bowyers, were of very high skill. Some longbows weighed up to a hundred pounds.
In battle, the archers stood behind sharpened wooden stakes to protect themselves from cavalry. There were experiments with hip-mounted quivers to hold arrows but they were usually kept under or beside the archer’s foot. The typical longbowman was either a strong stout man, or a very tall limber man. Bows were measured by their weight, which is the amount of pull needed to draw them. Archers rarely wore more armour than a padded or studded leather vest.
The way the bow was shot was a major improvement over previous methods of firing. The archer held the bow with his left hand as far from the body as possible; a leather bracer protected his wrist from the bowstring. He stood with his legs slightly apart, body and heels lining up with target. Turning his head to the target, he placed the arrow on the centre of the string, which would be marked beforehand. Using a leather tab, he held the arrow lightly between the main and middle finger on his right hand. Pulling back to beneath his right eye, he aimed. Contrary to rumour, the archers actually aimed for a specific person, not just in the general direction of the enemy. A qualified archer was expected to shoot twenty-four arrows at a man-sized target from two hundred yards and hit with every one! With longer arrows, it had to be pulled past the jaw. An expert could draw, aim and fire in nearly one action. Longbows ruled the field until the introduction of the arbalest; however, an expert archer could fire quickly with more power. The key word is expert. It took over a decade to master the longbow, while men could learn to use an arbalest decently within three months.
At its simplest level, the crossbow was a small, very stiff bow on a wooden stock or handle. Its main advantage was its ability to remain drawn with no effort from the archer. The drawing process was another matter. The archer put his foot into a stirrup at the end of the stock and pulled the string to a catch. Because of the stiffness of a crossbow the archer had to be a rather strong man. After drawing, the bolt (as the arrow was called) was placed in a shallow groove that ran the length of the stock. It was intended to keep the bolt on a straight path as it fired. When the catch was released by one of various methods (the most common being a trigger mechanism) the bolt was shot with considerable power. Its effective range was rather short, but it was a very accurate weapon within its usable range. The crossbow’s ability to retain a draw was what made it much easier to use than a longbow. As a result, it became a much more popular weapon.
Even though the crossbow was a very effective weapon, it had several major weaknesses. It was a slow and heavy weapon with a firing rate of about one sixth of the longbow. Its short range also made it awkward to use, as the archers had to get relatively close to fire. Another disadvantage was its strings. Because their stiffness, the crossbow was incredibly hard to string. Consequently, most soldiers left their weapons strung at all times. Crossbow strings, however, became useless in wet weather; therefore, armies heavily dependent on crossbow support were defenseless in the rain.
The crossbow also needed powerful arms to draw. The attrition of war lowered the availability of strong men for the military. Also, newer composite bows made from sinew, wood and bone were appearing and were nearly impossible to draw with bare hands. To solve both of these problems, a new way to draw the bow was needed. The belt claw filled this need. It was basically what its name implies — a two-pronged hook that was hung on the belt. Bending down, the archer would hook the claw onto the string and with his foot in the stirrup stand up straight and the string would engage itself. This allowed men to use their leg muscles to draw crossbows, therefore allowing weaker men to use them. As even more rigid bows appeared, the belt claw was not enough. In time, an improved version of the belt claw appeared. It used the same concept, but the claw had a thin rope holding it to the user’s belt. The rope went through a pulley system to make it easier to draw the bow. Now, weak men could draw the composite bows, while strong soldiers were able to draw even the stiffest ones available.
Because a crossbow bolt could rip through chain mail with ease and still cause a grievous wound, new plate armour was invented, heralding the need for more powerful crossbows. Armies turned to steel bows the most common kind being the arbalest, because neither wood nor composite bows were stiff enough. No matter how strong the archer was, not even the pulley system could draw a steel bow so new methods were again invented. The method that could draw even the hardest of bows was already in use on siege weapons. It was a double pulley and windlass and was a very cumbersome and clumsy system. The ropes often got tangled and it took time to draw.
The other system used gears where a notched bar was drawn along by a gear wheel, called the gaffle. A handle turned the wheel and, before firing, the whole system was taken off the crossbow. Although it was just a cumbersome as the windlass, it was faster and had no ropes. In most versions (but not all), the main gear wheel turned a smaller one that in turn moved the bar. This method was not nearly as popular as the windlass but was still used fairly often.
The arbalest’s maximum range in dry weather was around one hundred and twenty yards; it had to be tilted at roughly a forty-five degree angle to achieve this. A point blank (level) shot would go no more than around sixty yards. As with all crossbows, the arbalest was not effective in damp or wet weather. The crossbowmen were placed in the front ranks, to mow down opposing cavalry, as an arbalest could pierce even plate armour and still wound. At the very end of the Middle Ages, the arbalest was at its prime but was slowly being pushed over by early guns.
Siege was the largest part of medieval warfare and as castles improved, so did methods to demolish them. The most common way was to use gyns, or throwers. They ranged from the tiny springal to the gigantic trebuchet. When one thinks of siege weapons, the first thing that comes to mind is the catapult. The catapult is technically not a specific weapon. The term is amazingly general, applying to any weapon that throws deadly missiles. Larger catapults were usually mounted on wooden frames. The most common method to use a catapult was torsion, hauling the throwing arm back by winding a rope around a drum. The other end of the rope would be tied to the throwing arm. In some cases, small hand-held catapults were employed. The smallest catapult was the springal. It essentially had a dart resting on a raised timber. A stiff timber pulled back then released, hit the back of the dart and flinging it forward with significant force. In reality, it was only effective against wooden castles, especially when the dart was started on fire. Because of its light weight and excellent capabilities against wooden targets, the springal was a keystone of naval warfare throughout the Middle Ages.
The mangonel was what most people imagine a ‘catapult’ to be. It was usually mounted on a frame with wheels, giving it the major advantage of mobility. It was placing the shot in the scoop. Mangonels occasionally had slings but the standard was a scoop. Ammunition was a large stone, or several smaller ones. To fire, the winch was loaded by drawing back the throwing arm with winches and ropes, locking the winch and unlocked and the throwing arm flew forward until it hit a wooden bar at a ninety-degree angle to the frame. The force of the arm hitting the bar threw the back of the weapon into the air, earning it the nickname ‘nag’. As years progressed, the mangonel's name changed to gonne. Early guns were called gonnes because they too fired stones.
A different breed to the rest, the ballista was basically a giant crossbow. Drawn using the windlass system, the ballista fired large javelins. The ballista’s main advantage was that it was the most accurate of all siege weapons--which isn’t saying much. It could be angled up to forty-five degrees to hit a specific target. However, since one could not see over the walls and javelins are ineffective against stone, most of the time they shot over the wall and hoped to hit someone. Consequently, the ballista was not commonly used.
Any defender feared the heavy artillery of the medieval siege arsenal--the trebuchet. It was huge, the throwing arm often being made from an entire tree. The principle behind the trebuchet was simple. To help you visualize it, think of an unbalanced seesaw, with one longer end. Put a heavy weight on the short end and pull down the long end and place a much lighter weight on it. Once the long end is released, the small weight goes flying. While this is a very simple explanation, it is the basic idea behind the trebuchet. The throwing arm was supported between two strong frames. A hole was bored near the thicker end and a bar (with enough room to turn) was stuck into it. The bar was then attached to the frames. A heavy counter weight, usually a wooden box with assorted things like stones and rocks, was placed on the short end. The other commonly used counterweight method was to put lead rings where the box would have been. The arm was tied down to the ground while the sling was loaded. While mangonels almost invariably had scoops, trebuchets used slings. In large trebuchets, the counterweight pulled the arm to a ninety-degree angle, forcing someone to climb the arm and to supervise it being pulled down. In the smaller ones, once the arm was at sixty degrees, it fell to the ground again. That was more than enough, because the sling released the missile much earlier than a scoop. Although trebuchet is a French name, mostly the English used it. The reason for this is that the aristocrats all spoke French. In English, the trebuchet is called the trip-gate or trap-gate. Trebuchets were used up until the cannon finally was able to out-range and out-damage it; that didn’t happen until past the end of the Middle Ages. It then faded into the mists of history.
Other siege weapons were used besides gyns, like drills and rams. Drills were used on corners to knock out loose bricks. They usually had metal bits and were hand-turned. Although they were useless against well-constructed stone castles, drills were used fairly often because they were cheap. Another common weapon was the ram. It was a sharpened or metal-capped tree trunk hung to a mobile frame. It was covered by wet hides to protect the operators and frame from fire and arrows. The users swung the bar against the wall or gate repeatedly with hopes to crack or to knock it down. Rams were usually combined with towers. The towers had the same defensive measures as the ram, which would most likely be on the bottom level. The tower was rolled up to the wall where waiting soldiers hopped from the tower to the battlements and stormed the castle. As cannons improved the rams and towers disappeared. However, they won a fair share of battles while they were in the spotlight.
Weapons had a large part in medieval life. From society and the ‘noble’ knights to the huge castles constructed to protect the lords. Every man and woman, whether serf or noble, wore a weapon. The Middle ages were truly a violent time. However, our world would not have been the same without the warlike nature of the medieval people.