Weaponry

Here are some well-known and not so well-known weapons that your character or your men might be wielding, or facing, in battle. These lists are extensive, but they are currently restricted to European weaponry that was in use at some point from the 10th to 15th centuries. Within their types, weapons are listed alphabetically. Gunpowder weaponry is not listed, as Battlemaster never mentions it.

Pole Weapons

Axes have been included in this list.

• Awl Pike - also called an ahlspiess. A metal spike, usually over three feet in length, mounted on a shaft of 5 to 6 feet in length. At the base of the spike was a rondel guard, a simple round piece of metal, to protect the hands.
• Bardiche - an Eastern European weapon. A tall axehead - perhaps 2 feet long - mounted by two sockets onto a short pole, usually up to 5 feet long.
• Battle Axe - an axe specifically designed for warfare. Since flesh is easier to slice than wood, battle axes were usually lighter than utility axes and had narrower blades. Axes might be used by horsemen or infantrymen, and might be double- or single-handed.
• Bec de Corbin - similar to a polearm length war hammer (see below). Usually, instead of using the hammer head to attack, the hammer's 'beak' or fluke was used.
• Bec de Faucon - a polearm with a large hammer head instead of an axe, and backed with a spike or curved fluke. The weapon either terminated in a heavy steel counterweight, or a sharpened buttspike, and seemed to range anywhere from five to seven or more feet long.
• Bill - also called a bill hook or bill-guisarme. A pole 6 to 9 feet long, with (usually) three implements attached: a blade on one side of the end, a hook on the other and a spear-like spike straight off the top.
• Breach-Pike - an awl pike without the rondel guard.
• Candeliere - an Italian term, literally 'candlestick'. This was a shortened awl pike.
• Chacing Staff - also called a chasing staff, this was a staff 10 to 12 feet long with a spike on the butt end and a shallow blade on the other. It resembled an early halberd or bill.
• Danish Axe - originally the axe used by the Vikings, 4 to 6 feet long. This spread throughout Europe during the 13th century.
• Doloire - also called a wagoner's axe, this was roughly 5 feet long. The head was pointed at the top and rounded at the bottom, and a small hammer head is mounted on the reverse. As the alternative name suggests, this weapon was used as a tool and for self-defence by the men in charge of supply trains.
• Fauchard - a curved blade mounted on a 6 to 7 foot pole. The curve of the blade was concave, similar to a sickle or scythe.
• Fauchard-Fork - a fauchard (see above), with a lance point attached to the top or the point of the blade.
• Flax - like the pitchfork, this was a farming implement, in this case one used to manipulate the material flax, used as an improvised weapon. This was a serrated, saw-like blade, topped with a broad, flat hook and with a spike on the reverse, mounted on a 7 to 8 foot pole.
• Glaive - a single edged blade - perhaps 18 inches long - mounted on a pole 6 to 7 feet long.
• Guisarme - also called a gisarme or bisarme. Originally simply a pruning hook on a spear shaft. Later a hooked blade with a spike on the reverse side. Eventually a catch-all term for any weapon with a hook on.
• Halberd - An axe head on a pole, with a hook-blade on the reverse and a long spike straight off the top.
• Half-Pike - a shortened pike, commonly used by sailors.
• Jousting Lance - a lance (see below), but with a blunt and spread out tip, and sometimes with a hollowed shaft to break on impact.
• Lance - the lance as used by knights was longer, stouter and heavier than the spear and was mounted with a vamplate, a circular metal plate to prevent the hand sliding up the shaft upon impact. Once the initial charge had been made, the lance usually had to be abandoned.
• Long-Bearded Axe - an axe where the cutting edge of the blade extends below the width of the throat, which saves weight and allows the axe to be held just below the head if necessary, for close blows and woodcutting.
• Lucerne Hammer - so-called because many were found at Lucerne, Switzerland. This is a three or four pronged hammer head mounted on a 7 foot pole, with a spike on the reverse and a longer spike straight of the top.
• Man Catcher - a bizarre non-lethal polearm. A pole mounted with a two-pronged head. Each prong was semi-circular, with a spring-loaded 'door' on the front. This valve-like system allowed a man-sized object to be caught from a horse and pinned to the ground. This was ideal for capturing nobles for ransom.
• Mattock - similar to a pickaxe, but with the head terminating in a broader blade than the pickaxe's long spike. This was an agricultural implement that could be used as an improvised weapon by peasants.
• Military Fork - an evolution of the pitchfork (see below) for battlefield use. Usually military forks had only two tines (prongs); these were usually parallel or slightly flared. This became the favoured polearm in some areas of Europe.
• Ox Tongue Spear - also called the langue de boeuf. An English broad bladed, double edged halberd.
• Partisan - a lance or spear head mounted on a shaft with a small double axe head mounted just below it. It eventually became clear that the partisan was not a good battlefield weapon. It became a ceremonial and civil weapon, and so might be borne by city guards and militia.
• Pike - a polearm, similar to a spear, from 10 to a remarkable 22 feet long. Primarily used in a close formation against cavalry.
• Pitchfork - a farming implement which might be used by peasants lacking anything else. Pitchforks varied in lenghts and usually had 2 to 6 tines.
• Pollaxe - also called a pole axe, poll-axe, polax or hache. This was a polearm 4 to 7 feet long with a modular head. Usually an axe blade - smaller than that of a halberd - or a hammer head was mounted on the damaging 'face', with a spike, hammer or fluke on the reverse. A blade often came off the top too. A rondel guard might be fixed below the head, and a spike might be fixed to the butt.
• Ranseur - also called a runka or rawcon. Essentially a spear with a cross hilt mounted just below the head. Sometimes the hilt was crescent shaped, which produced something like a trident.
• Spear - the simplest polearm. The spear was cheap and required little training, but as the Middle Ages progressed, it was gradually abandoned in favour of other polearms.
• Spetum - also called a chauve, souris, corseca, corsèsque, and korseke. A 6 to 8 foot long polearm, spear-tipped, with two projections at the base of the tip. Unlike the ranseur and the partisan, the projections are single edged and used for slashing.
• War Hammer - a hammer head mounted on a pole or staff. Polearm length war hammers were employed against cavalry, whereas shorter war hammers were used by them. Often a spike might be mounted straight off the top.
• War Scythe - this is a peasant's scythe, but adapted for warfare. The blade is moved, from its position at right angles to the shaft, to extend upright from it. Particularly associated with Poland.
• Voulge - a polearm similar to a glaive (see above), but with a broader blade and more of a hacking than a cutting motion. Sometimes the blade narrowed to a 'pointed top' for stabbing.

Blunts

• Chain Mace - a morningstar (see below) or a metal ball on the end of a long length of chain. The chain was often wrapped in leather or another protective material.
• Club - also called a cudgel or a bludgeon. Probably the simplest of all weapons. A wooden stick with which the wielder strikes his enemies. This would be a peasant's weapon, but soldiers might employ it when doing police work. Maces were derived from clubs.
• Cudgel - see club above.
• Flail - strictly speaking, one or more metal balls - sometimes morningstars (see below) - attached by a chain or chains to a staff. An impact weapon, which could curve around a shield or a parrying weapon.. Named a flail because the wielder's motions resembled those of someone using the (quite different) farming implement.
• Godendag - also called the goedendag, plançon-à-picot or chandelier. This was a Flemish variant of the morningstar mace. It was a long wooden club, 4 to 6 feet long, with an iron spike on the end.
• Holy Water Sprinkler - also called a goupillon. Strictly speaking, a short, spiked iron bar on the end of a chain, similar to a morningstar flail - indeed the term can also refer to morningstar flails or morningstar maces. So-called probably because the spikes resemble sprays of holy water from an eclesiastical aspergillum.
• Horseman's Pick - a cavalry war hammer, with a long spike on the reverse of the hammer head. The spike was curved downwards, giving it a pick-like shape.
• Long Stave - also long staff. This was a longer, Early Modern version of the quarterstaff (see below). A long stave could be 12 to 18 feet long.
• Mace - a wooden, reinforced or metal shaft topped with a metal or stone head, which was thicker than the shaft and often sported spikes, knobs or flanges. Infantry maces were usually 2 to 3 feet long. Cavalry maces were somewhat longer.
• Maul - originally a long handled hammer used to split wood, with a wedge-shaped head, a little like a broad axehead. A peasant's implement. This could be modified with metal banding and rivets to provide a battlefield weapon. Two-handed maces were also called mauls.
• Morningstar - strictly speaking, the small spiked round ball found either on the end of a chain in a flail or on the end of a shaft in a morningstar mace. More generally could refer to any type of spiked club.
• Quarterstaff - an English staff weapon, usually 6 to 9 feet long. A quarterstaff might have metal caps or spikes at one or both ends. Early, longer variants of the quarterstaff were called long staves (see above). Many implements can be converted into a quarterstaff and a quarterstaff could of course be used as a long walking staff.
• Shillelagh - a weapon associated with Ireland. A wooden club or cudgel, usually a knotty stick with a large knob on the end, made from blackthorn or oak. A shillelagh might be hollowed out at the striking end and filled with molten lead. This variation was called a 'loaded stick'.

Blades

• Arming Sword - a single handed, double edged sword usually used for cutting. Until the late 13th century and the rise of the longsword, these swords were the standard knight's sword - 'war sword' - and after that time they remained a common side-arm. Knights would wear arming swords in and out of armour; they would be 'undressed' without one.
• Backsword - the backsword was so named because it only had one cutting edge. The non-cutting edge (the back of the blade) was much thicker than the cutting edge thus creating a wedge type cross-section.
• Baselard - also called a basilard, this was a Swiss weapon, somewhere between a short sword and a dagger. It was perhaps 40 centimetres long, although after the Middle Ages it became longer.
• Bihänder - also called a zweihänder, or bidenhänder, this was an extremely large two-handed sword. Its heyday was the 16th century, but it originated in Germany during the 14th century. The weapon as a whole might be 5 or 6 feet long, and usually had a cross guard.
• Cinquedea - a thrusting civilian short sword from Italy during the end of the Middle Ages, with a heavy, roughly 45 centimetre long blade.
• Claymore - a two-handed sword, somewhat smaller and lighter, and thus faster, than other two-handed swords. Medieval claymores - with a cross guard - are different from the 18th century basket-hilt claymore. The blade was roughly 40 inches long.
• Dagger - a simple knife, usually double edged. A particularly popular variant was the rondel (see below). Daggers were usually used as a side-arm, and, since they could penetrate the joints in a suit of armour, they could be used to kill an unhorsed knight or to force him to surrender.
• Dirk - a Scottish word. The actual configuration of a dirk varied. Sometimes a dirk was a small, straight dagger; sometimes it was a sword blade mounted with a dagger hilt.
• Falchion - a single hand, single edged sword with a wide blade. These were cheap to produce.
• Greatsword - a 'greatsword' was not a particular type of sword, but the word might mean a heavy arming sword, a large longsword, a claymore or a bihänder
• Großes Messer - also called a langmesser, heibmesser or simply a messer, this was a single edged, inexpensive German blade, similar to a falchion. The blade might be 30 inches long.
• Katzbalger - an arming sword 75 to 85 cm long, with a distinctive figure-eight shaped guard. Famously sturdy, sometimes used as a secondary weapon by pikemen, archers and crossbowmen.
• Katana - a reknown feudal japanese blade used by high nobility, mercenaries, "samurais" and assassins. Its size is more or less 70-90 cm long and its main skill is its usual sharpness and strength although being very thin. Extremely effective.
• Longsword - also called a langschwerdt, spadone or montante (the terms 'bastard sword and 'hand-and-a-half sword' are modern). An evolution of the arming sword, with a cross guard. Lengths varied, but usually both hands could fit comfortably onto the hilt, although it might be used one-handed.
• Mercygiver - also called a misericordias, this was a long English knife specifically designed for delivering a coup de grâce to a wounded man. It saw much use during the Hundered Years' War; the French considered it unchivalrous.
• Poniard - a thrusting dagger with a slim square or triangular blade.
• Rondel - also called a roundel, this was a single edged dagger which had rondels - flat metal circles - for both its pommel and guard. It was worn by a variety of people from knights to merchants. The blade was usually more than 12 inches long. There were also four-edged variants, the blade having a cruciform cross-section.
• Sabre - usually a single-edged, curved blade with a hand guard. Sabres originally arrived in Europe with the Magyars in the 10th century.
• Shortsword - in medieval terms, a 'shortsword' was a one-handed sword short only in comparison to a longsword. The word was rarely used and is something of a neologism.

Personal Ranged Weapons

• Arbalest - although this word could mean any crossbow, it more commonly meant a crossbow-like weapon with a steel prod, which allowed for a greater draw force.
• Crossbow - a bow, called a 'prod', mounted on a stock. The string was drawn back - either unaided or by a mechanical mechanism - and then released by a trigger; the weapon fired arrow-like projectiles called bolts. Crossbows fired slowly but had great draw force. They were often considered unchivalrous.
• Dart - darts have been present in European warfare for a long time. Some were used in the Middle Ages, but they were unlikely to have played much part in battle.
• Longbow - famously used by the Welsh and then the English, this was a bow of great length - perhaps 6 feet - requiring great strength and a great deal of practice to be used effectively. The longbow could be long-ranged, and it could be accurate, but it could not be both at the same time. A variety of arrowheads were used for different purposes.
• Staff Sling - also called a stave sling or fustibale. Although the sling was obsolete during the medieval period, the staff sling was still used during sieges. A sling on the end of a staff - up to 6 feet long - could hurl heavy stones great distances, utilising a lever effect.

Improvised Weaponry

A number of the weapons listed above were converted agricultural implements - scythes, pitchforks et cetera - and, given the poor understanding of logistics during the Medieval period, commanders were often forced to improvise. The Byzantine general Belisarius, for example, was supposedly forced to equip some of his infantry with park fenceposts and large metal platters in lieu of spears and shields before his last battle (he won).

Moving away from a purely military context, almost anything might serve as a weapon in an emergency. During a tavern brawl mugs might serve as missiles and chair-legs as clubs, if an urban population revolted they might well throw cobblestones and tiles, and a noble would be forced to use the first thing that came to hand against an assassin; Julius Caesar is supposed to have had only a stylus to defend himself when he was assassinated (Caesar was not Medieval, but the principle is the same).

Siege Engines

Miscellaneous thrown objects might include simple stone or metal balls, flammable objects, large arrow-like objects, beehives, carcasses, or unsuccessful spies.

• Ballista - this classical weapon - a kind of giant crossbow - was occaisionally used in the Middle Ages, but it was expensive and complex, and so was generally replaced by the onager.
• Battering Ram - at its simplest, a log which soldiers batter gates with. More advanced rams might be slung from a frame or placed on rollers. Often rams were protected with roofs and side-screens.
• Catapult - this appears to have been a catch-all term for any siege engine that launched projectiles.
• Onager - the onager used a sling attached to a throwing arm to launch a solid projectile. Later onagers might have fired several projectiles from a fixed bowl. 'Onager' appears to have been interchangeable with 'mangonel'. Onagers used torsion bundles to throw their projectile(s).
• Siege Tower - a tower on wheels, usually constructed at the scene of the siege and built higher than the besieged walls. Siege towers could carry archers, and a drawbridge might be lowered onto the walls to allow troops access.
• Trebuchet - unlike the onager and ballista, the trebuchet used a counterweight acting on a lever to hurl much larger projectiles. Trebuchets appear to have a range of about 300 yards - within skilled bowshot. Large trebuchets were slow to operate, launching perhaps two projectiles per hour.

Miscellaneous Siege Techniques

It should be noted that, until the arrival of gunpowder, the balance of technology and logistics usually favoured the defender.

'Boiling Oil'

Various unpleasant substances might be poured on attackers through purpose built holes, or simply over the walls. Boiling oil in particular would have been expensive, and oil was a limited resource. Defenders would more commonly employ cheaper alternatives, such as boiling water, burning pitch or heated sand.

Escalade

This was a ladder assault on besieged walls. Attackers carrying out an escalade suffered heavy casualties from missile weapons, boiling oil et cetera; if they reached the battlements, they would be outnumbered. Often an escalade was not attempted aggresively, but stealthily, at night, in order to infiltrate and open the gates.

Greek Fire

Greek fire was a weapon made using a secret formula, deployed by the Byzantine empire. Greek fire stuck to things, and water did not put it out. Objects could be soaked in Greek fire and then launched by siege engines, or it could be combined with a metal siphon to create a primitive flamethrower. The Byzantines also supposedly had a variation which was ignited by contact with sunlight; this could be smeared on enemy siege engines by spies during the night, with predictable results when day came!

Sapping

Sapping was also called undermining or simply mining; besiegers might dig tunnels under besieged walls to cause a breach. Gunpowder was not used until the very late Middle Ages, but the engineers might build the tunnel using wooden supports which could then be burned to cause the tunnel to collapse. Besiegers might countermine, digging into the tunnel themselves to kill the engineers, or digging underneath the initial tunnel before it reached their walls and attempting to collapse that tunnel.

Waiting

Unless a relieving army was on the way or the attackers themselves lacked supplies, often the simplest option was to attempt to starve the defenders out.