STAFF AND CLUB WEAPONS.
THE JAVELIN, SPEAR, AND LANCE.
This family of weapons is somewhat extensive, and of very great
antiquity. The earliest forms were often used as missiles, and have
been briefly alluded to in the introductory remarks. We have the
authority of Procopius that the Frankish darts had barbed iron heads,
and were used for both cutting and thrusting. Agathias refers to
double axes and argones (spears). The Anglo-Saxon spear was a narrow,
long-bladed weapon, while their javelin differed from that of the
Normans in being shorter. The Bayeux tapestry shows Anglo-Saxons with
bundles of barbed javelins in their hands. The Norman cavalry was armed
with long lances, as well as swords, at the battle of Hastings.
Up to the end of the eleventh century, the lance continued of a
comparatively uniform thickness about twelve feet in length, and the
knight’s pennon waved from it, as shown on the Bayeux tapestry, while
the head was lozenge- or leaf-shape, and sometimes barbed--all these
forms appear on the tapestry. The Daubernoun brass (1277) furnishes a
good example of a thirteenth century lance; it is five feet long, and
bears an emblazoned pennon.
The tilting-lance was from twelve to fifteen feet in its extreme
length, first of uniform girth, but later thicker at the base,
gradually tapering towards the point, and the swell at the grip does
not occur before the fourteenth century. Ash was preferred for the
shaft. The early tournament lance was required to be blunted, but
owing to the many evasions of this rule an ordinance of the fourteenth
century enjoined that the head be furnished with a tip in the form of a
coronal.
The length of the lance was often much reduced in the fourteenth
century, and was then sometimes used as a dart, but this was considered
so dangerous to the king’s peace that its use in this manner was
forbidden by statute. The tilting-lance of late in the fourteenth and
during the fifteenth century was often made hollow, so that it was
more apt to shiver at the moment of impact, and the shaft was grooved;
it differs at this time in form and bulk for the different courses.
Those that were used with a view to “unhorsing” were stronger, heavier,
and thicker in the stem than those made with the object of being
splintered; the former were provided with a pointed head, while the
latter often bore a coronal. The lance used for running at the ring was
shorter and much lighter than the two first-named, and was tipped with
a cone; there are specimens of most of these varieties at the Tower.
Froissart mentions a spear with a hook or spur at the base of the
blade, used for the purpose of dragging an adversary from his saddle,
but this feature might refer to one of the other weapons otherwise
enumerated. A good example of the lance of the second half of the
fifteenth century may be seen on “The Tapestry of Berne.”
It was common for knights fighting on foot, or those dismounted by any
accident, to cut down the lance to a length of five feet, for use as a
spear; this was done at the battle of Poitiers.
The vamplate, a steel plate for keeping the lance in position, began
as a small rondelle, but attained larger dimensions in the fourteenth
century, becoming very large in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries;
the German tilting vamplate covered the shoulder and half of the arm.
The importance of the lance in battle became greatly reduced in the
sixteenth century, and even earlier.
THE MACE AND MARTEL-DE-FER.
The mace is a very ancient weapon in its simple form, its use and shape
having been evidently suggested by the club, and it was probably a
sceptre before it became a fighting club of metal.
The type of the Bayeux tapestry, which was only used by the Saxons,
is elementary and club-like, and the shape did not alter much before
the beginning of the fifteenth century, when we have round, oval,
cog-wheel, and dentated forms; it was sometimes provided with a short
spear, welded into the top, but this was rather a French than an
English form. The mace and battle-axe were the great weapons of the
Plantagenets. The mace (temp. Edward I.) assumed the form of a slightly
projecting cog-wheel, which became somewhat more pronounced in the
next reign, as may be seen on one of the sleeping figures in Lincoln
Cathedral; and the weapon was sometimes made of lead. The shape did not
alter much before the beginning of the fifteenth century, when we have
the round, oval, cog-wheel, and dentated forms much more pronounced
than under Edward I.
Asiatic specimens are generally round in the knob, and are much lighter
than European weapons. The mace hung at the saddle-bow, being passed
through a socket which was attached to the saddle, and the weapon was
used in the lists as well as in battle.
It survived as the weapon of the sergeant-at-arms, and fell into disuse
as a weapon of war in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; after which it
became a processional emblem, and was made of silver or copper-gilt,
and ornamented with a crown, globe, and cross.
The small variety of mace was termed the “mazuelle.” The baston (German
streitkolben) is a heavy mace of hard wood, bluntly pointed, polygonal
in form, thickening towards the head, while the pommel is round, and it
was used in tournaments.
The martel-de-fer or pole-hammer is of ancient origin. That it was in
use in the eighth century is shown by the sobriquet “Charles Martel.”
It was a popular weapon in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries for
both horse and foot. The Lucerne hammer is only another name for the
same weapon; it is both long and short handled, while the head is
either a simple war-hammer, or has a small halbard-shaped blade with a
plain or dentated hammer at the opposite side, and a longer or shorter
spear at the extremity.
THE BATTLE-AXE AND POLE-AXE.
The battle-axe or francisca was a leading weapon of the Franks during
the Merovingian period, and it was then often used as a missile. The
francisca of Childeric (457–481) was found in his tomb at Tournay,
and is now in the Louvre. Procopius refers to the francisca of the
sixth century as having a broad blade, sometimes double-edged, with a
short haft. Roughly, the battle-axe is short in the handle, while the
pole-axe, as its name implies, is long in the shaft. The former is a
knightly weapon, while the latter was wielded by footmen only.
The battle-axe was greatly used by the Normans of the twelfth century.
It is a weapon of the Bayeux tapestry; indeed, William the Conqueror
was armed with it at Hastings--the form of the blade resembled that of
an ordinary hatchet, with a curved blade.
The Anglo-Saxons used an axe, narrow-bladed and single-edged, from four
to five feet long in the shaft, with great success in the battle. They
first darted their javelins, and then attacked the foe with the deadly
battle-axe.
The blade assumes later a great variety of forms--cleaver, cusped,
etc., and the top was sometimes garnished with a hook or spear.
The pole-axe was a favourite weapon of the fifteenth century, and
one of the varieties of the period combines a hatchet, a pike, and a
serrated hammer: this weapon is first cousin to the halbard, and often
classified as such.
The Jeddart staff is a long-shafted axe with a half-circular blade and
a side spike. It is more a halbard than an axe.
The Lochaber axe, used with such telling effect at the battle of
Culloden, is long-shafted; the blade and setting closely resemble
that of a voulge, with its hook at the head of the staff. This hook,
however, is generally absent in the voulge used in the field, and
this is sometimes the case with the Jeddart staff also. There are two
fine specimens of the Lochaber axe in the collection in the Castle of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne.[44]
The pole-axe, called the bardiche, is a Russian and Scandinavian weapon
with a long, narrow, crescent-formed blade attached to the top of a
pole by a ringed haft, while the lower end of the blade is fastened on
to the pole farther down.
The addition of a wheel-lock pistol was a feature of the pole-axe early
in the reign of James I. The battle-axe, according to George Silver in
his _Paradoxes of Defence_, was at the end of the sixteenth century
from five to six feet long.
THE GOEDENDAG.
The late Mr. John Hewitt, in one of his contributions to the _History
of Mediæval Weapons and Military Appliances in Europe_, refers to
the goedendag as being a foot soldier’s weapon of the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries; and he gives a drawing of a foot soldier armed
with a long-shafted weapon thickening towards the head, which is
surmounted by a short iron spear, firmly and thickly socketed on to the
extremity.
This figure, with others, is stated by M. Felix de Vigne, in his
_Recherches Historiques sur les Costumes des Gildes, etc._, published
in 1846, to have been reproduced on a drawing by himself from a fresco
that had long been plastered over on a wall in an old building in
Ghent, since pulled down. The soldier wears a bassinet, with camail
of banded-mail overlying the surcoat, and the general aspect of the
figure is that of an armed member of one of the Flemish guilds of
the beginning of the fourteenth century or thereabouts. M. de Vigne
claims to have established the form of the true goedendag in the weapon
carried by the soldier.
The late Mr. Hermann Van Duyse in his brochure, _Le Goedendag arme
Flamande sa Légende et son Histoire_, refers to the old building in
which the fresco was found as by tradition a chapel of the guild of
the weavers of Ghent, known as the “Leugemiete.” The town records and
archives of the Abbaye of St. Bavon both afford confirmatory evidence
that a chapel was built very early in the fourteenth century on or near
the site where the “Leugemiete” stood.
The figure mentioned by Hewitt formed one of a troop preceded by
crossbowmen. The leader wears a visored bassinet, and bears a standard
emblazoned with two triangular shields and five crosses argent. His
sword is long and broad, with quillons curving towards the blade. The
details of the drawing point clearly to the end of the thirteenth
or beginning of the fourteenth century. M. Viollet le Duc, in his
_Dictionnaire du Mobilier_, defines the weapon as a variety of the
voulge or fauchard, while M. Van Malderghem considers it to be a
ploughshare mounted on a staff, or a sort of bill.
In a poem by W. Guiart, written in the French of the period, in the
_Branche des Royaux Leguages_, descriptive of the battle of “Haringues”
in 1297, the goedendag mentioned affords many points of resemblance to
the staff weapon shown on the De Vigne fresco; indeed, it can be no
other.
The goedendag, whatever its form, was used with great effect at the
battle of Courtray in 1302, and is called “goudendar” and “godendar” in
an account of the battle in the _Grandes Chroniques_. Guiart mentions
the goedendag as having been used in this battle in concert with the
lance and guisarme, and the weapon is mentioned in French chronicles
late in the thirteenth century.
Tradition says that the goedendag is the weapon of the fresco and
poem, but garnished with spikes over the thicker portion of the staff
towards the head; and there are several such weapons surviving, though
this is probably a rather later variety of the weapon than that shown
on the fresco, the only difference being the addition of the side
spikes. Froissart mentions the weapon as being used at the battle
of “Rosebecque” in 1383. Probably the true form of the goedendag is
that of the poem and fresco, with or without side spikes. As to the
etymology of the word itself, that is given in Guiart’s poem, where it
says that it means “good day.”[45] The name doubtless took its rise
from a brutal jest, as in the case of the holy-water sprinkler. The
goedendag in the author’s possession has a staff seventy-five inches
long, with a spike a little over seven inches at the end, and twelve
short spikes dispersed in four rows round the head, projecting about
one and a quarter inches from the staff, which bears the brand Z. I.
In the Rotunda, Woolwich, are four similar goedendags, classed in the
catalogues as “morgensterns” or “holy-water sprinklers”!
THE BILL, SCYTHE KNIFE, AND GLAIVE.
This class of weapons is often confounded with the gisarme, because
they sometimes have a spur at the base. All have their prototype in the
scythe of agriculture.
The bill occurs in the poem of Beowulf as part of the armament of a
ship of war, and it is often mentioned in Anglo-Saxon chronicles, but
it must be borne in mind that old chronicles used the phrase “bills
and bows” in the sense that the former word applies generally to all
long-shafted weapons. According to Silver, the bill ought not to exceed
six feet in length.
Bills were in general use by footmen in the eleventh century, and
indeed continued to be so until the advent of the pike. This class of
weapons was largely superseded in the fifteenth century by halbards,
partizans, and pikes, but the bill survived long in England. There are
some particulars of this weapon in the _Brief Discourse on Warre_,
written by Sir Roger Williams in 1590, in which the proper proportion
of bills to pikes in battle-array is set forth as one to five. The
length of the bill-shaft should not exceed six feet.
The glaive has a much larger blade than the bill. It has its edge on
the outside curve, and has side branches of various sizes. The term
“glaive” was often applied to the lance, and in France “le fer de
glaive” denoted the sword of chivalry, as well as the headman’s blade.
The pageant glaive is a large, heavy, and usually highly decorated
weapon, doubtless greatly used in processions.
THE HOLY-WATER SPRINKLER, OR MILITARY FLAIL.
This class of weapon, like several others, had its inception among the
implements of husbandry; and it owes its name, like the goedendag,
doubtless to a brutal jest. It is stated by Whitacre that the
agricultural flail was introduced into Italy about the time of the
Roman conquest of Britain. The Anglo-Saxons called it “Therscol,” or
thrasher. This terrible weapon consists of a shaft of wood, garnished
with iron, attached to which is a flail of iron, moving on a ring; or a
chain or chains connecting the head of the shaft with a wooden or iron
ball or balls at the extremity. The balls are usually garnished with
iron spikes, but this is not always the case. The holy-water sprinkler
is often confounded with the “morning star,” which is a spiked mace,
described under that heading.
It would appear from the Tower Survey of 1547, that the “Holy Water
Sprinkler” was at that time in two varieties, viz., with long and short
shafts. The above record catalogues “Holly Water Sprincles with gonnes
in th’ ende. Little holly water sprincles.” Perhaps what was called the
long variety was the goedendag. The author has two with short shafts,
and chains at the ends, to which are attached spiked wooden balls. The
MS. of Matthew Paris at Benet College, Cambridge, furnishes us with an
example of the simple form.
THE MORNING STAR.
This weapon is a spiked mace, and was greatly used in Germany and
Switzerland. There are both long and short shafted kinds; the latter,
made of iron, is mentioned in the eleventh century, and was much
used by horsemen in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. They
were sometimes supplemented with hand-guns. This variety was called
“Schiesspringel.” Several writers confound the “Morning Star” with the
“Holy Water Sprinkler,” but the latter is a weapon of the flail family.
The heads vary in shape, being round, square, and a half oval narrowing
towards the shaft, and all are spiked.
GISARME AND VOULGES.
The gisarme is a scythe-shaped weapon, fixed on a long shaft. It is
double-edged, and provided with a hook and spurs. It is often mentioned
in early chronicles of the thirteenth century, and is specially alluded
to by Froissart in the next century. The voulge has a broad blade,
pointed at the head, and is generally square at the edge. It was
usually forged with two strong iron rings, through which the head of a
pole is passed. This weapon was often carried by archers. The pageant
voulge is shaped very like a Lochaber axe, with its curved, pointed,
hook-like spear at the head of the shaft.
MILITARY FORKS.
These forked, trident-like weapons, of prongs of unequal length, are
mentioned in records of the eleventh century. They were much used in
the fourteenth century. The weapon appears in the Sloane MS., No. 346.
THE HALBARD.
The first mention of this weapon occurs in the fourteenth century. It
was used by footmen only, and is somewhat varied in form. It usually
has a somewhat square or crescent-shaped blade, with a sharp hook-like
projection or forks on the back, and sometimes a spike from the face,
but always a spear at the top. In the fifteenth century the nearly
straight form prevailed, with a spur behind, while the crescent-shaped
blade appeared early in the sixteenth; and the hinder spur became
broader and more blade-like, and with a downward curve, while the spear
at the point became much longer.
Double-bladed halbards were not uncommon.
The length at the end of the sixteenth century was about five feet,
and being shorter than the pike was better adapted for hand-to-hand
fighting. Silver says the length ought not to exceed five or six feet.
The halbardiers had charge of the standard.
The halbard and the partizan were the great infantry weapons before the
pike came into general use. They were still to the fore in the reign of
George I.
The pageant halbard is usually perforated, engraved, and otherwise
ornamented.
Hewitt gives a figure, from Holbein’s “Costumes Suisses,” of a Swiss
halbardier of the first half of the sixteenth century.
THE PIKE, PARTIZAN, SPETUM, RANSEUR, AND SPONTOON.
The pike is a footman’s weapon used greatly in conjunction with the
halbard and harquebus; and these three were pre-eminently the weapons
of the infantry of the later “middle ages” and the “renaissance.”
It was probably introduced into England in the reign of Edward III.,
being mentioned by Froissart, anno 1342, and did not fall into disuse
much before the time of Charles II., when a writer in 1703 refers to
it as a weapon “formerly” in use, the bayonet having superseded it.
Viscount Dillon states in _Archæologia_, vol. li., p. 221, that “In
1515, Pasqualigo, the Venetian, writes that he had seen in the Tower
pikes for 40,000 infantry, and that they have a like store at Calais,
a place near Scotland!” The pike has a narrow lance-formed head, to
which long strips of iron four feet in length are attached, which are
screwed down the sides of a long wooden pole, the end of which is shod
with iron, for fixing into the ground, to resist a charge of horsemen.
There is a tassel along the shaft for easing the shoulder when the
weapon is carried at the “port,” and also for preventing the rain from
running down the shaft.
The earlier length of the pike was ten feet, but Sutcliffe, in his
_Practice of Arms_, speaks of it as up to twenty-two feet in length. A
statute of 1662 fixes the length at sixteen feet. During Elizabeth’s
reign the cost of a pike was three shillings and eightpence, and it was
“fifteene foote long besides the head.” The usual length, however, was
about ten feet.
It was the bayonet that deposed the pike.
The partizan, like the pike, was introduced in the reign of Edward
III. The blade is long, broad, and double-edged, with hatchet-like or
pointed branches at the base. It was greatly used as a pageant weapon,
and much skill and taste were expended in chasing it and inlaying it
with gold. The spetum is narrower and lighter, a long spear at the
point, and narrow curved side branches.
The ranseur is very similar to the partizan, with a long broad blade
in the centre, and projecting shorter blades on each side. It was much
used in the reign of Edward IV.
The spontoon is a half pike, or something between the pike and
partizan, and was carried by infantry officers.
A selection of staff and club weapons are represented in Fig. 49, and
most of the weapons referred to are there given.