A crossbow with a steel bow
A–Z OF TERMS
Angon, arquebus, axe, bill, bolt, bow, coustel, crossbow, crossguard, dagger, falchion, firearms, franciska, glaive, goedendag, guisarme, halberd, hammer, hilt, lance, longbow, mace, misericorde, morning star, pike, pole-axe, pommel, quarrel, scabbard, seax, shortbow, sling, spear, spring-bow, sword.
OUTLINE HISTORY
We are here concerned with the personal arms of individual warriors. The five main ways to know about medieval arms are from archaeological finds, surviving examples, manuscript illustrations, sculptures, and accounts in documents and chronicles. The evidence is scantiest early on and increases gradually through time.
Both Romans and barbarians contributed to early medieval arms development. Too many historians have stressed the contribution of one to the detriment of the other. Romans and barbarians also borrowed from each other and there is no clear distinction between the arms of one and the other. Both owed a debt to Bronze and Iron Age predecessors.
The medieval weapon par excellence is the sword. Other significant weapons were spears and axes. Some weapons declined in importance afterwards. The small throwing axe of the Franks is an example, probably because it proved less effective when used in larger infantry formations. Most weapons had their particular advantage – the bow was more effective at a distance than the spear, the sword less cumbersome in close combat than the axe.
With the increased significance of mounted knights more emphasis was placed on cavalry arms. The lance developed into a specifically designed weapon, longer and with a special grip. Swords needed to be adaptable, light enough to wield from horseback, and useful for the knight on foot. Smaller personal weapons such as knives and daggers were handy in emergencies.
There were changes in infantry tactics. It was necessary to find a way to counter the strength of mounted charges. Cavalry proved ineffective for this and various infantry tactics were developed, as with bows, spears and other weapons. Crossbows returned to favour and larger trained forces of archers were employed. Spears were retained for thrusting rather than throwing and became longer, the beginning of pike tactics. There were further changes in the later Middle Ages. Crossbows were improved. The ordinary bow, or longbow, came to its peak period, a riposte to mounted charges. Pikes had the same function, especially with large numbers of trained men forming a wall or square.
All these weapons had a long ancestry but lost some significance with the development of firearms. Gunpowder had been known of for a long time but was now used with effective weapons, both handguns and artillery. Artillery weapons for best effect in battle needed to be portable. The development of portable artillery and handguns proceeded in parallel.
A–Z OF TERMS
ANGON
A barbed javelin, only mentioned in connection with the Franks, described as not very long and used for throwing or stabbing. The angon was similar to the Roman pilum and may have derived from it. The head was iron and long in relation to the shaft. The point was small with two barbs. A head found in Germany was a metre long. The head was barbed and difficult to extricate from a wound or shield. If the angon struck a shield, the Frank could wrench away the shield using the angon as a handle.
ARQUEBUS (HARQUEBUS)
An early portable gun, first used as artillery but later a personal weapon. Its name comes from Middle Low German hakebusse (hook-gun), because a hook attached the gun to its carriage. The name was later commonly used for various portable guns and handguns. The arquebus was often placed on a carriage, trestle or rest. The main part was a metal tube. With an added wooden stock it became a hand weapon, fired from the shoulder via a touch-hole using a match. It was used from the mid-15th century. The Hussite hand culverin was probably the model for the arquebus. Charles the Bold of Burgundy employed arquebusiers in the 1470s. At the same time Matthias of Hungary claimed that a fifth of his infantry were arquebusiers. The arquebus became a favourite Spanish weapon. At first, loading was slow. In the late Middle Ages a mechanism was developed to carry a slow match to the powder, its lever shaped like a letter S or serpent, a name then used for the weapon.
AXE
The Franks possessed a small throwing axe, the franciska, about two feet long. They were used as missiles and thrown in unison. The Vikings used hand axes, as demonstrated on a gravestone from Lindisfarne. The larger battle-axe had a shaft of some five feet with an iron head fixed by socket. It was wielded with both hands. The battle-axe was popular with the Vikings and often called a Norse or Danish axe. Vikings sometimes named their axes, such as ‘Witch’ or ‘Fiend’, suggesting their personal nature. The Vikings used bearded axes named from the shape of the drooping lower edge, and broad axes. The latter emerged in c.1000, sometimes with a steel edge welded to the blade. The blade was narrowest at the socket, broadening to a curved edge about a foot long. The bipennis was a double-headed blade. Axes were favoured by the English at Hastings and employed by English and Scandinavians in the Byzantine Varangian Guard. Byzantines and Muslims used axes, especially hand-axes such as the saddle-axe. The axe continued in use in the later Middle Ages but with decreasing importance. King Stephen at Lincoln in 1141 was handed an axe by a citizen, suggesting it was still a weapon for ordinary folk. Irish and Scottish troops used axes in the later period though the English by then saw it as primitive. An axe was employed by a Scot at Otterburn in 1388 – albeit a priest defending the Earl of Douglas. From the 13th century one finds smaller and lighter axe-heads. Axes did not disappear in the later Middle Ages, when they were still used in Scandinavia and eastern Europe. They were probably the predecessors of staff weapons. The later medieval type with a lighter head and a hammer at the rear of the blade suggests such a development. Mongols used small axes. A hand-axe known as the horseman’s axe regained popularity in the late Middle Ages as a reserve weapon for cavalry.
BILL (BILLHOOK)
Formerly the name for a type of sword but more commonly meaning a staff weapon with a concave or curved blade, having a rear spike and a spear-like top. The name was applied to a variety of staff weapons. Initially it was like a scythe. Its distinctive feature remained the curved, crescent-shaped blade. The bill was replaced in popularity by the pike in the later Middle Ages.
BOLT (QUARREL)
Missile shot by a crossbow, shorter and heavier than an arrow, about a foot in length. It appears as Latin bolta or quarellus (quadrellus) – hence quarrel. The butt end was tapered and flattened. The head or pile was usually of iron and pyramid-shaped. Bolts were described as ‘four-sided’. Early shafts were often of ash or yew with feathered flights. Sometimes wood was used for the flight. The bolt was placed in the groove of the crossbow and over the nut. The string was pulled over the nut to lay against the butt end of the bolt. A vireton was a bolt with a spiral flight so that it rotated in flight, making it more accurate. Bolts had to be the correct size for the particular crossbow. An English inventory of 1298 lists three different sizes. The Milemete Manuscript illustration shows a type of bolt as an early missile for a gun. Incendiary bolts were known in the 15th century, constructed with a bomb-like shaft. They could be shot on to roofs to cause fire. The term bolt is used for the missile of a balista.
BOW (SEE ALSO CROSSBOW, LONGBOW, SHORTBOW, SPRING-BOW)
A weapon to shoot missiles – arrows, bolts, quarrels. The essential idea of all bows is to tense a string, which when released will propel a missile. The string is tensed against a solid but flexible stave. Longbows and ordinary wooden bows had a wooden stave, generally yew, while crossbows had wooden, and later steel, staves. The shortbow had a composite stave. The efficacy of the weapons at different points of time led to one kind of bow replacing another in popularity. In the early period the three main types of bow were all known. The longbow was not a later medieval invention as often suggested. The crossbow tended to be slower in operation, and early on was made of wood. The later use of a metal bow saw an increase in its velocity and impact. The shortbow gained its efficacy from bending a composite stave against its own spring. The shortness made it useful for horsemen. It was used by nomads from the east. The spring-bow was not really a weapon of the usual kind. It was a bow set as a trap ready to spring automatically when released by the victim accidentally.
A dagger, descended from the seax, the derivation for the name of a warrior using a dagger or knife (a coustiller or coutilier). A coustiller was an armed personal servant of a higher class warrior. Coustillers fought at Bouvines and were common in France in the later Middle Ages. The name coustillers was also applied to brigands.
CROSSBOW (ARBALEST)
A bow with a mechanism to draw the string. The bow was small and bound to a wooden stock, which the archer held. The end of the stock is the tiller. The string was released by trigger. The string was drawn back over a nut on the stock. The trigger retracted the nut. The crossbow was known in the ancient world, used by the Chinese and the Romans. The T’ang dynasty had a Crossbow Office. Early crossbows were drawn by hand and foot, with the foot on the bow and the hands pulling the string. Various improvements were made to this process, such as a stirrup at the end of the stock for the foot to grip, or a claw on the belt to attach to the string so that the weight of the body could be used to draw. Mechanical devices were invented to draw the bow – a pulley, a goat’s foot lever (with a cloven end fitting over pins fixed in the stock), a windlass (a winding device) and a cranequin (with a metal ratchet bar and cogs). The bow of early weapons was of wood. By the 13th century composite bows of wood, horn and sinew were used. From the 15th century steel bows were produced. The crossbow shot a bolt or quarrel, fitting into a groove on the stock. The nut was commonly of horn, shaped like a thick coin with a groove in the centre of the edge. It fitted into a socket in the box of the stock. The Latin for crossbow was balista (the same word as for a throwing engine that was in effect a large crossbow, causing confusion in translation). The Normans probably used crossbows at Hastings. Two English kings were killed by crossbow bolts: William Rufus in the New Forest and Richard the Lionheart in France. The papacy banned crossbow use (1096 and 1139) against Christians though this was often ignored. Later its use was permitted against heretics or in a just war – most rulers claimed their wars were just. The crossbow was widely used by the 13th century, often by mercenaries. The French used Genoese crossbowmen at Sluys and Crécy. It is said the crossbow was not commonly used in England but this is incorrect. With a steel bow the impact was considerable and the range from 400 to 500 yards.
CROSSGUARD
The transverse piece of metal that forms the first part of a sword hilt, separating it from the blade, protecting the swordsman’s hand. It was commonly made from one piece of metal with a slot in the centre fitting over the tang of the blade. It varied in shape and style, for example straight, curved, or in shapes resembling bow ties. Oakeshott has produced a list of types of crossguard, an aid to dating swords.
DAGGER
Small knife for stabbing, usually a reserve weapon, often carried in a belt. It normally had two sharp edges and a sharp point, but single-edged weapons were known. It became more popular in the later Middle Ages. It descended from the earlier seax. Daggers were used by the Visigoths, Franks, Vikings and Anglo-Saxons. The Byzantines saw it as the assassin’s weapon. Charlemagne’s capitularies demanded that mounted warriors carry daggers. A Latin term for dagger was cultellus e.g. ‘cultellum qui dicitur dagger’ (a knife that was called a dagger). Early daggers were longer than was later common, such as the ‘long knives’ used at Bouvines, 1214. The mercenaries known as cottereaux were probably so called because they carried daggers or knives (couteaux). Daggers were useful for piercing gaps in armour. Misericorde was a term for a dagger, probably from using it on anyone begging for mercy. From the 14th century one finds the kidney dagger or more properly (improperly?) the ballock dagger – from the shape of the hilt with two globular decorations. The basilard was a type of dagger with a blade broad at the hilt, popular in Italy. A dagger with an even broader blade at the hilt was the ox-tongue or cinquedea – five fingers in width. A common 15th-century dagger was the rondel, with discs at either end of the hilt, a slim, needle-like weapon. In the Renaissance period it was common to fight with sword in one hand, dagger in the other.
FALCHION
Sword with a curved, sharp outer edge broadening towards the point and then tapering so that it looked boat-shaped. The blunt edge was straight. The name was from Latin falx (scythe) from its shape. It descended from the Norse seax. Its period of prominence was the 13th and 14th centuries. The faussar of 12th-century Iberia might be an early example. The falchion was used by lower ranking infantry, men-at-arms and archers. One was found at the Châtelet in Paris with the Grand Châtelet arms on the pommel. The Conyers Falchion, at Durham, was used in tenure ceremonies.
FIREARMS
The medieval period saw the introduction to Europe of gunpowder and firearms. Experiments with gunpowder occurred in the 13th century. Initially used for portable artillery weapons, these inspired the invention of handguns. A culverin could be mounted on a tripod or used by hand, like the culverins ad manum mentioned in 1435. Early firearms were inefficient but by the late Middle Ages their value was clear. The Anatolian Turks had handguns in the mid-14th century, but guns developed faster in the west. By the 16th century the Turks regained the initiative. In 1364 Italians produced small handguns in Perugia and Modena. There is a record in England from c.1375 for the fitting of eight guns with handles like pikes. The term handgun first appeared in 1386. Handguns were more common by the 15th century, in the Hundred Years’ War and the Hussite Wars. At Caravaggio, Italy, in 1448 the smoke from Milanese handguns obscured the view. In that year Hungarian handgunners defeated the Ottomans under Murad II. Flemings and Germans were noted for supplying handgunners. Musketeers became significant in the early modern period.
FRANCISKA (FRANCISCA)
Small throwing axe associated with the Franks, named after them or they after it. The word is the Latin term found in chronicles. It was also called a frakki. It was used from the 5th to the 7th century, but then lost popularity. Examples have been found in graves. It was single bladed with a heavy metal head, commonly slim becoming wider at the blade. The Franks hurled their axes together at a signal. The Goths also used this weapon, borrowed from the Franks.
GLAIVE
A weapon with a blade or a head. It meant, at different times, a sword, spear, lance or bladed weapon on a handle. Glaive later meant a lance that was the winning mark in a race, the winner taking it as his prize. Glaive comes from Old French for lance or sword, probably from Latin gladius (sword). The term is commonly used now for the later medieval staff weapon with a long, curved single-edged blade attached to a long wooden staff. Its blade was broader than that of a bill, with the edge on the inner curve. The blade sometimes had additional hooks and projections.
GOEDENDAG (GODENDAC)
One of the names for a later medieval staff weapon; others include bill, halberd, poleaxe, gaesa, croc, faus, fauchard, faussal, pikte, guisarme and vouge. Some of the names may be variants for the same thing. Goedendag means ‘good-day’ or ‘good morning’ – the poet of the Battle of Courtrai says it meant ‘bon jour’. It was the main weapon of the Flemish at Courtrai in their victory over the French in 1302 when it was used two-handed. Because of the illustrations on the Courtrai Chest it is probably correctly believed that the weapon was a club or mace with an attached metal spike. It may be significant that the similarly named morning star was a type of mace. One chronicle says it could be used for cutting, so some historians believe it is a type of halberd. Luckily my friends do not greet me with it each day.
GUISARME (GISARME)
Staff weapon with a long blade, sharpened on both sides and ending in a long point, up to eight feet in length. It derived from the scythe and the prong. There is a Catalan reference to it in 977 and it may have originated in Andalusia. The name guisarme is Old French. The length of the blade allowed the addition of hooks and projections. With these additions it became a fauchard – probably its most common medieval form. It could be used for cutting or thrusting. It was similar to the glaive, but with a shorter blade. It was popular in Scotland. Sometimes bells were attached to frighten approaching horses.
HALBERD
A long-handled staff weapon with a blade that was both pointed as for a pike and edged as an axe, probably the most common staff weapon. Often a curved spike projected at the rear of the axe head. The name first appeared in a Swiss poem of the 14th century. The halberd was probably first used by the Swiss, as at Morgarten in 1315. At Sempach the halberd crushed the knights of Duke Leopold, and at Nancy a halberd slashed Charles of Burgundy across the face, causing him to be unhorsed and killed. It was replaced in popularity by the longer pike, more effective against cavalry. The Swiss are said to have lost faith in the halberd after their failure at Bellinzona in 1422.
HAMMER
Often referred to as the war-hammer. Like the axe it could be a tool or a weapon. It had a metal head with a flattened surface for striking. It reappeared in the 13th century and was much used during the Hundred Years’ War. A hammer is represented on a 13th-century tomb effigy in Malvern Abbey Church, Worcestershire. This has a short handle and a spike at the back of the head. Several are depicted in later Spanish paintings, some with long handles. A 15th-century hammer head with a spike at the rear is in the Wallace Collection.
HILT
The handle or grip of a sword or dagger. Petersen detected no less than 26 types of hilt for swords of the Viking period. The hilt was formed over a tang from the blade, slotting over the guard, covering the grip, with a pommel to stop the end. The hilt was often decorated in patterns, for example with inlaid copper and brass. Thin sheets of tin, brass, gold, silver or copper might be used. Some were marked with a maker’s or firm’s name. On one lower guard is lettering ‘Leofric me fec[it]’ (Leofric made me), possibly meaning the hilt rather than the whole sword. The transverse piece of metal forming part of a sword hilt is the crossguard, separating it from the blade.
LANCE
A cavalry weapon with a long wooden shaft and metal head. The name is from Old French via Latin (lancea), but possibly of Celtic origin. Initially it was a spear. By the end of the 11th century lances were used couched (i.e. held underarm) for concerted cavalry charges. This type of attack was known in the Middle East as the Syrian attack, though a Mamluke cavalry tactic was known as ‘playing the Frank’. On the Bayeux Tapestry some lances are couched but others are used overarm, perhaps because the lance was not especially useful against infantry. In the later Middle Ages the lance became more specialised, thicker and heavier than a spear and with a shaped grip, balanced for holding at the centre. The forward part thickened before the grip, thus providing protection for the hand. A wing attachment to the head prevented the lance burying itself too deeply in its target. A lance rest was sometimes fixed to a knight’s breastplate, to make carrying easier. The rest could be attached to a spring so that it clipped shut when not in use. It became common practice to place the lance across the horse with the lance head on the left of the horse. The 1277 brass of Sir John d’Abernoun shows a lance with a straight shaft, a spear-like head and an attached pennon. Lighter lances were still used in the later Middle Ages, for example by the fast moving stradiots of Byzantium. Plate armour lessened the killing power of the lance. Tournament lances were normally blunted, commonly with a head called a coronal, or replaced by relatively harmless substitutes such as canes. The lance was the chief weapon in jousting.
LONGBOW
The longbow is associated with English archers in the Hundred Years’ War. Longbows were not then a new invention. Bows with long wooden staves, often of yew, had been produced for centuries and have been found, for example, in excavations in Scandinavia and Ireland from the Roman and the Viking periods. The Vikings were great exponents of the bow. Norman bows on the Bayeux Tapestry should probably be described as longbows though perhaps not as long as was later common. The crossbow became the most popular bow in the 12th and 13th centuries but the longbow reached its golden age during the Hundred Years’ War. The Welsh used longbows but it is unlikely that the English learned of it from them. The longbow had a wooden stave and a string. The stave was commonly of yew, rounded with a D-shaped central section. The sapwood of the stave was on the outside, the heartwood towards the archer – giving the stave a natural spring. Longbow length needed to be in proportion to the archer’s height. Its typical length was about six feet. There was a thickened grip in the centre of the stave for the left hand, allowing the arrow to rest on the top of the grip. The right hand drew the string, normally of gut, sometimes hemp. The string was looped over each end of the stave. The centre of the string was usually strengthened at the nocking point. Pieces of horn or nocks were added at the ends of the stave to help hold the string in place. The best draw was to the chest and required considerable strength. A good longbowman needed strength and the knack of drawing and releasing at the correct moment. Woodland and forest areas produced the most experienced longbowmen. Whether or not Robin Hood actually lived, the tales link a forest area with the weapon. What made the longbow so effective was its tactical use by large groups of trained archers in selected forward positions, shooting in unison. The English used longbows both in sea warfare, as at Sluys, and on land as at Crécy, Poitiers and Agincourt. Longbowmen were used as mercenaries; Scots for example were hired by the French. The English were reluctant to abandon their famous weapon and continued its use into the Tudor period. Longbows were discovered aboard the Mary Rose. Elizabethan writers romantically sought to encourage its continued use, but in the real world gunpowder had taken over.
MACE
A heavy club with an added head, probably initially an infantry weapon, its prime use in the Middle Ages was by cavalry. It needed to be light and was often of bronze. The head sometimes had an added spike or projection. The mace was known in 10th-century Moorish Andalusia. It appears on the Bayeux Tapestry, as a clubbing weapon. Later the heads looked like dart flights, with wings projecting from a central spoke. One such is in the Museum of London. Often the head had a projecting spike like a spear. Maces are depicted on the Maciejowski Bible and on 13th-century sculptures at Lincoln and Constance. It was often used in ceremonies, for example by lawyers, clerics and royalty, and was a common weapon in tournaments. The later medieval Gothic Mace was metal, its shaft thickened at the grip, sometimes with a guard and pommel like a sword hilt. Animal-headed maces were used by steppe nomads and the Turks. Maces could be of bronze, iron or steel and for ceremonial use of silver or gold. The morning star was a type of mace.
MISERICORDE (MISERICORD)
A small dagger, a knight’s reserve weapon, said to be named from its use for the death stroke, when the victim could ask for mercy or be killed. Alternatively it is suggested the name meant that the dagger was ‘merciful’, putting the injured victim out of his misery. The term appeared first in the Treaty of Arras of 1221, named alongside the knife. The misericorde often had a straight blade of triangular section with a sharp point. It is sometimes shown carried on the right side, fixed by chain to the belt.
MORNING STAR
A later medieval staff weapon, generally combining a mace with a spear point, named from the German morgenstern (possibly ironic – from seeing stars after being struck), but probably from its appearance, the head looking like a spiky pineapple, or with imagination a star. Hewitt suggests the morning star was a type of flail attached to the staff by a chain, the head being globular and spiked and looking like a star, but this is not generally accepted.
PIKE
A long wooden staff with a spear-like head, up to 18 feet long with a ten-inch steel head. Pike is the common English term for such weapons though variations include the goedendag and partisan. It was seen as the weapon of inferior ranks. Wace wrote of ‘villeins with pikes’. It was originally an infantry weapon for defensive use. It was held with the butt on the ground, steadied by the foot, with the head towards the enemy. It proved useful against cavalry. Unlike archers, whose weapons were only useful when the cavalry was at a distance, pikemen could hold a charge. Special formations were developed, such as the hollow square or circle with men facing outwards all round. The pike was a standard defensive weapon in the 14th century. Its effectiveness was demonstrated by the Flemings at Courtrai in 1302. The Scots used pikes at Stirling in 1297 and Bannockburn in 1314, forming schiltroms, outward-facing groups. The English used this formation under Harclay at Boroughbridge in 1322. The Swiss won victories with pikes and became the favoured late medieval mercenaries. They developed offensive tactics of advancing phalanges. Charles the Bold of Burgundy’s ordinance of 1473 detailed infantry tactics with pikemen kneeling while archers shot over their heads.
POLE-AXE
The pole-axe began life as an axe on a long pole, an infantry weapon. In its more familiar form it was a late medieval staff weapon, similar to a bill, guisarme or halberd. Its head was an axe blade with a spear point and hammer at the rear. The hammer distinguished it from similar weapons and it was used to stun or to poleaxe. It was also used by knights when fighting on foot.
POMMEL
The pommel was the extreme end of the sword hilt or dagger. Swords were constructed so that the blade had a projecting tang over which the parts of the hilt were threaded. The pommel completed the hilt and held it in place, the tang being hammered over the end of the pommel. The term came from Latin for a little fruit, in French a little apple. Pommel shapes help to distinguish types of sword – Oakeshott has identified 35. Modern attempts to describe these shapes include cocked hat, tea cosy, scent-stopper and brazil nut. Pommels were often decorative; one from Sutton Hoo was decorated with gold and red garnets. A dagger from Paris was marked with arms on the pommel. The most common Viking pommel had three lobes. A disc-shaped pommel was popular in the later Middle Ages. After the medieval period old detached pommels proved useful for shopkeepers’ weights. (Note: the word pommel was also used for the upward projecting front of a saddle.)
QUARREL (SEE BOLT)
SCABBARD
Container for a sword or dagger. The term is from Old French, the English equivalent being sheath. It protected the blade when not in use. Wood and leather were common materials, as in the Sutton Hoo example. The inside was sometimes lined with wool so that lanolin would prevent rust. The scabbard could have a locket at the top to grip the blade just below the hilt. The scabbard could be made of cuir bouilli (leather soaked and dried). The scabbard might be attached to a baldric, worn over the shoulder, or on a belt. Several scabbards survive. A 13th-century one from Toledo is made of two thin pieces of wood covered with pinkish leather. It ends in a chape of silver, a projecting piece of metal. Oakeshott believes the chape was meant to catch behind the left leg for ease in drawing the sword. It also protected the vulnerable end of the scabbard.
SEAX (SAX)
A short sword or knife with a heavy, single-edged blade wielded one-handed, associated with the Franks and Alemans. It was used by the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. Seax was its Old English name, possibly from the Saxon folk as the franciska from the Franks though it may derive from the Latin sica, a Thracian weapon. Blade types included the angle-backed shape from the 7th century. The seax varied in length from 6 to 18 inches, with 12 inches the most common. The blade usually had a tang with a hilt, like a sword. The shorter seax is sometimes called a scramasax.
SHORTBOW
The composite bow favoured by mounted steppe nomads. The stave was of three pieces – a centre and two wings. The shape was formed over pieces of wood. Horn was glued to the inside of the wood, sinew to the outside, giving flexibility and power. The stave was bent backwards and secured with the string. Its smallness and power made it ideal for horsemen. The Saracens and Turks used shortbows. Shooting backwards over the shoulder was a skilled but common practice.
SLING
Used by David against Goliath and by medieval armies, made from a strap fixed to two strings, or to a staff. Whirling it built up speed before one end of the sling was released, projecting the stone. The sling of a trebuchet worked on the same principle. In ancient warfare slingers opposed cavalry. The sling appears in several manuscripts e.g. the Psalter of Boulogne, the 13th-century Harleian MS 4751 and the Bayeux Tapestry (for hunting). It was used through the early and central Middle Ages. Geoffrey of Anjou used slings at Le Sap in Normandy, when ‘many slingers directed showers of stones against the garrison’. Imperial forces used slings against Tortona in 1155 and Crema in 1159, when slingers operated from a belfry platform. Jaime I of Aragón used slingers like this in Mallorca. A cause of confusion is that a ‘slinger’ in Latin (fundator, fundibalarius, fundbalista) could be using a hand sling or a throwing engine. The ‘Balearic slingers’ probably worked engines. Richard the Lionheart was said to move on the march more swiftly than a Balearic sling. Slingers of uncertain type were used by Fulk le Réchin of Anjou at Le Mans. A 14th-century sling with a leather cup for the stone was found at Winchester.
A stave with a pointed end for thrusting or throwing. An ancient wooden weapon that could have just a sharpened and hardened end. Stone and bronze were used in prehistoric times for the head. By the Middle Ages the head was normally iron, with a sharp pointed blade, a tubular shank and a socket riveting it to the stave. Ash was a favoured wood, anything from 6 to 12 feet long. It was a common Germanic weapon. The word spear is Old English, though there were other OE words for it. It was the quintessential infantry weapon. It could be held and used in defence, for example against cavalry, or for thrusting, the basis for the pike. It could be hurled as a missile like a javelin. The missile spear would normally be lighter. It could be used from horseback and was the origin of the lance. Spearheads of varied shape, size and design have been found, including leaf-shaped, angular, triangular, lozenge-shaped, corrugated or barbed. Spearheads for thrusting often had wings to prevent the spear penetrating too far, so that it could be retrieved. Medieval armies frequently used spearmen, particularly in the earlier centuries. Spears figured prominently in warrior burials. The right to carry a spear was the mark of a free man. Throwing a spear against the enemy was a way of declaring hostilities.
SPRING-BOW
The exact nature of this device is unknown but it was probably a kind of crossbow triggered by the unsuspecting victim. It was a trap rather than a weapon. It was called li ars qui ne fault (the bow that does not fail). The first mention is by Gaimar in L’Estoire des Engleis, where the traitor Eadric devised one to kill Edmund Ironside. The king was shown into a privy where there was ‘a drawn bow with the string attached to the seat, so that when the king sat on it the arrow was released and entered his fundament’. He died. The device became a figure of speech for any trap that could not fail.
SWORD
The medieval weapon par excellence. Iron made a significant difference, producing a thinner and more flexible weapon. The Roman sword was short and stout, primarily for thrusting. Its development probably came via the Greeks and Etruscans. Iron swords were found at La Tène on Lake Neuchatel. Styria was an important centre of manufacture. Early users were the Celts who developed the pattern-welded blade with strips of iron twisted together cold and then forged; twisted again and re-forged to the edges. The blade was then filed and burnished, leaving a pattern from the now smooth surface of twisted metal. Unlike bronze, iron was worked by forging rather than casting. Iron made possible a different structure for the sword, with a tang from the blade over which the handle could be slotted. Iron had advantages but a longer iron sword would bend and buckle if used for thrusting. Early European swords were long with cutting edges. When used by charioteers they needed length, best used with a cutting action. Much the same is true of cavalry swords. Swords from the first four centuries BC came from bog deposits in Scandinavia. Those at Nydam had pattern welded blades, about 30 inches long and mostly sharpened on both edges. A sword at Janusowice from the time of the Battle of Adrianople had a long blade and evidence of a leather scabbard. It had a large bronze, mushroom-shaped pommel. The sword at Sutton Hoo, old when buried, had a pommel decorated with gold and red garnets. It had rusted inside its scabbard, but X-rays showed it was pattern welded. The scabbard was of wood and leather.
Viking swords were outstanding in design and efficiency. What we call ‘Viking’ swords are common to those used over a wider area including Francia. They were of varied styles of blade and hilt. Petersen detected no less than 26 types of hilt. The hilt was formed over a tang from the blade, slotting over the guard, covering the grip, the end stopped with a pommel. The most common Viking pommel had three lobes but there were many variations. Most Viking swords were plain but well designed. Some were decorated with patterns of inlaid copper and brass on the hilt. Thin sheets of tin, brass, gold, silver and copper might be used. Some had a maker’s name or a firm’s name. On one lower guard is lettering Leofric me fec[it] (Leofric made me). Other names are Hartolfr, Ulfbehrt, Heltipreht, Hilter and Banto. Ulfbehrt is found quite often, for example on a sword from the Thames. The name seems a Scandinavian–Frankish hybrid. Ulfbehrt swords date from the 9th to the 11th centuries. One should probably think of most as made by ‘firms’, no doubt family concerns, rather than by individuals. This manufacture probably originated in the Rhineland. Another name to appear in the 10th century, though less frequently, is Ingelrii – about 20 have been identified. A sword from Sweden reads Ingelrii me fecit. One finds other inscriptions and symbols, often enigmatic, including crosses, lines, Roman numerals and runes. Some names were of owners rather than makers, for example, ‘Thormund possesses me’. Swords were sometimes named by their owners for example as millstone-biter, leg-biter. Viking swords became heavier from the 8th century, and in the 10th century there were design improvements. Later swords were not usually pattern welded and some were of steel, harder and more flexible. They were lighter and tougher with a more tapered blade, bringing the balance nearer to the wrist, and could be used for thrusting or cutting.
The sword became the weapon par excellence of the later medieval knight. The significance given to swords in literature, to Arthur’s Excalibur or Roland’s Durendal reflects this regard. It had symbolic value, in oath-making, dubbing, being blessed by the Church or promised to churches after the knight’s death.
Late medieval swords were shorter and less flexible. Some survive – from burials, riverbeds and in churches, including ‘Charlemagne’s sword’ which is probably 12th-century, the sword of Sancho IV of Castile late 13th-century, of Emperor Albert I c.1308 from his tomb, and of Cesare Borgia dated 1493.