MEDIEVAL WEAPONS

                                Introduction

Although in medieval times there were few empires, there were plenty of wars, invasions, and violence. And when there are any of those things there are always weapons to increase the gore, violence, pain, and death. And although back then they did not have guns, bombs, poison gas, or any other means of modern warfare they had some pretty horrible blood-bringing tools of death.

 

                       

 

Swords

 

                                Long Sword

The long sword is a powerful double-edged sword that can be wielded by one or two hands. “Double-edged” means that both sides of the sword are sharp. Many swords were only sharp on one side. The long sword was used a lot by European warriors in medieval times.

Katana

The Katana was the samurai’s version of the long sword. Like the long sword, it could be wielded with one or two hands. But unlike the long sword it is only sharp on one side. However, the katana’s sharp edge was so sharp it could slice an enemy like pizza.

Arming sword

The arming sword was very similar to swords the Vikings used. It was wielded with one hand.  The knights used it a lot in battle, which gave it the nickname “knightly sword”. You could use it to stab or cut.

Wakazashi

The wakazashi was the samurai’s shorter sword and was usually equipped along with a katana before a battle. Although at one time the law was that the katana could only be used by samurai the wakazashi could always be used by everyone.

 

Staff Weapons

 

                        Dane Axe

The Dane axe is one of my favorite medieval weapons. It was used by the Vikings. The Dane axe was significantly larger than a normal axe and could hook on to a shield or weapon and knock it down. Its head was used for killing and its back was used for stunning.

Naginata

The Naginata is a weapon that was used by Japanese solders around 1600 to 1700 A.D.

 

                        Halberd

 

The halberd is a very long SWISS weapon. The top looks like this.

 

The blade is attached to a huge pole. It is mainly used for slashing but can also be deadly as a spear do to its sharp top.

War Hammer

The war hammer looks just like an ordinary hammer except that it is about ten times as long, has a razor sharp pick on one side, and has a spearhead at the top. The hammer head was used to stun. The spearhead was used to stab. And the pick was used to knock off armor. The war hammer was popular around the time of the 100 years war. It was used by Calvary.

Poleax

The poleax was just like the war hammer except that it had an axe head instead of a pick. The axe head was used to cut armor.

 

Ranged Weapons

                        Catapult

A catapult is a type of siege weapon that fires objects at high speeds. There are two types of catapults. The first and more popular type was the Mangonel. It looked like this.

The more powerful type was called an onager. One thing that is different about this type is that it fires a big rock from a sling.

Long bow

The longbow is the typical bow you will see in a movie about medieval times. The longbow was actually extremely hard to pull back. You had to be very strong to fire a shot. But once you pulled it back the arrow would go very far very fast. Medieval archers were so strong that they could fire six aimed shots or twelve un-aimed shots every minute. Medieval archers were found with ridiculously large biceps.

Throwing axe

The throwing axe was another deadly weapon created by the Vikings. It was short, easy to throw, and razor sharp. If you were an enemy of the Vikings you might have hundreds of these flying at you at high speed.

Crossbow

The crossbow inflicted wounds that were so terrible the Catholic Church banned its use. The crossbow was way more powerful than a longbow. However it took a very long time to load so a longbow had a much faster firing rate. Modern crossbows are much easier to load and fire.

 

Wouldn’t it be horrible to be killed by one of these dire vessels of destruction?       Why would taking guns away help at all with crime prevention? Why don’t people like Obama realize that people have been killing other people since the beginning of time, literally!

Why would the Newtown, Connecticut School shooting be any different if Adam lanza used a bow? Now people are blaming videogames for crime…. Please note that they did not even have TV when the Vikings sailed to innocent villages to brutally kill everyone they could just for fun.



                                               Sources
                                                 http://www.medievalwarfare.info/weapons.htm      History Channel's Warriors     Weapon a Visual History of Arms and Armor