Medieval Weapons History

Technological conditions and nature of availability of raw materials form the basis of any culture’s arsenal at any point of time in the history of mankind. Prehistoric human race, often better known as the Stone Age civilization were known for their intelligent usage of grinding tools, stone and shaping axes, and creating arrows and spears as weapons for survival strategies. But these implements improved over the years as the technological skills of these cultures improved.

The development of the metallic tools, implements and weapons that persisted through the Middle Ages timeline were actually originated during the Bronze and Iron Ages and following that, these implements have dramatically altered over time. Eventually, with the appearance of gunpowder in Europe in the early 14th century most of these weapon were rendered useless and the castle took a backseat to the extent of becoming redundant.

The castle was considered to be one of the most formidable weapons of medieval warfare in Medieval Weapons History, while if we consider the smaller weapons, there were also a lot of lethal ones, the ones that were movable and capable of wreaking havoc and death of an opponent. Thus despite having played a key role in the deaths of many people during the Middle Ages timeline of  Medieval Weapons History, it is a category of its own and hence will be kept out the following discussion on medieval weaponry.

The Middle Ages timeline witnessed the dominance of Double Edged swords, metal-headed spears and axes among weapons while arrows and short bows were also in vogue. A very interesting fact that is pretty well known in this regard is that the Saxons valued swords very highly to the extent of considering the value of a sword to be equivalent to the value of 120 oxen or 15 male slaves and thus according great importance and status to a man possessing a sword. Because of these weapons being simple to construct and easy to wield, throughout the Middle Ages timeline these weapons remained popular in Medieval Weapons History.

In spite of the three weapons of the sword, the spear (or lance) and the battle-axe being very prevalent during the 12th century, yet the crossbow quickly gained popularity. Compounded with the rapidly rising popularity of the horse warfare that supposedly made movement easy and allowed a benefit to its martial riders who held spears and the beginning of massive siege engines, eventually these hand-held weapons helped invaders like the Normans to overpower these less technologically advanced people in Medieval Weapons History.

At present it is common knowledge that the medieval fearless knights used to fight their battles with the weapons that belonged to them. To make it through all the odds and triumph over his opponent on the battlefield the fearless knights needed to choose the best weapon to their disposal. During the Middle Ages timeline, those weapons used by the fearless knights to combat their enemies were called the medieval weapons. The medieval weapons were of various designs and shapes.

All these weapons do not have the same strength and compatibility as others. This means that some are invariably stronger than the others of its kind. To use the weapons to its optimum capacity the medieval  fearless knights needed to have a thorough knowledge of the strength and weakness of the weapons he was using. It is a fact that there was no perfect weapon in the Middle Ages timeline that was without a fault. Every weapon has its strength and its weakness in Medieval Weapons History.

Most people carry with them a wrong idea that medieval weapons were exclusively to European countries. But that is not true because various countries of the world have there own set of medieval weaponry. The medieval weapons of other countries varied in design, style and sometimes even in the way they were used. Though you might find the weapons of different countries often similar in their basic structure they are never the same, for weapons of one country is totally different from the others. You can find hundreds of different kinds of medieval weapons that were used by fearless knights in the medieval era if you search on the Internet. Each kind of weapons has their own style and strength that are quite different from others if you study Medieval Weapons History.

During this time period as only those who were famous, rich and influential could afford to buy the weapons that were quite expensive to protect themselves and their families. So the rights of buying these medieval weapons automatically got reserved for them only. Depending on the method of usage these weapons were classified into two categories. Long-range combat weaponry fell into the first category. These types of weapons were used when fearless knights had to take down an opponent who was at a long distance from him. Weapons used for close combat were in the second category. A good example of this type of weaponry is knives.

Now that we had an overall discussion of different categories of  Medieval Weapons History let’s look into some of these weapons in a bit more detailed manner.

The Sword.  It is simply a lengthy cutting framed weapon that is quite long. In various countries of the world, in different styles and forms of this weapon is used.

The Dagger – Primarily used for the purpose of stabbing or thrusting, it is a type of knife that has two edges. In close encounters this weapon is not of great importance most of the time. These weapons even in the past were regarded not as primary weapons but as tertiary weapons or secondary.

The Blade.  This type of weapon have a pointed and sharp edge and surface that is flat. Used mainly for the purpose of stabbing, thrusting, striking and cutting these weapons were generally made of metals.