Medieval Weapons: An Illustrated History of Their Impact (Weapons and Warfare)

348 Pages·2007·8.22 MB·English

by  Robert D. Smith

MEDIEVAL
WEAPONS
Other Titles in ABC-CLIO’s
WEAPONS AND WARFARE SERIES
Aircraft Carriers, Paul E. Fontenoy
Ancient Weapons, James T. Chambers
Artillery, Jeff Kinard
Ballistic Missiles, Kev Darling
Battleships, Stanley Sandler
Cruisers and Battle Cruisers, Eric W. Osborne
Destroyers, Eric W. Osborne
Helicopters,Stanley S. McGowen
Machine Guns,James H. Willbanks
Military Aircraft in the Jet Age,Justin D. Murphy
Military Aircraft, 1919–1945,Justin D. Murphy
Military Aircraft, Origins to 1918, Justin D. Murphy
Pistols,Jeff Kinard
Rifles, David Westwood
Submarines, Paul E. Fontenoy
Tanks, Spencer C. Tucker
MEDIEVAL WEAPONS
AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY
OF THEIR IMPACT
Kelly DeVries
Robert D. Smith
Santa Barbara, California • Denver, Colorado • Oxford, England
Copyright 2007 by ABC-CLIO, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief
quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
DeVries, Kelly, 1956–
Medieval weapons : an illustrated history of their impact /
Kelly DeVries and Robert D. Smith.
p. cm. — (Weapons and warfare series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-10: 1-85109-526-8 (hard copy : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-85109-531-4 (ebook)
ISBN-13: 978-1-85109-526-1 (hard copy : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-1-85109-531-5 (ebook)
1. Military weapons—Europe—History—To 1500.
2. Military art and science—Europe—History—Medieval, 500-1500.
I. Smith, Robert D. (Robert Douglas), 1954– II. Title.
U810.D48 2007
623.4094'0902—dc22
2006102102
11 10 09 08 07 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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CONTENTS
Introduction to Weapons and Warfare Series,
Spencer C. Tucker vii
Introduction to Medieval Weapons ix
Acknowledgments xiii
chapter one
The Early Middle Ages, 376–750 1
chapter two
The Carolingian Era, 750–1050 49
chapter three
The Crusades, 1050–1300 89
chapter four
The Late Middle Ages, 1300–1550 143
conclusions
211
illustrations
217
Glossary 291
Bibliography 303
Index 313
About the Authors 335
v

INTRODUCTION TO
WEAPONS AND WARFARE SERIES
Weapons both fascinate and repel. They are used to kill and
maim individuals and to destroy states and societies, and occasion-
ally whole civilizations, and with these the greatest of man’s cultural
and artistic accomplishments. Throughout history tools of war have
been the instruments of conquest, invasion, and enslavement, but
they have also been used to check evil and to maintain peace.
Weapons have evolved over time to become both more lethal and
more complex. For the greater part of human existence, combat was
fought at the length of an arm or at such short range as to represent
no real difference; battle was fought within line of sight and seldom
lasted more than the hours of daylight of a single day. Thus individ-
ual weapons that began with the rock and the club proceeded
through the sling and boomerang, bow and arrow, sword and axe, to
gunpowder weapons of the rifle and machine gun of the late nine-
teenth century. Study of the evolution of these weapons tells us
much about human ingenuity, the technology of the time, and the
societies that produced them. The greater part of technological de-
velopment of weaponry has taken part in the last two centuries, es-
pecially the twentieth century. In this process, plowshares have been
beaten into swords; the tank, for example, evolved from the agricul-
tural caterpillar tractor. Occasionally, the process is reversed and
military technology has impacted society in a positive way. Thus
modern civilian medicine has greatly benefited from advances to
save soldiers’lives, and weapons technology has impacted such areas
as civilian transportation or atomic power.
Weapons can have a profound impact on society. Gunpowder
weapons, for example, were an important factor in ending the era of
the armed knight and the Feudal Age. They installed a kind of rough
vii
viii INTRODUCTION TO WEAPONS AND WARFARE SERIES
democracy on the battlefield, making “all men alike tall.” We can
only wonder what effect weapons of mass destruction (WMD) might
have on our own time and civilization.
This series will trace the evolution of a variety of key weapons sys-
tems, describe the major changes that occurred in each, and illus-
trate and identify the key types. Each volume begins with a descrip-
tion of the particular weapons system and traces its evolution, while
discussing its historical, social, and political contexts. This is fol-
lowed by a heavily illustrated section that is arranged more or less
along chronological lines that provides more precise information on
at least eighty key variants of that particular weapons system. Each
volume contains a glossary of terms, a bibliography of leading books
on that particular subject, and an index.
Individual volumes in the series, each written by a specialist in
that particular area of expertise, are as follows:
Aircraft Carriers
Ancient Weapons
Artillery
Ballistic Missiles
Battleships
Cruisers and Battle Cruisers
Destroyers
Helicopters
Machine Guns
Medieval Weapons
Military Aircraft, Origins to 1918
Military Aircraft, 1919–1945
Military Aircraft in the Jet Age
Pistols
Rifles
Submarines
Tanks
We hope that this series will be of wide interest to specialists, re-
searchers, and even general readers.
Spencer C. Tucker
Series Editor
INTRODUCTION TO
MEDIEVAL WEAPONS
Whatever one’s political or personal feelings, it is undeni-
able that warfare is endemic in the cultures of the world—people have
always fought one another for power, prestige, property, and/or influ-
ence. Into the past, one can trace the development of warfare from in-
dividual combat, warrior to warrior, to conflicts fought at greater and
greater distances. Flint arrowheads and knives became bronze spear-
heads and axes, which became iron swords and crossbow bolts, which
became pikes and guns, which became today’s advanced weapon sys-
tems designed to hit targets at long distance—attacking from tens of
miles away or, with intercontinental missiles, from across the globe.
This book will outline the weapons used from the fall of the Roman
Empire to the Renaissance—from the spear and sword to the hand-
gun and from the mail shirt to the fully armored knight.
It is sometimes said that warfare is the force that drives technol-
ogy as man’s desire to constantly improve weapons and protection
from attack is the primary impetus for change. While this need to
constantly find better forms of attacking one’s enemy and protecting
oneself has been a major spur to change, it would be wrong to be-
lieve there is a direct and deterministic link. Advances in technology
were, of course, exploited by the military and used wherever possi-
ble, but it is incorrect to believe the two were inextricably linked.
Only occasionally, for example the development of cast-iron cannon
in England in the 1540s, are there explicit examples of the desire to
develop technologies for warlike purposes, and here it is doubtful
whether the change was an “improvement” or was driven by eco-
nomic and monetary ends. It is true, however, to say that weapons
and technology did, and still do, have many links and connections,
which make a study of the two important.
ix