Learn about medieval weapons


A look at some Unique and Unusual Medieval Weapons

The Middle Ages was a time of much conflictcaltrop is a good example of the ingenuity of
and warfare. During this time many unusualthe art of combat and the dynamics of the
weapons were created to solve battlefieldbattlefield. The caltrop was a fabrication of
problems. Many of these weapons are familiarmetal that had four points much like a
to us such as the sword, axe, or lance. Butchild's Jack. The unique thing about the
there were many lesser known and unusualcaltrop was that if you threw it on the
weapons that were created during this time inground, because of the four pointed
history.structure, it would always fall with one
point standing straight up and this was a
Not all weapons were created specifically forserious danger and deterrent to cavalry or
battle or for hand to hand combat against aneven  foot  soldiers.
armored foe and a good example of this was
the Man Catcher. This unusual weapon was aSome of the most unique and unusual designs
long pole arm with a semi-circular prongedin weapons were in the realm of the dagger
shape catch at the end. There was aand many different daggers came out of the
spring-loaded trap on it and it was used toMiddle Ages including the Rondel which was a
reach up, capture, and pull down someonelong conical shaped dagger. It was
mounted on a horse. The primary use of thisspecifically a piercing weapon and it's
weapon was to capture enemy royalty for laterconical shape made it look much like a long
ransom.and slender ice cream cone. The Poniard was
another unusual dagger because it had either
The Sword breaker was another unique weapona square or triangular shape. This shape was
developed and used during the Middle Ages.effective  for  piercing  armor.
This was a long and very sturdy dagger that
had slots on one side much like the teeth ofThe Middle Ages saw a tremendous development
a comb. This was a standard off hand weaponin many types of weapons. Some of these
that was used to capture an opponent's swordweapons are still in use today but some of
blade. Once the blade was caught a quickthe more unique ones, because of their very
twist of the sword breaker would snap thespecific applications, are no longer seen.
opponent's  sword  blade.Yet they remain as a testament to the nature
of the medieval battlefield.
Not all weapons were hand-held and the



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