The task of classical weapons is to perform defensive or offensive actions. Since the Stone Age, mankind has evolved, working on the creation of models, the purpose of which was both specific and unique. So, the masters of antiquity developed a special unusual edged weapon.

Where did it all begin?

The history of edged weapons stretches into the Paleolithic. Products of that time were widely used during hunting and in internecine battles. These are clubs and clubs. Daggers and knives were also created. Stone products were soon replaced by flint and bone. The first melee weapon of the Paleolithic is the bow, which at that time was considered the most perfect of all types of weapons and was indispensable both in hunting and in battle. With the discovery of copper and bronze, swords, maces, knives and daggers are created. new era edged weapons began in the era of the Roman Empire, when the main role in the battles was given to the saber.

Melee weapons of the Middle Ages

In the 9th century, the evolution of the weapons of European countries was influenced by their geographical location. Due to the similarity of folk cultures, the technologies for creating edged weapons by craftsmen from different countries had much in common. The legacy of the Roman Empire made a significant contribution to this process. Also European countries borrowed some elements of Asian types of weapons. Melee weapons of the Middle Ages, used in close combat, were classified according to the principle of action. As it was in ancient times.

Types of melee weapons

Historians highlight the following types cold weapons:

• Shock. It includes a mace, a club, a club, a chain, a flail and a pole.
• Pricking. This type of edged weapons can be handled (daggers, daggers, rapiers, stilettos and swords) or polearms (spears, pikes, horns and tridents).
• Chopping. To him belong: a battle ax, a scythe and a sword.
• Stab-chopping: checker, scimitar, halberd.
• Stab-cutting. It includes various

Manufacturing

The expansion of knowledge about the properties of the metal and the technologies for working with it made it possible for gunsmiths to experiment. Very often, weapons were made to order. This explains the presence a large number products of various shapes and properties. The development of weapons business was influenced by the emergence of manufactory production: special attention of gunsmiths was now paid to combat qualities, and not to a decorative component. Nevertheless, ancient melee weapons are not devoid of their individuality. Each such product, depending on the workshop in which it was made, had its own special feature: marking or stamp.

Any model is made with a specific purpose: for defense or for the offensive. There is also an unusual melee weapon designed to deliver as much torment to the enemy as possible. The geography of such creations of masters is very wide. It covers territories from Asia to Egypt and India.

What is khopesh?

This unusual melee weapon is a sickle, the basis for the creation of which was the Sumerian and Assyrian swords and axes. Khopesh was produced in ancient Egypt.

Iron or bronze was used for work. In its design, this unusual melee weapon had a wooden handle and a sickle, which allows you to disarm the enemy by clinging to the shield. Also, with the help of khopesh, chopping, stabbing and cutting blows were carried out. The design of the product ensured the efficiency of its use.

The khopesh was mainly used as an axe. It is very difficult to prevent a strike with such a melee weapon, in addition, it is able to break through any obstacle. Throughout the blade, only its outer edge was subject to sharpening. Khopesh easily pierced chain mail. The reverse side was able to pierce the helmet.

Unusual Indian dagger

In India, an unusual edged weapon was created - Qatar. This product is a kind of daggers. This unique bladed melee weapon differs from daggers in that its handle is shaped like the letter "H" and is made from the same material as the blade.

As a support for the hand, the katar has two parallel thin bars. Used as being able to pierce mail. Possession of catarrh testified to the high status of a warrior.

Ancient Nubian throwing knife

Klinga - this is the name given to an unusual edged weapon used by the warriors of the Azanda tribe, which was located on the territory of ancient Nubia. This product is a throwing knife consisting of several blades.

Blade size was 550 mm. The device of this melee weapon consisted of three blades stretching in different directions from the handle. Klinga was intended to inflict the most painful blows on the enemy. The Nubian served as a very effective weapon. In addition, it was a distinctive sign confirming the high status of the owner. Kling was used only by experienced and distinguished warriors.

Unique Chinese Crossbow

Before the start of the conflict with Japan (1894-1895), the Chinese warriors were equipped with a unique and very formidable weapon of that time - a multi-charged cho-ko-nu crossbow. This product used the tension and descent of the bowstring. The whole structure worked with one hand: the string was pulled, the bolt fell into the barrel and the descent was made. Cho-ko-nu was a very effective and fast weapon: for twenty seconds, a Chinese warrior could fire about ten arrows. The distance for which this crossbow was intended reached 60 meters. In terms of its penetrating ability, cho-ko-nu gave small indicators. But at the same time, the weapon had a high speed. Often various poisons were applied to the arrowheads, which made cho-ko-well really deadly weapon. If we compare this ancient Chinese product with modern similar models, then in terms of its simplicity of design, rate of fire and ease of use, the Cho-Ko-Well has much in common with the Kalashnikov assault rifle.

What are makuahutl and tepustopili?

Macuahutl - this name was given to the Aztecs used in battles. In addition to the material from which it was made, the macuahutl differed from other similar weapons in the presence of pointed pieces. They were located along the entire length of the wooden blade. The size of the sword ranged from 900 to 1200 mm. Due to this, the wounds from the maquahutla turned out to be especially terrible: pieces of glass tore flesh, and the sharpness of the blade itself was enough to cut off the head of the enemy.

Tepustopili is another formidable weapon of the Aztecs. By its design, this product resembled a spear, consisting of a tip and a handle. The length of the handle reached the height of a man. The blade, the size of which corresponds to the palm of the hand, is equipped with very sharp pieces of obsidian, like the makuahutl. Compared to the wooden sword of the Aztecs, the spear had a larger radius of destruction. A successful tepustopilya blow could easily pierce the armor and body of a person. The design of the tip was designed in such a way that when it hit the enemy's flesh, the tip could not be immediately removed from the wound. As conceived by the gunsmiths, the jagged shape of the tip was supposed to deliver the enemy as much torment as possible.

Non-lethal Japanese kakute

Battle rings or kakute are considered unique fighting items that were widely used by warriors in Japan. Kakute is a small hoop around the finger. The Japanese combat ring is equipped with one or three riveted spikes. Each warrior used predominantly no more than two of these battle rings. One of them was worn thumb, and the other - on the middle or index.

Most often, kakute on the finger was worn with spikes inward. They were used in situations where it was necessary to capture and hold the enemy or inflict minor damage. Battle rings with spikes turned outward became jagged brass knuckles. The main task of kakute is to suppress the enemy. These Japanese battle rings were very popular with ninjas. Kunoichi (female ninja) kakute spikes were treated with poisons, which gave them the ability to carry out fatal attacks.

Gladiator's Wristguard

In ancient Rome, during gladiator fights, participants used a special armlet, which was also called a skissor. This unique piece of metal was put on the gladiator's hand at one end, and the other end was a semicircular point. The skissor did not weigh down the hand, as it was very light. The length of the gladiator sleeve was 450 mm. The skissor gave the warrior the ability to block and strike. Wounds from such metal sleeves were not fatal, but were very painful. Each missed blow with a semicircular point was fraught with profuse bleeding.

The history of ancient peoples knows many more types of unusual, specific weapons, which were made by ancient masters in order to deliver the enemy as much torment as possible and were distinguished by their particular sophistication and efficiency.

Fantasy writers often bypass the possibilities of "smoky powder", preferring good old sword and magic to it. And this is strange, because primitive firearms are not only a natural, but also a necessary element of the medieval surroundings. Warriors with "fiery shooting" did not appear by chance in the knightly armies. The spread of heavy armor naturally led to an increase in interest in weapons capable of penetrating them.

Ancient "lights"

Sulfur. A common component of spells and an integral part of gunpowder

The secret of gunpowder (if, of course, we can talk about a secret here) lies in the special properties of saltpeter. Namely, in the ability of this substance to release oxygen when heated. If saltpeter is mixed with any fuel and set on fire, a "chain reaction" will begin. The oxygen released by the saltpeter will increase the intensity of combustion, and the stronger the flame flares up, the more oxygen will be released.

People learned to use saltpeter to increase the effectiveness of incendiary mixtures as early as the 1st millennium BC. But it wasn't easy to find her. In countries with a hot and very humid climate, white, snow-like crystals could sometimes be found at the site of old fires. But in Europe, saltpeter was found only in stinking sewer tunnels or in caves inhabited by bats.

Before gunpowder was used for explosions and throwing cannonballs and bullets, compounds based on saltpeter were used for a long time to make incendiary projectiles and flamethrowers. So, for example, the legendary "Greek fire" was a mixture of saltpeter with oil, sulfur and rosin. Sulfur, igniting at low temperature, was added to facilitate the ignition of the composition. Rosin, on the other hand, was required to thicken the “cocktail” so that the charge would not flow out of the flamethrower tube.

"Greek fire" really could not be extinguished. After all, saltpeter dissolved in boiling oil continued to release oxygen and support combustion even under water.

In order for gunpowder to become an explosive, saltpeter must be 60% of its mass. In the "Greek fire" it was half as much. But even this amount was enough to make the process of burning oil unusually violent.

The Byzantines were not the inventors of "Greek fire", but borrowed it from the Arabs as early as the 7th century. In Asia, they also purchased saltpeter and oil necessary for its production. If we take into account that the Arabs themselves called saltpeter "Chinese salt", and rockets - "Chinese arrows", it will not be difficult to guess where this technology came from.

gunpowder spread

It is very difficult to indicate the place and time of the first use of saltpeter for incendiary compositions, fireworks and rockets. But the honor of inventing cannons definitely belongs to the Chinese. The ability of gunpowder to eject shells from metal barrels is reported by Chinese chronicles of the 7th century. By the 7th century, the discovery of a method of “growing” saltpeter in special pits or shafts from earth and manure also dates back. This technology made it possible to regularly use flamethrowers and rockets, and later firearms.

The barrel of the Dardanelles cannon - from a similar Turks shot the walls of Constantinople

At the beginning of the 13th century, after the capture of Constantinople, the recipe for "Greek fire" fell into the hands of the crusaders. By the middle of the 13th century, the first descriptions by European scientists of "real", exploding gunpowder also belong. The use of gunpowder for throwing stones became known to the Arabs no later than the 11th century.

In the "classic" version, black powder included 60% saltpeter and 20% sulfur and charcoal each. Charcoal could be successfully replaced with ground brown coal (brown powder), cotton wool or dried sawdust (white powder). There was even "blue" gunpowder, in which charcoal was replaced with cornflower flowers.

Sulfur was also not always present in gunpowder. For cannons, the charge in which was ignited not by sparks, but by a torch or a red-hot rod, gunpowder could be made, consisting only of saltpeter and brown coal. When firing from guns, sulfur could not be mixed into gunpowder, but poured immediately onto the shelf.

gunpowder inventor

Invented? Well, step aside, don't stand like a donkey

In 1320, the German monk Berthold Schwartz finally "invented" gunpowder. Now it is impossible to determine how many people in different countries gunpowder was invented before Schwartz, but we can say with confidence that after him no one succeeded!

Berthold Schwartz (who, by the way, was called Berthold Niger), of course, did not invent anything. The "classic" composition of gunpowder became known to Europeans even before its birth. But in his treatise On the Benefits of Gunpowder, he gave clear practical recommendations for the manufacture and use of gunpowder and cannons. It was thanks to his work that during the second half of the 14th century the art of fire shooting began to spread rapidly in Europe.

The first gunpowder factory was built in 1340 in Strasbourg. Soon after, the production of saltpeter and gunpowder began in Russia as well. The exact date of this event is not known, but already in 1400 Moscow burned for the first time as a result of an explosion in a gunpowder workshop.

Gun tubes

The first image of a European cannon, 1326

The simplest hand firearm - the handgun - appeared in China already in the middle of the 12th century. The oldest samopals of the Spanish Moors date back to the same period. And from the beginning of the 14th century, "fire pipes" began to shoot in Europe. In the annals, handguns appear under many names. The Chinese called such weapons pao, the Moors - modfa or karab (hence the "carbine"), and the Europeans - hand bombarda, handkanona, slopetta, petrinal or culevrina.

The handle weighed from 4 to 6 kilograms and was a blank of soft iron, copper or bronze drilled from the inside. The barrel length ranged from 25 to 40 centimeters, the caliber could be 30 millimeters or more. The projectile was usually a round lead bullet. In Europe, however, until the beginning of the 15th century, lead was rare, and self-propelled guns were often loaded with small stones.

Swedish hand cannon from the 14th century

As a rule, petrinal was mounted on a shaft, the end of which was clamped under the arm or inserted into the current of the cuirass. Less commonly, the butt could cover the shooter's shoulder from above. Such tricks had to be used because it was impossible to rest the butt of the handgun on the shoulder: after all, the shooter could support the weapon with only one hand, with the other he brought fire to the fuse. The charge was set on fire with a "burning candle" - a wooden stick soaked in saltpeter. The stick rested against the ignition hole and turned, rolling in the fingers. Sparks and pieces of smoldering wood poured into the barrel and sooner or later ignited the gunpowder.

Dutch hand culverins from the 15th century

The extremely low accuracy of the weapon made it possible to conduct effective shooting only from a distance "point blank". And the shot itself took place with a large and unpredictable delay. Only the destructive power of this weapon caused respect. Although a bullet made of stone or soft lead at that time was still inferior to a crossbow bolt in penetrating power, a 30-mm ball fired at point-blank range left such a hole that it was a pleasure to see.

Hole-hole, but still it was necessary to get there. And the depressingly low accuracy of the petrinal did not allow one to count on the fact that the shot would have any other consequences than fire and noise. It may seem strange, but it was enough! Hand bombards were valued precisely for the roar, flash and cloud of gray smoke that accompanied the shot. It was far from always considered expedient to charge them with a bullet as well. Petrinali-Sklopetta was not even supplied with a butt and was intended exclusively for blank firing.

15th century French marksman

The knight's horse was not afraid of fire. But if, instead of being honestly stabbed with spikes, they blinded him with a flash, deafened him with a roar, and even insulted him with the stench of burning sulfur, he still lost his courage and threw off the rider. Against horses not accustomed to shots and explosions, this method worked flawlessly.

And the knights managed to introduce their horses to gunpowder far from immediately. In the 14th century, "smoky powder" in Europe was an expensive and rare commodity. And most importantly, for the first time, he caused fear not only among horses, but also among riders. The smell of "hellish sulfur" plunged superstitious people into awe. However, in Europe they quickly got used to the smell. But the loudness of the shot was listed among the advantages of firearms until the 17th century.

Arquebus

At the beginning of the 15th century, self-propelled guns were still too primitive to seriously compete with bows and crossbows. But gun tubes improved rapidly. Already in the 30s of the 15th century, the ignition hole was moved to the side, and a shelf for seed gunpowder was welded next to it. This gunpowder flashed instantly upon contact with fire, and in just a fraction of a second the hot gases ignited the charge in the barrel. The gun began to work quickly and reliably, and most importantly, it became possible to mechanize the process of lowering the wick. In the second half of the 15th century, fire tubes acquired a lock and butt borrowed from a crossbow.

Japanese flint arquebus, 16th century

At the same time, metalworking technologies were also improved. Trunks were now made only from the purest and softest iron. This made it possible to minimize the likelihood of a break when fired. On the other hand, the development of deep drilling techniques made it possible to make gun barrels lighter and longer.

This is how the arquebus appeared - a weapon with a caliber of 13-18 millimeters, weighing 3-4 kilograms and a barrel length of 50-70 centimeters. An ordinary 16 mm arquebus fired a 20 gram bullet at an initial velocity of about 300 meters per second. Such bullets could no longer tear off people's heads, but steel armor made holes from 30 meters.

Shooting accuracy increased, but still remained insufficient. An arquebusier hit a person only from 20-25 meters, and at 120 meters, even shooting at such a target as a battle of pikemen turned into a waste of ammunition. However, light guns retained approximately the same characteristics until the middle of the 19th century - only the lock changed. And in our time, shooting a bullet from smoothbore guns is effective no further than 50 meters.

Even modern shotgun bullets are designed not for accuracy, but for hitting power.

Arquebusier, 1585

Loading an arquebus was a rather complicated procedure. To begin with, the shooter disconnected the smoldering wick and put it away in a metal case attached to a belt or hat with slots for air access. Then he uncorked one of the several wooden or tin shells he had - “chargers”, or “gasers” - and poured a pre-measured amount of gunpowder from it into the barrel. Then he nailed gunpowder to the treasury with a ramrod and stuffed a felt wad preventing the powder from spilling out into the barrel. Then - a bullet and another wad, this time to hold the bullet. Finally, from a horn or from another charge, the shooter poured some gunpowder onto the shelf, slammed the lid of the shelf, and again fastened the wick into the jaws of the trigger. It took an experienced warrior about 2 minutes to do everything about everything.

In the second half of the 15th century, arquebusiers took a firm place in European armies and began to quickly push out competitors - archers and crossbowmen. But how could this happen? After all, the fighting qualities of guns still left much to be desired. Competitions between arquebusiers and crossbowmen led to a stunning result - formally, the guns turned out to be worse in every respect! The penetration power of the bolt and the bullet was approximately equal, but the crossbowman fired 4-8 times more often and at the same time did not miss the growth target even from 150 meters!

Geneva arquebusiers, reconstruction

The problem with the crossbow was that its advantages were of no practical value. Bolts and arrows flew "fly in the eye" in competitions when the target was stationary, and the distance to it was known in advance. In a real situation, the arquebusier, who did not have to take into account the wind, the movement of the target and the distance to it, had a better chance of hitting. In addition, the bullets did not have the habit of getting stuck in shields and slipping off the armor, they could not be evaded. The rate of fire was not of great practical importance either: both the arquebusier and the crossbowman had time to shoot at the attacking cavalry only once.

The spread of the arquebus was held back only by their high cost at that time. Even in 1537, hetman Tarnovsky complained that "there are few arquebuses in the Polish army, only mean hands." The Cossacks used bows and self-propelled guns until the middle of the 17th century.

pearl powder

Gasyri worn on the chest by the warriors of the Caucasus gradually became an element of the national costume

In the Middle Ages, gunpowder was prepared in the form of powder, or "pulp". When loading the weapon, the "pulp" stuck to the inner surface of the barrel and had to be nailed to the fuse with a ramrod for a long time. In the 15th century, to speed up the loading of cannons, they began to sculpt lumps or small “pancakes” from powder pulp. And at the beginning of the 16th century, “pearl” gunpowder was invented, consisting of small hard grains.

The grains no longer stuck to the walls, but rolled down to the breech under their own weight. In addition, graining made it possible to almost double the power of gunpowder, and the duration of gunpowder storage - 20 times. Gunpowder in the form of pulp easily absorbed atmospheric moisture and deteriorated irreversibly in 3 years.

However, due to the high cost of "pearl" gunpowder, the pulp often continued to be used to load guns until the middle of the 17th century. Cossacks also used homemade gunpowder in the 18th century.

Musket

Contrary to popular belief, the knights did not at all consider firearms to be “non-knightly”.

A fairly common misconception is that the advent of firearms put an end to the romantic "knightly era." In fact, the arming of 5–10% of the soldiers with arquebus did not lead to a noticeable change in the tactics of the European armies. At the beginning of the 16th century, bows, crossbows, darts and slings were still widely used. Heavy knightly armor continued to improve, and the lance remained the main means of countering the cavalry. The Middle Ages continued as if nothing had happened.

The romantic era of the Middle Ages ended only in 1525, when, at the Battle of Pavia, the Spaniards first used matchlock guns of a new type - muskets.

Battle of Pavia: museum panorama

What is the difference between a musket and an arquebus? Size! With a weight of 7–9 kilograms, the musket had a caliber of 22–23 millimeters and a barrel about one and a half meters long. Only in Spain - the most technically developed country Europe of that time - they could make a durable and relatively light barrel of such a length and caliber.

Naturally, it was possible to shoot from such a bulky and massive gun only from a prop, and it was necessary to serve it together. But a bullet weighing 50-60 grams flew out of the musket at a speed of over 500 meters per second. She not only killed the armored horse, but also stopped it. The musket hit with such force that the shooter had to wear a cuirass or a leather pillow on his shoulder so that the recoil would not split his collarbone.

Musket: Assassin of the Middle Ages. 16th century

The long barrel provided the musket with relatively good accuracy for a smooth gun. The musketeer hit a man no longer from 20-25, but from 30-35 meters. But much greater value had an increase in the effective range of volley fire up to 200-240 meters. At all this distance, the bullets retained the ability to hit knight horses and pierce the iron armor of pikemen.

The musket combined the capabilities of the arquebus and the pikes, and became the first weapon in history that gave the shooter the opportunity to repel the onslaught of cavalry in the open. The musketeers did not have to run away from the cavalry for the battle, therefore, unlike the arquebusiers, they made extensive use of armor.

Due to the large weight of the weapons, musketeers, like crossbowmen, preferred to move on horseback.

Throughout the 16th century, there were few musketeers in European armies. Musketeer companies (detachments of 100-200 people) were considered the elite of the infantry and were formed from the nobility. This was partly due to the high cost of weapons (as a rule, a riding horse was also included in the musketeer's equipment). But even more important were the high requirements for durability. When the cavalry rushed to the attack, the musketeers had to beat them off or die.

Pishchal

archers

According to its purpose, the pishchal of Russian archers corresponded to the Spanish musket. But the technical backwardness of Russia, which was outlined in the 15th century, could not but affect the combat properties of guns. Even pure - "white" - iron for the manufacture of barrels at the beginning of the 16th century still had to be imported "from German"!

As a result, with the same weight as the musket, the squeaker was much shorter and had 2-3 times less power. Which, however, had no practical significance, given that the eastern horses were much smaller than European ones. The accuracy of the weapon was also satisfactory: from 50 meters, the archer did not miss the two-meter-high fence.

In addition to the archery squeakers, Muscovy also produced light “veiled” (having a strap for carrying on the back) guns that were used by mounted (“stirrup”) archers and Cossacks. According to their characteristics, the "veiled squeaks" corresponded to European arquebuses.

pistol

Smoldering wicks, of course, gave the shooters a lot of inconvenience. However, the simplicity and reliability of the matchlock forced the infantry to put up with its shortcomings until the end of the 17th century. Another thing is the cavalry. The rider needed a weapon convenient, constantly ready to fire and suitable for holding with one hand.

Wheel lock in the drawings of Da Vinci

The first attempts to create a castle in which fire would be extracted using an iron flint and "flint" (that is, a piece of sulfur pyrite or pyrite) were made as early as the 15th century. Since the second half of the 15th century, “grater locks” have been known, which were ordinary household fire flints installed above a shelf. With one hand, the shooter aimed the weapon, and with the other he hit the flint with a file. Due to the obvious impracticality of distribution, grating locks have not received.

Much great popularity In Europe, he acquired a wheeled castle that appeared at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, the scheme of which was preserved in the manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci. The ribbed flint and flint was given the shape of a gear. The spring of the mechanism was cocked by the key attached to the lock. When the trigger was pressed, the wheel began to rotate, striking sparks from the flint.

German wheeled pistol, 16th century

The wheel lock was very reminiscent of the device of a watch and was not inferior to a watch in complexity. The capricious mechanism was very sensitive to clogging with gunpowder and flint fragments. After 20-30 shots, he refused. The shooter could not disassemble it and clean it on his own.

Since the advantages of the wheel lock were of the greatest value for the cavalry, the weapons equipped with them were made convenient for the rider - one-handed. Starting from the 30s of the 16th century in Europe, the knightly spears were replaced by shortened wheeled arquebuses that lacked a butt. Since they began to manufacture such weapons in the Italian city of Pistol, they began to call one-handed arquebus pistols. However, by the end of the century, pistols were also being produced at the Moscow Armory.

European military pistols of the 16th and 17th centuries were very bulky designs. The barrel had a caliber of 14-16 millimeters and a length of at least 30 centimeters. The total length of the pistol exceeded half a meter, and the weight could reach 2 kilograms. However, the pistols hit very inaccurately and weakly. The range of an aimed shot did not exceed a few meters, and even bullets fired at close range bounced off cuirasses and helmets.

In the 16th century, pistols were often combined with edged weapons - the pommel of a club ("apple") or even an ax blade.

In addition to large dimensions, for pistols early period were characterized by the richness of the decoration and the quirkiness of the design. Pistols of the 16th - early 17th centuries were often made multi-barrelled. Including with a rotating block of 3-4 barrels, like a revolver! All this was very interesting, very progressive ... And in practice, of course, it did not work.

The wheel lock itself was worth so much money that the decoration of the pistol with gold and pearls did not significantly affect its price. In the 16th century, wheeled weapons were affordable only for very rich people and had more prestigious than combat value.

Asian pistols were distinguished by their particular elegance and were highly valued in Europe.

* * *

The appearance of firearms was a turning point in the history of military art. For the first time, a person began to use not muscular strength, but the energy of gunpowder combustion to inflict damage on the enemy. And this energy by the standards of the Middle Ages was stunning. Noisy and clumsy crackers, now capable of causing nothing but laughter, a few centuries ago inspired people with great respect.

Beginning in the 16th century, the development of firearms began to determine the tactics of sea and land battles. The balance between melee and ranged combat began to shift in favor of the latter. The value of protective equipment began to fall, and the role of field fortifications began to increase. These trends continue to our time. Weapons that use chemical energy to eject projectiles continue to improve. Apparently, it will maintain its position for a very long time.

It has a fairly simple design: a long blade with a handle, while swords have many forms and uses. The sword is more convenient than the ax, which is one of its predecessors. The sword is adapted for inflicting chopping and stabbing blows, as well as for parrying enemy blows. Longer than a dagger and not easily concealed in clothing, the sword is a noble weapon in many cultures. He had a special significance, being at the same time a work of art, a family jewel, a symbol of war, justice, honor, and of course glory.

The sword has the following structure:

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f. Blade
g. point

There are many options for the shape of the sections of the blade. Usually the shape of the blade depends on the purpose of the weapon, as well as on the desire to combine stiffness and lightness in the blade. The figure shows some double-edged (positions 1, 2) and single-edged (positions 3, 4) variants of blade shapes.

There are three basic forms of sword blades. Each of them has its own advantages. The straight blade (a) is designed for thrusting. A blade curved backwards (b) inflicts a deep cut wound on impact. A forward curved blade (c) is effective for slashing, especially when it has a flared and heavy top. When choosing a sword, civilians were guided mainly by fashion trends. The military, on the other hand, tried to find the perfect blade, combining the same efficiency in both chopping and stabbing.

Africa and Middle East

In most of these regions, the sword is a very common weapon, but in Africa it is rare and difficult to date. Most of the swords shown here ended up in Western museums and collectors thanks to travelers from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

1. Double-edged sword, Gabon, West Africa. The thin blade is made of steel, the hilt of the sword is wrapped with brass and copper wire.
2. Takouba, the sword of the Tuareg tribe of the Sahara.
3. Flissa, sword of the Kabyle tribe, Morocco. Single-edged blade, engraved and inlaid with brass.
4. Cascara, a straight double-edged sword of the Bagirmi people, Sahara. In style, this sword is close to Sudanese swords.
5. Double-edged sword of the East African Masai. The rhombic section of the blade, the guard is missing.
6. Shotel, a double-edged sword with a double curve of the blade, Ethiopia. The crescent shape of the sword is designed to strike the enemy behind his shield.
7. Sudanese sword with a characteristic straight double-edged blade and cross guard.
8. Arabic sword, 18th century The blade is probably of European origin. The silver hilt of the sword is gilded.
9. Arabic sword, Longola, Sudan. The double-edged steel blade is decorated with a geometric ornament and the image of a crocodile. The hilt of the sword is made of ebony and ivory.

Near East

10. Kilich (Klich), Turkey. The example shown in the figure has a blade of the 15th century, and the hilt of the 18th century. Often, at the top, the kilij blade has an elman - an expanded part with a straight blade.
11. Scimitar, classical form, Turkey. A sword with a forward-curved, single-edged blade. The bone hilt has a large pommel, there is no guard.
12. Scimitar with a silver handle. The blade is decorated with corals. Turkey.
13. Saif, a curved saber with a characteristic pommel. It is found everywhere where the Arabs lived.
14. Checker, Caucasus. Circassian origin, widely used by Russian cavalry. the blade of this specimen is dated 1819, Persia.
15. Dagger, Caucasus. The dagger could reach the size of a short sword, one of such specimens is presented here.
16. Shamshir, a typical form. Persian with a curved blade and a characteristic handle.
17. Shamshir with a wavy blade, Persia. The steel handle is adorned with gold inlay.
18. Quadara. Big dagger. The handle is made of horn. The blade is decorated with etching and gold notch.

Indian subcontinent

Region of India and related areas rich in various types swords. India produced the best steel blades in the world with luxurious decorations. In some cases, it is difficult to give the correct name to some types of blades, to determine the time and place of their manufacture, so that a thorough study of them is still ahead. The dates indicated refer only to the examples depicted.

1. Chora (Khyber), a heavy single-edged sword of the Afghan and Pashtun tribes. Afghan-Pakistan border.
2. Tulvar (talwar). Sword with a curved blade and disc-shaped hilt, India. This copy was found in Northern India, XVII century.
3. Tulvar (talwar) with a wide blade. Was the executioner's weapon. This copy is of Northern India origin, XVIII-XIX centuries.
4. Tulwar (talwar). Steel handle in the Punjabi style with a safety shackle. Indore, India. End of the 18th century
5. Khanda, steel handle with gilding in the "Old Indian" style. Double-edged straight blade. Nepal. 18th century
6. Khanda. The handle is made in the style of "Indian basket" with a process for gripping with both hands. Marathi people. 18th century
7. Sosun pattah. The handle is made in the style of "Indian basket". Forward-curved single edge reinforced blade. Central India. 18th century
8. South Indian sword. Steel handle, square wooden pommel. The blade is curved forward. Madras. 16th century
9. Sword from the temple of the Nayar people. Brass handle, double-edged steel blade. Thanjavur, South India. 18th century
10. South Indian sword. Steel handle, double-edged wavy blade. Madras. 18th century
11. Pat. An Indian sword with a gauntlet - a steel guard that protected the hand to the forearm. Decorated with engraving and gilding. Oudh (now Uttar Pradesh). 18th century
12. Adyar katti of typical shape. A short heavy blade curved forward. The handle is made of silver. Coorg, Southwest India.
13. Zafar Takeh, India. Attribute of the ruler at audiences. The top of the handle is made in the form of an armrest.
14. Firangi ("alien"). This name was used by the Indians for European blades with Indian handles. Here is a Maratha sword with a German blade from the 17th century.
15. Double-edged two-handed sword with hollow iron pommel. Central India. 17th century
16. Bark. The blade is curved forward, has a single blade with a "pulled" top. Nepal. 18th century
17. Kukri. Long narrow blade. It was widespread in the 19th century. Nepal, circa 1850
18. Kukri. Iron handle, elegant blade. Nepal, circa 19th century
19. Kukri. Was in service with the Indian Army in World War II. Manufactured by a contractor in North India. 1943
20. Ram Dao. Sword used for animal sacrifice in Nepal and northern India.

Far East

1. Tao. Sword of the Kachin tribe, Assam. The example shown here shows the most common blade shape among many known in the region.
2. Tao (noklang). two-handed sword, Khasi people, Assam. The handle of the sword is iron, the finish is made of brass.
3. Dha. Single-edged sword, Myanmar. The cylindrical hilt of the sword is covered with white metal. Blade inlaid with silver and copper.
4. Castane. The sword has a carved wooden handle and a protective steel shackle. Decorated with silver and brass inlay. Sri Lanka.
5. Single-edged Chinese iron sword. The handle is a blade petiole wrapped with a cord.
6. Talibon. Short sword of Philippine Christians. The hilt of the sword is made of wood and braided with reed.
7. Barong. Short sword of the Moro people, Philippines.
8. Mandau (parang ihlang). Sword of the Dayak tribe - bounty hunters, Kalimantan.
9. Parang Pandit. Sword of the Sea Dayak tribe, Southeast Asia. The sword has a single-edged, forward-curved blade.
10. Campilan. Single-edged sword of the Moro and Sea Dayak tribes. The handle is made of wood and decorated with carvings.
11. Klewang. Sword from the island of Sula Vesi, Indonesia. The sword has a single-edged blade. The handle is made of wood and decorated with carvings.

Europe of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages

Story European sword this is not so much a process of improving the functionality of the blade as changing it under the influence of fashion trends. Swords made of bronze and iron were replaced by steel swords, swords were adapted to new combat theories, but no innovations led to a complete rejection of the old forms.

1. Short sword. Central Europe, Early Bronze Age. The blade and hilt of the sword are connected by riveting.
2. Curved single-edged short sword, Sweden. 1600-1350 BC. The sword is made from a single piece of bronze.
3. Bronze sword of Homeric times, Greece. OK. 1300 BC This copy was found in Mycenae.
4. Long solid bronze sword, one of the Baltic islands. 1200-1000 BC.
5. Late Bronze Age sword, Central Europe. 850-650 AD BC.
6. Iron sword, Hallstatt culture, Austria. 650-500 AD BC. The hilt of the sword is made of ivory and amber.
7. Iron sword of the Greek hoplites (heavily armed infantry). Greece. Approximately VI century. BC.
8. Iron single-edged sword, Spain, circa 5th-6th centuries. BC. This type of sword was also used in classical Greece.
9. Iron blade of the sword, La Tène culture. Around the 6th century BC. This copy was found in Switzerland.
10. An iron sword. Aquileia, Italy. The hilt of the sword is made of bronze. Around the 3rd century BC.
11. Gallic iron sword. Department of Aube, France. Anthropomorphic bronze handle. Around the 2nd century BC.
12. Iron sword, Cumbria, England. The handle of the sword is made of bronze and decorated with enamel. Around the 1st century
13. Gladius. Iron Roman short sword. Beginning of the 1st century
14. Late Roman gladius. Pompeii. The edges of the blade are parallel, the tip is shortened. End of the 1st century

Europe of the Middle Ages

Throughout the early Middle Ages, the sword was a very valuable weapon, especially in Northern Europe. Many Scandinavian swords have richly decorated hilts, and X-ray examination of them has revealed a very high quality of their welded blades. However, the late medieval sword, despite its significant status as a knightly weapon, often has a simple cruciform shape and a simple iron blade; only the pommel of the sword gave the masters some room for imagination.

Early medieval swords were forged with wide blades designed for slashing. From the 13th century began to spread narrow blades designed for stabbing. It is assumed that this trend was caused by the increased use of armor, which was easier to pierce with a piercing blow, at the joints.

To improve the balance of the sword, a heavy pommel was attached to the end of the hilt, as a counterweight to the blade. Head shapes:

1. mushroom
2. In the shape of a teapot case
3. American walnut
4. discoid
5. in the form of a wheel
6. triangular
7. Fishtail
8. pear-shaped

Viking sword (right) 10th c. The handle is wrapped in silver foil with an embossed "wicker" ornament, which is tinted with copper and niello. The double-edged steel blade is wide and shallow. This sword was found in one of the Swedish lakes. Currently stored in the State Historical Museum in Stockholm.

Middle Ages

German armor of the 16th century for a knight and a horse

The field of weapons and armor is surrounded by romantic legends, monstrous myths, and widespread misconceptions. Their sources are often a lack of knowledge and experience with real things and their history. Most of these notions are absurd and based on nothing.

Perhaps one of the most infamous examples would be the notion that "knights had to be put on horseback with a crane", which is as absurd as it is a common belief, even among historians. In other cases, some technical details that defy obvious description have become the object of passionate and fantastic in their ingenuity attempts to explain their purpose. Among them, the first place, apparently, is occupied by the stop for the spear, protruding from the right side of the breastplate.

The following text will attempt to correct the most popular misconceptions and answer questions frequently asked during museum tours.

1. Only knights wore armor.

This erroneous but common notion probably stems from the romantic notion of the "knight in shining armor", a painting that has itself been the subject of further misconceptions. First, knights rarely fought alone, and armies in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance did not consist entirely of mounted knights. Although the knights were the predominant force in most of these armies, they were invariably - and increasingly stronger over time - supported (and opposed) by foot soldiers such as archers, pikemen, crossbowmen and soldiers with firearms. On the campaign, the knight depended on a group of servants, squires and soldiers who provided armed support and looked after his horses, armor and other equipment, not to mention peasants and artisans who made a feudal society with the existence of a military class possible.

Armor for a knight's duel, late 16th century

Secondly, it is wrong to believe that every noble person was a knight. Knights were not born, knights were created by other knights, feudal lords or sometimes priests. And under certain conditions, people of non-noble origin could be knighted (although knights were often considered the lowest rank of nobility). Sometimes mercenaries or civilians who fought as ordinary soldiers could be knighted due to a display of extreme bravery and courage, and later knighthood became possible to purchase for money.

In other words, the ability to wear armor and fight in armor was not the prerogative of the knights. Mercenary foot soldiers, or groups of soldiers made up of peasants, or burghers (city dwellers) also took part in armed conflicts and accordingly protected themselves with armor of varying quality and size. Indeed, burghers (of a certain age and above a certain income or wealth) in most cities of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance were obliged - often by law and decree - to buy and keep their own weapons and armor. Usually it was not full armor, but at least it included a helmet, body protection in the form of chain mail, fabric armor or a breastplate, as well as weapons - a spear, pike, bow or crossbow.

Indian chain mail of the 17th century

AT war time this people's militia was obliged to defend the city or perform military duties for feudal lords or allied cities. During the 15th century, when some wealthy and influential cities began to become more independent and self-confident, even the burghers organized their own tournaments, in which, of course, they wore armor.

In this regard, not every piece of armor has ever been worn by a knight, and not every person depicted in armor will be a knight. A man in armor would be more correctly called a soldier or a man in armor.

2. Women in the old days never wore armor or fought in battles.

In most historical periods, there is evidence of women taking part in armed conflicts. There is evidence of noble ladies turning into military commanders, such as Jeanne de Penthièvre (1319-1384). There are rare references to women from lower society getting up "under the gun". There are records that women fought in armor, but no illustrations of that time on this subject have been preserved. Joan of Arc (1412-1431) is perhaps the most famous example female warriors, and there is evidence that she wore armor ordered for her by the French king Charles VII. But only one small illustration of her, made during her lifetime, has come down to us, in which she is depicted with a sword and banner, but without armor. The fact that contemporaries regarded a woman commanding an army, or even wearing armor, as something worthy of recording suggests that this spectacle was the exception, not the rule.

3 Armor Was So Expensive Only Princes And Rich Nobles Could Afford It

This idea may have been born from the fact that much of the armor on display in museums is of high quality, and that much of the simpler armor belonging to the common people and the lowly of the nobles has been hidden in vaults or lost through the ages.

Indeed, with the exception of looting armor on the battlefield or winning a tournament, acquiring armor was a very expensive undertaking. However, since there are differences in the quality of the armor, there must have been differences in its value. Armor of low and medium quality, available to burghers, mercenaries and the lower nobility, could be bought ready-made in markets, fairs and city shops. On the other hand, there were high-class armor made to order in imperial or royal workshops and from famous German and Italian gunsmiths.

Armor of King Henry VIII of England, 16th century

Although examples of the value of armor, weapons and equipment in some of the historical periods have come down to us, it is very difficult to translate the historical value into modern analogues. It is clear, however, that the cost of armor ranged from inexpensive, low-quality or obsolete, second-hand items available to citizens and mercenaries, to the cost of a full armor of an English knight, which in 1374 was estimated at £16. It was an analogue of the cost of 5-8 years of renting a merchant's house in London, or three years of the salary of an experienced worker, and the price of a helmet alone (with a visor, and probably with an aventail) was more than the price of a cow.

At the upper end of the scale, examples can be found such as a large set of armor (a basic set that, with the help of additional items and plates, could be adapted for various uses, both on the battlefield and in the tournament), ordered in 1546 by the German king (later - emperor) for his son. For the fulfillment of this order, for a year of work, the court gunsmith Jörg Seusenhofer from Innsbruck received an incredible amount of 1200 gold moments, equivalent to twelve annual salaries of a senior court official.

4. The armor is extremely heavy and severely limits the wearer's mobility.

A full set of combat armor typically weighs between 20 and 25 kg and a helmet between 2 and 4 kg. That's less than a full firefighter's outfit with oxygen equipment, or what modern soldiers have had to wear in combat since the nineteenth century. Moreover, while modern equipment usually hangs from the shoulders or waist, the weight of well-fitted armor is distributed throughout the body. Only to XVII century the weight of combat armor was greatly increased to make it bulletproof due to the increased accuracy of firearms. At the same time, full armor became less and less common, and only important parts of the body: the head, torso and arms were protected by metal plates.

The opinion that wearing armor (formed by 1420-30) greatly reduced the mobility of a warrior is not true. Armor equipment was made from separate elements for each limb. Each element consisted of metal plates and plates connected by movable rivets and leather straps, which made it possible to perform any movement without restrictions imposed by the rigidity of the material. The common notion that a man in armor could barely move, and if he fell to the ground, could not get up, has no basis. On the contrary, historical sources tell about the famous French knight Jean II le Mengre, nicknamed Boucicault (1366-1421), who, being dressed in full armor, could, grabbing the steps of a ladder from below, on its back side, climb it with the help of some hands Moreover, there are several illustrations from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, in which soldiers, squires or knights, in full armor, mount horses without assistance or any equipment, without ladders and cranes. Modern experiments with real armor of the 15th and 16th centuries and with their exact copies showed that even an untrained person in properly fitted armor can get on and off a horse, sit or lie down, and then get up from the ground, run and move limbs freely and without discomfort.

In some exceptional cases, the armor was very heavy or held the person wearing it in almost the same position, for example, in some types of tournaments. Tournament armor was made for special occasions and worn for a limited time. A man in armor then mounted a horse with the help of a squire or a small ladder, and the last elements of armor could be put on him after he settled in the saddle.

5. Knights had to be saddled with cranes

This idea, apparently, appeared at the end of the nineteenth century as a joke. It entered mainstream fiction in the decades that followed, and the painting was eventually immortalized in 1944 when Laurence Olivier used it in his film King Henry V, despite the protests of history advisers, among whom was such an eminent authority as James Mann, chief armorer of the Tower of London.

As stated above, most of the armor was light and flexible enough not to restrict the wearer. Most people in armor should have been able to put one foot in the stirrup and saddle a horse without assistance. A stool or the help of a squire would hasten this process. But the crane was absolutely not needed.

6. How did the people in the armor go to the toilet?

One of the most popular questions, especially among young museum visitors, unfortunately does not have a precise answer. When the man in armor was not engaged in battle, he was doing the same thing that people do today. He would go to the toilet (which in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance was called a latrine or latrine) or to another secluded place, take off the appropriate parts of armor and clothing, and indulge in the call of nature. On the battlefield, things were supposed to be different. In this case, we do not know the answer. However, it must be taken into account that the desire to go to the toilet in the heat of battle was most likely at the bottom of the list of priorities.

7. The military salute came from the gesture of raising the visor

Some believe that the military salute dates back to the time of the Roman Republic, when assassination by order was the order of the day, and citizens had to raise their right hand when approaching officials to show that there was no weapon hidden in it. It is more commonly believed that the modern war salute came from armored men lifting their helmet visors before saluting their comrades or lords. This gesture made it possible to recognize a person, and also made him vulnerable and at the same time showed that his right hand (which usually held a sword) did not have a weapon. All these were signs of trust and good intentions.

While these theories sound intriguing and romantic, there is little evidence that the military salute originated from them. As far as Roman customs are concerned, it would be practically impossible to prove that they lasted fifteen centuries (or were restored during the Renaissance) and led to the modern military salute. There is also no direct confirmation of the visor theory, although it is more recent. Most military helmets after 1600 were no longer equipped with visors, and after 1700 helmets were rarely worn on European battlefields.

One way or another, the military records of 17th-century England reflect that "the formal act of greeting was the removal of the headdress." By 1745, the English regiment of the Coldstream Guards seems to have perfected this procedure, rewriting it as "laying the hand to the head and bowing at the meeting."

Coldstream Guard

This practice was adopted by other English regiments, and then it could spread to America (during the Revolutionary War) and continental Europe (during the Napoleonic Wars). So the truth may lie somewhere in the middle, in which the military salute originated from a gesture of respect and courtesy, in parallel with the civilian habit of lifting or touching the brim of the hat, perhaps with a combination of the warrior custom of showing the unarmed right hand.

8. Chain mail - "chain mail" or "mail"?

German chain mail of the 15th century

A protective garment consisting of intertwined rings should properly be called "mail" or "mail armor" in English. The commonly accepted term "chain mail" is modern pleonasm (a linguistic error meaning the use more words than is necessary for the description). In our case, "chain" (chain) and "mail" describe an object consisting of a sequence of intertwined rings. That is, the term “chain mail” simply repeats the same thing twice.

As with other misconceptions, the roots of this error must be sought in the 19th century. When those who started studying armor looked at medieval paintings, they noticed what seemed to them to be many different types of armor: rings, chains, ring bracelets, scaly armor, small plates, etc. As a result, all ancient armor was called “mail”, distinguishing it only in appearance, from which the terms “ring-mail”, “chain-mail”, “banded mail”, “scale-mail”, “plate-mail” appeared. Today, it is generally accepted that most of these different images were just different attempts by artists to correctly depict the surface of a type of armor that is difficult to capture in a painting and in sculpture. Instead of depicting individual rings, these details were stylized with dots, strokes, squiggles, circles, and more, which led to errors.

9. How long did it take to make a full armor?

It is difficult to answer this question unambiguously for many reasons. First, no evidence has been preserved that can paint a complete picture for any of the periods. Since about the 15th century, scattered examples of how armor was ordered, how long orders took, and how much various parts of armor cost, have been preserved. Secondly, full armor could consist of parts made by various gunsmiths with a narrow specialization. Parts of the armor could be sold unfinished, and then, for a certain amount, adjusted locally. Finally, the matter was complicated by regional and national differences.

In the case of German gunsmiths, most workshops were controlled by strict guild rules that limited the number of apprentices, and thus controlled the number of items that one craftsman and his workshop could produce. In Italy, on the other hand, there were no such restrictions, and workshops could grow, which improved the speed of creation and the quantity of production.

In any case, it is worth bearing in mind that the production of armor and weapons flourished during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Armourers, makers of blades, pistols, bows, crossbows, and arrows were present in any large city. As now, their market was dependent on supply and demand, and efficient operation was a key parameter of success. The common myth that simple chain mail took years to make is nonsense (but it's undeniable that chain mail was very labor intensive to make).

The answer to this question is simple and elusive at the same time. The time taken to make armor depended on several factors, such as the customer, who was tasked with making the order (the number of people in production and the workshop being busy with other orders), and the quality of the armor. Two famous example serve as an illustration for us.

In 1473 Martin Rondel, possibly an Italian armourer, working in Bruges, who called himself "armourer of my bastard lord of Burgundy", wrote to his English client, Sir John Paston. The gunsmith informed Sir John that he could fulfill the request for the manufacture of armor, as soon as the English knight informed him what parts of the suit he needed, in what form, and the date by which the armor should be completed (unfortunately, the gunsmith did not indicate possible dates). In the court workshops, the production of armor for the highest persons, apparently, took more time. For the court armourer, Jörg Seusenhofer (with a small number of assistants), the preparation of armor for the horse and large armor for the king took, apparently, more than a year. The order was placed in November 1546 by King (later Emperor) Ferdinand I (1503-1564) for himself and his son, and was completed in November 1547. We do not know if Seusenhofer and his workshop were working on other orders at this time.

10. Armor details - spear support and codpiece

Two parts of the armor are more than others inflame the imagination of the public: one of them is described as "that thing sticking out to the right of the chest," and the second is mentioned after a muffled chuckle as "that thing between the legs." In the terminology of weapons and armor, they are known as spear supports and codpieces.

The support for the spear appeared soon after the appearance of a solid chest plate at the end of the 14th century and existed until the armor itself began to disappear. As opposed to the literal meaning English term"lance rest" (spear stand), its main purpose was not to bear the weight of the spear. In fact, it was used for two purposes, which are better described by the French term "arrêt de cuirasse" (spear restraint). She allowed the mounted warrior to hold the spear firmly under the right hand, limiting it from slipping back. This allowed the spear to be stabilized and balanced, which improved aim. In addition, the combined weight and speed of the horse and rider was transferred to the point of the spear, which made this weapon very formidable. If the target was hit, the spear rest also acted as a shock absorber, preventing the spear from "shooting" backwards, and distributing the blow to the chest plate across the entire upper torso, not just the right arm, wrist, elbow, and shoulder. It is worth noting that on most combat armor, the support for the spear could be folded up so as not to interfere with the mobility of the hand holding the sword after the warrior got rid of the spear.

The history of the armored codpiece is closely connected with its brother in a civilian male suit. From the middle of the XIV century, the upper part of men's clothing began to be shortened so much that it ceased to cover the crotch. In those days, pants had not yet been invented, and men wore leggings fastened to their underwear or belt, and the crotch was hidden behind a hollow attached to the inside of the top edge of each of the legs of the leggings. At the beginning of the 16th century, this floor began to be stuffed and visually enlarged. And the codpiece remained a detail men's suit until the end of the 16th century. On armor, the codpiece as a separate plate protecting the genitals appeared in the second decade of the 16th century, and remained relevant until the 1570s. She had a thick lining inside and joined the armor in the center of the lower edge of the shirt. The early varieties were bowl-shaped, but due to the influence of civil costume, it gradually changed into an upward shape. It was not usually used when riding a horse, because, firstly, it would interfere, and secondly, the armored front of the combat saddle provided sufficient protection for the crotch. Therefore, the codpiece was commonly used for armor designed for foot combat, both in war and in tournaments, and despite some value as a defense, it was no less used because of fashion.

11. Did the Vikings wear horns on their helmets?

One of the most enduring and popular images of a medieval warrior is that of a Viking, which can be instantly recognized by a helmet equipped with a pair of horns. However, there is very little evidence that the Vikings ever used horns to decorate their helmets at all.

The earliest example of the decoration of a helmet with a pair of stylized horns is a small group of helmets that have come down to us from the Celtic Bronze Age, found in Scandinavia and in the territory of modern France, Germany and Austria. These decorations were made of bronze and could take the form of two horns or a flat triangular profile. These helmets date from the 12th or 11th century BC. Two thousand years later, from 1250, pairs of horns gained popularity in Europe and remained one of the most commonly used heraldic symbols on helmets for battle and tournaments in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It is easy to see that these two periods do not coincide with what is usually associated with the Scandinavian raids that took place from the end of the 8th to the end of the 11th centuries.

Viking helmets were usually conical or hemispherical, sometimes made from a single piece of metal, sometimes from segments fastened with strips (Spangenhelm).

Many of these helmets were equipped with face protection. The latter could take the form of a metal bar covering the nose, or a front sheet consisting of protection for the nose and two eyes, as well as the upper part of the cheekbones, or protection of the entire face and neck in the form of chain mail.

12. Armor was no longer needed due to the advent of firearms.

By and large, the gradual decline of armor was not due to the advent of firearms per se, but due to their constant improvement. Since the first firearms appeared in Europe already in the third decade of the 14th century, and the gradual decline of armor was not noted until the second half of the 17th century, armor and firearms existed together for more than 300 years. During the 16th century, attempts were made to make bulletproof armor, either by reinforcing steel, thickening the armor, or adding separate reinforcing parts on top of conventional armor.

German pishchal late 14th century

Finally, it is worth noting that the armor has not completely disappeared. The ubiquitous use of helmets by modern soldiers and police proves that armor, although it has changed materials and perhaps lost some of its importance, is still a necessary piece of military equipment around the world. In addition, torso protection continued to exist in the form of experimental chest plates during the American civil war, plates of gunners in World War II and bulletproof vests of our time.

13. The size of the armor suggests that in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, people were smaller.

Medical and anthropological studies show that the average height of men and women has gradually increased over the centuries, a process accelerated over the past 150 years by improvements in diet and public health. Most of the armor of the 15th and 16th centuries that has come down to us confirms these discoveries.

However, when drawing such general conclusions based on armor, there are many factors to consider. Firstly, is it a complete and uniform armor, that is, did all the parts go with each other, thereby giving the correct impression of its original owner? Secondly, even high-quality armor made to order for a particular person can give an approximate idea of ​​\u200b\u200bhis height, with an error of up to 2-5 cm, since the overlap of the protections of the lower abdomen (shirt and thigh guards) and hips (leg guards) can only be estimated approximately.

Armor came in all shapes and sizes, including armor for children and youths (as opposed to adults), and there was even armor for dwarfs and giants (often found in European courts as "curiosities"). In addition, other factors must be taken into account, such as the difference in average height between northern and southern Europeans, or simply the fact that there have always been unusually tall or unusual low people when compared with average contemporaries.

Notable exceptions include kings, such as Francis I, King of France (1515-47), or Henry VIII, King of England (1509-47). The height of the latter was 180 cm, as evidenced by contemporaries, and which can be verified thanks to half a dozen of his armor that have come down to us.

Armor of the German Duke Johann Wilhelm, 16th century

Armor of Emperor Ferdinand I, XVI century

Visitors to the Metropolitan Museum can compare German armor dating from 1530 to the battle armor of Emperor Ferdinand I (1503-1564) dating from 1555. Both armors are incomplete and the measurements of their wearers are only approximate, but still the difference in size is striking. The growth of the owner of the first armor was, apparently, about 193 cm, and the girth of the chest was 137 cm, while the growth of Emperor Ferdinand did not exceed 170 cm.

14. Men's clothing is wrapped from left to right, because armor was originally closed this way.

The theory behind this statement is that some early forms of armor (plate protection and brigantine of the 14th and 15th centuries, armet - a closed cavalry helmet of the 15th-16th centuries, cuirass of the 16th century) were designed so that the left side overlapped the right, so as not to let the opponent's sword strike through. Since most people are right-handed, most of the penetrating blows should have come from the left, and, with luck, should have slipped over the armor through the smell and to the right.

The theory is compelling, but there is not enough evidence that modern clothing has been directly affected by such armor. Also, while the armor protection theory may be true for the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, some examples of helmets and body armor wrap the other way.

Misconceptions and questions about cutting weapons

Sword, early 15th century

Dagger, 16th century

As with armor, not everyone who carried a sword was a knight. But the idea that the sword is the prerogative of the knights is not so far from the truth. Customs or even the right to carry a sword varied according to time, place and laws.

In medieval Europe, swords were the main weapon of knights and horsemen. In peacetime, only persons of noble birth had the right to carry swords in public places. Since in most places swords were perceived as "weapons of war" (as opposed to the same daggers), peasants and burghers who did not belong to the warrior class of medieval society could not wear swords. An exception to the rule was made for travelers (citizens, merchants and pilgrims) because of the dangers of traveling by land and sea. Within the walls of most medieval cities, the carrying of swords was forbidden to everyone - sometimes even noble ones - at least in times of peace. The standard rules of trade, often found on churches or town halls, often also included examples of the permitted lengths of daggers or swords that could be carried freely within city walls.

Without a doubt, it was these rules that gave rise to the idea that the sword is the exclusive symbol of the warrior and knight. But due to social changes and new fighting techniques that appeared in the XV and XVI centuries, it became possible and acceptable for citizens and knights to carry lighter and thinner descendants of swords - swords, as a daily weapon for self-defense in public places. And until the beginning of the 19th century, swords and small swords became an indispensable attribute of the clothes of a European gentleman.

It is widely believed that the swords of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance were uncomplicated tools of brute force, very heavy, and as a result, not malleable for " ordinary person”, that is, a very ineffective weapon. The reasons for these accusations are easy to understand. Due to the rarity of surviving specimens, few people held a real medieval or Renaissance sword in their hands. Most of these swords were obtained in excavations. Their rusty appearance today can easily give the impression of rudeness - like a burned-out car that has lost all signs of its former grandeur and complexity.

Most of the real swords of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance say otherwise. A one-handed sword usually weighed 1-2 kg, and even a large two-handed "war sword" of the 14th-16th centuries rarely weighed more than 4.5 kg. The weight of the blade was balanced by the weight of the hilt, and the swords were light, complex, and sometimes very beautifully decorated. Documents and paintings show that such a sword in experienced hands could be used with terrible efficiency, from cutting off limbs to penetrating armor.

Turkish saber with scabbard, 18th century

Japanese katana and wakizashi short sword, 15th century

Swords and some daggers, both European and Asian, and weapons from the Islamic world, often have one or more grooves on the blade. Misconceptions about their purpose have led to the emergence of the term "bloodstream". It is claimed that these grooves speed up the flow of blood from the opponent's wound, thus enhancing the effect of injury, or that they make it easier to remove the blade from the wound, allowing the weapon to be easily drawn without twisting. While such theories are entertaining, the real purpose of this groove, called a fuller, is simply to lighten the blade, reduce its mass without weakening the blade or compromising flexibility.

On some European blades, in particular swords, rapiers and daggers, as well as on some fighting poles, these grooves have complex shape and perforation. The same perforation is present on cutting weapons from India and the Middle East. Based on scant documentary evidence, it is believed that this perforation must have contained poison in order for the impact to be guaranteed to result in the death of the opponent. This misconception led to the fact that weapons with such perforations began to be called "assassin weapons".

Although there are references to Indian weapons with a poisoned blade, and such rare cases may have occurred in Renaissance Europe, the true purpose of this perforation is not at all sensational. Firstly, perforation led to the disposal of part of the material and lightened the blade. Secondly, it was often made in the form of exquisite and complex patterns, and served both as a demonstration of the blacksmith's skill and decoration. For proof, it is only necessary to point out that most of these perforations are usually located near the handle (hilt) of the weapon, and not on the other side, as would be the case with poison.

Percussion weapons in the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, maces were used either as a weapon of a foot militia, or as an auxiliary weapon of a professional horseman warrior.

Militias, rebellious peasants, robbers and other civilians favored strike weapons because of their relative cheapness. Often such weapons were made in artisanal conditions and usually consisted of a club reinforced with metal strips, and on the shock part with spikes or nails. Subsequently, a similar type with a spherical impact part received the name "morgenstern" - "morning star" in Western Europe. Maces of this type, designed for foot combat, existed both in the version for one hand (Fig. 7), and in a heavier version, for a two-handed grip (Fig. 20).

7. Wooden mace reinforced with steel strips and spikes, France, XIII century.

8. Mace with a wooden handle and an iron pommel, Kievan Rus, 11th century.

9. Mace with a wooden handle and an iron pommel, Kievan Rus, XII century.

10. Mace with a wooden handle and a metal pommel, Kievan Rus, 11th century.

11. Mace with a wooden handle and a bronze pommel, Western Europe, XII century.

12. Mongolian mace on a wooden handle, an early form of a mace, 13th century.

13. Large wooden mace, for fighting with two hands. Reinforced with metal strips and spikes, England, early 16th century.

14. Steel mace-shestoper, France, early 16th century.

15. Mace with a wooden handle and iron "feathers", Hungary, 17th century.

16. Ceremonial steel mace-morgenstern, Italy, mid-16th century.

17. Steel mace-shestoper, Italy, early 16th century.

18. Wooden club, Italy, late 17th century.

19. Steel mace-shestoper, Southern Germany, late 16th century.

Professional warriors usually used a mace as an auxiliary weapon. It was intended for delivering powerful blows through protective armor in order to concuss, stun the enemy, break his bone. Such a mace was usually a metal pommel mounted on a wooden handle 50-60 cm long (Fig. 8-11). Contrary to popular belief, the weight of the mace averaged 1.5-2 kg, which allowed it to be used for quick strikes and fight for a long time.

20. Peasant morning star on a long pole, Western Europe, 16th century.

The third type of mace, common in the Middle Ages, can be considered the so-called "feathered" maces - pernachi, or six-pointers. The design of the shock part of such a weapon consists of several metal plates diverging from the center in different directions (Fig. 12). Subsequently, in the late Middle Ages, the shestoper became the most used type of percussion weapon both in Europe and in the Middle East and Central Asia.

With the spread of firearms in Europe and the gradual disappearance of protective armor, the mace turned from a weapon into an attribute of senior commanders and a symbol of the power of a military leader.

Disappearing, however, from the arsenal of the professional military, strike weapons remained in the “armament” of the civilian population and are used to this day.

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