Medieval Weapons: A Violent Period Of The Middle Ages

Medieval weapons

Medieval times was a very violent time in Europe. Wealth and power was wanted by these countries. During this time there were a lot of weapons used for wars. The three weapons I am going to tell you about are the battle axe, the longbow, and the pike.

The battle axe was used by soldiers on foot, and sometimes (depends on occasion) knights. It was used in close contact with enemies. The design of the battle axe depended on the person, either one handed or two handed axes. The battle axe was not as precise as a sword, but was cheap and did not take much skill. In the early medieval period of the Middle ages it was used for close contact. Some people who fought threw the battle axe like some sort of missile. The battle axe

could be mounted on really two sizes of shafts. There was your long shaft that measured up to 5 feet, or there was your small 1 foot shaft. Most battle axes were made to fit the axe and the shaft. The ones used by the Vikings were tied and just lashed together. The blade on the battle axe was a sharp crescent shape blade that was to inches from top to bottom. A swing of the battle axe gave tremendous force. A battle axe swung with tremendous force could seriously hurt and injure a knight in armour. It was used for cutting and could cut off limbs with one blow. Practice was based on two things which were strength and accuracy. Blacksmith’s made these with iron, occasionally bronze, steel, and wooden handles.
During this time there were three types of bows, the short bow, the composite bow, and the longbow. The longbow was one of the best weapons in medieval warfare. The longbow was mostly used by the English. Kings and queens would hold archery tournaments for good money, and to find a longbow man. There were laws about using longbows, and it was like church you had to go and practice with them. The first longbow is said to come from Wales, and it was six to seven foot long. The longbow was commonly made from a yew tree, and sometimes ash and elm were used. The longbow arrows were usually about three foot long, and had broad points. Also, the arrows were made out of oak, birch, and ash. A good longbow man or archer could shoot an arrow every five seconds. The longbow was very powerful. Recent studies have shown that when fired up from up close it could penetrate through four inches of oak. From two hundred metres it was about one inch, and 100 metres it was able to penetrate plate armour. You can tell during this time the longbow was a killer weapon.
The pike was a very long weapon during its time. The pike was used by a person on foot or a pikeman. The pike itself was a long pole about ten to fourteen feet long, and the blade was very sharp. It was used against knights and people on horseback, because of the length and versatility. The pike made a lot of new and different things to make the pike better. They put rims over the shaft and increased it in length to make it better for fighting. the spear on the end could seriously kill a man or injure them, or their horse even in their armour. The pike was not a good weapon in close combat it was way too long for these battles. The training was what the pikemen did in battle, they were focussed on taking down knights on horseback. The pikemen were trained to use the whole pike for counter attacks or surprise attacks. You would have to be quick, very strong, and know how to jab to kill. The medieval pike was made out of steel and iron.
As you can see, the medieval times were violent times in Europe. These were just three of the many weapons used in battle. These times the leaders wanted to spread their religion, get more money, or more power.