New Post
Search
Help
ArchivesA Few Observations From A Weapons Junkie...
in reply to a message by Silver
Silver,
Agincourt, Kestrel (sic), Lionheart, Excalibur, Templar, and Phoenix are not types of edged weapons, but tradenames applied to specific products by one modern sword manufacturer (Iberia C.A., I think). Use them as names if you will, but they're not "types" of weapons.
A mace denotes a weighted metal head mounted solidly on a handle for crushing skulls and armor. If you connect it to the handle with a chain, it's not a mace but a flail or (if spiked) a morningstar (German "Morgenstern", from the resemblance of the weighted ball with installed spikes to a stylized star). Maces were favored in battle by fighting monks and clergy (like Wm. the Conqueror's half-bro, Bishop Odo) because these were forbidden to wield weapons that drew blood, and technically these did not.
Margays and ocelots, as someone said, are New World wild cats, not weapons.
A dagger typically but not exclusively means a double-edged knife with a blade about 8" to 16" long (double-edged knives are illegal to possess in MA and CA; hasn't stopped anyone yet).
Classically, a dirk is a Scottish fighting knife, resembling a dagger but single edged. It has a blade about 14"-17" long.
A sgian dubh ("black knife") was once a small Scottish weapon of last resort, carried in the sleeve or armpit. Today it's a decorative knife with blade about 3"-4" worn in the stocking when in Highland dress.
A targe is a small round leather-covered shield carried by Highlanders into battle until 1746 (when it was outlawed by the English victors after the Battle of Culloden, which the Scots lost disastrously). It did have a removable spike, about 4"-6" long, that could be mounted in the center of the targe for close-quarters defense.
Some other polearm names: bill (standard English man-at-arms weapon in the 1300's), halberd, voulge, glaive, partizan, pike, bec de corbin (THAT one yields two possible first names).
Glad to see someone else around here's interested in weapons that not just any moron with a trigger finger can use!
- Daividh
Agincourt, Kestrel (sic), Lionheart, Excalibur, Templar, and Phoenix are not types of edged weapons, but tradenames applied to specific products by one modern sword manufacturer (Iberia C.A., I think). Use them as names if you will, but they're not "types" of weapons.
A mace denotes a weighted metal head mounted solidly on a handle for crushing skulls and armor. If you connect it to the handle with a chain, it's not a mace but a flail or (if spiked) a morningstar (German "Morgenstern", from the resemblance of the weighted ball with installed spikes to a stylized star). Maces were favored in battle by fighting monks and clergy (like Wm. the Conqueror's half-bro, Bishop Odo) because these were forbidden to wield weapons that drew blood, and technically these did not.
Margays and ocelots, as someone said, are New World wild cats, not weapons.
A dagger typically but not exclusively means a double-edged knife with a blade about 8" to 16" long (double-edged knives are illegal to possess in MA and CA; hasn't stopped anyone yet).
Classically, a dirk is a Scottish fighting knife, resembling a dagger but single edged. It has a blade about 14"-17" long.
A sgian dubh ("black knife") was once a small Scottish weapon of last resort, carried in the sleeve or armpit. Today it's a decorative knife with blade about 3"-4" worn in the stocking when in Highland dress.
A targe is a small round leather-covered shield carried by Highlanders into battle until 1746 (when it was outlawed by the English victors after the Battle of Culloden, which the Scots lost disastrously). It did have a removable spike, about 4"-6" long, that could be mounted in the center of the targe for close-quarters defense.
Some other polearm names: bill (standard English man-at-arms weapon in the 1300's), halberd, voulge, glaive, partizan, pike, bec de corbin (THAT one yields two possible first names).
Glad to see someone else around here's interested in weapons that not just any moron with a trigger finger can use!
- Daividh
1