It’s official, I’ve run out of Black Hole stuff to blabber about, so today, I’m going to blabber about something entirely different: medieval weaponry and its common misconceptions! And in part two, (there might even be a part three!) I will talk about siege weaponry and its misconceptions.
One of the biggest misconceptions about medieval warfare is that everyone had access to swords, armor, and bows, and armies were massive strategic marvels. No, that only became a thing towards the end of the Middle Ages, in specific, the High Middle Ages. In the Early Middle Ages, (5th to 11th centuries) most armies were peasant armies, armed with sharpened scythes and crude axes and sickles, with little to no armor or training. Their armies were scattered, unorganized, and usually attacked in wild, frenzied waves, losing hundreds, even thousands, of men in the process.
In the High Middle Ages, (11th to 13 centuries), things like swords, armor, and more advanced battle techniques became common place. Another misconception is that Knights had bows. Archery was a very specific trade that people trained their whole lives for. In fact, historians and archeologists can tell who were archers from the unnatural size of the longbow man’s arm, because it took something like 150 pounds to draw the “English” longbow (it was invented by the Welsh).
Longbows changed the world forever. Before their invention, Knights dominated the battlefield. Their armor was almost impenetrable by swords or axes, and a Knight’s horse could plow through infantry with unyielding power. But a longbow arrow could pierce a Knight’s (or his horse’s) armor with ease. Suddenly, a Knight, covered head to toe in heavy, expensive armor, riding a horse that took years to bring up, was nothing. He could be slain in an instant by a peasant he couldn’t even find, let alone get to.
Who knows, this might take more than two parts, but even so, I am determined to write about all the stuff from the Medieval weapons department. Next week, methinks I will talk about siege weapons like trebuchets, catapults, ballista, and other stuff, like flinging dead bodies over castle walls.
The Wooshing King 