Much of the
material on this page is
based on re-enactments by The
Blessed Guild of Saint Edmund King and Martyr - for more about the
Guild, please see their web page on this site.Much of the
material on this page is
based on re-enactments by The
Blessed Guild of Saint Edmund King and Martyr - for more about the
Guild, please see their web page on this site.
[Photograph: Douglas T Davies]
The Bill
While archers and knights tend to
be the best known fighting men of the
medieval army, during the Wars of the Roses a significant number of
infantry or foot soldiers used weapons which had evolved from farm
tools. An example is the “English Bill” which evolved from the
billhook, traditionally used for hedging. [Photograph: Jo Homfray]
The Pole Axe
To penetrate
armour, something more substantial than a sword was
required. Knights would frequently use the Pole Axe. This combined
several weapons into one - an axe head for chopping; , hammer head for
smashing and crushing and spikes for stabbing. It evolved from a farm
tool used for killing animals. [Photograph:
Jo Homfray]
War Hammer
Another
weapon used by knights to penetrate armour was the War Hammer,
with a hammer head used to smash and crush, and spikes used for
stabbing. [Photograph: Jo Homfray]
Archer's Weapons
While the
archer is most
renowned for his bow and arrows, he also
carried other weapons. These included: The Maul (Top), a large
wooden mallet used for smashing and used to great effect by the English
archers against the French in hand-to-hand fighting at the Battle
of Agincourt in 1415; dagger, (Left); Axe (Centre) and Falchion
(Right). The Falchion was a sword used for hacking and cleaving
and could be easily used by a soldier inexperienced in sword play. [Photograph: Jo Homfray]
The
longbow
The longbow and the men who used it were the most feared soldiers of
their day. A good archer with a bow of around 100-150 lbs draw weight
could shoot an arrow over 300 yards. At Agincourt 5,000 archers and
roughly 1,000 men-at-arms defeated an army of between 20,000 and
30,000. If each archer shot 12 arrows a minute that would be 1,000
shafts a second leaving the bows. In 8 minutes it would be possible to
shoot over half a million arrows. The chroniclers of the day said that
men fell like leaves after the first frosts of winter, and the sky
turned black with wooden shafts. [Photograph: Douglas T
Davies]
The crossbow
Spanning
device
A mechanical spanning device was necessary to pull the string into the
locked position because of the immense power of the crossbow. These
devices were called spanners.
Various types such as the windlass, goat leg lever and cranequin were
used. On lighter bows a simple hook attached to a belt would help the
archer to pull the string over the locking nut.
Crossbow arrows
Short arrows called quarrels
were used with the crossbow. Wood or leather fletchings were used
rather than feathers, as the immense power of the crossbow would
flatten feathers. We think the term "to pick a quarrel" comes from the
use of this arrow.
The pavise
The pavise was a large shield designed to protect crossbowmen while
they reloaded their bows. It was made from wood, boiled leather and
canvas and was decorated with coats-of-arms and pictures of saints.
Rows of these highly-decorated shields would have been quite an
awe-inspiring sight on the battlefield.
Needle-shaped
arrows known as long
bodkins were used against mail
armour. Short bodkins
could also be used against mail and plate armour, which was becoming
more common on the battlefields by the end of the 14th century.
Barbed leaf-shaped arrows, known as type
16s, could be used against
horses and lightly-armoured men.
All these arrows were capable of inflicting savage wounds.
The first two arrows are crescent-shaped
arrows used for hunting birds and small game. A bodkin-type arrow could
pass through the wing feathers of a bird in flight, but the crescent
would take out a substantial section of the wing, bringing the bird to
the ground.
The next two are fire-arrows, both used for setting fire to wooden and
thatched buildings and were used against enemy ships.
* The first has a basket into which a piece of red-hot charcoal is
inserted. The speed of an arrow travelling at approximately 120mph
causes the charcoal to ignite.
* The next arrow is wrapped round with linen fastened with a copper
wire. The linen has been soaked in "Greek Fire", a substance which is
very difficult to extinguish. An acid solution, such as vinegar or
stale urine, had to be used to put the fire out.
The final arrow is known as a blunt arrow, used for target practice and
hunting small game. The large, bulbous head would kill pheasant,
partridge and woodcock, which could be hunted legally.
Large,
broad-headed, swallow-tailed
arrow-heads were normally used for hunting large game, such as deer and
wild boar. The razor-sharp edges of the barbs gave a long cutting edge
to kill or disable the animal.
Arrow
shafts were made from ash and
aspen, 32 inches long, with a thin slice of horn to protect the
V-shaped groove at the end of the arrow. These arrows were known as clothyard
shafts. The flights were made
from flight feathers from goose or swan, cut to shape, fastened on with
glue and whipped wth linen thread for extra strength.
A knight being
blessed by a monk before going to war.
[Photograph: Douglas T Davies]
A father talks to his son before he goes off to war.
[Photograph: Douglas T Davies]
[Photograph: Douglas T Davies]
A father
hands a sword to his son.
[Photograph: Douglas T Davies]
A
manservant removing a knight's armour.
[Photograph: Douglas T Davies]
Illness in medieval
times was seen as being the result of the four bodily humours (blood,
phlegm, yellow bile and black bile) being out of balance. Diagnosis was
carried out by questioning the patients regarding lifestyle, examining
complexion, pulse and bodily excretions, including urine as seen here.
The urine's colour, smell and taste would be evaluated. [Photograph:
Douglas T Davies]
Treatment -
bringing the humours back into balance - could include bleeding, taking
more or less exerecise or rest, or through the use of herbs. [Photograph:
Douglas T Davies]
Herbs could be
combined with wine into a tissave which could be drunk, although
another way of administering medicine was rectally. [Photograph:
Douglas T Davies]
The
Surgeon was responsible
for carrying out surgical procedures such as suturing, or stitching
wounds, setting broken bones, pulling teeth and carrying out operations
such as amputations and removing arrows, knives etc. Well-trained
surgeons were in the minority during the medieval period, many having
gained their experience treating wounded soldiers after battles or from
butchering animals (dissection of human bodies was forbidden by the
church). As a result, their collections of surgical tools were a far
cry
from those we associate with surgery today, often resembling a butcher
or blacksmith. [Photograph:
Douglas T Davies]
Surgical equipment [Photograph:
Douglas T Davies]
Anaesthetics
were available and often contained opium, alcohol or
hemlock, but the problem was not sedating the patient, it was reviving
him afterwards. The most frequent way of operating on a patient was to
get his friends to hold him down while the surgeon operated, as can be
seen from the example of tooth-pulling. [Photograph:
Douglas T Davies]
When there was little surgery to be done, surgeons would make money
by cutting hair and shaving people.
A
musician. [Photograph:
Douglas T Davies]
Below: Elizabethan Dance, including the Earl of Salisbury's Pavan, performed by members of The Guild. [Photographs: Alan Harvey]
Inkle Loom weaving
[Photograph: Douglas T Davies]