Posts: 199 Location: Leeds, UK
Sat 19 Mar, 2011 10:52 am
Hi,
I seem to remember
Oakeshott writing something about the evolution of mace-heads in A Knight and his Weapons...
... hang on a sec...
'During the later fifteenth century maces became shapely weapons, in fact, from about 1440 to 1510 most weapons were not only very beautiful in form - more so than they had ever been before and would ever be again - but were magnificently made...'
<blah blah blah>
'...The mace of this period was a small weapon with a flanged head; the flanges were acutely pointed, in contrast to the flatter forms of the earlier types. This shape, however, seems to have had its disadvantages: instead of merely denting and crushing armour, its sharp flanges tended to punch through it, causing the mace to get completely stuck and so become wrenched from it's owner's hand. By the early sixteenth century the flanges of mace-heads became flatter again, but much more ornamental than before; they got bigger too.'
Hope this goes towards answering your question.
Thanks,
Ant