Hello everyone i'm a newbie in just about every sense of the word, i'm a young bloke in my first month of metal weapons reenactment fighting and this is my first post on this site. I've started collecting 13th century crusades gear, I haven't made a real focus on which country, due to the fact my outfit is based on the Knights of St lazarus of Jerusalem who where based in many many countries (so far as i've found through my research) i already have my shield, sword, helm, gauntlets, tunic and cloak together i've decided to start learning a polearm or spear, what i need to know is what sort of weapons where in use in the 13th century so i know which one to either purchase or make myself, any help would be greatly appreciated. Up to this point all of my gear was in use at about the 13th century but my research has failed to turn up much more than approximate dates of use for what i have (and not other things as i had hoped to find)

-Ben

ps. thanks for the help guys, excuse my poor punctuation it has never been my strong point

Hello Ben, and welcome to myArmoury!

First of all, please "take a breath" and use some periods. :) Proper formatting and punctuation will go a long way towards making your posts more readable and enjoyable, increasing the likelihood that others will respond to your questions.

The greatest thing you could do to ensure authentic kit for your reenactments is to learn first, buy later; and the easiest way to learn a lot fast is through books. myArmoury has a dedicated books section with reader reviews, and in this feature article on "Our Top Shelf," the myArmoury team suggests some of the best. You'd want to check out the "medieval" and possibly the "general" sections of that list.

This site also has a number of feature articles on various topics which you will probably want to check out. I'd suggest looking at the Oakeshott sword typologies, noting dates of use, for at least an idea of the proper sword types. Many members have written reviews of reproductions of any given item.

Finally, I'd encourage you to run some searches, both site-search and forum-search, before posting. For instance, just by searching the forums for "Crusades" I found this topic, which is almost exactly the same question - check it out! :) To quote Chad from that thread:

Chad Arnow wrote:

As for sword, single-handed Type X, XI, and XII swords would have been in use. Late(r) in the Crusades, you could have seen early great swords of Types XIIa, XIII, and XIIIa, and a progressive person might have had an early Type XIV. Since we know of an effigy from circa 1280 that shows a diamond cross-section blade, an early Type XV is theoretically possible. As for polearms, we know spears, lances, and maces were in use as were what we now call Danish axes. I don't know that halberds, poleaxes, etc. were in use by then.

I also found scattered mention of arms used during the crusades in the following locations:
Mercenary's Tailor Viking Shield
Albion Armorer's Next Generation Gaddjhalt Sword
Spotlight: Oakeshott Type XIII Swords
Crusaders
Martial Skills and Combat, During the First Crusade

And speaking of books:
Book Question: Arms and Armour during the Crusader Era

Whew! If all that seems an indirect way to answer your question, well, it is, because I have two ulterior motives. One, I would like to get you acquainted with many of the features of this site. And two, I don't really know anything about arms and armour of the Crusades myself - I am more well read in nihonto, Japanese blades.

I am sure that many here will be able and happy to help answer your question more directly however, especially if you edit your post (there's an edit button in the upper-right corner of the post, labeled "E") to make it more readable.

Cheers!
-Gabriel Lebec

Generally speaking, the spear is the dominating polearm in the 13th century.
It comes in many variants, ranging from light one handed spears, to the long, massive ones serving as lances at the time. More or less every fighter would own a spear.

Other than the spear, glaives are the only full length polearms that are reasonably common. These also range from short hafted Fauchards to full length two handed weapons.

In the shorter category, two handed axes are well known and widespread. these are typically more crecent shaped than the northern "daneaxe", lest, of course, you are a scandinavian, in which case the daneaxe style remains in use all the way to the 14th century.

Here is an older thread that had some good stuff in it. Hopefully the links are still good as it was a while ago.

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=1403