When was the morning star(handle, chain, spiked ball) flail first used?
Are there any originals (or pictures of originals) still viewable?

I believe The morning star flail would have been first used for offence it was specificly designed for warfare and to hurt really bad.

The first flail was probably used in defence and they found out it was a realy good weapon. Flails were used by farmers so i imagine that when some evil person would come the farmer would just use his flail to protect himself.


Here is one from a museum
http://www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk/collections/...flail.jpg/

Flail
Each of the 6 points on the flail's weight are approximately 2.5cm long. This potentially lethal star-shaped weight is attached to a heavy metal chain about 30cm long and secured to a strong wooden handle. On the handle is carved 'AA10', below this is a raised band of wood, and the end of the handle is neatly rounded. It was made during the nineteenth century in India.

Place: India
Object Type: flail
Period: Post Medieval
Broad Date: Post Medieval
Century: 19th century
Materials: Metal, Wood



And this is an agricultural flail (used by farmers)
http://images.absoluteastronomy.com/images/en...flegel.jpg
(this one isnt from a museum though, but they looked like thise one atleast)


I dont know when the first flails were being used but the first flails were those of farmers i believe.

I think the earliest attestation of a flail in a military context is actually a visual depiction wherein it is being used as a siege implement by a solider to damage castle walls, much the way a pick might be used in a similar manner. The flail depicted is nothing more than a round ball attached to a length of chain and a wooden haft. So it appears that, after being adopted for warfare, the flail was originally a siege implement, which later developed into a weapon.

The term "Morning star" and "holy water sprinkler" are for a shafted weapon with spikes. Historically I do not believe the Morning star or Morgenstern was used in reference to a flail. As the trashing flail is a very old farming tool, I would think it's origin as a weapon would be impossible to date.

Thanks Craig. Unfortunately that book is still on my wish list.

I am curious then as to what advantage it provides over other tools. My main concern being that I'm not familiar with it being used for that purpose in other times or places. Obvioulsy it would transmit less force to your hands and easier on the user for that reason. But what else?

Cheers,
Steven

Does anyone have any information about how it was (is) used in combat? I can't see how this weapon could have been designed for use against fortifications, as all the pictures of originals I have seen have sharp spikes, and if they had been used against stone they would have been blunted. Also, many of the "heads" are too light to be of much use against inanimate objects. Any thoughts on this?

This is maybe a little tangential, but I just came across this one from a recent HH auction.

http://www.hermann-historica.de/gb/index_alte_auktionen.htm



What struck me about it was the type of chain it uses, which I can't remember seeing on any other pieces before. At first I thought it was just a time or labor-saving idea, but I realized that a chain built this way a ( "block chain" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_chain ) moves in one plane; it cannot go sideways without breaking or bending. It seems like this would eliminate a lot of the problems with controlling the weapon that are normally so obvious when looking at flails. In any case as Ben pointed out, this type at least doesn't seem large enough to be very useful against masonry.

No idea where this piece is now, but I'd be interested if anyone has seen a similar construction elsewhere.

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