Hello!

My two main eras of re-enactment are first century roman legions and third crusade monastic warriors.

My legionary gear is pretty much done, but my crusader gear is still evolving. I portray a templar sergeant-brother serving in Outremer during the third crusade. The sergeants were kind of a jack-of-all-trades in the order, serving as second-line cavalry, leading the infantry, or on the numerous administrative jobs. Since i don't have a horse, cavalry is out, and really, who wants to re-enact a pencil pusher? So infantry it is, then!

I'm looking to expand my arsenal of weaponry from just the sword and dagger. However, I'm having a distinct lack of success in trying to find good sources of information on both axes and maces. First, were the axes still at this time just the old dane type, or was there more evolved features already, such as backspikes or hammerheads? I went through the excellent Manuscript Miniatures site, and these were the best I could find:

http://manuscriptminiatures.com/3946/9386/
England, 1200

http://manuscriptminiatures.com/3966/11611/
Italy, 1194-96

http://manuscriptminiatures.com/3966/11579/
Italy, 1194-96

http://manuscriptminiatures.com/4648/12021/
Spain, 1220

The first two seem to be basic dane axes, but the last two have more pointy blades and what look like hammerheads on the backside. I would very much appreciate if someone could shed some more light on this.

And then maces. I've got nothing. This is the best I could find, an excellent site, but not quite the information I was looking for:
http://otlichnik.tripod.com/medmace3.html

The earlier maces in Europe were mostly clubs or of the pyramidal/knobbed style. I'm looking for justification to wear a simple, wood hafted flanged mace. There are surviving european specimens of this type from the 13th century, but would late 12th century be pushing it? Flanged maces are sometimes called turkish maces too, and the "eastern influence" must have had an impact by the time of the third crusade, after nearly a century of franks in Outremer. Anybody?

We had a brief discussion of the "Turkish mace" allowed the Templars in this thread. I posited that the "Turkish" maces were likely flanged. They might be of the "cucumber" form.
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...rkish+mace

You'll have to do some more research to determine the dating for that regulation.

If you have access to the arms and armour of the crusading era there are a few as well. If I can get some time at home today I will scan an imagine or two for you.

RPM

Some of the other forum members posted some amazing 12th century illustrations in this thread. There isn't much evidence in relation to maces, but there are quite a few 12th century manuscripts depicting spiked axes, and perhaps a form of crescent axe (however, it might just be a stylized Dane).

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=28688