historical 4' maces? -- myArmoury.com

Etienne Hamel · Posted: Fri 13 Jul, 2007 7:42 am Post subject: historical 4' maces?

I wanted to know if in all the period there was traces of 4' to 5' hafted flanged maces?

thanks anyway if you don't find.

Sean Flynt · Posted: Fri 13 Jul, 2007 11:26 am Post subject:

I have never seen any that long. Everything I've seen at that length is either a hammer or axe. Morgensterns would be the nearest things to a long-hafted mace, and those tend to be slightly longer than what you're describing.

Felix Wang · Posted: Fri 13 Jul, 2007 5:00 pm Post subject:

Middle Eastern and Byzantine heavy cavalry sometimes used long handled maces, upwards of 4' long. I am not sure about the flanged head, though. Nikephoras Phokas' treatise prescribes arming the elite heavy cavalry with the mace as the primary weapon, not a lance; and later Byzantine image shows a rider using something akin to a polo mallet as a weapon.

Justin Pasternak · Posted: Fri 13 Jul, 2007 9:03 pm Post subject:

Here's an illustration where one of the mongol warriors is armed with what appears to be a 3' foot hafted mace (it falls a little short of the 4' to 5' foot range, but it looks longer than normal) and may have a flanged mace head.

Lafayette C Curtis · Posted: Sat 14 Jul, 2007 12:34 am Post subject:

Luka Borscak · Posted: Sat 14 Jul, 2007 3:35 am Post subject:

Sean Flynt, do you know from which period and country is that armour on that picture with morning stars?

Felix Wang · Posted: Sat 14 Jul, 2007 12:34 pm Post subject:

No, this is very clearly a cavalryman's weapon.

Felix Wang · Posted: Sat 14 Jul, 2007 12:56 pm Post subject:

The menavlion is explicitly the tool of elite infantrymen, and is much longer than 4'. If you look at Phokas' discussion of offensive operations, his cavalry wedge formation is headed by heavily armoured men and horses, and the mace is a primary weapon.

Skimming the mace section of Manouchehr Khorosani's Arms and Armour from Iran, it seems the Persians did indeed used flanged maces widely, although none quite as long as 4 feet; the I found was just under 3 feet long.

See Nicolle's Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, vol. 2 (Islam) for illustrations.

Lafayette C Curtis · Posted: Sun 15 Jul, 2007 4:25 am Post subject:

Well, I stand corrected. And the mention of Anemas alone is enough to convince me. Wink

Sean Flynt · Posted: Mon 16 Jul, 2007 6:37 am Post subject:

Luka Borscak · Posted: Sat 11 Aug, 2007 4:54 am Post subject:

It might be from Croatia or Hungary because many Croats and Hungarians used turkish equipment but I haven't seen such armour until now in our museums or books...