Sean Flynt wrote: |
IIRC, there are contemporary depictions of Maximilian I using a flail in single tournament combat. I don't have Anglo's book in front of me or I'd check that. Anybody? |
Yes, it's in the colour plates at the end of the book. The plate is in the Freydal that currently resides in Vienna. Here are two other images that I've found from the same work:
http://steinbeisser.de/ebaybilder/1594A91.JPG
http://www.h-u-m-rueegg.li/images/turnier-1.jpg
Now, I'm not sure this qualifies as a knightly flail, but it's used by knights ;) Pretty similar to what can be found in Mair, it seems to me. Except that Mair shows them out of armor and with a bonus of spikes on the business end...
Is there any pictorial evidence of the "ball on a chain" flail, on the other hand? Like this one:
http://www.arms-n-armor.com/pole144.html
Maybe these were even rarer...
EDIT: Though there is plenty of material evidence, as demonstrated in the thread Sean Flynt linked to.