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Weapons were used for many different reasons. The spear, lance, sword, dagger, mace, bolt, crossbow, bow, arrow, pole-ax, battle ax, and shield were some of the weapons. Some of the weapons are used for horse back jousting. Others were used for land or water combat. If surrounding a castle and trying to starve the defenders into submission did not work, attackers could try to take it by force. They could tunnel under the walls to topple them, or come up inside the courtyard. Defenders might place bowls of water on the ground so that any tunneling activity made the water ripple. Then they could dig countermines to break into the tunnels, leading to a fierce struggle underground. Attackers might also try to break down the walls using artillery or battering rams slung under movable sheds. Defenders lowered hooks to catch the heads of battering rams, or dropped mattresses to cushion the blows. A direct assault over the walls meant using scaling ladders to hook onto battlements; this was dangerous as defenders pushed them away from the walls with forked poles. |
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Knights used this in self defense. They held the handle and swung it around. It killed very easily. The spikes were very sharp.
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This is a Sword. It is the knight's main weapon. It has a diamond shaped, double-edge blade. It is diamond shaped so it is lighter.
By: Brady |
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This is a double edged slashing sword. At first, only the wealthiest people had these type of swords.
By: Matthew
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This is a Pole-ax. It was very popular in battles and in foot combat. The word "poll" actually meant head, and the weapon was used to hit the enemy in the head. The solid hammer head at the back could cause a man in armor to have a concussion! That's one mean ax! It had a really long shaft to keep it from being cut in half during battle. |
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The crossbow was used for shooting hawks, as well as foes. Sometimes the arrows were called bolts. Some crossbows were so powerful that they had to use a windlass. The windlass was a device that used pulleys and handles to pull the cord back, and then it would launch. By: Brady |
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The catapults were very heavy weapons made of wood. They had an arm which could be drawn backwards with a heavy object. When the object was removed, the arm would shoot forward and would fling rocks or other missle-like objects against or over castle walls. By: Anthony |
MEDIEVAL CASTLES | knights | weapons | parts of a castle | armor | ranks | quiz
MJHS THINK QUEST JR. 2001
Brady, Matthew, Anthony
Date Last Modified: 1/24/01