What weapons did medieval knights use?

With what weapons?

Riding a tall horse, holding a lance, wearing thick plate armor, fearless in the face of thousands of enemies. In a terrible battle roar, like the pounding of thunder, the enemy's formation split in two like a hot knife cutting butter. This is the traditional impression of knights.

When describing the wars in medieval Europe, we generally think that knights fought with guns and swords, but although these weapons are very important, the most effective and deadly weapons are other barbaric but practical weapons.

The popularity of weapons depends on many factors, including their effectiveness, maintenance status and cost. But in battle, the lethality of a weapon to its opponent ultimately determines its value.

Medieval weapons rarely penetrated the enemy's metal armor, but the visceral trauma and limb deformation caused by heavy armor would make the enemy lose its combat ability. A weapon doesn't have to kill the enemy, it just needs to knock down the opponent.

Sword and spear

The most important weapon in the Middle Ages was the sword.

Sword is a fast-moving weapon, which can stab and cut, and the sword does the most damage. Based on the use of swords, medieval warriors developed complex skills. This sword "gives hope to the weak, hoping that skilled skills can overcome brute force."

There are other reasons for the popularity of swords. The limitation of metal processing technology in the Middle Ages meant that the sword was expensive at first, which made the knight who used the sword have social status. In addition, because the size and length of the sword are very suitable for carrying, it can be used as a weapon at any time.

Another high-ranking weapon is riding a gun. A knight rides a horse at high speed, with a mass of nearly half a ton, and his lance concentrates his strength on the spear point, which is almost invincible. However, spears are disposable weapons, which often break during impact and cannot be used at close range. For this reason, spears are generally made of apple wood that is easily broken. When the two armies met, the spear pierced each other's chest and just broke, so that the knight holding the spear would not lift it.

Spear, nail hammer

Although swords are very popular, generally speaking, spears are more common for ordinary infantry, cheaper, easier to train and more powerful for novices.

Because of its low price and easy manufacture, spears were equipped by more and more medieval armies. The army used spears to form a formation against cavalry in large defensive positions, which effectively curbed the attack of medieval cavalry. The Spanish phalanx is a typical example.

Although spears are the most common, other firearms are more deadly. Nail hammer is a short-rod weapon with a heavy head made of stone, iron, copper or steel, which is inlaid with sharp tools such as axe, spear and spike. When the hammer is used by a warrior with enough strength, it can exert unimaginable power. This is the only weapon that can penetrate thick armor stably in the Middle Ages.

Crossbow

Spearmers protect archers, which is another important feature of medieval battlefields. Technological progress increased the strength of medieval archers, and more advanced bows and arrows enabled them to kill enemy troops wearing thicker armor at a longer distance.

However, even if the crossbow can use extra power, the arrows it shoots rarely penetrate metal armor, and there was a lack of suitable high-strength alloys to make armor-piercing arrows in the Middle Ages. However, as the English longbowman showed in the battle of Ginkul, the meaning of the crossbowman lies in constantly attacking the enemy, hitting ordinary soldiers with less armor protection, demoralizing them and even dominating the whole battle.

dagger

The purpose of most weapons is to incapacitate people, not to kill people. Medieval prisoners of war, especially those with high status, can be redeemed with money or political influence. But when it comes to killing him, the dagger comes in handy.

The daggers that soldiers often carried in the Middle Ages were not used to kill the enemy, but to attack the incapacitated enemy, penetrate the gaps in armor and expose its weaknesses, just as Richard III was killed by unlocking his helmet with a dagger.

Trebuchets and gunpowder weapons

Siege siege is a common type of war in the Middle Ages, at which time the trebuchet became the protagonist of the battle. By repeatedly throwing boulders at the city wall (depending on luck), the trebuchet may make a hole in the city wall. Traction trebuchets have been around since the Middle Ages. /kloc-the invention of the counterweight trebuchet in the third century made the most solid castle in the past fragile.

From the14th century, gunpowder began to change the war, and Europeans regarded it as an effective siege weapon. The original use was that the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire used huge artillery to destroy the walls of Constantinople.

The development of muskets is equally important. Due to the immature technology, firearms were rarely recorded in14th century and15th century. With the end of the Middle Ages, they became more and more common. They are easier to use than bows and arrows, allowing rulers to quickly train large-scale troops in a limited training time. The musket appeared in the Middle Ages, ending the traditional way of fighting in the Middle Ages.