Malazan Empire: Medieval Military Technology - Malazan Empire

Right, in preparation for writing a book and since i hate it when people dont do their research i got a book from the library that deals with this. I took some notes and i thought they might be useful to other people so i'll post them here. First is weapons (armor, siege, and ships to come). Feel free to ask any questions.

Arms:

End of Roman period (4th and 5th century):
Infantry
Three types of spear:
Verutum, head 12.5 centimeter, shaft 60.5 centimeters
Spiculum, head 23 centimeters, shaft 167.5 cent
Plumbata, short javelin, barbed and lead weighted head

Sword, Spathae, 72 cent.

Support troops with bows, slings and staff slings.

Cavalry:
Long sword and spear, since no stir up only used for close combat

Spear/Lance:
Versatile, for cavalry and infantry, melee and missile (when thrown), principal weapon of all armies.

Barbarian spears:
Leaf shaped, angular or corrugated blades, some shafts covered with iron

Lances were held horizontal by cavalry in a charge until the last moment, because it was very hard to balance them for very long. Lance was aimed to the left so as not to unbalance rider (since it was held on the right). Wing attachment behind the lance head to prevent it from penetrating too deeply, which would make it harder to remove.

Late medieval invention of very long spears called pikes, used to fight in formation (up to 4 deep)

Axe:
Weighted 1.2 kilograms, head 300-900 grams, handle 40 cent., head 18 cent. To kill when thrown you needed one rotation (on its own axis) to strike with significant force at 4 meters, 2 rotations at 8 meters and 3 rotations at 12 meters.

Viking Axes:
Skeggox: Bearded Axe, often used as tools
Breidox: Broad Axe, triangular shaped heads, blade was sometimes made of specially hardened iron welded to the rest of the head.

Later with pikes, hammers and points at the top.

Dagger:
Preferred weapon of assassins.

Early Medieval:
45 millimeters and 175 millimeters, single-edged hilt of wood or bone.

Knights dagger (Misericord):
Double edged, short and thin, Worn by cavalry on the left to balance sword on the right. Used to penetrate between opponents plate armor and helmet.


Sword:
Barbarian swords: 75-100 cent., thinly bladed (6 cent. width), heavy and two-edged center of gravity towards point, some shorter at only 40 cent. two handed, third type lighter 4-6.5 cent. width, one handed, smaller versions of that 20 cent.

Long swords either the edges run parallel up to almost the end and only come together there or they taper gradually. Latter shifts gravity to grip and makes it easier to handle.

Most expensive, mostly used by cavalry.

Chain mail most easily pierced by slashing, so emphasis was put on the edges of swords not the points. Plate armor the opposite. Short shorter and stiffer.

Falshion: Variation on long sword, single edged, broad, curved blade, shaped similar to machete. Mostly infantry.

After gunpowder made plate armor obsolete, the rapier was invented. Thin, light, flexible and extremely sharp point.

Mace:
At first only a club.

Head formed by a number of flanges or wings (generally 7) equally set around a
Tubular core and sharp.

OR knobbed head, less sharp but thicker to smash instead of penetrating.

Heads made mostly of iron, attached to wooden shaft. Some completely in metal.

Gothic mace, entirely of metal, 45 cent. long weighing 1275 grams, thick flanges, very pointy for penetration, shorter and lighter than earlier maces. Grip with pommel crossguard.

Developed into a scepter.

War Hammer:
Square head, sometimes turned 45 degrees for a diamond shaped front, pick on the other side.

Staff Weapons:
Spear and lance + axe and hammer. Former against charge, latter in melee.

Guisarme: Long hafted, extremely long axe shaped head.

Halberd: Head consists of sharp spear like point or spike on top of sharp axe head beneath, sometimes curved spike at the back of the axe, shaft 1.67 – 2.1 meters, head attached by 2-4 steel straps forged together with the head for as much as a meter.

Variations: Ahlspiess, medium hafted thrusting weapon with a long quadrangular spike, Bardiche or Vouge, longer narrower axe head, end curved back and sometimes attached to haft, Bill or Billhook, spikes and lugs protruding from blade on all sides,
Partisan, spear head with angular side blades, Glaive or Guisarme, large, sharply pointed, single edged sword blade attached to long haft.

Pole Axe, smaller axe head than halberd, war hammer on the other side for smashing armor.

Goedendag, spear combined with mace. Spear to get cavalry of horses, mace to smash armor. Inspired later staff weapons such as the morning star, holy water sprinkler and military flail. The later two attached mace heads to the haft by a chain.

Military Work, basically same as pitchfork except for down turned hooks to snag cavalry off their horses by their armor.

Bow:
Longbow: height of 2.3 meters, thickness of 10 cent. arrows a meter long, made of yew, D shaped before stringing.
Turkish Bow: Composite bow, shorter 1.7 meters and shorter arrow, made of yew, horn and glue. Ends were bent forward against they way they should be curbed.
Elm Bow: Shorter than both, barbed arrows, made of elm

One quiver = 12 arrows, made of wood and leather with domed lid.

Short bows used by cavalry to fire from rearward position.

Longbow drawn from the ear instead of from the chest, range of 400 meters, piercing armor at 200, short bows don’t pierce armor at all, 10 arrows fired per minute, 12 for short bows.

According to some the good thing about longbows was more the harassment that brought disarray to the enemy rather than their effectiveness in killing, which (according to them) wasn’t very great.

Crossbow:

The basic construction of the weapon was a small bow attached to a stock which provided a groove for the bolt and handle. The bow string was held in place ready for release by a trigger mechanism.

Earliest Trigger:
A nut, generally made of horn or some other hard surface, protruded from the top of the tock, over which the bow string would be placed, and was disengaged by squeezing a lever attached to the bottom of the stock. String would be drawn by hand or with a simple claw which would be hooked over the string and attached to the bowman’s belt. As the bowman stood up the string would be drawn.

More powerful and more accurate than bows. Could be drawn before hand. Loading weapon took longer, it was heavier and took up more space in the ranks.

Next development: A stirrup attached to the end of the stock through which a foot could placed, this allowed the bowman to use his leg power to draw the bow. Another addition was a lever, which pivoted on a pin, had claws at one end that fixed under the string. As the lever pivoted, the string was drawn.

Then the windlass. Used pulleys, attached at the butt end of the stock to a winding device which, when hooked onto the bowstring and wound, would draw it to the trigger. The windlass could quickly draw the string, in only 12 seconds even though it had a pull of 545 kilograms (longbow was 23).

Final modification: Cranequin. Sophisticated mechanism, which required a metal ratchet bar and a winder that worker by meshing cogs. The ratchet bar’s claws fit over the string and when the handle was wound, the ratchet bar was moved away from the bow, drawing the string with it. Required very little strength but took longer than the windlass (35 seconds).

Improvement to trigger mechanism: Trigger shaped like a duck, the beak of which was the tip which locked the nut into position. As the trigger was pressed upwards towards the stock, the beak was lifted so that the nut would revolve into the bow and the string would be released.

The bolt was made of ash or yew with a flattened or tapered butt. Goose wing feathers aided the flight. The head was small, sharp and diamond shaped. 40 cent in length. Aiming was facilitated by the attachment of a strip of wood with notches in it which was fixed to the butt-end of the stock as a backsight; the right thumb of the crossbowman fit into one of the notches calibrated for distance and aimed by looking down it and along the bolt.

Crossbows used a lot on ships.

Later made completely of steel (before horn, sinew and glue or wood). Estimates about range vary (370-500 meters) which enough force to piece plate armor.

Variations: Spring-bow, small crossbow for assassins, crossbow a croc, attached to a wooden mount, crossbow a jalet, used to hurl pebbles instead of bolts.

The Warhorse:
Pre-Medieval: Horses used for transportation, harassment and raids. Mounted shock combat impossible because stir-up, nailed horse show and saddle with pommel and cantel hadn’t been invented yet.

Once they had been invented, heavy cavalry soon became the dominant force in most medieval armies.

Stir-Up: Greater balance, easier to control horse, could trust lance with more power and direction.

Nailed horse shoe: Important in wet weather (northern europe). Prevented horse shoe from turning soft or breaking, thus making it possible to travel greater distances even over rocky terrain.

Saddle with pommel and cantel: Prevented the rider from falling off over the top of his horse or over the back. Important when charging, so that the impact doesn’t knock you off.

Bred destrier for this purpose. 173 cent, tall, strong bones, strong, short back. Before horses were only 122-132 cent. in height.