Weapons & Warriors: The Horseman's Pick of the Europeans

Art by TL Jeffcoat

The cavalry of Europe had a variety of weapons in their arsenal. One of the craziest and yet effective against the heavy plated knights was the Horseman’s Pick. The design evolved from a version of the war hammer. The balance for the head was sharpened and stretched to create a long spike that was sometimes curved.

All of the weight of the Horseman’s Pick was concentrated in the head of the weapon. The thin light wooden or steal shaft allowed the wielder to swing the weapon and let the momentum of the spiked head do its damage. This was an easy weapon to generate a lot of force with, but the weight of the weapon required the warrior to pull back before a swing. Any Knight that could see the Horseman pull back would have a couple seconds to prepare for the attack, making it a slow and difficult to hit with weapon.

Weapons & Warriors: The Lantern Shield of the Europeans

I’ve read several stories about the lantern shield and realized that a lot of historians did not like it much. Some called it impractical and clumsy, some said it was for amateurs, and some claimed that a sword and shield on their own was much better. I disagree with them all. This weapon was never meant to be used by itself. Combined with a rapier (thin bladed fencing style sword), it was a game changer for anyone who had actually trained with the thing. This is one of the most insane weapons I’ve ever run across and I will find a way to get one for my collection someday. It’s truly a masterpiece of mind boggling weaponry.

The Lantern Shield (Art by TL Jeffcoat)

A lantern shield is hard to describe. It has a lot of pieces. All those moving parts are one of the things that make it look clumsy. In Italy during the 1500’s, many duelists practiced using Lantern Shields. The entire thing was made of steel, and bolted together. It was worn on the shield arm. The Lantern Shield was designed to replace the standard lantern carried by duelists when they fought in the dawn hours when sometimes the sun wasn’t up enough. Lanterns made decent shields if the duelist knew how to use them, and if raised at the face of an opponent, would blind them. It was a cheap move, but very effective.

Weapons & Warriors: The Morning Star of the Europeans

Art by Steven DeVon Jones

Many people have always confused the Morning Star with a mace or flail. Even I used to do it when I was first learning about bludgeoning weapons while playing Dungeons & Dragons as a kid. I knew a mace had a metal shaft with a balled end for crushing things, and I knew the flail had chains. When I ran across the morning star, I was lost. Over the years I’ve stumbled across various people calling a mace a morning star, and sometimes a flail.

In truth, the Morning Star is not the same thing. It isn’t anything like a flail because the Morning Star does not have any chains. It is more closely related to the mace in shape, but that’s where the similarities end. Instead of nubs or angles around the balled end, the Morning Star has a large spike protruding from the top and the ball is covered in smaller spikes or sharpened edges.

There is no uniform version of a Morning Star because it is simply a club-like bludgeoning tool with spikes. They vary in size, from small easily held in one hand types to long heavy two handed shafts with a massive spiked head. While the mace evolved into a steel shaft with a rounded head, the Morning Star retained its wooden shaft. The spikes could be made from virtually anything, but in Europe it was generally steel or iron.