Mace (bludgeon)

Last updated
Various Eastern maces, from left: Bozdogan/buzdygan (Ottoman), tabar-shishpar (Indian), shishpar (Indian), shishpar (Indian), gurz (Indian), shishpar (Indian). Various Indo-Persian maces.jpg
Various Eastern maces, from left: Bozdogan/buzdygan (Ottoman), tabar-shishpar (Indian), shishpar (Indian), shishpar (Indian), gurz (Indian), shishpar (Indian).
A mural of Bhima with his mace A powerfully built figure, probably Bhima, with a bushy moustache,and Vaishnava namams (emblems) on forehead, arms and chest, rests his huge club on his left shoulder..jpg
A mural of Bhima with his mace

A mace is a blunt weapon, a type of club or virge that uses a heavy head on the end of a handle to deliver powerful strikes. A mace typically consists of a strong, heavy, wooden or metal shaft, often reinforced with metal, featuring a head made of stone, bone, copper, bronze, iron, or steel.

Contents

The head of a military mace can be shaped with flanges or knobs to allow greater penetration of plate armour. The length of maces can vary considerably. The maces of foot soldiers were usually quite short (two or three feet, or sixty to ninety centimetres). The maces of cavalrymen were longer and thus better suited for blows delivered from horseback. Two-handed maces could be even larger.[ citation needed ]

Maces are rarely used today for actual combat, but many government bodies (for instance, the British House of Commons and the U.S. Congress), universities and other institutions have ceremonial maces and continue to display them as symbols of authority. They are often paraded in academic, parliamentary or civic rituals and processions.

Etymology

The modern English word mace entered Middle English from Old French mace, ("large mallet/sledgehammer, mace") itself from a Vulgar Latin term *mattia or *mattea (cf. Italian mazza, "club, baton, mace"), probably from Latin mateola (uncertain, possibly a kind of club, hammer, or "hoe handle/stick"). Possibly influenced by Latin mattiobarbulus ("type of javelin"), mattiarius ("soldier armed with said javelin"), from mataris, matara ("Gallic javelin"), from a Gaulish or Celtic word. [1] [2]

Development history

Prehistory

Disc-shaped stone macehead, Egypt, Naqada culture Egyptian disk macehead 4000-3400 BCE.jpg
Disc-shaped stone macehead, Egypt, Naqada culture

The mace was developed during the Upper Paleolithic from the simple club, by adding sharp spikes of either flint or obsidian.

In Europe, an elaborately carved ceremonial flint mace head was one of the artifacts discovered in excavations of the Neolithic mound of Knowth in Ireland, and Bronze Age archaeology cites numerous finds of perforated mace heads.

In ancient Ukraine, stone mace heads were first used nearly eight millennia ago. The others known were disc maces with oddly formed stones mounted perpendicularly to their handle. The Narmer Palette shows a king swinging a mace. See the articles on the Narmer Macehead and the Scorpion Macehead for examples of decorated maces inscribed with the names of kings.

Moche stone maces. Larco Museum Collection (Lima-Peru) Moche stone mace-heads.jpg
Moche stone maces. Larco Museum Collection (Lima-Peru)

The problem with early maces was that their stone heads shattered easily and it was difficult to fix the head to the wooden handle reliably. The Egyptians attempted to give them a disk shape in the predynastic period (about 3850–3650 BC) in order to increase their impact and even provide some cutting capabilities, but this seems to have been a short-lived improvement.

Calcite mace head, 7-6th millennium BC, Syria Mace head MET vs1985 356 24.jpg
Calcite mace head, 7-6th millennium BC, Syria

A rounded pear form of mace head known as a "piriform" replaced the disc mace in the Naqada II period of pre-dynastic Upper Egypt (3600–3250 BC) and was used throughout the Naqada III period (3250–3100 BC). Similar mace heads were also used in Mesopotamia around 2450–1900 BC. On a Sumerian Clay tablet written by the scribe Gar.Ama, the title Lord of the Mace is listed in the year 3100 BC. [3] The Assyrians used maces probably about nineteenth century BC and in their campaigns; the maces were usually made of stone or marble and furnished with gold or other metals, but were rarely used in battle unless fighting heavily armoured infantry.

An important, later development in mace heads was the use of metal for their composition. With the advent of copper mace heads, they no longer shattered and a better fit could be made to the wooden club by giving the eye of the mace head the shape of a cone and using a tapered handle.

The Shardanas or warriors from Sardinia who fought for Ramses II against the Hittites were armed with maces consisting of wooden sticks with bronze heads. Many bronze statuettes of the times show Sardinian warriors carrying swords, bows and original maces.

Ancient history

Assyrian soldier holding a mace and a bow. Detail of a basalt relief from the palace of Tiglath-pileser III at Hadatu, Syria. 744-727 BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul Assyrian soldier holding a mace and a bow. Detail of a basalt relief from the palace of Tiglath-pileser III at Hadatu, Syria. 744-727 BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul.jpg
Assyrian soldier holding a mace and a bow. Detail of a basalt relief from the palace of Tiglath-pileser III at Hadatu, Syria. 744–727 BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul

Persians used a variety of maces and fielded large numbers of heavily armoured and armed cavalry (see Cataphract). For a heavily armed Persian knight, a mace was as effective as a sword or battle axe. In fact, Shahnameh has many references to heavily armoured knights facing each other using maces, axes, and swords. The enchanted talking mace Sharur made its first appearance in Sumerian/Akkadian mythology during the epic of Ninurta. [4]

The Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata describe the extensive use of the gada in ancient Indian warfare as gada-yuddha or 'mace combat'.[ citation needed ]

The ancient Romans did not make wide use of maces, probably because of the influence of armour, and due to the nature of the Roman infantry's fighting style which involved the Pilum (spear) and the Gladius (short sword used in a stabbing fashion), though auxiliaries from Syria Palestina were armed with clubs and maces at the battles of Immae and Emesa in 272 AD. They proved highly effective against the heavily armoured horsemen of Palmyra.[ citation needed ]

Post classical history

Western Europe

Pernach (left) and two shestopyors Drevnosti RG v3 ill082 - Pernath and Shestopiors.jpg
Pernach (left) and two shestopyors

During the Middle Ages metal armour such as mail protected against the blows of edged weapons. [5] Solid metal maces and war hammers proved able to inflict damage on well armoured knights, as the force of a blow from a mace is great enough to cause damage without penetrating the armour.[ citation needed ] Though iron became increasingly common, copper and bronze were also used, especially in iron-deficient areas.

One example of a mace capable of penetrating armour is the flanged mace. The flanges allow it to dent or penetrate thick armour. Flange maces did not become popular until after knobbed maces. Although there are some references to flanged maces (bardoukion) as early as the Byzantine Empire c. 900 [6] it is commonly accepted that the flanged mace did not become popular in Europe until the 12th century, when it was concurrently developed in Russia and Mid-west Asia.[ citation needed ]

Maces, being simple to make, cheap, and straightforward in application, were quite common weapons.

It is popularly believed that maces were employed by the clergy in warfare to avoid shedding blood (sine effusione sanguinis). [7] The evidence for this is sparse and appears to derive almost entirely from the depiction of Bishop Odo of Bayeux wielding a club-like mace at the Battle of Hastings in the Bayeux Tapestry, the idea being that he did so to avoid either shedding blood or bearing the arms of war. [8]

In the 1893 work Arms and Armour in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Paul Lacombe and Charles Boutell state that the mace was chiefly used for blows struck upon the head of an enemy. [9]

Eastern Europe

Shestopyor-type mace (in literal translation six-feathers) used by the rotmistrzs of the private army of the Radziwill family. MWP Buzdygan Radziwillow.JPG
Shestopyor-type mace (in literal translation six-feathers) used by the rotmistrzs of the private army of the Radziwiłł family.

Eastern European maces often had pear shaped heads. These maces were also used by the Moldavian ruler Stephen the Great in some of his wars (see Bulawa).[ citation needed ]

The mace is also the favourite weapon of Prince Marko, a hero in South Slavic epic poetry.[ citation needed ]

The pernach was a type of flanged mace developed since the 12th century in the region of Kievan Rus', and later widely used throughout the whole of Europe. The name comes from the Slavic word pero (перо) meaning feather, reflecting the form of pernach that resembled a fletched arrow. Pernachs were the first form of the flanged mace to enjoy a wide usage. It was well suited to penetrate plate armour and chain mail. In the later times it was often used as a symbol of power by the military leaders in Eastern Europe. [10]

Pre-Columbian America

The cultures of pre-Columbian America used clubs and maces extensively. The warriors of the Moche state and the Inca Empire used maces with bone, stone or copper heads and wooden shafts.[ citation needed ] The quauholōlli was used in Mesoamerica.

Asia

Mace polearm wielding figurine from the tomb of Ming dynasty prince Zhu Tan, 10th son of the Hongwu Emperor Pageantry Figurine, Tomb of Ming Prince Zhu Tan (10144514616).jpg
Mace polearm wielding figurine from the tomb of Ming dynasty prince Zhu Tan, 10th son of the Hongwu Emperor

Maces in Asia were most often steel clubs with a spherical head. In Persia, the "Gorz" (spherical-head mace) served as a primary combat arm across many eras, most often being used by heavy infantry or Cataphracts. In India a form of these clubs was used by wrestlers to exercise the arms and shoulders. They have been known as gada since ancient times.[ citation needed ]

During the Mughal era, the flanged mace of Persia was introduced to South Asia. The term shishpar is a Persian phrase which literally translates to "six-wings", to refer to the (often) six flanges on the mace. The shishpar mace was introduced by the Delhi Sultanate and continued to be utilized until the 18th century.[ citation needed ]

Modern history

World War I trench raiding club World War One trench raiding club.JPG
World War I trench raiding club

Trench raiding clubs used during World War I were modern variations on the medieval mace. They were homemade mêlée weapons used by both the Allies and the Central Powers. Clubs were used during night time trench raiding expeditions as a quiet and effective way of killing or wounding enemy soldiers.[ citation needed ]

Makeshift maces were also found in the possession of some football hooligans in the 1980s. [11]

In 2020 China–India skirmishes personnel of People's Liberation Army Ground Force were seen using makeshift maces (batons wrapped in barbed wire and clubs embedded with nails). [12] [13]

Ceremonial use

Maces have had a role in ceremonial practices over time, including some still in use today.

Parliamentary maces

Mace of the Royal Society, granted by Charles II RoyalSocMace20040420.jpg
Mace of the Royal Society, granted by Charles II

The ceremonial mace is a short, richly ornamented staff often made of silver, the upper part of which is furnished with a knob or other head-piece and decorated with a coat of arms. The ceremonial mace was commonly borne before eminent ecclesiastical corporations, magistrates, and academic bodies as a mark and symbol of jurisdiction.

Ceremonial maces are important in many parliaments following the Westminster system. They are carried in by the sergeant-at-arms or some other mace-bearers and displayed on the clerks' table while parliament is in session to show that a parliament is fully constituted. They are removed when the session ends. The mace is also removed from the table when a new speaker is being elected to show that parliament is not ready to conduct business.

Ecclesiastical maces

Maces may also be carried before clergy members in church processions, although in the case of the Roman Catholic pope and cardinals, they have largely been replaced with processional crosses.

Parade maces

Marshal of Poland mace Bulawa Rydza-Smiglego.JPG
Marshal of Poland mace

Maces are also used as a parade item, rather than a tool of war, notably in military bands. Specific movements of the mace from the drum major will signal specific orders to the band they lead. The mace can signal anything from a step-off to a halt, from the commencement of playing to the cut off.

University maces

Ceremonial maces of the Rector Magnificus of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines. Ustmuseummemmorabilia13.JPG
Ceremonial maces of the Rector Magnificus of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines.

University maces are employed in a manner similar to parliamentary maces. They symbolize the authority and independence of a chartered university and the authority vested in the provost. They are typically carried in at the beginning of a convocation ceremony and are often less than half a meter high.

Heraldic use

Like many weapons from feudal times, maces have been used in heraldic blazons as either a charge on a shield or other item, or as external ornamentation.

Thus, in France:

See also

Notes

  1. "MACE English Definition and Meaning | Lexico.com". Lexico Dictionaries | English. Archived from the original on 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  2. "Masse: Définition de masse". Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language] (in French). Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales. 2012. Archived from the original on 14 Feb 2022. Retrieved 15 Feb 2024.
  3. The Schoyen Collection: MS 2429/4
  4. "Ninurta". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
  5. DeVries, Kelly; Capponi, Niccolò (2019-07-25). Castagnaro 1387: Hawkwood's Great Victory. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN   978-1-4728-3357-0.
  6. Heath, Ian. Armies of the Byzantine Empire, 886–1118.
  7. Disraeli, Isaac (1834). Curiosities of Literature, Volume 1. Boston: Lilly, Wait, Colman, and Holden. p.  230.
  8. Bates, David R. (1975). "The Character and Career of Odo, Bishop of Bayeux (1049/50-1097)". Speculum. 50 (1): 1–20. doi:10.2307/2856509. JSTOR   2856509. S2CID   163080280 . Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  9. Lacombe, Paul; Boutell, Charles (1893). Arms and armour in antiquity and the Middle Ages. London: Reeves and Turner. p. 121.
  10. Medieval flanged maces by Shawn M. Caza.
  11. "Mace of Evil". Daily Mirror. 27 March 1986. p. 1.
  12. Biswas, Soutik (16 June 2020). "An extraordinary escalation 'using rocks and clubs'". BBC News. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  13. Chatterjee, Sanchari (17 June 2020). "Two nuclear-armed states with chequered past clash: How foreign media reacted to India-China faceoff". India Today. Retrieved 21 June 2020.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armour</span> Covering used to protect from physical injury or damage

Armour or armor is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or from a potentially dangerous environment or activity. Personal armour is used to protect soldiers and war animals. Vehicle armour is used on warships, armoured fighting vehicles, and some combat aircraft, mostly ground attack aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Infantry</span> Soldiers who fight on the ground on foot

Infantry is a specialization of military personnel who engage in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, irregular infantry, heavy infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry, mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and naval infantry. Other types of infantry, such as line infantry and mounted infantry, were once commonplace but fell out of favor in the 1800s with the invention of more accurate and powerful weapons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polearm</span> Pole-mounted close combat weapon

A polearm or pole weapon is a close combat weapon in which the main fighting part of the weapon is fitted to the end of a long shaft, typically of wood, extending the user's effective range and striking power. Polearms are predominantly melee weapons, with a subclass of spear-like designs fit for thrusting and/or throwing. Because many polearms were adapted from agricultural implements or other fairly abundant tools, and contained relatively little metal, they were cheap to make and readily available. When belligerents in warfare had a poorer class who could not pay for dedicated military weapons, they would often appropriate tools as cheap weapons. The cost of training was comparatively low, since these conscripted farmers had spent most of their lives using these "weapons" in the fields. This made polearms the favoured weapon of peasant levies and peasant rebellions the world over.

A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to the shaft, such as bone, flint, obsidian, copper, bronze, iron, or steel. The most common design for hunting and/or warfare, since ancient times has incorporated a metal spearhead shaped like a triangle, diamond, or leaf. The heads of fishing spears usually feature multiple sharp points, with or without barbs.

A war hammer is a weapon that was used by both foot soldiers and cavalry. It is a very old weapon and gave its name, owing to its constant use, to Judah Maccabee, a 2nd-century BC Jewish rebel, and to Charles Martel, one of the rulers of France. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the war hammer became an elaborately decorated and handsome weapon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shield</span> Item of armour carried to intercept attacks or projectiles

A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of active blocks, as well as to provide passive protection by closing one or more lines of engagement during combat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ceremonial mace</span> Ornamental staff to show authority rather than as an actual weapon

A ceremonial mace is a highly ornamented staff of metal or wood, carried before a sovereign or other high officials in civic ceremonies by a mace-bearer, intended to represent the official's authority. The mace, as used today, derives from the original mace used as a weapon. Processions often feature maces, as on parliamentary or formal academic occasions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morning star (weapon)</span> Club-like weapons

A morning star is any of several medieval club-like weapons consisting of a shaft with an attached ball adorned with one or more spikes. Each used, to varying degrees, a combination of blunt-force and puncture attack to kill or wound the enemy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Club (weapon)</span> Blunt weapon

A club is a short staff or stick, usually made of wood, wielded as a weapon since prehistory. There are several examples of blunt-force trauma caused by clubs in the past, including at the site of Nataruk in Turkana, Kenya, described as the scene of a prehistoric conflict between bands of hunter-gatherers 10,000 years ago.

Mace may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viking Age arms and armour</span> Military technology of the Vikings from the late 8th to the mid-11th century

Knowledge about military technology of the Viking Age is based on relatively sparse archaeological finds, pictorial representations, and to some extent on the accounts in the Norse sagas and laws recorded in the 12th–14th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle axe</span> Axe specifically designed for combat

A battle axe is an axe specifically designed for combat. Battle axes were specialized versions of utility axes. Many were suitable for use in one hand, while others were larger and were deployed two-handed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ceremonial weapon</span> Object used for ceremonial purposes to display power or authority.

A ceremonial weapon is an object used for ceremonial purposes to display power or authority. They are often used in parades and as part of dress uniforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heavy cavalry</span> Class of cavalry with strong armor, powerful warhorses, and melee weaponry

Heavy cavalry was a class of cavalry intended to deliver a battlefield charge and also to act as a tactical reserve; they are also often termed shock cavalry. Although their equipment differed greatly depending on the region and historical period, heavy cavalry were generally mounted on large powerful warhorses, wore body armor, and armed with either lances, swords, maces, flails (disputed), battle axes, or war hammers; their mounts may also have been protected by barding. They were distinct from light cavalry, who were intended for raiding, reconnaissance, screening, skirmishing, patrolling, and tactical communications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cavalry tactics</span> Military tactics involving mounted troops

For much of history, humans have used some form of cavalry for war and, as a result, cavalry tactics have evolved over time. Tactically, the main advantages of cavalry over infantry were greater mobility, a larger impact, and a higher riding position.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pernach</span>

A pernach is a type of flanged mace originating in the 12th century in the region of Kievan Rus' and later widely used throughout Europe. The name comes from the Slavic word перо (pero) meaning feather, referring to a type of mace resembling an arrow with feathering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gada (mace)</span> Blunt mace or club from India

The gada is a mallet or blunt mace from the Indian subcontinent. Made either of wood or metal, it consists essentially of a spherical head mounted on a shaft, with a spike on the top. Outside India, the gada was also adopted in Southeast Asia, where it is still used in silat. The weapon might have Indo-Iranian origins, as Old Persian also uses the word gadā to mean club; see for example the etymology of Pasargadae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Native American weaponry</span> Weapons used by Native Americans for hunting and warfare with other Native American tribes

Native American weaponry was used by Native American warriors to hunt and to do battle with other Native American tribes and European colonizers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian armour</span> Protection of the body in South Asia

Armor in the Indian subcontinent was used since antiquity. Its earlier reference is found in the vedic period. Armor has been described in religious texts; including the Itihasa epics Ramayana and Mahabharat, as well as in the Puranas.

References