Weapons+of+the+Crusades

Weapons of the Crusades

 These weapons were used very much in the crusade. People often fought in tight quarters, needing these small, effective weapons.



Swords played a crucial role in the fighting of the Crusades. Once the Crusaders got into the cities that they were going to take over, long range weapons were useless, and they needed these weapons for close, hand to hand combat.



 Soldiers often used these types of weapons in the hand to hand combat to do more damage than a sword or battle axe. The maces on a chain made it easier to gather more momentum and force, and with the spikes, do more bodily harm, faster.



For those times that the Crusades may have been fought in an open area, with not a lot of cover, archery was key. There were the normal archers, sometimes mounted on horses, with a hand-held bow. Some of them were long range archers, and had bows, like the one on the right, which could connect to their feet to generate more force for the arrows, more distance, velocity, and deadly force.



With all of this talk of hand to hand combat, you may wonder how the Crusaders protected themselves. They crafted shields out of very strong wood, and painted designs on the outside of them.These could stand up to multiple blows from a sword, mace, etc.

For more information on the weapons, go to @http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/middle-ages-weapons.htm.