Medieval Weapons of the 15th Century | Polearms & Side Arms

Name: Medieval Weapons of the 15th Century | Polearms & Side Arms
Uploaded: 2025-02-14T06:46:01.827Z
Duration: 9 min 6 s
Channel: HISTORIC Weapons
Description: In this video, Medieval Weapons of the 15th Century, Kevin Hicks joins his son Josh and Steve Arnold of the Oxford Household re-enactment group to share their collection of polearms and side arms, weapons that would have been used by a man at arms or a common billman during the 15th Century, Wars of the Roses period. They'll be explaining and demonstrating how the weapons would have been used.

HISTORIC Weapons

3 followers

Feb 14, 2025

In this video, Medieval Weapons of the 15th Century, Kevin Hicks joins his son Josh and Steve Arnold of the Oxford Household re-enactment group to share their collection of polearms and side arms, weapons that would have been used by a man at arms or a common billman during the 15th Century, Wars of the Roses period. They'll be explaining and demonstrating how the weapons would have been used.

Hi, I've recently been back to England where we did some impromptu filming. It was very quickly put together and we didn't have our normal equipment. So please forgive the sound quality, but we thought you would find these films interesting. Hi, my name's Kevin Hicks. Welcome to my YouTube channel, The History Squad. Here we are in the heart of England, Warwickshire, with my son Josh dressed as the man at arms and Steve here as a common billman. Because he's not wearing any armor other than his helmet, he is known as naked. Yeah. Now what we're going to do is we're going to go through some of the pole arms and side arms that these men would have actually worn. Now, both of these are members of the Oxford household, the reenactment group for the Wars of the Roses. So let's move on. Silence, Steve. What is this weapon here? This one is a Batlux. Simply that, yeah? It does what it says on the tin, doesn't it? Yeah. It's got an axe for cleaving. It's also got a reverse pluke for puncturing into armor. Oh, OK. Is that too much? No, that's perfect. So I know this one. Yeah, that's the pole axe, isn't it? This is a pole axe. Again, it has an axe for cleaving. It has what looks like a meat tenderizer for denting and breaking the lames on the opponent's armor so he can't move so well. It also has a small spike for getting into under these arms and places like that. Just to let you folks know, these have all been blunted because they are all used in reenactment. So we don't want anybody being hurt, yeah? Now, this one here, that's a real nasty piece. I know it's a kind of a hammer. What kind of hammer is it? This is a Lucerne hammer. Again, the same as the pole axe. It has the spike for cleaving in. But it's also got four other spikes on the opposite side for clanging into the armor and denting the armor, as well as a spike for thrusting into the vulnerable spots. They're quite meaty weapons for sure, aren't they? Quite something. OK, and the next one, I know it's a simple spear, isn't it? Yes, what the Welsh are known for, more than anything, it has a good range and it looks. All it is, is we're aiming for his vulnerable spots. Yeah, I was reading about the Welsh hobblers who rode their, if you like, their Welsh ponies into battle using their spears. And they were the forerunners, so they say, of the mounted infantrymen who rode into battle, got off his horse and then engaged on foot, either as a spearman, hobbler or as a bowman. Now, I'm not familiar with this piece here. I don't think I've ever seen one. So, Steve, if you could explain what on earth is this? This is a cutter de breche. Cutter de breche. It's very heavy and awkward to use. It has got a spike and it's also got a trapping, for if he advances, I can trap him. Oh my goodness. Wow. So, that literally traps him, stops him dead. And the man next to you, well, I've never seen one of those. It's also, all that is sharpened for the hack. Wow. Gosh, I can imagine you working in teams with that. I recognise this. This is a simple glaive, isn't it? Yes. Yeah, just used for stabbing, almost like a sword on a stick. Yeah, give us a show, Steve. Again, it would have one long edge and a reverse spike point there. Again, we're looking for these vulnerable spots. I like going for those vulnerable spots. As a bowman, I am quite an expert of going for the vulnerable spot. But it also has a sharpened edge, which to a man in tin is not going to do a lot. But to another unarmed man, it's going to slice him to pieces, isn't it? I never touched you. So, this one is the English bill, yeah? And you can see that it's almost like farming implement that have been forged together. This one is the Italian bill, I understand. Can you demonstrate the Italian bill for us, Steve? We're going to arm Josh with his poleaxe so he can actually defend himself just a little bit. I'm going to step back. Right, let's see these two in action. So, off they go. Ow. Pop the armpit. Ow. See? The bill outreaches him. Ouch. Yeah, he's just hooked the back of the leg. That'll fetch the man down. So, we've seen the polearms, now some of the sidearms. I've got here what's called a rondel dagger because of the shape of the handle. But this particular one, it's a three-sided blade. And these are awful. They are designed to get up through the armpit and through into the chest and the lungs. The other thing about these is a triangular cut. They're very, very hard to stitch from the inside out. This is a nasty piece of work. But now we have, once again, a bollock knife. But this is a pick, what I call a pick, where it's solid on one side, razor sharp on the other. These are all copies of originals, same as the polearms. They're all copies of ones that are kept in armouries. And we're going to have a little look at some of the swords. So, this is a favourite of mine. It now belongs to Josh, my son. It used to be mine. This is a bastard sword. But in the scabbard, you have an eating knife and a pricker. Just a bit of fine detail there. The blade, it's a live blade. It's slender. It's not too heavy. In fact, this weighs a little over two pounds. But it's halfway between a great sword and a common sword. So it had the name, the bastard sword. A handy piece of kit. Now we have a common sword here. This is what a man-at-arms would wear when he's going into battle. And then a Cinquida, five-fingered. It's an Italian heavy slashing, quite an unusual weapon, really. But just one of those quirky types that you'd find on the battlefield. And then this one, it's a German piece, a Messerfauschen. Chopping, anybody who saw my archers video will see what a fauschen is like for slicing. Quite a handy weapon to have. And then here, you can see how this hanger, as they call it, the swords are developing. Because it has a catcher for the enemy blade that you can turn. It has a knuckle guard. So the actual shape of the swords come towards the roses, towards the end of the war, the roses are beginning to change more and more into the swords that you recognize later on in the 16th and 17th century. So now before I go, I want to show you something. I'm going to stand up now because I don't think many of you are aware. I'm going to show you the other half of my crew. There she is, my wife, Julie. That is all we are, the history squad, is Julie, my wife and myself. So thanks very much. I hope you enjoyed our little video. If you did, like, share, subscribe. And I've got some Patreon members that I'm going to call out. Here we are. Ian Tomlinson. Thanks, mate. Marco Engelbrecht. And make sure I pronounce that right. And Daryl and Erin Pratt and their children, Ethan and CJ. Listen, guys. Thank you so much. Bye for now.