Arms and Armour in the Middle Ages
Through the process of excavating artifacts, the people of this modern age can come to
more accurate conclusions about life in ages that bore little written documentation.
Specifically, archaeology allows us to study war from the Middle Ages by analyzing
artifacts such as weapons and armour that were excavated recently and dated to that time
period. After dating the artifacts we can begin to analyze them using archaeological
documentation and eventually publishing books.
Some of the most easily discovered artifacts throughout history are arms and armours.
These artifacts are easily found because we can search any place that has a grave marker to
find them. Most warriors of the Middle Ages who were killed in combat prefered to be
buried with their weapons and wearing their suits of mail. Long iron swords were
incredibly common to be found from graves dating to the Age of Chivalry, as well as suits
of chain and plate mail. Other items that were excavated include daggers, longbows,
crossbows, helmets, swords, shields, spears and more. Longbows and crossbows would
have been used as a weapon to use behind the walls of a castle because the wielder would
not have had a shield to defend himself with so he would use the walls of the castle as
defense. One handed weapons, which varied from swords to battle axes to maces, were to
be used in conjunction with a shield. These defensive pieces would usually be crafted out
of hardwood or leather, though in some occasions shields were metal. There were kite,
tower and heater shields. Heater shields were the smallest and most agile, tower shields
were the largest and provided the most cover, however, were very heavy, and kite shields
were moderately sized shields that were versatile. Shields would have been neglected
when speed became the top priority in battle. Two handed weapons took their place as the
years passed on. Claymores were the typical two handed weapon, brandished originally by
the Scottish. These items would have almost always had some sort of religious markings.
Typically in Europe, the Holy Cross would have been found on longswords and some
helmets. Even the very design of the sword would be a representation of a holy cross. The
long blade combined with the hilt, the point of the pommel and two points of the guard,
would make the shape of the cross. We were able to identify the uses of some of these
