The mace is an ancient weapon with impact and crushing force, varieties of which have been known since Paleolithic times. The exact origin of the mace could not be established, but the distribution of this type of weapon in the territories of ancient and early medieval states was extensive and included Europe, the Near and Middle East and part of Africa.
Researchers do not have a consensus about the time and place of the appearance of the word “mace” among the ancient Russian terms denoting weapons. Synonyms for the term “mace” were Soviet historian and archaeologist A.N. Kirpichnikov (1929-2020) counted the words “cue” and “handmade baton”. Not all scientists agreed with this opinion: Russian and Soviet archaeologist A.V. Artsikhovsky (1902-1978) narrowed the meaning of the word “cue” to mean a stick; Czech scientist L. Niederle (1865-1944) - before understanding the club with a weighted end.
The predecessors of the mace were clubs and clubs.
Clubs and clubs
The presence of clubs in the ancient Russian army is known only from written sources; archaeological finds could not be found. Mention of clubs is found in the works of the 10th century eastern historian Ibn Miskaveikh, who reported that the Rus' infantry used clubs attached to the belt. Russian chronicles of the 10th-13th centuries did not make much distinction between clubs and clubs; they were also called oslops, rogditsa, corneas, khluds. In combat, clubs were used to strike an opponent at close range or to be thrown at an opponent.
Clubs were an improved type of club. The word “club” itself indicates its origin from a stick, a club.
Sticks were often used by the militia as improvised means for fighting the enemy. The club differed from a simple stick in that it had a thickened end. Typically, clubs had a short handle, but there was also a version with a long handle (oslop), which could be used to knock a rider off his feet.
The club was often mentioned in epics; The epithets “damask steel” or “copper” in relation to the club make it possible to identify it with a mace and call it a transitional form of weapon from a club to a mace. Typically the club was made from a single piece of wood, often wrapped in leather. To enhance the combat power of the weapon, cuts were made at its end, into which sharp stones or spikes were inserted. The weight of the club ranged from 3 to 12 kilograms; and the length of the handle is from 60 to 120 centimeters. Only warriors with great physical strength could use heavy clubs; small clubs were worn on a loop on the warrior's wrist.
War clubs of the peoples of the world
Some African peoples still use light clubs. For example, the Maasai tribes call them "rundu". These clubs are usually used in tribal throwing competitions. In addition, they are sold to tourists as souvenirs. Their striking parts are clearly visible and are shaped like balls. They often have specific noses in the shape of a bird’s beak.
Some of the heaviest types of clubs are considered to be Russian oslops, as well as Japanese war clubs - tetsubo. Oslops were used as weapons by commoners, while even samurai did not disdain to use tetsubo. In addition, Japanese warriors who mastered the technique of using tetsubo were greatly respected because they possessed incredible strength.
There were also lighter Japanese clubs called kanabo. These clubs were often used by legendary Japanese heroic figures.
Maces are often found in folk tales. In fact, they were masterfully wielded by the Greek heroes Hercules and Theseus, and the English king William the Conqueror was depicted with a light club in his hand.
The clubs of North American Indians had original forms. Some of them resembled the flintlock guns that the first settlers had. The impact parts of these clubs were more like butts. As a rule, the striking edges of these clubs were crowned with flat silicon or obsidian spikes.
The Dakota Indian tribe possessed so-called “flexible clubs.” They were made from bundles of willow that were tied together. Heavy stones of round or oval shapes were attached to the ends of these clubs.
Medieval European and Asian warriors had clubs made of iron with faceted sections of striking parts. Thanks to these edges, the clubs easily split skulls. Wooden clubs of that time were used by commoners and robbers. Clubs were extremely popular because they were easy to make and had enormous strength.
In European and Asian fencing schools, wooden clubs were used as weapons for training fights. Among the common people, clubs were popular as weapons in spectacular fights. In addition, many commoners of that time managed to masterfully wield wooden clubs.
Knights despised wooden clubs, although they often took part in tournaments of commoners. For the former it was fun, but for the latter it was a deadly event.
However, knights occasionally used wooden clubs in tournaments, but only when they fought with ignoble people.
Maces
Maces appeared in Rus' in the 11th century; most likely they came from the Asian Southeast. In the 12th-13th centuries, maces became widespread, as evidenced by numerous archaeological finds and data on the emergence of workshops for casting maces. Maces, necessary for hand-to-hand combat, were used by both foot and horse warriors. Easy to manufacture, consisting of only two parts - a pommel and a handle, light in weight (approximately 200-300 grams), convenient in battle, maces did not require special training for their use and for several centuries were part of the arsenal of necessary weapons of the Russian army.
Scientifically, the systematization of the maces found at the excavations was not carried out for a long time: the material was accumulated and described, but only the first steps were taken in the field of cataloguing. The first scientist to systematize the finds and determine the basis for their cataloging was A.N. Kirpichnikov (1929-2020), a recognized authority in the field of weapons science. The criterion for the distribution of maces into main types was the pommel (head) - the upper thickened part of the mace. Depending on the features of the pommel, as well as on the chronological sequence of appearance of various species, A.N. Kirpichnikov identified 6 types of maces, which can be divided into two groups: maces with pyramidal pommels and maces with spherical pommels.
Maces with pyramidal heads (Types I-IV)
Type 1. Clubs with a cube-shaped head with spikes
According to A.N. Kirpichnikov, the spiked pommels of the maces reproduced the design of a club with spikes at the end. Maces of this type belonged to the oldest type discovered on the territory of ancient Russian settlements dating back to the 11th century. It is assumed that in the 11th century maces were the weapons of the nobility. The materials used to make the pommels included iron and bronze, and their discovery in the southern lands of Rus' (Tver province) indicated the penetration of this type of weapon along southern Russian routes. On the pommel, which was shaped like a cube, there were four spikes arranged crosswise.
A variation of this type of pommel A.N. Kirpichnikov considered bronze cast heads of complex shape, common in the 12th-13th centuries, the cavity of which was filled with lead to enhance the blow. The weight of such pommels reached 200-300 grams; they were attached to a handle 50-60 centimeters long. The pommels, some of which were gilded, had from 4 to 12 pyramidal projections, which increased the impact area.
Type 2. Clubs with a pommel in the form of a cube with cut corners
This type of mace is a simplified form of Type 1 maces - there were no spikes here, and the cutting shape of the pommel was achieved through pyramid-shaped protrusions formed by the intersection of the side surfaces. Most of the finds discovered on the territory of Rus' were made of iron; the finds dated back to the 12th-13th centuries. The territory of their greatest distribution is the southern Russian cities that perished during the Mongol invasion, but they were also discovered in Novgorod, Moscow and near Kostroma. The simplified shape of the cuboid pommel led scientists to believe that maces of this type belonged not only to the nobility, but also to ordinary warriors from among the townspeople and peasants, whose arsenal of weapons included cheaper weapons made of iron. This opinion is confirmed by the simplicity of the weapon's finishing.
Maces with bronze heads, according to researchers, belonged to significant social strata. This is confirmed by the places where they were found: bronze pommels were found in the burial of a noble warrior, in the dwellings of a feudal lord, a wealthy artisan and a senior warrior.
Type 3. Clubs with 4-5 side tenons, with 8 (or more) lobes or without lobes, with a large number of elevations
Maces of this type testify to the diversity of ancient Russian weapons, which were widespread both in the southern territories of Rus' and in the northern ones, and about the development of bronze casting in the 12th-13th centuries. The workshops discovered in Kyiv and near the village of Gorodishche allowed us to come to the conclusion that the type of pommels had been improved: in order to provide weapons with a large number of elevations, skilled craftsmen filled the space between 4-5 spikes with wire or rope decorative weaving in 2-3 rows, and the background with small convexities. If protrusions were not made, elevations were achieved by increasing the size of the decorative caps at the intersections of the wicker frames.
Type 4. Clubs with 12 spikes: four large (central) and eight small (outer)
Material of manufacture – bronze; period of distribution – XII – beginning of the XIII century. As with Type 3 maces, in this type of mace the tenons, as a rule, were also surrounded by 2-3 rows of decorative ridges. A transverse relief was cut out on the rollers and bulges were made in the form of peas. In some examples found in the southern principalities, there was no decorative outline on the clubs. Maces of this type were more advanced weapons than previous types, since several spikes were involved in the impact action in any direction.
Findings of samples of pommels of this type revealed their identity, which allowed us to conclude that they were mass produced - this opinion was shared by the famous Soviet historian B.A. Rybakov (1908-2001). The center of their production was the workshops of Kyiv and southern Russian cities, where the pommels, distinguished by the clarity of their details, were cast in a double-sided detachable clay mold according to a wax model. The original, produced by highly skilled craftsmen in a newly made mold, was of higher quality than secondary castings. Copies of products made throughout Rus' and beyond were distinguished by simplification and less clarity of detail.
Meteor from China
Clubs, maces and flails have been familiar to us since childhood. The epic hero Ilya Muromets crushes the Nychy Mountains and other evil spirits with an iron mace, and the fairy-tale wolves depicted in children's books have robber flails hanging from their belts. But still, the list of impact-crushing weapons is not limited to maces and six-fingers. Even in Europe, which was fairly close to us, there was a whole layer of strike weapons, which are not very well known today. Let's say the quarterstaff is an English fighting pole. It reached a length of six or eight feet, could be bound with iron at the ends and, starting from the 15th century, became the most common and accessible weapon of the English villans. The legendary fight between Robin Hood and Little John took place at quarterstaffs. Even more exotic impact weapons were made in Mesoamerica. The Mayans and Aztecs created an amazing hybrid of a sword and a club. A kind of cricket bat was ground along the edges, and then sharp obsidian plates were glued into the grooves. This club was called macuahuitl. She could break an enemy's bones while simultaneously inflicting deep lacerations. The products of medieval Asian masters are no less creative. In addition to standard poles and clubs, the Chinese and Japanese used triple flails and nunchucks. This weapon was considered a shock-choking weapon and consisted of two or three hardwood rods connected by a rope or chain. The prototype of both flails and nunchucks are considered to be agricultural flails for threshing grain. But the “liu xing chui”, or “meteor hammer” looks like a really fantastic idea. It was a metal shock weight attached to a rope from three to six meters long. The load could be spherical, pear-shaped, equipped with spikes or ribs, and sometimes it was attached to both ends of the rope. The technique of using the meteor hammer was varied. It could be thrown at the enemy, used as a flail, or entangled with a rope. Of course, this weapon was not at all suitable for a regular army; only certain martial artists worked with a hammer on a rope.
Maces with spherical heads
Type 5. Clubs with a spherical pommel
Ancient maces of this type, discovered at Belaya Vezha, had a smooth surface, but in the 12th-13th centuries spherical pommels with a multifaceted surface became widespread. They were made most often from iron, less often from bronze and burl (fibrous birch growth). The unevenness of the surface was achieved by sawing out edges, edges and convexities. An example of the finishing of the finials found at Sakhnovka, Raika and Gorodishche is the presence of smoothly protruding 6-8 edges. Pommels of this type are considered the prototype of one of the most common types of maces - six-fingers.
Maces for local armor penetration
Type 2-A
The need in battle not only to strike the enemy, but also to make him vulnerable by piercing armor led to the appearance in the first half of the 13th century of an improved version of the Type 2 mace, designated by A.N. Kirpichnikov as Type 2-A. The innovations had pommels with a beak-like protrusion, called “klevets” - they, in turn, are considered as predecessors of hammers “with a falcon’s beak”, common in the 15th century. Klevets was intended for piercing armor.
Type 6. Clubs with fan-shaped blades - six-fingers
This type of pommel got its name from the number of metal plates (feathers) welded to the head and located parallel to the handle of the mace - six metal plates diverged radially from the center. Wedge-shaped or triangular plates were intended to pierce the enemy’s armor, and the light weight of the striking part of the mace and its strength enhanced the attacking effects of the mace. The six-fingers were made of iron or bronze; the time of their spread in the 12th-13th centuries - this is evidenced by finds in Galician Zvenigorod, Kiev and Ryazan Pronsk. Their appearance is due to the previous development of forms and types of maces.
After the Mongol invasion and especially after the disappearance of heavy armor from military equipment, the importance of maces as an ancient Russian weapon decreased, although in the 16th century the six-footer was still used as a weapon.
Carpathian shepherd's clubs
On the territory of the Carpathian Mountains, even today you can find one interesting variety of clubs. This is a long weapon, almost two meters long, with a thickness of approximately four centimeters. The upper parts of the clubs are bent in an arched shape, and the striking parts have significant growths on four sides.
The presence of such growths was due to incisions. They were made on growing trees. The upper parts of the trees were tied in an arched manner. Years later, when the tree trunks reached the required parameters, they were cut down and processed.
Such clubs are called “gerlygs”. Hooks on one of their parts were used to hook animals by the paws. Whereas shock units could stun even seasoned wolves. Moreover, with gerlygs it was possible to quite successfully fight off robbers. According to local old-timers, many shepherds had such clubs.
The shepherds themselves often used these clubs to resolve conflict situations in their environment. To date, almost no one knows the gerlyg fighting technique, and it is almost lost. However, there is information that there are still some “adepts” who master this technique, and there are practically only a few of them. But they are already so old that they simply will not be able to demonstrate at least some techniques.
Maces as a symbol of power
Since the 16th century, maces, having lost their significance as a type of weapon, acquired a symbolic meaning as a sign of power. This began in Rus' in the early Middle Ages, when maces, in accordance with the status of the owner, began to be decorated with gold and silver. The first signs of giving the mace a sign of command representation, according to A.N. Kirpichnikov, can be seen on a Novgorod find dating back to the 13th century: silver trim has been preserved on the blades of an iron pole. In the late Middle Ages, maces with a spherical top without spikes became a sign of diplomatic representation and a traditional symbol of military and state power in Rus'.
