Ceeden
Novicius
Offline
Posts: 4
|
I'm looking for pictures, illustrations and drawings of clubs and cudgels that were used in Europe and Eastern cultures in warfare during the last few thousand years. Does anyone know of any good websites or books that have lots of pictures? I've found some weapons makers, armouries and suppliers online that have some replica clubs, however they all tend to be very similar in nature.
Can anyone help out with pictures of the following specific clubs as well?
1) Cudgels / clubs shod and banded with iron and metal (not maces).
2) Cudgels / clubs used during "The Cudgel War", which was a peasant uprising in Finland in the late 16th Century. The Finnish word for the Cudgel War is Nuijasota. It is named after the clubs that peasants used as weapons. These spiked clubs were very effective against soldiers' armor.
Does anyone know the Finnish name for the cudgels that were used? If Nuijasota means Cudgel War, then the name of the cudgel must be something similar.
3) Dabus: An Arabic / Islamic club or mace that consists of a piece of wood studded with nails.
4) Palitsa / Oslop: A large Russian cudgel with iron spikes. This primitive weapon is seen in illustrations of peasants fighting the French during the Napoleonic invasion of 1812.
5) Baculus: A Latin term for a heavy hardwood club or staff with protruding knobs, and in some cases sheathed with metal, to be used as a mace. In civilian life the term was also used to describe the wayfarer's staff and the ordinary walking stick.
In terms of semantics, a baculus is defined as a staff, especially one that symbolizes authority. The term baculus, or baculum, is Latin for staff. Used in combat throughout Europe until well after the middle ages, the baculus was a heavy, hardwood club with a knotty head used for striking. While not as durable as a metal headed mace, the baculus could still inflict significant concussion damage to an armoured or un-armoured opponent. It was a popular weapon among conscripted soldiers because it was a relatively inexpensive weapon and easily obtained. It was common practice for soldiers using a baculus to carve and engrave the wood with pictures and marks recounting battles in which they had fought. This might explain how the term baculus came to mean a symbol of authority; many staves carried as ceremonial items are also ornately carved, often with images retelling history or military conquests
Thanks for reading.
Danny Sydney Australia
|