WEAPONS AND WEAPONRYcentury. This is difficult to quantify, but undoubtedly
the English conquest markedly increased the amount
of armor circulating in Ireland.
Late Medieval Period (c.1300–1550)
The lack of dramatic changes in military technology
continued through the late Middle Ages, which is char-
acterized by the use of apparently antiquated armor
and weapons. There is a logical explanation for this,
first expressed by Giraldus Cambrensis. Even in the
twelfth century it was clear that the trend toward
increasingly strong—and heavy—armor must be con-
strained, in Ireland, by the overriding requirement of
mobility, dictated by the physical environment and
prevailing tactics of warfare. Despite initial military
superiority, the Anglo-Irish largely adopted Gaelic
warfare tactics, based on raiding rather than large cam-
paigns or battles. Late-medieval European develop-
ments in plate armor came at too high a price, in terms
of increased weight and rigidity, for Irish combatants.
Fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Anglo-Irish effigies
depict armor consisting of a “pair of plates” (early
plate armor for the torso) over a mail shirt, with sep-
arate plate defenses for arms and legs and a visored
helmet worn over a mail mantle, covering throat and
shoulders. Elsewhere such armor might be dated
around the late-fourteenth century, but it appears on
Irish effigies into the later-sixteenth century. Sculptural
and documentary evidence suggests that Gaelic nobles
and their gallowglass mercenaries routinely wore
armor that differed only slightly from the Anglo-Irish
pattern. Mail shirts (and the aketons underneath) tend
to be longer; separate plate defenses for torsos, legs
and arms are rare; and helmets are usually not visored.
Even these distinctions are not rigid, however. Early
sixteenth-century effigies of an O’More at Abbeyleix,
County Laois, and a MacGillapatrick at Fertagh,
County Kilkenny, display armors close to Anglo-Irish
style, while the finest example of the “Gaelic” pattern,
the Glinsk (Co. Galway) effigy, apparently represents
an Anglo-Irish de Burgh. Archaeology confirms the
sculptural evidence for armor forms. Although no sur-
viving armor is known, late medieval Irish swords and
arrowheads retain blade forms designed for use against
mail armor; forms developed for use against plate
armor—common elsewhere in Europe—are absent.
The aristocratic figures represented on the effigies
would have fought as horsemen, and their principal
weapon would have been the lance or spear. Gaelic
horsemen did not use their spear in the couched
position—the lack of saddle and stirrups would not
have permitted this—but rather held it overarm, for
throwing or thrusting. Their other main weapon, the
sword, is depicted on effigies as a single-hand weapon,
as would be expected for horsemen. Swords on Anglo-
Irish effigies conform to common European styles, but
no surviving examples are known. Swords on Gaelic
effigies, however, display characteristic hilt forms
found on a substantial group of surviving swords. This
form is also found in Scotland as early as the four-
teenth century, and its presence in Ireland probably
reflects gallowglass activity. In the sixteenth century
these may have been replaced by a distinctively Irish
sword form, characterized by open-ring pommels. Sur-
viving battleaxes, including fine ceremonial weapons
inlaid with silver, are also often attributed to gallow-
glass. However, they were also used by the Gaelic Irish
and clearly developed from the Viking battleaxe tradi-
tion, which predates gallowglass activity in Ireland.
Common (non-noble) soldiers rarely wore armor and
used a range of weapons. Archery was hugely impor-
tant in late medieval English warfare, and from the
mid-fourteenth century the Anglo-Irish government
almost invariably employed English retinues com-
posed mainly of archers. Deliberate efforts were made
to foster archery among the Anglo-Irish commoners,
but were ultimately unsuccessful outside of the core
of the Pale (essentially Dublin and Meath). Besides
bows and arrows, Anglo-Irish archers also used swords
and bucklers (small shields). The poorest commoners
used staff weapons such as bills and glaives. Gaelic
common footsoldiers, or kern, might be armed with a
sword, axe, or long knife; perhaps a bow and arrows;
or a number of spears and a shield.
Artillery—although sporadically used from as early
as 1361—was extremely rare until the late fifteenth
century, when there is evidence for artillery and hand-
guns being used by the Anglo-Irish and even by some
Gaelic Irish. Artillery was first used effectively in gov-
ernment campaigns of the 1520s and 1530s (notably
the Fitzgerald revolt), but it was not until the later
sixteenth century that English armies decisively aban-
doned the longbow in favor of the musket. The attrac-
tion of firearms was not based on superior range or
penetrative power, but simply on the fact that their use
required little or no training, whereas archery, to be
effective, demanded large numbers of highly trained
men. Firearms ultimately revolutionized every aspect
of warfare, but in Ireland this was a post-medieval
development.
ANDY HALPINReferences and Further Reading
Bartlett, T., and K. Jeffery, eds. A Military History of Ireland.
Cambridge: University Press, 1996.
De hÓir, S. “Guns in Medieval and Tudor Ireland.” Irish Sword
15 (1982–1983): 76–88.
Halpin, A. “Irish Medieval Swords, c.1170–1600.” Proceedings
of the Royal Irish Academy86C (1986): 183–230.