of the rulers and nobles but of the rank-and-file members of the new heavy-cavalry units
ancestral to the knights of the 10th and later centuries.
Lesser weapons were also employed by knights after 1050. Special forms of ax,
hammer (bec), mace, club, and flail were introduced in the 12th and 13th centuries to
supplement the sword, but it was only after 1300 that these were both fully developed and
commonly used. Most knights and squires also carried a stiff dagger on their sword belt
after ca. 1350. All of the knightly weapons were used by the nonknightly combatants who
could acquire them, but among the base-born infantrymen a number of weapons scorned
by the knightly class were also employed. The simple bow, despised by most Germanic
tribes outside of Scandinavia, was little used in France outside of Normandy before the
14th century, when six mounted archers were included in the “lance,” or standard tactical
unit of the royal army. The crossbow, or arbaleste, was reintroduced into France ca. 950
and was commonly used thereafter to ca. 1550, primarily by special infantry units placed
from ca. 1200 to 1534 under the overall authority of a grand master of the crossbowmen
(arbalest[r]iers). After ca. 1350, the bow and crossbow were supplemented on occasion
by a primitive handgun. In addition to these projectile weapons, the infantryman of the
14th and 15th centuries had at his disposal new forms of polearm, which were in essence
lances with special forms of head.
D’A.Jonathan D.Boulton
[See also: ARCHER/BOWMAN; ARTILLERY; CAVALRY; CROSSBOW;
WARFARE]
Blair, Claude. European Armor, Circa 1066 to Circa 1700. London: Batsford, 1958.
Buttin, François. Du costume militaire au moyen âge et pendant la Renaissance. Barcelona: La
Academia, 1971.
Martin, Paul. Arms and Armour from the 9th to the 17th Century, trans. René North. Rutland:
Tuttle, 1968.
Oakeshott, R.Ewart. The Sword in the Age of Chivalry. London: Lutterworth, 1964.
Todd, Malcolm. Everyday Life of the Barbarians: Goths, Franks, and Vandals. London: Batsford,
1972.
ARMS (HERALDIC)
. The term “arms” (Lat. arma, Fr. armes, armoiries, or blasons) was used from the late
12th century for a design of fixed elements in a fixed arrangement and fixed colors,
conventionally covering the whole surface of a shield or flag, consistently and uniquely
employed at any particular time within a particular kingdom or province by a single
person, lineage, or corporation as a mark of identity and authority and heritable according
to local rules comparable with those governing the inheritance of real property. The
design almost always consisted of a colored background, or “field,” and one or more
objects, or “charges,” placed upon it, both depicted in one or two strongly contrasting
colors, or “tinctures.” The charges could take the form of simple geometrical shapes, such
as a cross, band, chevron, or quarter, or of stylized representations of beasts, plants, or
objects, usually drawn from a conventional repertory. The repertory of tinctures, charges,
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