Hi I’ve recently been back to England where we did some impromptu filming it was very quickly put
together and we didn't have our normal equipment so please forgive the sound quality but we thought
you would find these films interesting. Hi my name's Kevin Hicks, welcome to my YouTube channel
the History Squad. Here we are in the heart of England, Warwickshire with my son Josh dressed as
the man at arms and Steve here as a common billman because he's not wearing any armor other than his
helmet, he is known as naked yeah. Now what we're going to do is we're going to go through
some of the pole arms and sidearms that these men would have actually worn. Now both of these are
members of the Oxford Household the re-enactment group for the Wars of the Roses so let's move on.
So then Steve, what is this weapon here? This one is a battle axe. Simply that yeah?
It does what it says on the tin doesn't it yeah? It's got an axe for cleaving, it's also got a
reverse pluke for puncturing into armor. Ow, okay? Is that too much? No that's perfect. So
I know this one yeah, that's the polax isn't it? This is a polax again it has an axe for cleaving,
it has what looks like a meat tenderizer for denting and uh breaking the lames on his on
the opponent's armor so he can't move so well, and he's also has a small spike for getting into
under these arms and places like that. Just to let you folks know, these have
all been blunted because they are all used in re-enactment, so we don't want anybody being hurt
yeah? Now this one here, that's a real nasty piece. I know it's a kind of a hammer, what
kind of hammer is it? This is a lucerne hammer. Again the same as the polax it has the uh spike
the cleaving in, but it's also got four other spikes on the opposite side for clanging into
the armor and denting the armor, as well as a spike for thrusting into the vulnerable spots.
They're quite meaty weapons for sure aren't they? Quite uh, quite something. Okay and the next one,
I know it's a simple spear isn't it? Yes what the Welsh are known for more than anything
it has a good range and it looks all it is is where I mean for his vulnerable spots. Yeah I
was reading about the the Welsh Hoblars who wrote their if you like their Welsh ponies into battle
uh using their spears and they were the four runners so they say of the mounted infantryman,
who rode into battle got off his horse and then engaged on foot either, as a spearman
hobblar or as a as a bowman. Now I’m not familiar with this piece here, I, I don't think I’ve ever
seen one, so Steve if you could explain what on earth is this? This is a Couteau de breche.
It's very heavy and awkward to use, it has got a spike and it's also got a trapping
for, if he advances, I can trap him oh my goodness.
Wow, so that literally traps him stops him dead and the man next to you, wallop. Well
I’ve never seen one of those. It's also, all that is sharpened, for the hack.
Wow.
Gosh I can imagine you're working in teams with that.
I recognize this this is a simple glave isn't it? Yes yeah just used for stabbing.
Almost like a sword on a stick yeah? Give us a show Steve.
Again it would have one long edge and a reverse spike point there again we're looking for these
vulnerable spots. I like going for those vulnerable spots. As a bowman I am quite an
expert at going for the vulnerable spot, but it also has a sharpened edge, which to a man in tin
is not going to do a lot, but to another unarmed man he's going to slice him to pieces isn't it.
I never touched you so this one's the English bill yeah and you can see that it's almost
like farming implements that have been forged together and this one is uh the Italian bill I
understand. Can you demonstrate the Italian bill for us? And we're gonna arm Josh with his poleaxe
so he can actually defend himself just a little bit. I’m going to step back,
right let's see these two in action. So off they go.
Ow up the armpit. Ow.
See the bill outreaches him
Ouch yeah, he's just hooked the back of the leg, that'll fetch the man down.
So we've seen the polearms now some of the sidearms. I’ve got here
what's called a rondelle dagger because the shape of the handle but this particular one
it's a three-sided blade and these are awful. They are designed to get up through the armpit and
through into the chest and the lungs, the other thing about these is the triangular cut, they're
very, very hard to stitch from the inside out. This is a nasty piece of work. Well now we have
once again a bollock knife but this is a pick, what I call a pick, when it's solid on one side
razor sharp on the other. These are all copies of originals, same as the polearms they're all copies
of ones that are kept in armouries and we're going to have a little look at some of the swords.
So this is a favourite of mine, it now belongs to Josh, my son. It used to be mine.
This is a bastard sword, but in the scabbard you have an eating knife and a pricker
yeah, just a bit of fine detail there. The blade, it's a live blade it's slender it's
not too heavy in fact this weighs a little over two pounds but it's halfway between a great sword
and a common sword, so it had the name the bastard sword. A handy piece of kit. Now we have a common
sword here, this is what a man at arms would wear when he's going into battle and then a cinquedea,
five-fingered. It's an Italian, heavy slashing, uh quite an unusual weapon really but uh
just one of those quirky types that you'd find on the battlefield. And then this one,
it's a German piece a messer falchion. Chopping, anybody who saw my archers video will see
what a falchion is like for slicing, quite a handy weapon to have
and then here you can see how this hanger, as they call it, the swords are developing because
it has a catcher for the enemy blade that you can turn it has a knuckle guard so the actual shape
of the swords come the Wars of the Roses, towards the end of the Wars of the Roses are beginning
to change more and more into the swords that you recognize later on in the 16th and 17th century.
So now, before I go I want to show you something. I’m going to stand up now because
I don't think many of you are aware. I’m going to show you the other half of my crew.
There she is, my wife Julie. That is all we are, the History Squad is Julie my wife
and myself. So thanks very much. I hope you enjoyed our little video, if you did like,
share, subscribe and I’ve got some Patreon members that I’m going to call out. Here we are,
Ian Tomlinson thanks mate, Marco Engelbrecht and make sure I pronounce that right and Darryll and
Erin Pratt and their children Ethan and CJ, listen guys thank you so much, bye for now.