Staff weapons of High and Late Middle Ages in Croatia

Vrijeme razvijenog i kasnog srednjeg vijeka je prepuno destabilizacije, kako na društvenom planu tako i na vojnom. Razvojem metalurgije se omogućilo stvaranje efikasnijih i opasnijih oružja. Upravo početkom 14. st. za vrijeme kasnog srednjeg vijeka dolazi do revolucije u ratovanju i pojavljuje se velik broj novih vrsta oružja na motki. Svako oružje ima jednu ili dvostruku ulogu, a one mogu biti sredstvo za stvaranje ubodnih, rasječnih ili udarnih rana na protivniku. Treba imati na umu da se razvojem oklopa mijenjaju i oružja i obratno, što je uvjetovalo u kojem smjeru će se forma i veličina oružja razvijati. Oružja na motki se dijele na one s kratkom i dugom motkom. Pod kratku motku spadaju oružja kao što su kijača, topuz, buzdovan, mlatovi, nadžaci i sjekire. Njihov razvoj je individualan i nije rijetkost da se oružja razviju npr. iz poljoprivrednih oruđa kao što je slučaj sa mlatom. Sjekire pak imaju toliko dugu tradiciju da one zapravo nisu novina, ali im se mijenjaju forme i oblici. Sljedeća kategorija su oružja na dugoj motki, a to su koplja, bojne kose, runke, glefe, gisarme, helebarde, partizane, korzeke i sječke. Njihov razvoj se može pratiti pojavom koplja koje kroz stoljeća nije izgubilo svoju namjenu. Helebarde su oružje koje su stavile pješaštvo u prvi plan na ratnom polju, upravo zbog činjenice da na sebi ima tri vrste oružja: sjekiru, koplje i kljun. Njihov razvoj je postepen, od robusnijeg izgleda se teži da postane što lakša i efikasnija, jer se shvatilo se da masa ne znači i efikasnost. Oružja na motki vrlo se rijetko pronalaze na arheološkim lokalitetima. U Hrvatskoj je najčešće pronađeno oružje na kratkoj motki, npr. topuzi i buzdovani i to u sklopu srednjovjekovnih utvrđenih lokaliteta. Pretpostavlja se da su oružja na dugoj motki bila otuđena ili jednostavno naslijeđena iz generacije u generaciju viših slojeva društva da bi na kraju spletom okolnosti došle u muzeje ili privatne zbirke.Middle Ages in High and Late period was destabilized in the social and military sense. Development of metallurgy enabled the creation of more efficient and dangerous weapons. Just at the beginning of 14th century in the Late Medieval period revolution and vast number of new kind of weapons occurred. Every weapon has its unique, individual or multiple function. These weapons can be used with the intention of causing pierce, slash or striking wound on enemy body. It is important to keep in mind that armor development played an important role in weapon use and back, which influenced the directions in which particular weapon, its form and size advanced. Staff weapons can be divided to the ones with short and long staff. Weapons on short staff are club, mace, gothic mace, warhammer and axe. Their development is individual and weapons developed from farming tools like flail present no exception. Axes in particular have a long tradition, therefore their function and use has not changed, although their form and size did. Long staff weapons present the second category that includes spears, war sycthes, bills, glaives, gisarmes, halberds, partizans, corseque and wagoners axes. Their development can be traced due to spear occurrence which has not lost his function through centuries. Halberds are weapons which put infantry into the advantage on the battlefield, as it derived from three kind of weapons: axe, spear and beak. Development of these weapons was gradual, beginning from its robust appearance to easier and more efficient kind. Concept behind these weapons is that mass does not necessarily mean efficiency. Staff weapons are very rarely found during archaeological excavations. Most of them can be found on typical medieval fortress sites in Croatia. Premise is that long staff weapons were taken away or simply inherited from generation to generation amongst high class society, and due to perplex circumstances brought to local museums or private collection