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An advance on the club, a mace is a wooden, metal-reinforced, or metal shaft, with a head made of stone, copper, bronze, iron or steel. The head is normally about or slightly thicker than the diameter of the shaft, shaped with flanges, knobs or spikes to allow greater penetration of armour. The length of maces can vary considerably. The maces of foot soldiers were usually quite short (two or three feet). The maces of cavalrymen were longer and better designed for blows from horseback. Two-handed maces (" mauls") could be even larger.
The mace was first developed around 12,000 BC and quickly became an important weapon. These first wooden maces, studded with flint or obsidian became less popular due to the development of leather armour that could absorb the blows. Some maces had stone heads.
The discovery of copper and bronze made the first genuine metal maces possible.
One of the earliest images of a mace- or club-like weapon is on the Narmer Palette. Maces were used extensively in the bronze age in the near east.
The mace passed out of general use in the iron age, where swords, spears and axeAn axe is a tool with a metal blade fastened to a handle at 90 degrees, commonly used to split wood. Axe is the name of two rivers in the South of England. See: River Axe, Devon, River Axe, Somerset Colloquially, axe is a general name for an electric guits became the dominant weapons. The ancient Romans60 and 400 with major cities. During this time only Dacia and Mesopotamia were added to the Empire but were lost before 300. The Roman Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Roman state in the centuries following its reorganization under t did not use maces, probably because they had no need for a heavy, armor-smashing weapon.
The armies of the Byzantine EmpireThe Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire was the eastern section of the Roman Empire, with its capital at Constantinople (modern Istanbul), which remained in existence after the fall of Rome in the 5th century. The Byzantine period is usually consider used maces, especially from horseback.
During the Middle AgesThe Middle Ages formed the middle period in a schematic division of European history into three 'ages': Classical civilization, the Middle Ages, and Modern Civilization. It is commonly dated from the end of the Western Roman Empire ( 5th century) until th metal armour and chainmailChainmail" also refers to : Sending letters to multiple people, forming a chain; see chain letter. The Chainmail wargame from which Dungeons & Dragons evolved. Mail (commonly if somewhat incorrectly known as Chainmail today) consists of small metal rings did much to blunt the blows of edged weapons and block arrows and other projectiles. Solid metal maces and war hammerFor the tabletop games, see Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000. A war hammer is an archaic weapon of war intended for close combat, the design of which resembles the hammer. The war hammer consists, like the tool it resembles, of a handle and a head.s proved able to inflict damage on well armoured knights, however (the force of a blow from a mace would not need to puncture any armor).
Maces, being simple to make, cheap and straightforward in application, were quite common weapons. PeasantA peasant from 15th century French paisant from Latin pagus country district, is someone who lives in the country either working for others or, more specifically, owning or renting and working by his own labour a small plot of ground. Peasants depend econ rebels and cheap conscript armies often had little more that maces, axeAn axe is a tool with a metal blade fastened to a handle at 90 degrees, commonly used to split wood. Axe is the name of two rivers in the South of England. See: River Axe, Devon, River Axe, Somerset Colloquially, axe is a general name for an electric guits and pole arms. Few of these simple maces survive today. Most examples found in museums are of much better quality and often highly decorated.
Medieval bishops sometimes carried maces in battle instead of swords, so as to conform to the canonCanon can mean: A rule adopted by an ecumenical council of the Catholic or Eastern Orthodox churches. From the Greek kanon for rule or measure. See canon law. A list of books accepted by an ecclesiastic communion as authoritative or divinely inspired.ical rule which forbade priests to shed blood. Maces could kill without drawing blood. Bishop Odo of Bayeux appears on the Bayeux Tapestry wielding one at the Battle of Hastings ( 1066), but this practice does not appear to have been universal.
The mace as a real weapon went out of use with the disappearance of heavy armor. It gradually turned into the ceremonial mace, which was first a symbol of authority of military commanders. Ceremonial maces are still used to represent authority and prestige, as in the House of Commons in a Westminster System parliament. Processions often feature such maces: either on parliamentary or in formal university occasions. The ecclesiastical equivalent of the mace-bearer, the dodsman, appears in church contexts. Many modern ceremonial maces, such as those used by university chancellors, have been so reduced from a fearsome weapon that they more resemble the large pepper grinders such as are used by serving staff in restaurants.