Step into a medieval battlefield: knights clash with lances, archers darken the sky with arrows, and trebuchets hurl stones at castle walls. These were more than tools of war — they shaped kingdoms, toppled fortresses, and changed the balance of power across Europe and beyond. Here are the 10 medieval weapons that defined an era and transformed the course of the Middle Ages.
1. Swords – The Icon of Chivalry and Warfare
An 8th-century depiction of a sword in use – Bibliothèque municipale de Boulogne-sur-Mer
No weapon is more associated with the Middle Ages than the sword. It was used throughout the medieval world, and as Sue Brunning explains, was more than just a weapon:
Every culture that has made and used swords has viewed them as extraordinary objects. They feature predominantly in the history, cosmology and mythology of communities across the globe, from Africa to northern Europe, from East Asia to the Indian sub-continent. Their appeal is not solely attributable to humanity’s timeless fascination with death. This is clear from the spectrum of meanings attached to swords across time and space, encompassing power, wisdom, joy, protection – and fear.
For most of the Middle Ages, the sword was widely used among elite and common soldiers, with some variation between the size of its blade and how its hilt and pommel were fashioned. Around the thirteenth century, we see a change in the sword, where its blades begin to get narrower and sharper at its point. This was because armour was becoming tougher, and the slashing style of the sword was no longer effective. It now had to be used more as a thrusting weapon, but even with these changes the sword would gradually decline as a part of vital military equipment.
The sword places first on our list of the most important weapons in the Middle Ages, not just because it was so widely used in this period, but because so many medieval cultures viewed it as a symbol of military strength and power.
2. Firearms – The Dawn of Gunpowder and the End of Knights
Medieval guns in use at a siege – British Library MS Burney 169, fol.127
The weapon that would transform the medieval world into the early modern one was the gun — handguns and arquebuses wielded by individuals, and the larger artillery pieces like cannons that could strike at fortifications. The invention of gunpowder in China in the early ninth century would trigger a series of new weapons. Gradually, these developments and innovations spread from eastern Asia and fundamentally changed how war was waged.
The rise of gunpowder weapons has often been talked about as a military revolution, although from our perspective it was a slow-moving one, taking generations. Introduced into Europe in the early fourteenth century, even by the end of the fifteenth century these weapons could prove to be slow and difficult to wield effectively. But military commanders understood that this technology would be the dominant weapon on the battlefield, and every kingdom, state, or principality was spending money and resources to build up their supplies. The states that were able to do so most effectively would emerge in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as the key powers in Europe and Asia.
3. Bows – The Weapon That Won Empires
Archers in the Luttrell Psalter – British Library, Add MS 42130
Few weapons of the Middle Ages inspired as much poetry and fear as the bow. To medieval writers, it was more than wood and string — it was a living thing that bent, breathed, and struck from afar. One Old English riddle captured this deadly elegance:
Agob’s my name, if you work it out; I’m a fair creature fashioned for battle. When I bend, and shoot a deadly shaft from my stomach, I desire only to send that poison as far away as possible. When my lord, who devised this torment for me, releases my limbs, I become longer and, bent upon my slaughter, spit out that deadly poison I swallowed before. No man’s parted easily from the object I describe; if he’s struck by what flies from my stomach, he pays for its poison with his strength – speedy atonement for life. I’ll serve no master when unstrung, only when I’m cunningly notched. Now guess my name.
Combine a flexible stave of wood with a strong string and you have one of the most well-known weapons of the Middle Ages. There were many varieties of bows, and their effectiveness varied significantly depending on where and how they were used. Archers were usually found at battles or sieges throughout the medieval world, but they could become a dominant force under the right circumstances. The Mongols were able to conquer much of Asia and Europe through the use of horse archers, who combined a stronger type of bow with the greater mobility of their cavalry. The English would also rely on their longbowmen to win several important battles during the Hundred Years’ War. As Jim Bradbury writes, “There was no military situation in which the bow could not prove useful.”
4. Spears and Lances – The Backbone of Infantry and Knights
Using lances in a tournament – from a fencing manual written in 1459 by Hans Talhoffer
Kelly DeVries and Kay Smith note that “since the earliest times the spear, together with the sword, was the most important and widely used offensive weapon for both the infantry and cavalry.” Essentially a long stick that ended with a blade, the spear could be held and thrust at opponents, or thrown at them. When delivered from horseback, the weapon could be far more effective – this is how the idea of “mounted shock combat” developed, in which knights would couch the spear under their arms and use the speed of their horses to deliver a powerful blow.
The spear of the knight evolved into the lance – the weapon we commonly associate with jousting and tournaments, another lasting symbol of the Middle Ages.
5. Trebuchets – Medieval Siege Superweapons
15th century depiction of a trebuchet
Emerging in the twelfth century, the trebuchet was the first important development in siege machines since ancient times. It marked a great improvement over weapons like the catapult, providing a more formidable way to attack castles and other fortifications.
Jim Bradbury explains how it worked:
A container for heavy materials was placed on one end of a whippy pole, a sling to hold the stone or other missile at the other end. The pole was on a pivot. The loaded end was winched down and released. The weight made the loaded end rise rapidly and eject its contents, the sling whipping over at the last minute to give added impetus.
While today the trebuchet is more seen as an engineering challenge for college students or a fun way to throw pumpkins, in the Middle Ages it represented a new technology that forced military commanders to adapt their defences, a process that would be further enhanced by gunpowder weapons.
6. Crossbows – Levelling the Field Against Knights
Crossbowman in the Luttrell Psalter – British Library, Add MS 42130
While this weapon existed since ancient times, it was strangely not mentioned very much in early medieval Europe. Then, in the twelfth century, the crossbow made a comeback, serving as a way for regular soldiers to fight back against the better-armoured and equipped knights. Helen Nicholson describes the crossbow:
It was not a quick weapon to use, because spanning the bow (drawing back the string, locking it back with the ‘trigger’ and placing the arrow or bolt in position, ready to fire) took much longer than for the simple bow. But it could be used effectively by a comparative novice and was much more powerful than the simple bow. In a siege situation, or where a large group of crossbow archers were operating on a battlefield, it could be devastating, for it could pierce chainmail.
While the crossbow did get criticized as a dishonourable weapon, its use only grew in the later Middle Ages, and by the fifteenth century, cities were hosting large-scale shooting tournaments. The crossbow would remain a much-used weapon, even during the coming age of guns.
7. Greek Fire – The Byzantine Secret Weapon
Depiction of the use of Greek fire, from the Madrid Skylitzes.
The Byzantine Empire’s most feared “secret weapon,” Greek Fire, helped secure several crucial naval victories and kept Constantinople safe from siege. Its exact formula remains unknown even today — theories suggest ingredients such as saltpetre or quicklime — but its effects were unmistakably devastating. A thick, sticky liquid, it could be projected through bronze tubes mounted on ships, much like a primitive flamethrower. Once ignited, it clung to sails and hulls and, most terrifyingly, could not be extinguished by water, making enemy fleets especially vulnerable.
A related incendiary, naphtha, based on petroleum, was used in the medieval Middle Eastern world. Like Greek Fire, it gave its wielders a decisive advantage over foes who relied solely on steel, iron, and wooden ships.
8. Polearms – Pikes, Halberds, and Glaives That Stopped Cavalry
Different types of polearms are shown in this scene from a 14th-century manuscript – British Library MS Yates Thompson 13 fol. 125v
Halberds, pikes, glaives — and many other regional variants — all shared the same basic design: a long wooden shaft tipped with a blade or spike that could both cut and thrust. These polearms began to dominate European battlefields around 1300, proving that disciplined infantry armed with these inexpensive weapons could stop even the most heavily armoured knights.
The secret to their success was not the weapon alone but the way soldiers used it: massed in tightly packed formations, presenting a wall of blades that was nearly impossible for charging cavalry to break. In skilled hands and in large numbers, polearms turned ordinary foot soldiers into a deadly, defensive force — and sometimes an unstoppable offensive one.
9. Axes – From Viking Bearded Axes to Broad Battle-Axes
A 10th-century rider with an axe. KBR Ms. 10066-77 fol.122r
This weapon is often linked with the Early Middle Ages but remained in use for centuries. Peoples such as the Franks favoured smaller axes as throwing weapons, while in Scandinavia warriors wielded the larger battle-axe that has become iconic in our image of the Vikings.
Jim Bradbury explains:
The battle-axe was popular with the Vikings and often called a Norse or Danish axe. Vikings sometimes named their axes, such as ‘Witch’ or ‘Fiend’, suggesting their personal nature. The Vikings used bearded axes named from the shape of the drooping lower edge, and broad axes. The latter emerged in c. 1000, sometimes with a steel edge welded to the blade. The blade was narrowest at the socket, broadening to a curved edge about a foot long.
The axe’s simple design made it versatile and deadly — effective for both cutting through shields and striking powerful blows in close combat.
10. Daggers – The Final Weapon of Mercy and Survival
Using a dagger in this combat manual from the 15th century – Kunsthistorisches Museum MS 5013 fol. 3r
Essentially a smaller version of the sword, one should not disregard it as an important weapon of war. Ranging in size from 30 to 50 centimetres (11 to 20 inches), it was a common instrument, both on the battlefield and in day-to-day use. Easy to carry – and hide – daggers could be used with a minimum of training. An attacker could wield this weapon to cut, stab or throw, often in tight situations. By the thirteenth century many versions of the dagger emerged in medieval Europe – anelace, baselard and stiletto to name a few – that differed in how the blade was fashioned or how you gripped it. Meanwhile, the misericorde got its name for being associated with the end of battles, when the victorious soldiers had to decide what to do with their defeated opponents – either offer them “mercy” and take them as prisoners, or give them a “mercy” killing.
From the humble dagger to the mighty trebuchet, these weapons reveal how innovation and adaptation shaped medieval battlefields — and even shifted the balance of power between kings, knights, and common soldiers. Many of them, like the sword and the longbow, still hold a powerful place in our imagination, symbols of both the ingenuity and the brutality that defined the Middle Ages.
Step into a medieval battlefield: knights clash with lances, archers darken the sky with arrows, and trebuchets hurl stones at castle walls. These were more than tools of war — they shaped kingdoms, toppled fortresses, and changed the balance of power across Europe and beyond. Here are the 10 medieval weapons that defined an era and transformed the course of the Middle Ages.
1. Swords – The Icon of Chivalry and Warfare
No weapon is more associated with the Middle Ages than the sword. It was used throughout the medieval world, and as Sue Brunning explains, was more than just a weapon:
Every culture that has made and used swords has viewed them as extraordinary objects. They feature predominantly in the history, cosmology and mythology of communities across the globe, from Africa to northern Europe, from East Asia to the Indian sub-continent. Their appeal is not solely attributable to humanity’s timeless fascination with death. This is clear from the spectrum of meanings attached to swords across time and space, encompassing power, wisdom, joy, protection – and fear.
For most of the Middle Ages, the sword was widely used among elite and common soldiers, with some variation between the size of its blade and how its hilt and pommel were fashioned. Around the thirteenth century, we see a change in the sword, where its blades begin to get narrower and sharper at its point. This was because armour was becoming tougher, and the slashing style of the sword was no longer effective. It now had to be used more as a thrusting weapon, but even with these changes the sword would gradually decline as a part of vital military equipment.
The sword places first on our list of the most important weapons in the Middle Ages, not just because it was so widely used in this period, but because so many medieval cultures viewed it as a symbol of military strength and power.
2. Firearms – The Dawn of Gunpowder and the End of Knights
The weapon that would transform the medieval world into the early modern one was the gun — handguns and arquebuses wielded by individuals, and the larger artillery pieces like cannons that could strike at fortifications. The invention of gunpowder in China in the early ninth century would trigger a series of new weapons. Gradually, these developments and innovations spread from eastern Asia and fundamentally changed how war was waged.
The rise of gunpowder weapons has often been talked about as a military revolution, although from our perspective it was a slow-moving one, taking generations. Introduced into Europe in the early fourteenth century, even by the end of the fifteenth century these weapons could prove to be slow and difficult to wield effectively. But military commanders understood that this technology would be the dominant weapon on the battlefield, and every kingdom, state, or principality was spending money and resources to build up their supplies. The states that were able to do so most effectively would emerge in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as the key powers in Europe and Asia.
3. Bows – The Weapon That Won Empires
Few weapons of the Middle Ages inspired as much poetry and fear as the bow. To medieval writers, it was more than wood and string — it was a living thing that bent, breathed, and struck from afar. One Old English riddle captured this deadly elegance:
Agob’s my name, if you work it out;
I’m a fair creature fashioned for battle.
When I bend, and shoot a deadly shaft
from my stomach, I desire only to send
that poison as far away as possible.
When my lord, who devised this torment for me,
releases my limbs, I become longer
and, bent upon my slaughter, spit out
that deadly poison I swallowed before.
No man’s parted easily from the object
I describe; if he’s struck by what flies
from my stomach, he pays for its poison
with his strength – speedy atonement for life.
I’ll serve no master when unstrung, only when
I’m cunningly notched. Now guess my name.
Combine a flexible stave of wood with a strong string and you have one of the most well-known weapons of the Middle Ages. There were many varieties of bows, and their effectiveness varied significantly depending on where and how they were used. Archers were usually found at battles or sieges throughout the medieval world, but they could become a dominant force under the right circumstances. The Mongols were able to conquer much of Asia and Europe through the use of horse archers, who combined a stronger type of bow with the greater mobility of their cavalry. The English would also rely on their longbowmen to win several important battles during the Hundred Years’ War. As Jim Bradbury writes, “There was no military situation in which the bow could not prove useful.”
4. Spears and Lances – The Backbone of Infantry and Knights
Kelly DeVries and Kay Smith note that “since the earliest times the spear, together with the sword, was the most important and widely used offensive weapon for both the infantry and cavalry.” Essentially a long stick that ended with a blade, the spear could be held and thrust at opponents, or thrown at them. When delivered from horseback, the weapon could be far more effective – this is how the idea of “mounted shock combat” developed, in which knights would couch the spear under their arms and use the speed of their horses to deliver a powerful blow.
The spear of the knight evolved into the lance – the weapon we commonly associate with jousting and tournaments, another lasting symbol of the Middle Ages.
5. Trebuchets – Medieval Siege Superweapons
Emerging in the twelfth century, the trebuchet was the first important development in siege machines since ancient times. It marked a great improvement over weapons like the catapult, providing a more formidable way to attack castles and other fortifications.
Jim Bradbury explains how it worked:
A container for heavy materials was placed on one end of a whippy pole, a sling to hold the stone or other missile at the other end. The pole was on a pivot. The loaded end was winched down and released. The weight made the loaded end rise rapidly and eject its contents, the sling whipping over at the last minute to give added impetus.
While today the trebuchet is more seen as an engineering challenge for college students or a fun way to throw pumpkins, in the Middle Ages it represented a new technology that forced military commanders to adapt their defences, a process that would be further enhanced by gunpowder weapons.
6. Crossbows – Levelling the Field Against Knights
While this weapon existed since ancient times, it was strangely not mentioned very much in early medieval Europe. Then, in the twelfth century, the crossbow made a comeback, serving as a way for regular soldiers to fight back against the better-armoured and equipped knights. Helen Nicholson describes the crossbow:
It was not a quick weapon to use, because spanning the bow (drawing back the string, locking it back with the ‘trigger’ and placing the arrow or bolt in position, ready to fire) took much longer than for the simple bow. But it could be used effectively by a comparative novice and was much more powerful than the simple bow. In a siege situation, or where a large group of crossbow archers were operating on a battlefield, it could be devastating, for it could pierce chainmail.
While the crossbow did get criticized as a dishonourable weapon, its use only grew in the later Middle Ages, and by the fifteenth century, cities were hosting large-scale shooting tournaments. The crossbow would remain a much-used weapon, even during the coming age of guns.
7. Greek Fire – The Byzantine Secret Weapon
The Byzantine Empire’s most feared “secret weapon,” Greek Fire, helped secure several crucial naval victories and kept Constantinople safe from siege. Its exact formula remains unknown even today — theories suggest ingredients such as saltpetre or quicklime — but its effects were unmistakably devastating. A thick, sticky liquid, it could be projected through bronze tubes mounted on ships, much like a primitive flamethrower. Once ignited, it clung to sails and hulls and, most terrifyingly, could not be extinguished by water, making enemy fleets especially vulnerable.
A related incendiary, naphtha, based on petroleum, was used in the medieval Middle Eastern world. Like Greek Fire, it gave its wielders a decisive advantage over foes who relied solely on steel, iron, and wooden ships.
8. Polearms – Pikes, Halberds, and Glaives That Stopped Cavalry
Halberds, pikes, glaives — and many other regional variants — all shared the same basic design: a long wooden shaft tipped with a blade or spike that could both cut and thrust. These polearms began to dominate European battlefields around 1300, proving that disciplined infantry armed with these inexpensive weapons could stop even the most heavily armoured knights.
The secret to their success was not the weapon alone but the way soldiers used it: massed in tightly packed formations, presenting a wall of blades that was nearly impossible for charging cavalry to break. In skilled hands and in large numbers, polearms turned ordinary foot soldiers into a deadly, defensive force — and sometimes an unstoppable offensive one.
9. Axes – From Viking Bearded Axes to Broad Battle-Axes
This weapon is often linked with the Early Middle Ages but remained in use for centuries. Peoples such as the Franks favoured smaller axes as throwing weapons, while in Scandinavia warriors wielded the larger battle-axe that has become iconic in our image of the Vikings.
Jim Bradbury explains:
The battle-axe was popular with the Vikings and often called a Norse or Danish axe. Vikings sometimes named their axes, such as ‘Witch’ or ‘Fiend’, suggesting their personal nature. The Vikings used bearded axes named from the shape of the drooping lower edge, and broad axes. The latter emerged in c. 1000, sometimes with a steel edge welded to the blade. The blade was narrowest at the socket, broadening to a curved edge about a foot long.
The axe’s simple design made it versatile and deadly — effective for both cutting through shields and striking powerful blows in close combat.
10. Daggers – The Final Weapon of Mercy and Survival
Essentially a smaller version of the sword, one should not disregard it as an important weapon of war. Ranging in size from 30 to 50 centimetres (11 to 20 inches), it was a common instrument, both on the battlefield and in day-to-day use. Easy to carry – and hide – daggers could be used with a minimum of training. An attacker could wield this weapon to cut, stab or throw, often in tight situations. By the thirteenth century many versions of the dagger emerged in medieval Europe – anelace, baselard and stiletto to name a few – that differed in how the blade was fashioned or how you gripped it. Meanwhile, the misericorde got its name for being associated with the end of battles, when the victorious soldiers had to decide what to do with their defeated opponents – either offer them “mercy” and take them as prisoners, or give them a “mercy” killing.
From the humble dagger to the mighty trebuchet, these weapons reveal how innovation and adaptation shaped medieval battlefields — and even shifted the balance of power between kings, knights, and common soldiers. Many of them, like the sword and the longbow, still hold a powerful place in our imagination, symbols of both the ingenuity and the brutality that defined the Middle Ages.
Further Readings:
Jim Bradbury, The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare (Routledge, 2004)
Jim Bradbury, The Medieval Archer (The Boydell Press, 1985)
Sue Brunning, The Sword in Early Medieval Northern Europe (The Boydell Press, 2019)
Kelly DeVries and Kay Smith, Medieval Military Technology, 2nd edition (University of Toronto Press, 2012)
Jean-Denis G.G. Lepage, Medieval Armies and Weapons in Western Europe (McFarland and Co., 2005)
Sean McLachlan, Medieval Handgonnes: The first black powder infantry weapons (Osprey, 2010)
Helen Nicholson, Medieval Warfare (Palgrave, 2004)
Top Image: British Library MS Royal 12 F. XIII, fol. 42v
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