A mace is a simple weapon that uses a heavy head on the end of a handle to deliver powerful blows. A weapon is a Tool used either in Hunting, or attack or defence in Combat for the purpose of subduing enemy personnel or to destroy enemy weapons A development of the club, a mace differs from a hammer in that the head of a mace is radially symmetric so that a blow can be delivered equally effectively with any side of the head. A club (also known as cudgel, baton, truncheon, night stick, and bludgeon) is among the simplest of all weapons A hammer is a tool meant to deliver an impact to an object The most common uses are for driving nails fitting parts and breaking up objects A mace consists of a strong, heavy wooden, metal-reinforced, or metal shaft, with a head made of stone, copper, bronze, iron or steel.

The head is normally about the same or slightly thicker than the diameter of the shaft and can be shaped with flanges, or knobs 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, or 700 to 900 mm). The maces of cavalrymen were longer and better designed for blows from horseback. The Cavalry (from French cavalerie) is the second oldest of the Combat Arms, and as Soldiers or Warriors who fought mounted on Two-handed maces could be even larger. The flail is often, though incorrectly, referred to as a mace. The flail is a medieval weapon made of one (or more weights attached to a handle with a hinge or chain.

Maces are rarely used today for actual combat, but a large number of government bodies (for instance the U.S. Congress), universities and other institutions have ceremonial maces used as symbols of authority, in rituals and processions and for other purposes. The Mace of the United States House of Representatives is one of the oldest symbols of the United States government. A university is an institution of Higher education and Research, which grants Academic degrees in a variety of subjects The ceremonial mace is a highly ornamented staff of metal and wood carried before a sovereign or other high official in civic ceremonies by a Mace-bearer, intended

Contents 1 History of the mace 1.1 Prehistory 1.2 The ancient world 2 The European Middle Ages and Beyond 2.1 Eastern Europe 2.2 Pre-Columbian America 2.3 World War I maces 3 Ceremonial Use 3.1 Parliamentary maces 3.2 Ecclesiastical maces 3.3 Parade maces 3.4 University maces 4 Heraldic use 5 Bomby Knockers 6 See also 7 Notes 8 External links

History of the mace

Prehistory

Archaeological evidence suggests that maces were used extensively in prehistory. Earthenware is a common Ceramic material which is used extensively for Pottery tableware and decorative objects Hanuman (हनुमत् sa-Latn '''Hanumat''' nominative singular sa हनुमान् sa-Latn ''Hanumān'' known also as ' Anjaneya' (son of Anjana is one of the The mace was first developed around 12,000 BC and quickly became an important weapon. It was the first weapon developed specifically for killing humans. The first wooden maces, studded with flint or obsidian, became less popular due to the development of leather armour that could absorb the blows. Flint (or flintstone) is a hard sedimentary Cryptocrystalline form of the Mineral Quartz, categorized as a variety of Chert Obsidian is a naturally occurring Glass formed as an extrusive Igneous rock. Armour (or armor) is protective covering most commonly manufactured from metals to prevent damage from being inflicted to an individual or a vehicle through use of direct contact Some maces had stone heads.

The discovery of copper and bronze made the first genuine metal maces possible. Copper (ˈkɒpɚ is a Chemical element with the symbol Cu (cuprum and Atomic number 29 Bronze is any of a broad range of Copper alloys, usually with Tin as the main additive but sometimes with other elements such as Phosphorus Many early cultures were unable to produce long, sharp and sturdy metal blades, which made the mace very popular. The Rajas, generals, and others that were high in command often had maces crafted of gold.

The ancient world

In the west, a beautifully-carved flint mace-head was one of the artifacts discovered in excavations of the Neolithic mound of Knowth in Ireland, and Bronze-age archaeology cites numerous finds of perforated mace-heads. The Neolithic (from Greek νεολιθικός — neolithikos from νέος neos, "new" + λίθος lithos Knowth (Cnobha is the site of a Neolithic Passage grave, one of the ancient monuments of the Brú na Bóinne complex in the valley

In ancient Egypt, stone mace heads were first used nearly 6,000 years ago in the predynastic period. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. The earliest known are disc maces with odd but beautifully formed stones mounted perpendicularly to their handle.

Maces as a weapon were used extensively in Egypt and neighboring Canaan. Canaanites redirects here For the 1940s social and political movement in Israel, see Canaanites (movement. However, in regions where armor and helmets became commonly worn during combat, their use became limited.

The problem with early maces was that their stone heads shattered easily and it was difficult to fix the head to the wooden handle reliably. The Egyptians attempted to give them a disk shape in the predynastic period (about 3850-3650 BC) in order to increase their impact and even provide some cutting capabilities, but this seems to have been a short lived improvement.

A rounded pear form of mace head known as a "piriform" replaced the disc mace in the Naqada II period of pre-dynastic Upper Egypt (3600-3250 BC) and was used throughout the Naqada III period (3250-3100 BC). Similar mace heads were also used in Mesopotamia around 2450-1900 BC.

An important, later development in mace heads was the use of metal for their composition. With the advent of copper mace heads, they no longer shattered and a better fit could be made to the wooden club by giving the eye of the mace head the shape of a cone and using a tapered handle.

More than 1,500 years after the Scorpion King was depicted upon an Egyptian mace head, we find inscribed on a Stela of Amadeh the 18th Dynasty King, Amenhotep II, recording that:

"His Majesty returned in joy of heart to his father Amun; his hand had struck down seven chiefs with his mace himself, which were in the territory of Takhsi"

The Shardanas or warriors from Sardinia who fought for Ramses II against the Hittities were armed with maces consisting of wooden sticks with bronze heads. Amenhotep II (sometimes read as Amenophis II and meaning Amun is Satisfied) was the seventh Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Sardinia (sɑrˈdɪnɪə Sardegna Sardigna or Sardinnya is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily) Many bronze statuettes of the times show Sardinian warriors carrying swords, bows and original maces.

The usage of maces in warfare is also described in the ancient Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabarata. Indian epic poetry is the Epic poetry written in the Indian subcontinent. The Rāmāyaṇa ( Devanāgarī: sa रामायण is an ancient Sanskrit epic attributed to the Hindu sage ( Maharishi) Valmiki Unique types of maces known as "Gadha" were used extensively in ancient Indian warfare. India has a long military history dating back several millennia

The ancient Romans did not make wide use of maces, probably because of the influence of armour, and due to the nature of the Roman infantry fighting style which involved the pilum (or spear) and the gladius (short sword used in a stabbing fashion). The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial The pilum (plural pila) was a heavy javelin commonly used by the Roman army in ancient times Gladius is a Latin word for Sword. Early ancient Roman swords were similar to those used by the Greeks The use of a heavy swinging-arc weapon in the well-disciplined tight formations of the Roman infantry would not have been practical.

Persians used a variety of maces. The Persian Empire was a series of Iranian empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland and beyond in Western Asia One simple explanation is the mode of Persian warfare. Unlike Romans, Persians fielded large numbers of heavily armored and armed cavalry (see cataphracts). The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial A cataphract was a form of Heavy cavalry used by nomadic eastern Iranian tribes and dynasties and later Ancient Greeks and Romans. For a heavily armed Persian knight, a mace was as effective as a sword or battle axe. Knight is the English term for a social position originating in the Middle Ages. In fact, Shahnameh has countless references to heavily armored knights facing each other using mace, axe, or swords. Shāhnāmé, or Shāhnāma ((alternative spellings are Shahnama Shahnameh Shahname Shah-Nama, etc

The European Middle Ages and Beyond

During the Middle Ages metal armour and chain mail protected against the blows of edged weapons and blocked arrows and other projectiles. Mail (also maille, often given as chain mail or chain maille) is a type of Armour or jewellery that consists of small metal rings linked Solid metal maces and war hammers proved able to inflict damage on well armoured knights, as the force of a blow from a mace is large enough to cause damage without penetrating the armour. For the tabletop games see Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40000. One example of a mace capable of penetrating armor is the flanged mace. What makes a flanged mace different from other maces is the flanges, protruding edges of metal that allow it to dent or penetrate even the thickest armor. A flange is an external or internal Rib, or Rim (lip for strength, as the flange of an Iron beam or I-beam Armour (or armor) is protective covering most commonly manufactured from metals to prevent damage from being inflicted to an individual or a vehicle through use of direct contact This variation of the mace did not become popular until significantly after knobbed maces. Although there are some references to flanged maces (bardoukion) as early as the Byzantine empire circa 900, (Ian Heath, "Armies of the Byzantine Empire 886-1118") it is commonly accepted that the flanged mace did not become popular in Europe until the 12th century. However, flanged mace heads were popular in the northern Muslim world even earlier, as some mace heads have been found even into ancient times.

Maces, being simple to make, cheap and straightforward in application, were quite common weapons. Peasant rebels and cheap conscript armies often had little more than maces, axes and pole arms. A peasant is an agricultural worker who subsists by working a small plot of ground The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape split and cut Wood, Harvest timber, as a Weapon Few of these simple maces survive today. Most examples found in museums are of much better quality and often highly decorated. A mace type commonly used by the lower classes, called the Holy Water Sprinkler, was basically a wooden handle, with a wooden or metal head and radiating spikes; the name most likely originates from the similarity to the church object. The terms morning star, goedendag and holy water sprinkler are used to describe medieval club-like weapons which included one or more spikes Another - very ironic - name for a similar weapon is Goedendag, Dutch language for "good day!". The terms morning star, goedendag and holy water sprinkler are used to describe medieval club-like weapons which included one or more spikes Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname A plançon a picot is a heavy and thick two-handed mace with an armour-piercing spike on top.

It is popularly believed that maces were employed by the clergy in warfare to avoid shedding blood (sine effusione sanguinis). The evidence for this is sparse and appears to derive almost entirely from the depiction of Bishop Odo of Bayeux wielding a club-like mace at the Battle of Hastings in the Bayeux Tapestry, the idea being either that he did so to avoid shedding blood or bearing the arms of war. Odo of Bayeux (c 1036 &ndash February 1097 Palermo) Norman Bishop and English earl was the half-brother of William the Conqueror, and was for The Battle of Hastings was the decisive Norman victory in the Norman Conquest of England. The Bayeux Tapestry (Tapisserie de Bayeux is a 50 cm by 70 m (20 in by 230 ft long embroidered cloth which explains the events leading up to the 1066 Norman invasion of The fact that his brother Duke William carries a similar item suggests that, in this context, the mace may have been simply a symbol of authority. ^[1] Certainly, other Bishops were depicted bearing the arms of a knight without comment, such as Archbishop Turpin who bears both a spear and a sword named "Almace" in the The Song of Roland or Bishop Adhemar of Le Puy, who also appears to have fought as a knight during the First Crusade, an expedition that Odo joined and died during. Knight is the English term for a social position originating in the Middle Ages. Turpin (died c September 2, 800) was an Archbishop of Reims during the late 8th century In the legendary Song of Roland, Almace, Almice or Almacia is the sword of Turpin Archbishop of Reims, one of the last three Franks The Song of Roland (La Chanson de Roland is the oldest remaining major work of French literature. Adhemar (also known as Adémar, Aimar, or Aelarz) de Monteil (died August 1, 1098) one of the principal personages The First Crusade was launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II with the dual goals of conquering the sacred city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land and freeing

Much of the popularity of this view can be attributed to the Dungeons and Dragons game, which often limited its cleric class to bludgeoning weapons, at first influenced by the popular belief, and later on to reduce the class's power in battle, a rule that was widely imitated. Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a Fantasy Role-playing game (RPG originally designed by The cleric is a Character class in Dungeons & Dragons and other Fantasy Role-playing games.

Eastern Europe

Maces were very common in eastern Europe, especially medieval Poland and Russia. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Eastern European maces often had pear shaped heads. These maces were also used by Moldavian king Stephen the Great who used the mace in some of his wars. Stephen III of Moldavia or Stephen III (c 1433 - July 2, 1504) also known as Stephen the Great ( Romanian: Ştefan see - Bulawa

Pre-Columbian America

The cultures of pre-Columbian America used clubs and maces extensively. The bulawa (buława булава булава bulava) was a Ceremonial mace or baton carried by a Hetman, an officer of the highest

The warriors of the Inca Empire used maces with bronze, stone or copper heads and wooden shafts. The Inca Empire (or Inka Empire) was the largest empire in Pre-Columbian America.

The Aztecs used a type of wooden club with sharp obsidian blades on the side (the macuahuitl), which can be regarded as a cross between club and sword. Aztec is a term used to refer to certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who achieved political Obsidian is a naturally occurring Glass formed as an extrusive Igneous rock. The macuahuitl (a name derived from the Nahuatl language) is a Weapon shaped like a wooden club

World War I maces

Mace-like weapons made a brief reappearance in the vicious trench warfare of World War I. Trench warfare is a form of warfare where both combatants have fortified positions and fighting lines are static World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Trench maces were hand-made and often crude weapons and used in the hand-to-hand combat of trench raiding operations. Hand-to-hand combat (sometimes abbreviated as HTH or H2H is a generic term for Close quarters fighting, particularly when the outcome is potentially fatal as in Melee Trench raiding was an often brutal feature of Trench warfare that came into being in World War I.

Ceremonial Use

Parliamentary maces

Ceremonial maces are important in many parliaments following the Westminster system. The ceremonial mace is a highly ornamented staff of metal and wood carried before a sovereign or other high official in civic ceremonies by a Mace-bearer, intended TalkParliament#Screen-size. -->A  parliament is a Legislature, especially in those The Westminster system is a democratic Parliamentary system of Government modelled after the British government (the Parliament of the United They are carried in by the sergeant-at-arms or some other mace-bearer and displayed on the clerks' table while parliament is in session to show that a parliament is fully constituted. A Serjeant at Arms (also spelled Sergeant at Arms, and sometimes Serjeant-at-Arms) is an officer appointed by a Deliberative They are removed when the session ends. The mace is also removed from the table when a new speaker is being elected to show that parliament is not ready to conduct business. Speaker of the House is a political term referring to a number of people In the United Kingdom and Canada, the Speaker of the House

The Scottish Parliament was presented with a mace by Her Majesty The Queen at the opening ceremony on 1 July 1999. "July 1st" redirects here For the Ayumi Hamasaki song see H (song. Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) It was designed and crafted by Michael Lloyd, a renowned silversmith who has a studio in south-west Scotland.

The mace is constructed of Scottish silver with an inlaid band of gold panned from Scottish rivers. The gold band is intended to symbolise the marriage of the Parliament, the land and the people.

The words "Wisdom, Justice, Compassion, Integrity" are woven into thistles at the head of the mace to represent the aspirations of the Scottish people for the Members of their Parliament. The head of the mace is surrounded by the words "There shall be a Scottish Parliament - Scotland Act 1998". Images are shown here [5] and [6].

Ecclesiastical maces

The term mace is also used for:

• The ceremonial mace, a short, richly ornamented staff, often made of silver, the upper part furnished with a knob or other head-piece and decorated with a coat of arms, usually borne before eminent ecclesiastical corporations, magistrates and academic bodies as a mark and symbol of jurisdiction. The ceremonial mace is a highly ornamented staff of metal and wood carried before a sovereign or other high official in civic ceremonies by a Mace-bearer, intended

• More specifically, the club-shaped beaten silver stick (mazza) carried by papal mazzieri (mace-bearers), Swiss Guards (church vergers), in papal chapels, at the consecration of bishops, and by the cursores apostolici (papal messengers); they carry their mace on the right shoulder, with its head upwards. A verger (or virger, so called after the staff of the office is a person usually a layperson, who assists in the ordering of religious services particularly Cursores is the plural of the Latin Cursor, 'runner' ie Messenger etcetera Formerly cardinals had mace-bearers. Mazzieri, once called servientes armorum, or halberdiers, were the bodyguard of the pope, and mazze (maces, Latin maxucae, mateae, mateolae, clavae, virgae) do not date back to the twelfth century (virgarii in chapter 40 of the Ordo of Cencius), but to the Catonis Age, as showed in his De re rustica.

Parade maces

Maces are also used as a parade item, rather than a tool of war, notably in military bands. Specific movements of the mace from the Drum Major will signal specific orders to the band he leads. A Sergeant Major of the Drums or drum major is the leader of a Marching band, Drum and bugle corps, or Pipe band. The mace can signal anything from a step-off to a halt, from the commencement of playing to the cut off. Many drum majors also add an element of showmanship with the mace, spinning it and tossing it in the air. (Some drum majors substitute a smaller baton known as a military baton. )

University maces

University maces are employed in a manner similar to Parliamentary maces. They symbolize the authority and independence of a chartered university. They are typically carried in at the beginning of a convocation ceremony.

Heraldic use

Like many weapons, especially from feudal times, once heraldry originated as a military discipline, maces have been used in blazons, either as a charge on the shield or as external ornament(s).

Thus, in France:

• the city of Cognac (in the Charente département): Argent on a horse sable harnessed or a man proper vested azure with a cloak gules holding a mace, on a chief France modern
• the city of Colmar (in Haut-Rhin): per pale gules and vert a mace per bend sinister or. Cognac is a commune in the French département of Charente, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Charente ( Saintongeais: Chérente, Occitan: T'Charanto) is a department in western France named after the Charente Colmar (Colmar kɔlmaʁ Alsatian: Colmer pronounced; Colmar between 1871-1918 and 1940-1945 also Kolmar) is a town and commune Haut-Rhin is a ''département'' of France named after the Rhine river Three maces, probably a canting device (Kolben means mace in German, cfr. Columbaria the Latin name of the city) appear on a 1214 seal. The arms in a 15th c. stained-glass window show the mace per bend on argent.
• the duke of Retz (a pairie created in 1581 for Albert de Gondy) had Or two maces or clubs per saltire sable, bound gules
• the Garde des sceaux ('keeper of the seals', still the formal title of the French Republic's Minister of Justice) places behind the shield, two silver and gilded maces in saltire, and the achievement is surmounted by a mortier (magistrate's hat)

Bomby Knockers

In Australia, some showbags found at the fair or show are inflatable maces commonly called "Bomby Knockers" (or sometimes spelt "Bommy Knockers") that look like an old baseball bat with spikes at the end. Retz is a town with a population of 4168 in the district of Hollabrunn in Lower Austria, Austria. The French word pairie is the equivalent of the English word Peerage, in the sense of an individual title carrying the rank of Pair ('peer' in English which derives The title Keeper of the Seals or equivalent is used in several contexts denoting the person entitled to keep and authorize use of the Great Seal of a given country Mortier is a well known organ manufacter from Antwerp, Belgium that made Orchestrions fairground organs and mostly dance organs from 1898 Copious amounts of fun are had with Bomby Knockers and are a staple feature of any Australian child's fair going experience.

See also

• Bulawa

Notes

External links

(incomplete)

• This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language Encyclopedia published by The Encyclopedia
• The Hunt Museum (enter "Mace" in Keyword in Description)
• Heraldica.org

---

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic