04-14-2010, 05:31 PM
Finally! Something I'm qualified in... Dark Age weaponry. Yes the spear was a favourite weapon among Saxons and British alike. Actually (I believe this was in either Blake or Scott Loyd's book "Pendragon" [sp?]) I believe that an elm shaft about seven feet long, sharpened and hardened in fire, was the favourite weapon of the British in the kingdom of Gwynedd and in Powys, where originl Celtic culture was revived by semi-romanised Votadini settlers from the north came to hold the land. also, elm javelins were popular, they just whitled the sticks until they were thin enough to slip through mail. Also they apparently threw these lances/javelins/spears from horseback. Actually a Welsh tale of King Arthur had him leaning on his shield, exhuasted, after the Battle of Camllan and this guy comes out of nowhere with one of these javelins on horseback, throws it, and it slips through his armour injuring him mortally. Arthurisms aside (it was the only example I had) the spear does seem to have been the staple weapon in 5th century Britain. Also in the southern kingdoms they seemed to have used spears of all different kinds with all sorts of jagged spearheads to leave nasty injuries on their way out.
Nicholas
