MEDIEVAL BRONZE MACE HEAD

Ca. 1200-1400 AD. Medieval Western Europe. A bronze mace head with rounded pyramidal projections, vertical flanges and a small circular shaft hole. Excellent condition. Cavalry shaft-mounted weapons like battle hammers, maces and axes were often very small and mounted on long handles. The speed and momentum in swinging such a weapon were made effective by the long shaft length and whipping action of the weapon rather than by the brute weight of the weapon itself as those used by ground infantry. For more information on mace heads, see Oakeshott, E. (2012). European Weapons and Armour - From the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution. Boydell Press, 62-68.Size: L:38mm / W:37mm ; 8.8g. Provenance: Property of a European gentleman, formerly acquired on the UK Art Market in the 1990s.