10 Medieval Weapons That Will Surely Amaze You

A culverin was basically a cannon. Hand culverins were used for drive by shootings on horseback, but standard culverins were larger and used for shooting projectiles at the enemy from a greater distance, much like the modern concept of a cannon.

Culverins are simple ancestors of the musket and what we now think of as a cannon.

Using the technology of Greek Fire, flamethrowers were the most powerful weapons of the Byzantine navy.

The Chinese, of course, improved on the flamethrowers, by adding double piston bellows that enabled them to shoot fire on both the down and the upstroke. That meant a pretty constant stream of flames coming at the enemy.

The Black Plague was one of the biggest enemies of European troupes during the 14th Century AD. And during that time, the Chinese were celebrating not having the Plague by using that wonderful gunpowder for things like missiles.

These missiles could fly hundreds of feet into the air. Then, after the main booster of the missiles were depleted, rockets were ignited and sent off to cause mayhem and destruction below on the enemy.

This weapon from the Italian Renaissance, was a small shield combined with a lantern and sometimes other items.

Some of these items included gauntlets with serrated blades, spikes, and a mechanism that the wearer could use to turn the lantern light up or down to distract or blind the enemy.

At first, when you look at a spring loaded triple dagger, it just looks like a single-bladed weapon. When the wielder of the weapon presses the release, however, the blade splits into three blades and gives the advantage over someone when parrying.

You’ve heard of catapults before. The trebuchet is basically that, only more high-powered. These could hurl 300 pounds of projectiles at the enemy, whereas the former, less-impressive catapult couldn’t handle such a massive load.

The catapult came into existence during the 4th Century BCE, but it wasn’t until the 12th Century AD that the trebuchet made its appearance.

A trebuchet could launch its load up to about 0.5 miles.

Some of the most popular ammunition for catapults was dead bodies. They used both human and animal bodies to launch at the enemy. This had a two-fold effect.

Any projectile hurtled someplace can cause physical damage. Think about a penny dropped from the Empire States Building. It will crush what it lands on, despite being small.

Secondly, an odd but effective biological warfare weapon, dead bodies are riddled with disease and bacteria. This left a lasting effect on the enemy beyond repairing some buildings or weapons.

During the Crusades, a man named Lou Qianxia in China was busy with inventing land mines. The primitive form was hollowed out cannon balls, filled with alternative forms of gun powder referred to as “magic,” “poison,” or “blinding and burning” gun powders.

These land mines were placed strategically across a field. When the enemy was standing on the landmines, the fuses were lit, and the explosions destroyed the enemy pretty quickly.

By the 13th Century, the self-trespassing land mines were around, and could go off without a fuse. These were activated by pressure when someone stepped on them, much like our modern-day land mines.

This crazy weapon was an invention of the famed Archimedes himself. He was given unlimited resources and asked to design a defense for the city against invaders by sea.

The Claw was a series of ship-capturing crane-like wooden arms with hooks. These machines would reach down into the water, grab, and lift enemy ships, and then drop them again, causing them to capsize.

The Romans attacking the cities thought that they were fighting the Roman gods themselves.

The hellburners were basically suicidal ships that were filled with combustibles and set afire.

Also known as a fireship, these boats were sent into the enemy’s fleet while aflame, and caused damage to the enemy, ensued panic among them, and caused them to break formation, giving the other side an advantage in battle.