Deeds of Arms and Other Matters Medieval and Otherwise
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Armour Piercing Arrowheads
What quality metal was used on medieval arrowheads? Which types were used to pierce armor? This article from the Royal Armouries looks at the question.
It's just as likely that these arrowheads were hardened in order to help them keep an edge so they cut better against fleshy targets (e.g., horses)--that's how most arrows did their damage, and casual handling can ruin the edge of a soft iron weapon. After all, primary-source accounts show us that arrows almost never penetrated plate armor, so where does this sudden need to find plate armor-piercing arrows come from? And if the bodkin points were intended to penetrate mail--the only kind of armor that could be reliably penetrated--they wouldn't need to be hardened which explains why they weren't.
There in fact numerous examples of hardened arrowheads. Do by all means read the book 'secrets of the english warbow' by Hugh Soar for example, this will make things more clear for you on the subject of plate armour piercing.
It's just as likely that these arrowheads were hardened in order to help them keep an edge so they cut better against fleshy targets (e.g., horses)--that's how most arrows did their damage, and casual handling can ruin the edge of a soft iron weapon. After all, primary-source accounts show us that arrows almost never penetrated plate armor, so where does this sudden need to find plate armor-piercing arrows come from? And if the bodkin points were intended to penetrate mail--the only kind of armor that could be reliably penetrated--they wouldn't need to be hardened which explains why they weren't.
ReplyDeleteRegards--Hugh
There in fact numerous examples of hardened arrowheads. Do by all means read the book 'secrets of the english warbow' by Hugh Soar for example, this will make things more clear for you on the subject of plate armour piercing.
ReplyDeleteThe Royal Armouries article is now here
ReplyDeletehttp://www.royalarmouries.org/what-we-do/research/analytical-projects/armour-piercing-arrowheads