Middle Ages for Kids

Medieval Weapons
& Tools
Chain mail, plate armor for men and horses, the longbow and
flail were some of the advances during the Middle Ages. Other
weapons included battering rams, daggers, knives, battle axes,
and glaives (spears). A lance was a long spear with a metal tip
used by knights on horseback.
A flail was used for close combat. It referred to any weapon that
was attached to a rope or chain and swung against the enemy.
The portion that actually hit the enemy could be made of wood
or metal or anything you had. One type of flair was called a
mace. A mace is a flail with a round metal ball with spikes at the
end of short chain. Flails were invented as an agricultural tool.
But it was soon recognized as a useful as a weapon. If you had a
piece of wood and a piece of rope, you could make a flail and
have something to use to defend yourself.  
Archers used longbows and arrows, the arrows tipped with
poison for battle. Longbows were usually as tall as the user,
which is how they got their name. A smaller weapon was the
very lethal crossbow. Crossbow arrows were made of metal and
considerably smaller in size than longbow arrows. Because the
arrows were smaller, you could carry more of them at one time.
Unlike longbows, crossbows could be hidden and used in a
surprise attack.
The caltrop was a metal spike that you threw on the ground in
front of an advancing army. Any man or horse that accidently
stepped on a caltrop would be injured and slowed down.
Shields were hand held and used to protect fighters.
Chain mail was worn to protect the body. It was made of
thousands of interlinked rings of metal. Chain mail was
expensive, but it did help the wearer survive a glancing blow. A
direct hit, with a sharp point, however, could penetrate chain
mail.
Armor started as metal helmets and shields. Then metalsmiths
began making metal plates of steel that covered the chest. Over
time, a suit of armor was developed that covered the wearer
from head to toe. These suits were expensive, hot, heavy, and
took a great deal of practice to use. They added a lot of weight
for a horse to carry, which was a drawback. Because a full suit
of armor was so heavy, the wearer often had trouble getting up
again without help. This, too, was a drawback. 
Gunpowder entered the Middle Ages around the 1300s. It took
time to create weapons and techniques to effectively use this
new weapon - gunpowder.