170 THE E!

\CYCLOl',+:1 >IA OF Sl'ORT

QUARTERSTAFF-The Weapon­
The quarterstaff was formerly in common use
among our En!!lish yeomen. Its dimensions
var y from 6! feet 10 8 � feet, or c1·en to 9� feet
in lt.!ngth and 4 or 5 inches in circumferl'm·e.
Although there is no :irbitr:iry rule as to the
Q1,:.\l!TER$TAH] THE ENCYCLOP.-EDIA OF SPORT
length, a nything l>l!yond 9l foet would be awk•
ward to the user.
That the quarterstaff was not of an uniform
length, the following verse from E\'ans' Old
Bal/11ds goes some way to prove. In the en­
counter hetwcen Robin Hood and Arthur a'
Bland, the tanner of Nottingham, the former
insists upon measuring weapons:
" • But let 111� me:i,ure,' s.�id joll y Robin,
• lkfore we hcgin our fr:1y,
1--.>r I'll not h.�,·e mine, to be longer than thine,
For th:it will be counted foul pl:iy.' ••
And we learn from the next verse that Arthur's
quarterstaff was 8½ feet in length, and was of
oak, as was also that of Robin. But as there
was no hard and fast rule as 10 length, so neither
was thert! as to material, a nd we may be sure
that there wc:re as many good staves of ash or
any otht:r suitable wood, as easily procured, as
there were of oak.
\\'e may assume that the quarterstaff was
never less than 6 feet, for it bore the s.1me
relation to the singl.:stick, as the two-handed
l:iword did to the ordinary sword.
\\"e think, therefore, a b.:tter name for it would
ha,·e been the " great stick," or, the " two-h:rnd.:<l
staff," in contradistinction from the"singlestick,"
which is about 3 feet long, or half the length
nnd proportions of the quarterstaff.
It! History, Literature, &c.-The etv­
mology of the word is not wry certain, an<l in
default of a better, we must take Dr. Johnson's
view, that it is so called from the manner of
using it : "One hand being placed at the
midc.lle, and the other equally between the end
an<l the middle." This, ro our mind, is not a
vc:ry satisfactory reason for the name, e\'ert if
the staff were invariabl y hdd in this manner,
but as a matter of fact, it is more usually held
with both hands in the middle, ahout 2 fet:t
apart, or in other words, each hand a bout , foot
from the middle.
Whether the learned doctor has hit upon the
right derirntion or not, it is a more plausibh:
one than that suggcskd by a writer in Nola
,111d Qurriu of August 31st, 1895, who implies
that it was so called from being the quarter of a
rod or pole in measurement, and says that the
Lancashire rod or pole being 7 ½ yards long, the
quarterstaff of that county was a considerably
more powerful weapon than those of other
counties, whose rod or pole was only 5! yards.
We unhesitatingly reject this dt:rivat1011, as it
would make even the Lancashire quarterstaff
only 5 feet 3 inches, while that of other places
would be �nly 4 feet 2½ inches, a length which
would obviously be too short to use as a double•
handed wea1>0n.
It seems curious at first sight that so little
should have been written either about the singlL�
stick or the quarterstaff, seeing that almost
every Old Eni;lish sport has had its historian,
.:rnd many of them a literatur.: of their own, but
171
while little enough has been written on �inglc­
stick, the writer on the qu,1rt.:rstaff has practi•
cally no data to go upon.
\\"ere it not for the well-described scene of a
"bout" with this weapon in the pagcs of :::iir
\\"alter Scott·s no,·c:I Iv,111ht1(, Chap. XI, between
the swineherc.l Gurth, and "the Miller," one of
Robin Hood"s men ; an<l a short account in
Strutt's Spt1rls 1111d 1'11sli111es 11/ /It,- E11.�•!ts/1
Pmple, and another in Ch::11nhcrs·s 0011!. ,,j
D,rys, together with a few kgendary ballads, the
sport would possibly haYe becn lust. and nt:ver
re\'ived, e1·cn in th.: b')'mnasium, which is the
only plat:e in which it is now practised. The
revi,·al occurred. if we recollect right, ahout the
)'Car 1868, and was brought about hy Captain
Hutton of the Kini:'s Dragoon Guards.
The dearth of litcrature on the sin;.:kstick
may be account("d for by tht: fact that it ' is only
the dummy or pr.ictict: weapon of the sword,
about which .:,·erything that can be sai<l has
be1.:n said.
In like manner, the quarterstaff may have
been the practi<"e wcapon of the Partisan, son11:
earlier examples of whose blades partook more
Ql' AWTEk�T.\Ft" OP TIIE S1x1m,:s1·:1 c..:,1'l N\'.
(1-'lfmt t',,fllni11 f/11/lt1,i's <uli�aic•11.)
of the chararter of a sword than of a spear,
notably one of Edward IV.'s time (v·id,- Skelton's
Illustrati,,11s of lltc .1lfr; -ritk Cullati,111, plate 87,
vol. ii.).
This, how.:,·.:r, is only conjcl·lurl". and the
quarterstaff may possihl y have been only crnh·cd
from the ordinary staff, for the quartt•rstafT has
existed in everything but name in e,·ery nge and
country.
It has its prototype in the dub of the ,;.wage,
the pilgrim"s staff, the mountain climhc:r·s ,rlpm­
sltJck, tht: Indian watchman's /11tl/1i, the jt"reed
of the Arab, and the Egyptian peasant 's 11dw•I,
which, Wilkinson remarks, the Moslems holtl in
such esteem, that they hal"C a saying:
"Nfzc l min c ,cn11n:, c ·nc1,.·,.,1, l,;ir.,k:, ::,in Alloh,""
0
" The slick c=1mc down from hc:wcn, !\ blc•-..,ing from
Goe.I. ""
( 1t/,1111ur; ,111d C11s/0111s 1' / flu .4m·ienl
£.�')'/Jli111tS, \'OJ. ii. p. 40.)
There is, we bclicl"e, no mention of the
quarterstaff by name in Chaucer or in Shake­
sp eare, and the earliest allusion that we can
find to the word is in l>ry<len, who speaks of
the manner in which it was rarril·c.l whl·n not
in use in attack or c.lefem:t: :-
" His 11uortcrst:\ffwhich he coul,I nc·�r for,:ike .
1111111: h:tl( lx:forc, :ind h:tlf hchind hi, b:,ck .••
 THE ENC\ 'CLOP.rEl>I:\ OF SPORT [QUARTEl<STA l'f'

lt st·cms prob:1blc that it went out of date than any book can teach them, the possibilities
soon aft er his time, for the bow was discarded of this hcalthr and fascinating exercise.
as a we:ipon after the rei�n of Charles 11., and ,\ for<·i gncr writing on the English in the
the qu:irtcr,;taff had bccn 1.:0-e:-.istcnt with the 1 ;th t·enturr says: "E\'ery thing that is called
how perhaps for centuries. fi ghting is a delicious thing to an Englishman,"
Use or Play-There is a little pamphlet and this st;1tcmcnt is confirmed hy one of our
still c�i,ting, but extrcmdy rare:, hy one R. own countrymen, John Anstey, of J'/1e Pkt1dc'r's
l'eerke, published in London, 1626, 4to., Guide fame, when he sars:
entilh.:cl 1'/1rtc lo"""; /1ei11,1; ,m £11gi,j·/1-Sp1111is/1
":Kow fii:hrini:'s in ir,;clf nn oction
m111/1a/ /<"rf,,rm,·d I>;• 11 IVtskr11 gmllmmn fJj That i;ivcs both p<>rtics ,oti<focti<>n,
1in:r.rhi,k, in D,7•,msl,ire, with an E11.i:lis/1 ,\ secret joy the bruiser know�
'/uarlerstajf, ag,1i11st three rt1pfrrs t111d p1111i,1rds, In i:h·ini: ancl rcccidng hlows,
11t Sharfrs , in Sp,,i11 [on l'\m·embt·r , 5th, 1625], A u:unclc°'"" ple:1,urc. only t:i,tccl
lly thu,c who've thoroughly been l,ostc,I."
in t/1e pns,·na ,,j the Dufrs, C,J11tl<'S, ,1/,rr,;uisc 'S,
1111d t1th,·r . r:rml Dt111s fJj Spain, /,,.,-11.1; the C(l/111a'I And this is the spirit, which, animating the
,,j II i,r. l'e eek..: himsdf was the actor in the lo\'crs of" shrewd knoC'ks," will speedily supply
comhat. them with the wa>·s and means of gi,·ing them
That this is not the only occasion on whid1 and taking them, or gi\'ing them and a\'Oiding
the staff has �<:en pined against the steel, we them.
find in Pierce Eg,tn's JJool.· ,,j Sports, p. 110, The same dress that is necessary for the
from ,tn obi1uary account of II A Sport,man of practice of broadsword, is suitable for that of
th..: Oki School," a Mr. Harry Smith who dicd the quarterstaff, with the addition of a left hand
at the age of eighty-four. padded glo\'c,
In this it is narrated that in the year 1 779, a F. H. HUTH.
serjt·ant of Elliot�• Hor,;c, "who wa� reputed one
of the best swordsrnt:n of the day, challen�l:cl
his sword a�ainst the squire's staff (quarterstaff)
to draw first blood. At the expiration of four
minutes. the squire ga\'e his acl\' ersarr the end
of his staff in the fon::hl·ad, whi<"h laid him flat
on his hack, and gained the \'irtor y. The staff,
whirh is 7 feel Io inches in length, is now pre·
s c rYcd, and has thirteen cuts of the sword."
This ml·ntiun of the ddi\'er y of a pt1i11I would
si:cm 10 agree with our conjccture that the
quartt:rstaff might havt: been the practice
weapon of the l'a rtizan (whose nomcndaturc,
1,y the way. is equally mi,t}'), and would thus
ha\'e bn·n used uoth to cut and thnrst. Also,
in Sir \\'ailt'r Scott's ar1.:011nt of the "bout"
hefore allu ded to, "C :unh dartt·cl his staff at his
(ant:11,:onist',) face with his left hancl."
Thcre has bc: en, we helie\'e, onl y one am·mpt
tc> rcduce the play of qu:irter�taff to a method
or manu:11 c xcn;is e, and it is gi,·cn in a small
work hy Thomas ,\. McCarthy, t·a llcd Quartt 'r•
slt1f/: t1 l'mttiml ,l/,11mal, wit/1 23 A�ures fJj
pusiti1111, published by \\', Swan Sonnen,chein
& Co., l'aternostcr Row, London, 1883. 24 pp.,
121110.0J.•
In our opinion, howl!\'Cr, the n:: is little to be
gairll'd by a �rstem, and we would rather say :
I.ct th e combatants take their stand opposite
cadt otht·r, with the quarteNa,·es poised in
their two hands, in the manner whith is most
l'Onn,nicnt to each, whctlwr fingers up or
fingers down, right or left leg forward as they
ph.:asc.
Let either make a II hit'' or a "point" whcr­
e\'er he can gct one in, with t·ilhcr end of his
�laff, and let the other slop the blows as he
may. All is fair in quarll' r,taff, and the com­
batants will lcarn for tht·mseh·es more quickly

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