Did Two-Handed Maces Even Exist in History?

Large flanged or spiked maces are quite popular in fantasy media, but when you look at real medieval and renaissance era weapons you just see short, single-handed maces. Did two-handed versions (pole maces, if you will) actually exist? We'll see...

The two-handed LARP mace you see in this video is a longer version of Calimacil's Odo II:

Testing a polehammer:

Other videos like this:

Yes, Giant Swords Existed, BUT...

Military Flails Didn't Exist? - Lets Take a Closer Look!

Yes, Gunblades Are Real, BUT...

*** Sources ***

Ceremonial(?) mace from North India, 17thC:
Over 4000 year old spherical mace from Cyprus:
Roughly 2000 year old copper mace from Egypt:
Spiked mace with partisan-like blade:

*** Music credits ***

Outro:
"Highland Storm" by The Slanted Room Records
Used with artist's permission

*** Merch ***

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[Skallagrim]

Seeing how quite a few people bring up the Japanese Kanabō / Tetsubō: The reason I didn't mention it here is because I see it as a studded war club rather than a mace. To be fair, the classification can get a little tricky... Normally I would define a mace as having a distinct striking end mounted on a haft. I guess that would technically make some of the two-handed morning stars I showed in this video spiked clubs rather than maces. How should we even define a spiked mace in a way that distinguishes it from a spiked club? What do you think?

[Overlord]

"Someone who could afford plate armor but only a wooden weapon" Bro had a budget

[Caryll_byrgenwerth-scholar]

Before watching the video I'm just going to assume that at least someone somewhere in thousands of years of human history was a true chad with a warhammer so big that nobody (including himself) could ever wield.

[Drachinifel]

I would note that a number of Inca stone-headed maces are almost certainly two-handed, although one-handed versions were more common :)

[TheOdinsLance]

I've always found it pretty funny that people getting stabbed in medieval tapestries look so sad rather than freaking out.
they always have a face that reads "darn..." rather than "oh shit!"

[Yorosero]

In the Chinese military classic Wujing Zongyao, written 1040 to 1044, there is a section on maces that depicts a weapon with a spiked mace on each end and clearly meant to be used with both hands.

[BookBat]

I've actually been to a torture museum, they're actually really fun because of how interactive they are, no I will not elaborate.

[JohnFWitt]

Mythologically, Thor’s hammer Mjolnir gets its strange appearance because it was supposed to be a long-handled war hammer but its makers were interrupted while it was being crafted. But Thor was strong enough to wield it with one hand anyways. It seems like there wouldn’t be a story like that in Norse society if there weren’t at least some two-handed heavy warhammers out there.

[timothyfavorite]

The japanese Tetsubo, and Chinese wolf tooth club may be worth mentioning too.

[karasek]

Actually Hussites used a lot of wierd weapons through their times and i think there is also a evidence of a two handed morning star just as you showed in the video... They called it "Kropáč" which is a Czech word for morningstar, riders used shortened version and footmen used the two handed one also those weapons were mostly reworked agricultural tools so the people knew how to use them and they were pretty cheap.

As always, thank you for the video Skall!

[gacrazy]

Polearms maces with spikes on top could have played nicer in formation. You could threaten formations of cavalry by bracing. Anytime we see these two handed weapons, it seems they were very rarely made for casual carry and meant to be brought to a battlefield, so the logic extends to these rarely seen two handed maces.

[augustuscrow]

Idk how Skallagrim manages to telepathically read my mind, but nearly every upload for quite some time has been on a subject I was wondering about just a couple days prior.

[vitaminc]

i am always in awe that you always manage to find these funky historical drawings

[mikeykay]

“Club+ the enhanced version” lmfao love it

[outsideiskrrtinsideihurt]

If you count a kanabo/tetsubo as a type of mace then yeah they’re quite a lot of variants

Edit: even if you only count the kanabo with smaller studded areas, there are still a few of different types

[superrobotmonkeyhyperteamf]

Two handed Maces in form of Morningstars, Warflails etc were really common in the german regions. there are sources from middle ages right up to the 18th century maybe even later. German arsenals tend ot have quite a few of them and contemporary sources praise them highly for the defense of cities and fortresses. they are often named first when authors talk about what weapon one should buy for defense of cities. they exists with with chains or without and were purchased in large quantities. according to some the reason we dont know much about them is that they were not considered "knightly" weapons. Although i rather assume they were simply boring weapons to use . they could go up to 2, 50-3, 50 meters.

There is one other thing often called böhmischer Ohrlöffel/bohemian earspoon (sometimes wrongly connected to partisans) which were two handed clubs for self defense often worn by peasants and also used to sally port from cities. there are some contemporary pictures where one can see them. Grimmelshausen mentions them for example. some sieges apparently saw them being used in the thirty years war.

But i agree its really hard to find more information despite them often being kept in arsenals.

[RotundRager]

Aside from the kanabo people have mentioned, I would point out that there were also a lot of fantasy style two handed hammers that existed in the realm of TOOLS in the medieval era. Mauls and sledgehammers certainly existed, and while they would have been designed for tool work, many tools have been forced into the role of weapon in times of need in the past. Those would be considerably less likely to have been depicted in drawings and paintings of the day as the richest guy on the battlefield wouldn't be the one swinging it.

[CreepyMF]

I always did enjoy these deep dives into historical weaponry.

[quarkraven]

Great video Skall. I love videos that incorporate (1) answers to distinct, memorable questions that (2) provide a launching pad for historical overview on a given topic and (3) incorporate the rational basis for why things were done the way they were throughout history. I like longer videos as well, but short ones like this (i can digest it in 5 min at 2x speed) are quite effective as well. Yes, I was both entertained and learned something so thank you.

[mf]

I visited a torture museum in Rothenberg ob der Tauber. It was quite a lot larger than I had anticipated it being, but still rather unique being able to see the actual devices.