Editing Mace (bludgeon) (section)

===Post classical history===
====Western Europe====

[[File:Drevnosti RG v3 ill082 - Pernath and Shestopiors.jpg|thumb|upright|220px|right|[[Pernach]] (left) and two shestopyors]]

During the [[Middle Ages]] metal armour such as [[Mail (armour)|mail]] protected against the blows of edged weapons.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=DeVries|first1=Kelly|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ifmRDwAAQBAJ&q=During+the+Middle+Ages+metal+armour+such+as+mail+protected+against+the+blows+of+edged+weapons&pg=PA29|title=Castagnaro 1387: Hawkwood's Great Victory|last2=Capponi|first2=Niccolò|date=2019-07-25|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4728-3357-0|language=en}}</ref> Though iron became increasingly common, copper and bronze were also used, especially in iron-deficient areas.

One example of a mace capable of penetrating armour is the flanged mace. The [[flange]]s allow it to dent or penetrate thick [[armour]]. Flange maces did not become popular until after knobbed maces. Although there are some references to flanged maces (''bardoukion'') as early as the Byzantine Empire c. 900<ref>{{cite book|first=Ian|last=Heath|title=Armies of the Byzantine Empire, 886–1118}}</ref> it is commonly accepted that the flanged mace did not become popular in Europe until the 12th century, when it was concurrently developed in Russia and Mid-west Asia.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}}

Maces, being simple to make, cheap, and straightforward in application, were quite common weapons.

It is popularly believed that maces were employed by the clergy in warfare to avoid shedding blood (''sine effusione sanguinis'').<ref>{{cite book|last=Disraeli|first=Isaac|title=Curiosities of Literature, Volume 1|year=1834|publisher=Lilly, Wait, Colman, and Holden|location=Boston|url=https://archive.org/details/curiositieslite01disrgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/curiositieslite01disrgoog/page/n238 230]}}</ref> The evidence for this is sparse and appears to derive almost entirely from the depiction of Bishop [[Odo of Bayeux]] wielding a club-like mace at the [[Battle of Hastings]] in 1066 in the [[Bayeux Tapestry]], the idea being that he did so to avoid either shedding blood or bearing the arms of war.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Character and Career of Odo, Bishop of Bayeux (1049/50-1097) |journal=Speculum |date=1975 |last=Bates |first=David R. |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=1–20 |doi=10.2307/2856509 |jstor=2856509 |s2cid=163080280 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2856509 |accessdate=2022-01-19 }}</ref>

In the 1893 work ''Arms and Armour in Antiquity and the Middle Ages'', Paul Lacombe and Charles Boutell state that the mace was chiefly used for blows struck upon the head of an enemy.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Lacombe|first1=Paul|title=Arms and armour in antiquity and the Middle Ages|last2=Boutell|first2=Charles|publisher=Reeves and Turner|year=1893|location=London|pages=121}}</ref>

====Eastern Europe====

[[File:MWP Buzdygan Radziwillow.JPG|thumb|220px|right|[[Shestopyor]]-type mace (in literal translation ''six-feathers)'' used by the [[rotmistrz]]s of the private army of the [[Radziwiłł]] family]]

Eastern European maces often had pear shaped heads. These maces were also used by the Moldavian ruler [[Stephen the Great]] in some of his wars (see [[Bulawa]]).{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}}

The mace is also the favourite weapon of [[Prince Marko]], a hero in [[South Slavic languages|South Slavic]] epic poetry.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}}

The [[pernach]] was a type of flanged mace developed since the 12th century in the region of [[Kievan Rus']], and later widely used throughout the whole of [[Europe]]. The name comes from the Slavic word ''pero'' (''перо'') meaning [[feather]], reflecting the form of pernach that resembled a fletched [[arrow]]. Pernachs were the first form of the flanged mace to enjoy a wide usage. It was well suited to penetrate plate armour and [[chain mail]]. In the later times it was often used as a symbol of power by the military leaders in [[Eastern Europe]].<ref>[http://otlichnik.tripod.com/medmace3.html Medieval flanged maces] by Shawn M. Caza.</ref>

====Pre-Columbian America====
The cultures of pre-Columbian America used clubs and maces extensively. The warriors of the [[Moche (culture)|Moche]] state and the [[Inca Empire]] used maces with bone, stone or copper heads and wooden shafts.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}} The [[quauholōlli]] was used in Mesoamerica.

====Asia====

[[File:Pageantry Figurine, Tomb of Ming Prince Zhu Tan (10144514616).jpg|thumb|220px|right|Mace polearm-wielding figurine from the tomb of [[Ming dynasty]] prince Zhu Tan, 10th son of the [[Hongwu Emperor]]]]

Maces in Asia were most often steel clubs with a spherical head. In Persia, the "Gorz" (spherical-head mace) served as a primary combat arm across many eras, most often being used by heavy infantry or Cataphracts. In India a form of these clubs was used by wrestlers to exercise the arms and shoulders. They have been known as [[gada (mace)|gada]] since ancient times.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}}

During the Mughal era, the flanged mace of Persia was introduced to South Asia. The term ''shishpar'' is a Persian phrase which literally translates to "six-wings", to refer to the (often) six flanges on the mace. The shishpar mace was introduced by the [[Delhi Sultanate]] and continued to be utilized until the 18th century.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}}

<gallery>
File:Indian shishpar (flanged mace).jpg|Indian shishpar (flanged mace), all-steel construction, with eight knife-edged, hinged flanges, 18th-19th century, {{convert|26|in|abbr=on}} long
File:Indian shishpar (flanged mace) 3.jpg|Indian shishpar (flanged mace), steel with solid shaft and eight-flanged head, {{convert|24|in|abbr=on}}
File:Indian tabar-shishpar 4.jpg|Indian (Deccan) tabar-shishpar, an extremely rare combination tabar axe and shishpar eight-flanged mace, steel with hollow shaft, {{convert|21.75|in|abbr=on}}, 17th to 18th century
</gallery>