Editing Mace (bludgeon) (section)

====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>