Best Weapon of the Middle Ages

[Vandal Warlord]

The Overall best weapon.

 

[Yeekim]

Bubonic plague.

 

[aronnax]

Lets see, the Mongol Composite Bow comes into mind after firing dead bodies into sieged cities to break their morale.

Death at a Distance

 

[flyingchicken]

With what criteria?

Anyway, I'd say simple polearms in general and the lance (which implies horses).

 

[philippe]

diplomacy. just look at Filips the good of bourgundy and what happened to his son.

 

[Taras Bulba]

I say the longbow. It allowed for long range combat, which is the closet to what we do today.

My second choice would be a polearm because it was an excellent for of defense (at least for what they had at that time)

 

[mrtn]

The cannon. Revolutionized ship and fortress building much more than any longbow did.

 

[Taras Bulba]

cannon isn't on the list though

 

[Bugfatty300]

The arquebus. Specifically with a stored energy type lock.

But no gunpowder weapons on the list.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

I voted for the Halberd. The weapon had many many advantages over contemporary melee ones.

First, the weapon is functional both as a pike and a two-handed axe. The tip is effective at puncturing armor and bringing down cavalry, the axe is capable of cleaving a man in two with relative ease.

Second, the butt-end of the weapon is as useful in combat as the head. But wielding it as a quarterstaff, one can deliver multiple blows in succession, which can knock an enemy off balance, or deflect incoming blows; the shaft itself, being made of wood, is also functional in the defensive role.

Third, range. It has all the benefits above, plus an extra arm's reach to do it with. If being wielded as a two-handed axe, the additional leverage allows greater applied force; if engaging in even closer combat, it can be used as a quarterstaff with a big sharp end, as described above.

All in all, the Halberd was a devastating weapon when correctly used.

 

[Sharwood]

Bubonic plague.

Hah, just what I was going to say.

But seriously, you can't really vote for an "overall best weapon," much like you can't vote for an "overall best person," or "overall best fishing tool." It's situational.

 

[Huayna Capac357]

Longbow, crossbow, shortbow, and throwing axe.

 

[Onionsoilder]

Best melee weapon would be the Halberd. A skilled Halberdier could best anyone else in hand-to-hand combat, with the exception of maybe Greatswords, but those were more situational.

Best ranged weapon could be the crossbow. The longbow had a greater range, but required a huge amount of skill and years of training to use effectively. A serf could pick up a crossbow and down a knight with relative ease.

 

[RalofTyr]

The bible....

Better than ten plagues.

 

[aronnax]

The cannon. Revolutionized ship and fortress building much more than any longbow did.

I dont know, the cannons were heavily primitive in the middle ages (Taking the time to be Fall of Western Rome to Eastern Rome)

Most cannons at that time had horrible accuracy and was only effective against the enemy on the first usage by terrifying them. Despite their role in the decisive Crecy, their impact on the Medieval world was tiny say until the final Ottoman siege of Constantinople

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Surprise. The best weapon was surprise . . . surprise and fear. The two best weapons were surprise and fear. And these red uniforms. The three best weapons were . . .

 

[MagisterCultuum]

If we're going to have cannons as a possibility,should we also have Trebuchets? They were superior at the time.

I'd say the best weapon was the human mind.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

I just noticed, and thought I would point out that a Morning Star and a Flail are not the same thing. A Flail is a Morning Star with its head on a chain; a Morning Star simply has the head mounted on a handle.

 

[Vandal Warlord]

My mistake, sorry about that.

 

[Yoda Power]

The Halberd. It's a superior weapon.