Talk:Morning star (weapon)

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"holy water sprinkler (from its resemblance to the aspergillum sometimes used in the Catholic Mass)."

.... isn't that on a chain connected to a stick? doesn't that contradict:

"the name "morning star" is often erroneously applied to the military flail (also known as the therscol), a similar weapon, but with the head attached by a short chain."

isn't that on a chain connected to a stick?—I've never seen one that was made in such a fashion. This photograph depicts a typical aspergillum; as you can see its head is attached directly to its handle. —No-One Jones ^(m) 07:56, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)

If a morning star is distinct from a flail, why is it illustrated with a picture of one? Franey 09:57, 12 July 2005 (UTC)

There is no common agreement about the terms. MathKnight 00:49, 25 July 2005 (UTC)

Tonight, I noticed that in the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5e book, the picture of a morning star matches this description. One of my player's has expressed disbelief, calling that mace. I think actually the term "Morning Star" refers not to the weapon, but to the ball of spikes on the end of it. Therefore the correct usage would be to say "Morning Star Flail" or "Morning Star Mace". Its not clear cut however, and I think someone should ask a real Medieval Historian. -- NathanO 13:57, 24 August 2005 (UTC)

If I recall correctly morning star can have a short chain connecting the 'star' to the handle as opposed to shorter handle and longer chain of flail. 11:03, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

The "holy water sprinkler" is another name for a type of Flail (weapon). Any weapon with a heavy mass connected to a short haft by a chain falls under the category of flail, not morningstar (whether flanged, spiked, or a just simple iron lump).

And morningstars are distinct from maces in that they have a long spike protruding from the head of the weapon. Other than that, they can be smooth, or spiked elsewhere along the metal of the head.

The "goedendag" is like a morningstar, but is more of a polearm. It was an metal spike jammed into the end of a shaft of wood, and bound by an iron ring to prevent the wood around the spike from splitting. It was quite versatile and could be used like the pike it most resembled, or could be swung to smack things with the heavy ring area. The goedendag really deserves its own article, under polearms. - CW

I compleatly agree with Nantho on this one and that the discription can be placed on any type of weapon as long as it has the spiky head Dobington

[edit] Interwiki

Can of worms, I know, but this article is connected by mutual interwiki to Fr:Fléau d'armes. Does Fléau d'armes really mean morningstar, or should that article be linked to Flail (weapon) instead? --Iustinus 22:35, 21 August 2005 (UTC)