In regards to this recent message: “Saxon books was there ever a mention of Quarterstaff. I realize Uhtred and friends are seasoned, mail garbed, sword wielding >warriors that would have no interest in such a weapon or art, but the reason I ask is Quarterstaff fighting is a decidedly Saxon phenomenon.”
There is actually no such thing as a ‘quarter staff’. It is a staff and the ‘quarter’ part is an indication of where the staff is being held – in the lower quarter of the staff. There is another style of fighting called ‘half staff’. Again this is an indication of where the staff is held, though it would be more accurate to call itl thirds. In most films that say ‘quarter staff’ when in fact the fighting style is ‘half staff’. I think they use half staff as it is a safer style and makes lots of noise. Quarter staff is more lethal as you can get in more momentum. I fight with a staff from time to time and in a real rough house fight you can slip from half to quarter and back again.
A Saxon weapon? Although the use of a staff (or its shorter brother the stave) is common through all ages as an aid to walking, I suspect its main change to a weapon would have come after the Norman Conquest when the Normans were nervous about the English owning a weapon. Of course a staff is not a weapon, until you actually use it as such! Basically a staff is a spear without a pointed metal head and its use in a fight is the same or similar to that of a man armed with a spear, but no shield.
Keep up the book writing: your books have always been my favourites.
Geoff