Original Item: Only One Available. Now this is a lovely example of a late Medieval to early Renaissance era Maul, more affectionately known as a “War Hammer”. The Maul was found in Eastern Europe, and has retained its material quite well, well enough to the point you can still see ornate carvings on the sides. The designs carved are unknown to use and was most likely done so to give it a more personalized appearance.

A war hammer is a weapon that was used by both foot soldiers and cavalry. It is a very old weapon and gave its name, owing to its constant use, to Judah Maccabee, a 2nd-century BC Jewish rebel, and to Charles Martel, one of the rulers of France. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the war hammer became an elaborately decorated and handsome weapon.

The war hammer was a popular weapon in the late medieval period. It became somewhat of a necessity in combat when armor became so strong that swords and axes were no longer able to pierce and ricocheted upon impact. The war hammer could inflict significant damage on the enemy through their heavy impact without the need to pierce the armor.

This example measures 6” from end to end with a width measuring 1 ¼” at the widest point. We believe that it is the type of war hammer called a "kulunk", which is one of the "piercing" types, and it can be seen that the spike end would be very effective at penetrating armor and helmets. This design spread to areas in Eastern Europe, however these are usually unadorned. The designs engraved into this definitely resemble other kulunk examples we have seen. It comes mounted on a wooden dowel to imitate the polearm it would have been attached to which is then seated inside of a lovely wooden base with a museum style brass ID plate.

The plate reads as:

MEDIEVAL OTTOMAN WAR HAMMER
16TH - 17TH CENT. AD.
EASTERN EUROPE

The Middle Ages ended sometime in the 15th Century, but this weapon was still well used into the 16th and 17th centuries. The maul head itself was roughly dated and could very well be Medieval era and not the Renaissance.

A lovely piece of history ready for further research and display.

Ottoman wars in Europe
A series of military conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and various European states took place from the Late Middle Ages up through the early 20th century. The earliest conflicts began during the Byzantine–Ottoman wars, waged in Anatolia in the late 13th century before entering Europe in the mid-14th century with the Bulgarian–Ottoman wars. The mid-15th century saw the Serbian–Ottoman wars and the Albanian-Ottoman wars. Much of this period was characterized by Ottoman expansion into the Balkans. The Ottoman Empire made further inroads into Central Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries, culminating in the peak of Ottoman territorial claims in Europe.

The Ottoman–Venetian wars spanned four centuries, starting in 1423 and lasting until 1718. This period witnessed the fall of Negroponte in 1470, the siege of Malta in 1565, the fall of Famagusta (Cyprus) in 1571, the defeat of the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 (at that time the largest naval battle in history), the fall of Candia (Crete) in 1669, the Venetian reconquest of Morea (Peloponnese) in the 1680s and its loss again in 1715. The island of Corfu under Venetian rule remained the only Greek island not conquered by the Ottomans.

In the late seventeenth century, European powers began to consolidate against the Ottomans and formed the Holy League, reversing a number of Ottoman land gains during the Great Turkish War of 1683–99. Nevertheless, Ottoman armies were able to hold their own against their European rivals until the second half of the eighteenth century.

In the nineteenth century the Ottomans were confronted with insurrection from their Serbian (1804–1817), Greek (1821–1832) and Romanian (1877–78) subjects. This occurred in tandem with the Russo-Turkish wars, which further destabilized the empire. The final retreat of Ottoman rule began with the First Balkan War (1912–1913), and culminated in the signing of the Treaty of Sèvres after World War I, leading to the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire.