Ancient Viking German Kisten Ball and Chain Flail X-XIII Cent Carved Handle COA

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Ancient Viking German Kisten Ball and Chain Flail X-XIII Cent Carved Handle COA:
$349.99

Ancient German/Viking/Varangians/Medieval Kisten Ball and Chain Flail (Chain Mace)X - XVProfessional cleaning and desalting! Museum quality restoration.Custom Made Hand Carved Handle in style of the period.Comes with Certificate of Authenticity.Axe Head Weight: 431 gr, 15.2 ozLength: 45.72 cm, 18\"Handle Weight: 184 gr, 6.5 ozHandle Length: 19\"Found near Kyiv, Ukraine.
The other type of European flail is a shorter weapon consisting of a wooden haft connected by a chain, rope, or leather to one or more roughly spherical striking ends. Modern works variously refer to this particular weapon as a \"military flail,\" \"mace-and-chain\" or \"chain mace,\" and sometimes erroneously label them as simply a \"mace\" or morning star, terms which technically apply only to rigid weapons.The haft is usually shown as approximately 1–4 feet long and the head can be a smooth metal sphere or a somewhat geometric shape, with some variants covered in spikes. The chain also varies, sometimes being no more than a few links to form a hinge, while others exceed the length of the haft and are several feet long. Artwork from the 15th century to the early 17th century shows most of these weapons having handles longer than 3 ft and being wielded with two hands, but a few are shown used in a single hand or with a haft too short to be used two-handed.Archaeologically, however, a type of military flail known as a kisten, with a non-spiked head and a leather, rather than chain, connection to the haft is attested in the 10th century in the territories of the Rus, probably being adopted from the either the Avars or Khazars. This weapon had spread into central and Eastern Europe in the 11th - 13th centuries and may be considered an ancestor of the ball-and-chain flail. Waldman (2005) documented several seemingly authentic examples of the ball-and-chain flail from private collections as well as several restored illustrations from German, French, and Czech sources. He states that the scarcity of artifacts and artistic depictions, combined with the almost complete lack of text references, suggests they were relatively rare weapons and never saw widespread use.[19] One of the reasons was the hazard the weapon posed to its wielder, especially the varieties with long chains and short handles. A missed swing would still retain momentum, causing the striking end to continue its arc around, potentially into the user\'s hand or body. A miss could also throw the user off balance, and even if a blow were struck, there would be a dangerously long recovery time before the user could ready another swing or defend himself.