If you think some of today’s modern weapons can do a great deal of damage with relatively minimal effort, you’re correct.

While ancient medieval weapons might seem horribly crude by comparison, many of them could also inflict significant damage in terrifyingly personal ways. To some, this method of waging war actually gets closer to the heart of every warrior’s secret desire to beat his opponent to an unrecognizable pulp. Which has to have been at least partly the point in using weapons such as maces and warhammers.

These weapons increased in use and popularity as chain mail and armor were invented and used. The stronger a combatant’s metal protective suit, the harder it became to kill or maim him using traditional slashing weapons. You could always try to stab at various joints in the mail or armor, but that was riskier than simply bashing through the metal with a serious bludgeoning instrument.

Maces had their origins as simple clubs that were fashioned from substantial sticks. Eventually, the sticks were outfitted with metal balls (and sometimes rocks or thick wood) on one end to increase their effectiveness in battle. After that, wooden balls with spiky attachments were used, which increased the damage done to an opponent even more.

As iron and bronze became commonplace items, the balls were fashioned out of those materials, which naturally made maces even more deadly. Perhaps surprisingly, warhammers and maces cost less to make than many swords, which made them popular with people of the lower classes who couldn’t afford expensive weaponry.

Flanged maces came into vogue around the 13th century. These were sticks with metal balls that had angled metal points and edges, which were more effective at piercing the heaviest forms of metal armor.

Another common form of the weapon was the mace with a chain that allowed the metal ball to be swung about to create greater force on impact. No doubt the chain maces proved popular with those capable of generating considerable velocity with each swing. It’s also very likely that those kinds of maces could have been turned against an attacker. In some cases, the balls likely got out of control and wound up injuring the holder of the weapon, too.