A holy water sprinkler? Matt Easton names the spiked club from Tod's Workshop
Dr. Tobias Capwell also joined the channel this week, to explain how medieval knights staged Arthurian tournaments.
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The MOST UNDER APPRECIATED medieval weapon REVEALED?
What do you call a big wooden stick covered in iron spikes? Matt Easton got to test one as part of Tod's Weird Weapon series, the running collaboration with Tod Cutler of Tod's Workshop, and came home wanting a name for it. He also wanted to know whether the weapon was far more successful than he had realized. The title asks whether it is the most underappreciated weapon of the Middle Ages.
Viewers arrived with answers. The comment section became a small multilingual dictionary: one reader explains the French term plançon à picot, another says Polish literature calls it a holy water sprinkler too, and a Swiss name tied to a 15th-century saint turns up. Others point to cousins, the Japanese tetsubo and a Chinese wolf brush mace. Some jokes are about what a person on the receiving end might have called it. The video passed 100,000 views in its first day.
Earlier in the week Easton met Dr. Tobias Capwell, the arms and armor curator at the Wallace Collection, for a video about knights of the High Middle Ages who staged Round Table tournaments in King Arthur's name.
The older catalog is doing plenty of work as well. Two September videos are close to half a million views each, one on why knights carried swords when better weapons existed and one on medieval crossbows, also made with Tod. With all of that together, the channel is running at almost twice its usual daily pace.
Among military and weapons channels of similar size, Daniel Davis / Deep Dive is having the busiest stretch. Easton's channel sits in the middle of the group, and its week was built on a stick.
Published on Trari
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What viewers say
In Polish literature it is called "kropidło" which, surprise, surprise, translates into a holy water sprinkler.
@krzysztofprzybyszewski568See it on YouTubeLevel 1 vs Level 100 stick.
@nelle8348See it on YouTubeAh yes, the mighty Thagomizer, so named in honour of the late Sir Thag Symmons. 😉
@HotpointiusSee it on YouTube
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💡 Test your knowledge
Which historical tapestry shows Bishop Odo at the Battle of Hastings?
The Bayeux Tapestry tells the story of the Norman Conquest of 1066, and it shows Odo, William's half-brother, carrying a club at Hastings.