quarterstaff

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2009)

Quartstaff Fighting

Quarterstaves in use, from Old English Sports, Pastimes and Customs, published 1891]]
Focus	Weaponry
Country of origin	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Creator	Various
Olympic sport	No

A quarterstaff is a medieval English weapon, a shaft of hardwood, sometimes with metal tips. The name is also used for the fighting staves such as the Japanese bō, Chinese gùn, or French bâton, Portuguese pau and Italian bastone.

Etymology

The origin of the weapon's name is unknown, though many suggestions are advanced with little justification. Connection to a unit of length called a "staff" is likely false. The name may come from the way that the staff is held: one hand at the center of the staff, and one hand halfway between the center and one end. However, this grip is not prescribed in early sources. Other theories link the word to the manner in which the wood is split from the tree, or to its length being equal to the wielder's height plus another quarter. It can be employed as a less-lethal weapon, so the name may refer to the act of giving quarter (showing mercy to a defeated enemy).

Description

The quarterstaff may be made from many kinds of wood, commonly ash, oak, hazel, or hawthorn. It may have metal spikes or caps at one or both ends; these are depicted or referred to in some Elizabethan and Jacobean sources. The length of the staff varies, typically ranging from 1.8 m to 2.7 m (6 to 9 feet); long staves of 3.6 to as much as 5.4 metres (12 to as much as 18 feet) were employed in Early Modern times. The weapon seems to be shorter and lighter later in history, though 3-meter staves (made of bamboo or ash wood) were employed in Victorian England.

The quarterstaff is a long two-handed club, the wood's weight distribution is even through its length though metal tips would be additional weights. It could deliver crushing blows, and be thrust like a spear. The art of using the staff was related to that of other polearms, and it was often employed as a training weapon for the latter. Moves include many different forms of blocks, thrusts, strikes, and sweeps.

History

The staff, being a simple weapon to manufacture, has a long history of use, and a wide cultural dispersion. The staff is a traditional weapon of many Asian martial arts. The quarterstaff proper was a common weapon in England, where it is featured in the Robin Hood legend as the favorite weapon of Little John. There are many tools that can easily be used as or quickly converted to a staff.

The oldest surviving treatise describing staff combat dates from the 15th Century^[1] though George Silver describes its use as being similar to that of the two handed sword. During the 1500s quarterstaves were favoured as weapons by the London Masters of Defence and by the 1700s the weapon became popularly associated with gladiatorial prize playing. A modified version of quarterstaff fencing, employing bamboo or ash staves and protective equipment adapted from fencing, boxing and cricket was revived as a sport in some London fencing schools and at the Aldershot Military Training School during the later 1800s.

A simplified form of quarterstaff fencing and training was practiced by members of the international Boy Scouts movement during the early decades of the 20th century.

Contemporary practice

The use of the quarterstaff is among the variety of traditional European weapon styles that have been revived within the historical European martial arts movement.

See also

• Bō
• Club
• Gùn
• Hanbo
• Stick fighting
• Jogo do Pau
• Bâton français
• Taiaha
• Juego del Palo

References

• Silver, G. c. 1599. Paradoxes of Defense.
• Thomas A. McCarthy, "Quarter-staff: A Practical Manual". London : W. Swan Sonnenschein and Co., 1883.
• Allanson-Winn, R.G. and C. Phillipps-Wolley, "Broadsword and Singlestick - with Chapters on Quarter-staff, Bayonet, Cudgel, Shillalah, Walking Stick, Umbrella and other Weapons of Self Defence; The Quarter-Staff". London : George Bell & Sons. 1st edition, 1898.
• Author unknown, "Boy Scout Quarterstaff". c. 1914 - 1920.
• Tony Wolf, "The Manly Art of Quarter-staff: Origins of a Victorian Combat Sport".
• Frank Docherty, "A Brief History of the Quarterstaff".
• George Silver, "Paradoxes of Defence". London: Edward Blount, 1599.
• Joseph Swetnam, "The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence". London: Nicholas Okre, 1617.
• Zach Wylde, "The English Master of Defence or, the Gentleman's A-la-mode Accomplish". Tork: John White, 1711.

External links

• British Quarterstaff Association
• Jogo do Pau: Origins and Evolution