14. Despite their prevalence in modern popular culture, flails were so infrequently used as weapons that some historians believe they are entirely fictitious as weapons of war.
A flail is a weapon, either long-handled and requiring two hands to wield or, as more commonly depicted in modern culture, a short-handled striking weapon. Both forms of the flail utilize a spiked head attached to the handle by a chain, allowing the user to strike around an opponent’s shield or sword parry. However, despite becoming ubiquitous in modern depictions of medieval life, appearing, for example, repeatedly throughout the television series “Game of Thrones”, there is limited evidence flails were used as weapons. Tactically, the flail was ineffective, unable to achieve precision in strikes, impossible to use in the close battle formations of the time, and exposed users to a counter-riposte.
In fact, some historians have claimed that the flail is an entirely fictional creation of later generations that was never used in medieval warfare. Many of the flails on display in museums have, in fact, been revealed as forgeries. Furthermore, modern testing has discovered that using a flail in combat would likely be more lethal to the user than their opponent. The spike would maintain momentum, hence a missed swing would strike its master; even if it did not, then the user would be thrown so horrendously off balance that they would be killed before they could recover.