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WABUKAN Arsenal · Staffs and sticks · Europe

Quarterstaff

The English staff of six to nine feet. George Silver called it one of the best weapons for a single fight.

Quarterstaff
Quarterstaff WABUKAN illustration

Also known as

staff; short staff; bâton

Origin and history

The quarterstaff was the English staff weapon of the 16th and 17th centuries, praised by George Silver in Paradoxes of Defence (1599) as one of the best weapons. It appears in the Robin Hood legend in the fight with Little John.

Martial arts that use it

HEMA

Construction

A hardwood staff of about 1.8–2.7 m (Silver relates the length to the user’s height), sometimes iron-shod at the ends.

Basic techniques

Training

Stick and staff training starts with grips, stances and basic strikes and blocks practised in the air or on a target, then two-person drills at controlled speed. Many schools use rattan or padded sticks for sparring, with a helmet and gloves.

Safety

Wear a helmet with a face grille and padded gloves for any contact work; hands and fingers are the most common injuries. Check sticks for cracks and splinters and retire damaged ones.

Legality (general information)

Sticks, staffs and other impact or flexible weapons are ordinary objects in some countries and restricted weapons in others (several European countries, for example, regulate nunchaku, batons or weighted chains). Carrying one in public without a good reason can be an offence even where owning it is legal. Transport it in a bag and use it in the training hall. This is general information, not legal advice: check local law.

Did you know?

In the Robin Hood ballads, Robin first meets Little John when they fight with staffs on a narrow bridge.

More weapons

Varapau Combat cane (canne) Cajado Shillelagh Makila Jo

Sources

Original WABUKAN text, written from these cross-checked sources (facts, not sentences).

  1. Wikipedia — Quarterstaff
  2. Wikipedia — Historical European martial arts