Quarterstaff
Also known as: short staff, staff
An English two-handed hardwood staff 1.8 to 2.7 m long, favored by 16th-century London fencing masters and described in the treatises of Silver and Swetnam.
Quick Facts
United KingdomAbout the weapon
The quarterstaff, also called the short staff or simply the staff, is a traditional European staff weapon, prominent especially in early modern England. The name is first attested in the mid-16th century. The word quarter may refer to making it from hardwood cut into quarters, unlike inferior staves made from ordinary timber or from a branch. It usually refers to a hardwood staff 6 to 9 feet long, that is, 1.8 to 2.7 m, sometimes with a metal point, ferrule, or spike at one or both ends. It was supposed to be as tall as the user with an upright palm on the head, roughly 20 cm more. Joseph Swetnam in 1615 distinguished the quarterstaff at 7 to 8 feet from the long staff at 11 to 12 feet. The rear hand holds the staff near the end, the front hand about 30 to 46 cm above it. George Silver in 1599 expounded combat with the short staff and claimed that the same method underlies the other staff weapons and the two-handed sword. Silver, Swetnam, and Wylde agreed that the staff ranks among the best, if not the very best, of all hand weapons. In the 16th century it was favored by the London Masters of Defence, and in the 18th century it became linked with public prize fights. In the late 19th century, a modified fencing with bamboo or ash staves and protective gear was revived as a sport in London fencing schools and at the military school in Aldershot. Today it is one of the main disciplines of stage combat; it also appears in ballads about Robin Hood.