Best melee weapon

What is the best melee weapon for an average 14th century European footsoldier (assuming solo combat so no group formations or horse)?
My initial thoughts were a one handed axe due to its combination of blunt force and cutting power making it effective against both armoured and unarmoured opponents, it also leaves your other hand open to carry a shield.
I don't know much about these things so i doubt my conclusion is very accurate, what are your thoughts?

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Depends on how armored the soldier in question is. A light infantrymen would be better off with a weapon that gives him a reach advantage. Maybe a spear of some sort plus a pavise shield to protect from arrows.

I'd say for this scenario no armour, but a shield is permitted

Hmm, you mention solo combat, no formation fighting in the open? In that case I'm not sure the spear is such a good idea. Maybe some sort of hand weapon+shield combination, but your question is what one right? Honestly, I'm inclined to agree with your initial thoughts really. An axe is very versatile if not quite as fast as a sword overall. Regardless, your infantryman needs a good shield if he hopes to not get skullfucked by the first person he comes across who's wearing heavy armor.

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Very indo european.

>No Armor
>Single Combat
>Enemy may be armored
That's not a good situation to be in.

A halberd as the average 13th century peasant wouldn't know how to use a sword.

Eh, it depends. For a grunt with no training against another with no training some form of polearm is probably the best. For two trained fighters an arming sword would likely be a little more versatile. If they are wearing armour or carrying big ass shields then maybe a blunt weapon, a battle axe or a kukri would work better.

Personally, I think the spear covers a lot of bases. Fending someone off with a long pointy stick is pretty intuitive.

A saber is the most safe bet

You need training to use a saber well, it has piss poor reach and only one edge.

Halberd

The entire question is pointless.
There is no one weapon for every situation. The answer is to carry multiple different weapons for various situations and opponents, which is precisely what they did.

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Polack spotted.

>Maul
That's what you use to split logs into firewood, it's basically a big metal axe.
>Scource: live in the middle of the freaken woods

Maul/flail /mace

Anything with blunt force (+against armour) And also no edges so pretty hard to fuck up on the contact

Axes also good and pole arms/spears for reach

Although OPs pic isnt perfect you are wrong. A log splitting axe is called such, perhaps it's just your own personel knowledge. A maul is a long handled hammer altough it may vary

It seems like swords are useless?
What is a sword good for?

Apologies just looked it up and that is the coreect name for it. I was brought up playing runescape

Full plate + great sword

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Lance if mounted.

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Primary weapon would have to be Halberd for the multipurpose heads and reach, secondary would be a buckler type shield slung on the back with a sidearm of maybe a dane style like in the OP or a mace for busting heavy knight heads.

Chivalry Vanguard class with a shield, Helmet and leather would do shit against well armoured knights 1v1 but lighter armoured classes like archers and men at arms you'd cut through them like butter

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As it happens, OP, the "Combat of the Thirty" is exactly the situation you're looking for: thirty French knights versus thirty British knights, entirely melee. I can't find any lists on what weapons were most used, but the artwork shows a pretty even spread of spears, maces, axes, and swords.

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Polearm

All weapons need training you goose.

>no armour yes shield
>solo combat
>warfare context exclusively
Tower shields plus cut&thrust sword.
Your guy is fucked as soon as he meets a full plate guy or any firearms anyway.

>What is the best melee weapon for an average 14th century European footsoldier (assuming solo combat so no group formations or horse)

Not the sword they would actually pick, being as they did have to deal with group formations horses, and other battlefield situations.

A pike, or the largest variant of spear they can feasibly handle. And give one to every single one of his buddies too. Cheap as fuck, can be built en masse by any common blacksmith, assembled by any random cunt, demolishes cavalry and can hold out against infantry indefinitely if used correctly (pray there's no doppelsoldnats around). Won't stop cannons but there's no way to stop cannons other than plugging the hole with body parts.

Scimitar

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Whip

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who won?

>if combatants are unarmoured
>spear, sword

>lightly armoured
>poleams, axes, maces

>heavily armoured
>poleams, hammers/picks

It wasn't french versus british, it wasn't a clean victory either way (there are allegations of cheating) and the whole thing was probably made up/bastardized by a bard as a reference to Antique era single combats which also probably didn't happen. Hell, of the two sources that mention it, one's ripping off the other and both bastardize the languages so heavily that the leaders of both groups are given 5 different names between them.

>Maul/flail /mace
Wasn't used in battles/meme weapon/obsolete when plate armor become thing

There's no single "best" weapon. If you're fighting armored knights, you want a polax. If you're fighting other men-at-arms, you'll want a pike. If you're fighting peasants, you'll want a falchion. In terms of weapons that are "kind of good in all situations", consider a mace. Axes, no, they might be effective against chainmail (and not really, desu) but they will be useless against armored knights and even with a shield in your other hand, an axe is a bad weapon for a battle because its too clumsy to defend yourself with.

Polearm.
>reach
>ability to use two hands, more leverage
>can also be used one handed
Which is why most foot soldiers used them, with a sword only being their secondary weapon.

French of course
English knights are shites

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No contest

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Isn't it too slow and means you can't have a shield

Its not slow and without armor the chances are you are fucked anyway. Unless the other dude has no armor either, then polaxe wins. So polaxe best weapon.

>>all these people going on and on about pole arms
The OP specifically mentioned no group combat. Polearms suck in single combat.

Say that to my face, I dare you!

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Say it!

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Yeah, no. Why would you even think that? You think a halberd is a group combat weapon?

The sword. All other answers are contrarian

spear and shield

Spear:
Cut
Thrust
Whack
Parry
Good range
Fairly light weight
Length can be adjusted for close quarters
Shield can be used

>46
>Clubs and axes need training
Wew lad

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>cutting with a spear
Good luck with that.

Spears aren't conical at the tip
It's like a dagger at the end of a quarterstaff

Yeah, not it isn't. A spear's sides aren't sharpened, you can't use it to cut someone.

They literally have double edged tips

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That aren't sharpened. You've obviously never actually held a spear, or seen a real one, or even read an account of how they were used.

The sides of that spear tip are sharpened.

The tip might be, but not for cutting, but so it penetrates more easily.

So sharpening is for cutting a deeper wound.

Dagger on stick. you argument is invalidl

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Trust me, I'll cut you.

If you want a dagger on a stick then ask your weaponer for a partisan or a spontoon, if I catch you out in battle cutting people with a SPEAR I will have some strong words for you.

>maces and mauls
>obsolote because of plate armor
LMAO
A mace will still fuck your shit up even if your wearing plate.