martel de fer

English

Etymology

Old French, hammer of iron.

Noun

martel de fer (plural martels de fer)

1. A weapon resembling a hammer, often having one side of the head pointed, used by horsemen in the Middle Ages to break armour.
   • 1846, Frederick William Fairholt, Costume in England: History:

     In addition to the sword and spear , the warrior occasionally wielded the martel-de-fer , a weapon combining a hammer and pick , and which did great execution among the armed knights , in breaking or dragging off the rings of the hauberk

References

“martel de fer”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.