THE HOLY-WATER SPRINKLER, OR MILITARY FLAIL.
This class of weapon, like several others, had its inception among the implements of husbandry; and it owes its name, like the goedendag, doubtless to a brutal jest. It is stated by Whitacre that the agricultural flail was introduced into Italy about the time of the Roman conquest of Britain. The Anglo-Saxons called it “Therscol,” or thrasher. This terrible weapon consists of a shaft of wood, garnished with iron, attached to which is a flail of iron, moving on a ring; or a chain or chains connecting the head of the shaft with a wooden or iron ball or balls at the extremity. The balls are usually garnished with iron spikes, but this is not always the case. The holy-water sprinkler is often confounded with the “morning star,” which is a spiked mace, described under that heading.
It would appear from the Tower Survey of 1547, that the “Holy Water Sprinkler” was at that time in two varieties, viz., with long and short shafts. The above record catalogues “Holly Water Sprincles with gonnes in th’ ende. Little holly water sprincles.” Perhaps what was called the long variety was the goedendag. The author has two with short shafts, and chains at the ends, to which are attached spiked wooden balls. The MS. of Matthew Paris at Benet College, Cambridge, furnishes us with an example of the simple form.