Weapons and fighting In the sixteen hundreds were very different from what they are today. There were a wide variety of weapons used during different times in the 1600s. There were many specialized weapons for different uses. An example of this would be a pole-axe. They would swing it at the enemies while riding on a horse. Swords and sabres like the ones in Romeo and Juliet were also widely used. The weapons and fighting techniques are very different from what they are today. They were much more primitive than how they are today. Many of the weapons used where some sort of stick with a sharp metal point and where not effective unless both people were very close.