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The Scottish halberd is thought to have derived from the continental halberd probably in the late 16th century though it shares features with the pollaxe of the century before. They continued to be used into the 18th century. It has a spear-shaped point, small axe-blade and a back-spike, often curved.
The term dates from at least 1000 AD and derives from Old English roots expressing the idea of a "shield-troop". [1] Some researchers have also posited this etymological relation may show the schiltron is directly descended from the Anglo-Saxon shield wall, and still others give evidence "schiltron" is a name derived from a Viking circular formation (generally no fewer than a thousand fighters ...
Scottish mercenaries known as Redshanks, were highly sought after. Shown here fighting in the Thirty Years War . The redshanks were usually armed alike, principally with bows (the short bow of Scotland and Ireland, rather than the longbow of Wales and England) and, initially, two-handed weapons like claymores , battle axes or Lochaber axes .
A polearm or pole weapon is a close combat weapon in which the main fighting part of the weapon is fitted to the end of a long shaft, typically of wood, extending the user's effective range and striking power. Polearms are predominantly melee weapons, with a subclass of spear-like designs fit for thrusting and/or throwing.
Ji (戟), a Chinese polearm combining a spear and dagger-axe; Kamayari, a Japanese spear with blade offshoots; Lochaber axe, a Scottish weapon that had a heavy blade attached to a pole in a similar fashion to a voulge; Naginata, a Japanese weapon that had a 30-to-60-centimetre-long (12 to 24 in) blade attached by a sword guard to a wooden shaft
The spear itself consisted of an iron spearhead mounted on a wooden shaft, often made of ash wood, although shafts of hazel, apple, oak, and maple wood have been found. [13] There is little evidence as to the ordinary length of these spears, although estimates based on grave goods indicate that their length ranged from 1.6 to 2.8 metres (5 ft 3 ...
The lifting of impaled opponents also gives a hint about the geometry of the blade, which prevents the body from sliding down the shaft: either the spear must be quite broad, or, even better, it must have wings on the socket". [8] This suggests that the atgeirr is related to the Viking Age Peterson type B or C spear. [9]
Often thought to be a derivation of the earlier spetum, the head of a ranseur consists of a spear-tip affixed with a cross hilt at its base. Often this hilt is crescent-shaped, giving it an appearance similar to that of a trident. Generally, the hilts do not have a cutting edge, unlike the double-edged partisan.