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Guisarme, a medieval bladed weapon on the end of a long pole; later designs implemented a small reverse spike on the back of the blade; Glaive, a large blade, up to 45 cm (18 in) long, on the end of a 2 m (6 ft 7 in) pole; Guandao, a Chinese polearm from the 3rd century AD that had a heavy curved blade with a spike at the back
A voulge (also spelled vouge, [1] sometimes called a couteau de breche) is a type of polearm that existed in medieval Europe, primarily in 15th century France. [ 2 ] Description
A halberd (or Swiss voulge) is a two-handed polearm that came to prominent use during the 14th and 15th centuries but has continued in use as a ceremonial weapon to the present day. [30] First recorded as "hellembart" in 1279, the word halberd possibly comes from the German words Halm (staff) or Helm (helmet), and Barte (axe). The halberd ...
A medieval bill with a spike and a hook. A bill is a class of agricultural implement used for trimming tree limbs, which was often repurposed for use as an infantry polearm. In English, the term 'Italian bill' is applied to the similar roncone or roncola, but the Italian version tended to have a long thrusting spike in addition to the cutting ...
A smaller head concentrates the kinetic energy of the blow on a smaller area, enabling the impact to defeat armour, while broader halberd heads are better against opponents with less mail or plate armour. Furthermore, many halberds had their heads forged as a single piece, while the poleaxe was typically modular in design.
Ultimately a descendant of the medieval sparth axe or Dane axe, the bardiche proper appears around 1400, but there are numerous medieval manuscripts that depict very similar weapons beginning c. 1250. The bardiche differs from the halberd in having neither a hook at the back nor a spear point at the top. [1]
A ranseur, also called roncone, was a polearm similar to the partisan used in Europe up to the 15th century. [1] It was still seen in court as a ceremonial weapon through the 17th century. 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.
In profile, the head of a partisan may look similar to other types of polearm, such as the halberd, pike, ranseur, spontoon, ox tongue, or spetum. The arrival of practical firearms and bayonet led to the obsolescence of the partisan and of other polearms. Despite this, partisans continued in use for many years as a ceremonial weapon. Ceremonial ...