The Armour Archive

I was wondering if anyone had any better/real examples of the polearms here : http://manuscriptminiatures.com/4865/11926/
I am most curious rightmost one below the flying horse's body

I am also wondering if there are any other examples of the Falchion on a stick on the right side of this image http://manuscriptminiatures.com/4294/9679/

Aslo curious about the polearm on the far left.
http://manuscriptminiatures.com/4722/13046/

The "Falchion on a stick" I have seen on images together with heater-sized pavise shields and men in full armour, they look pretty much like large falchions and should be in the same family as "The polearm on the far left."


EDIT: Here are the ones with strange, upward-pointing "hooks" from one of your pictures.
http://www.valdemarminiatureforum.com/t ... apons.html

Should help in your search

I found this example from the Cleveland Museum (they sent me the pic)) http://imgur.com/4OTqNuU

http://www.clevelandart.org/art/1916.18 ... nd%20Armor

I think what you are looking at are different examples of a Glaive.

InsaneIrish wrote:I think what you are looking at are different examples of a Glaive.

Interesting. Its just a damn shame that of all the collections I have searched, only one had a 15th century Italian Glaive.

You will find a ton of different shaped polearms in Illustrations. Even a number of different shaped extant examples.
While there are some shapes that are more specifically used by one country over the other, many were used interchangeably.

So what would be found in 14th century Italy

Absolutely anything not dated fifteenth and later. And probably some of that. Pole weaponry tended to a certain creativity of form. Since they all seem to fight pretty much by the same tactics to similar efficiency, this isn't surprising. Glaives and glaive-guisarmes. Eventually (after the fourteenth) forms as disparate as the berdiche and the Lochaber axe -- the Lucerne hammer not strictly speaking being an edged weapon.

The halberd begins in the latter fourteenth and progressively evolves until lateish eighteenth, though by then it was not primarily a weapon but a device for directing companies, approximately by squad given its length. This may hint at similar use of halberd hafts in earlier times, say to organize pikemen -- it would be a much handier tool for such a job than using just another pike, and actually lighter overall.

I FOUND IT!

I found the "Falchion on a stick" picture that I was talking about a few posts up. These are beastly and beautiful all at once.




EDIT: Note that there are, in fact, two different weapons in the picture, named Vogue de Francais (on the left) and Glaive (on the right)

Glaive is essentially a generic term for a bladed piece of armament. By extension, it can in modern usage refer to a sword's blade. It's a useful term for any staff-weapon that evades handy classification. This one is still a lot like the blade-and-back-spike type of bill. Another very generic weapon word.

Here's a "one-handed" poleram.

InsaneIrish wrote:I think what you are looking at are different examples of a Glaive.

http://manuscriptminiatures.com/4865/11926/

Pretty much. Variants on glaive or glaive-guisarme, and frankly I've no serious idea of what distinguishes the single-named one from the hyphenated hybrid-sounding one. Choppy thing on a pole. The one under the horse isn't too different from a voulge.

First, recognize that these are very antiquated terms. It's like Plate Mail -what, exactly is that supposed to refer to?

A guisarme is a billhook. If you see a glave -knife on a stick- with forks or hooks on the back, that's a glave-guisarme. If you see a similar weapon with hooks or spikes on blade face of the weapon, it's now a billhook.

Destichado wrote:First, recognize that these are very antiquated terms. It's like Plate Mail -what, exactly is that supposed to refer to?.

Which term? Polearm?

boris_ wrote:

Destichado wrote:First, recognize that these are very antiquated terms. It's like Plate Mail -what, exactly is that supposed to refer to?.

Which term? Polearm?

glave-guisarme (which is different than a glaive or italian bill how?); fauchard (ie: military scythe or glave, totally depends on who you ask); runka, ghiavarina, chauve-souris, ox-tongue (all regional versions/evolutionary stages of a partisan...)

Perhaps this will help - Chapter 8 - Glaives from John Waldman's Hafted Weapons in Medieval and Renaissance
https://db.tt/dMq8gQIN

Check this document as well.

The Halberd and Other European Polearms 1300-1650

Note that this is not my document, web space, nor did I place it there.

That is a good one, and I've referred to it a few times over the years. I didn't realize it was online.