#pollaxes

[liketwoswansinbalance]

I was researching medieval weaponry, for a school project, not for writing purposes actually, and stumbled upon these images of various polearms (source), and it occurred to me that they matched Rafal's aesthetic, especially in TLEA, so enjoy, I guess?

[petermorwood]

A belated thank-you for answering my question! I'm looking for a two-handed axe weapon that looks interesting, but google is throwing up stuff from video games, and I don't know the technical name for what I want. Could you recommend some links or pictures? Or names, so I can google for myself? Thanks!

When you start looking at "two-handed axe weapons", it starts simple then gets complicated very fast.

"Simple" - if impressively large - is a Danish Axe, which looks... Well, it looks like an axe, but a very big one, four, five or maybe even six feet long (lots of reach and leverage) and about a foot along the cutting edge. (Image from, and more at, Hurstwic)

Since it was designed from the outset as a a weapon, not an adapted lumberjack tool, the Danish axe was a lot quicker and more manoeuvrable than its size would suggest. The usual rule is this: if medieval weapons or armour were as clumsy, heavy etc. as some claims suggest, then why were they ever used in battle when the wielder or wearer's life was on the line? The answer is: they weren't that clumsy, heavy etc.

Tournament weapons and armour were a different matter: they were sports kit, and subject to all sorts of rules - records of foot-combats mention exchanges limited to "ten strokes with the axe and ten with the mace" (or whatever) suggesting a contest of skill and technique rather than endurance.

Then you start getting into designs with extra bits - spikes on top, but also picks or hammers at the back of the axehead and maybe another spike at the bottom of the shaft. (Image from, and more at, Deviantart)

This is a poleaxe or pollaxe (pole for the long shaft, poll being an old name for head), but with different striking heads it could also be a bec-de-corbin, a war-hammer, a Lucerne/Luzern hammer or a bec-de-faucon. These were all about the height of the man using them, or a bit shorter, and were versatile enough that they were used on the battlefield and in duels as well as in friendly tournament combat.

The bardiche and the sparth were about the same size as the pollaxe, but the halberd was longer. So was the Jedburgh staff, the Lochaber axe, the bill, the partizan, the glaive, the guisarm, the ranseur, the voulge, the corseque, the Ox Tongue, the Bohemian Ear-spoon...

This is me on the same subject last year. It hasn't got any less complicated since then. :-) Have fun!