Poleaxe
Also known as: pollaxe
A polearm of knights and armoured men of the 14th and 15th centuries with an axe blade or hammer head, an opposing spike or beak, and a rondel disc guarding the hand.
Quick Facts
About the weapon
The poleaxe arose in the 14th and 15th centuries from the need to pierce the plate armour of armoured men. It was used by knights and other armoured men, noble and non-noble alike. According to most etymologists the prefix poll- has nothing to do with the English pole, but means head. The haft of ash or other hard wood usually measured 1.5 to 2 metres, exceptionally up to 2.5 metres. It carried an axe blade or a hammer, and on the opposite side a spike, hammer or beak; a spike or spearhead ran from the end of the haft. Riveted metal strips, langets, bound the head to the haft, and just below it sat a round disc called a rondel. Poleaxe fighting technique derives from fighting with the long staff, the quarterstaff. It was used in knightly duels of honour, in judicial combat and in battle. Fighting with it is described in the anonymous French treatise Le Jeu de la Hache and also by Fiore dei Liberi, whose section on the poleaxe survives in the Getty (MS Ludwig XV 13), Pisani Dossi and Paris MS Latin 11269 manuscripts. With growing interest in historical European martial arts, poleaxe fighting techniques are reappearing. Rubber heads are sold for safe practice fighting.
Parts of the weapon
- Guard — rondelle
- Shaft