Voulge
Also known as: vouge
A French 15th-century polearm with a narrow single-edged blade socketed onto a shaft 1.5-2 m long; carried by franc-archer infantrymen.
Quick Facts
FranceAbout the weapon
The voulge, French vouge, is a medieval polearm used chiefly in 15th-century France. The infantrymen who carried it were called vougiers or voulgiers; among them were especially the franc-archers. It also differs from the halberd in origin: the halberd comes from Germany and Switzerland and only began to be used in France at the very end of the 15th century. The narrow single-edged blade, sometimes with a second edge on the back, was fitted to the shaft by a socket. The shaft measured roughly one and a half to two metres. The weapon could have langets and, at the foot of the blade, a small rondel disc protecting the hand. A record from 1474 mentions two hundred voulges intended for an attack. The weapon is depicted in period miniatures in Froissart's Chronicles and in the Vigiles du roi Charles VII of 1484, and it is mentioned by Philippe de Commynes and Nicolas de Troyes. The widespread modern image of the voulge as a pointed cleaver-like blade fixed to the shaft by two collars comes from the 19th century, from Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. In fact it describes an early form of the halberd, not the true voulge, and the two weapons have been confused ever since.
Parts of the weapon
- Blade
- Guard — rondelle