Halberd

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Halberd
Halberds - Castle Museum.jpg
Information
Weapon type: Polearm
Designations: Helmbarte, Halmbarte, Halbert, Allabarda
Use: War weapon, civil weapon
Creation time: circa 14th century
Working time: 14th century - current
Distribution: Europe
Overall length: approx. 210 cm
Handle: Wood, leather
Particularities: different shapes and fittings and blade sizes; is still worn by the Swiss Guard today
Lists on the subject
Halberds

The halberd or helmet beard is a mixed form of cutting and thrusting weapon that combined the man-stopping effect of a spear with the armor-piercing effect of the ax. It belongs to the polearms of the infantry and was mainly used from the 14th to the 16th century.

Word origin

The forerunner of this weapon was called Rossschinder in German . From this two new weapons emerged: the glaive and the helmet.

The original name Helmbarte is a combination of Middle High German halm, helm for "handle" and barte for "hatchet, battle ax", so it actually means "hatchet with a (long) handle". In addition to Helmbarte , the variants Halmbarte and Halbarte and in the 16th century halberd emerged . Under military historians, the terms are halberd , Halmbarte and half Arte for pole arms in use from about 1470 to 1530 mainly by Swiss and German mercenaries were used as weapons of war. The term halberd then refers to the less massive, often richly decorated orderly weapons and the like. a. the palace guards.

The German term was used as a loan word in other languages: for example, in French as hallebarde , in English as halberd , in Italian as allabarda, in Spanish and Portuguese as alabarda or in Polish as halabarda .

history

Detail shot

A forerunner of the halberd called Ge was already used by the Bronze Age Chinese Shang dynasty , as well as for warlike purposes in the Middle Ages. The current forms of halberds emerged in the 13th century in the area of ​​today's Switzerland from a combination of the military spear and a sickle-like tool for work in the field; Haumesser is a fitting term. This tool looks the same today as it did 800 years ago. Mounted to this tool on a shaft, so obtaining a weapon that in the early Middle Ages as rods beil or Breschenmesser was known. This was not just a garden knife on a long stick when it was connected to the spear around 1300, but its origin cannot yet be clarified without a doubt. Some traces draw attention to Alsace, where, according to the chronicler Riderius, the Strasbourgers made such weapons around 1260.

Swiss guard with halberd

The halberd reached the height of its efficiency around 1470. It was used particularly efficiently by the Swiss and Hussites in the mass deployment of the infantry . In the 16th century it was widespread in arming German cities ("night watchman spit"). During this time, the flapping area developed back while the tip was lengthened at the same time. This technical innovation process made a fencing technique for halberds possible. From the early 14th century, written and image sources no longer broke off, which means that a continuous development process can be traced. Original halberds can be found in large numbers in the arsenal holdings.

In the 16th century, armaments were pushed back due to the increasing use of firearms. The use of the halberd as a stabbing weapon with an extended, front blade predominated until it was finally ousted by the pike .

After 1525 it was quickly degraded to a more decorative than an effective orderly weapon . The halberds of Elizabeth I's time were elaborate but too unwieldy to fight. In fact, they only contributed to the representative appearance of the guardsmen.

The Swiss Guard in the Vatican still uses halberds as ceremonial weapons today .

Halberds (the third and fourth from the right in the picture are so-called spontons )

construction

The halberd has a broad ("ax", "beard") and a short blade ("hook") and a pointed blade at the end. The mostly 1½ to 2 meter long wooden shaft ( straw, helmet ) often had a polygonal cross-section or leather wraps in order to avoid turning the weapon away in the hand when it was cut. The transition area between the blade and the shaft was laterally reinforced with metal shaft springs .

commitment

A halberd was equally good at striking, stabbing, and tearing in combat. The advantage of this was that if a stab was missed or blocked, the hook and hatchet were behind the opposing parade and could be stabbed in the neck, back or legs from behind. Should this not succeed, the opponent could possibly be thrown off balance by the tearing movement and the point could be repositioned in front of the opponent for another attack.

The hook was also used to pull riders from their horses. An ax or hook could then be used to penetrate the armor. The mostly sharp-edged backs of ax blades and hooks were particularly suitable for attacking the vulnerable leg tendons of the horses, which can hardly be protected by armor. Similar to the spit, the point could be used in closed formations or in individual combat.

The punch made the halberd (behind the hatchet) could be used to opponents to take the helmet and / or the skull and had armor-piercing when used correctly.

Selection of different halberds

Edged weapons with short shafts such as axes , maces or morning stars are not to be counted among the halberds .

literature

  • HW Koch: Illustrated history of military campaigns in the Middle Ages. Weltbild-Verlag-Bechtermünz, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-8289-0321-5 , pp. 61, 73, 130, 166, 190-191.
  • Karl-Heinz Ludwig, Volker Schmidtchen: Propylaea history of technology. Volume 2: Metals and Power. 1000 to 1600. Propylaeen, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-549-05227-8 .
  • R. Ewart Oakeshott: A Knight and his Weapons. Lutterworth Press, London 1964 (2nd edition. Dufour Editions, Chester Springs PA 1997, ISBN 0-8023-1299-3 ).
  • Volker Schmidtchen: Warfare in the late Middle Ages. Technology, tactics, theory. VCH - Acta humaniora, Weinheim 1990, ISBN 3-527-17580-6 (also: Bochum, Univ., Habil.-Schr., 1984).

Web links

Commons : Halberds  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files
Wiktionary: Halberd  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Matthias Lexer, Middle High German Concise Dictionary , Leipzig 1872–1878, helmbarte , halm , barte . helmbarte, helmparte, subsidiary forms light barte , hel barte , light barte , hel barte , hel bart , hallen barte not with [W.Müller 1854] [W. Wackernagel 1861] and [FLK Weigand 1857–1871] hëlm barte » beard chopping up a helmet, ax« but »beard with, on a helmet (see halme ), stalked beard«. see. halmackes, stilax .
  2. Cf. Hellebarte in the German dictionary with further variants.