Someone posted a long comment on this, to which I wanted to reply, but it seems to have disappeared. He was saying that I was spreading misinformation, whereas it seemed to me from his words that he had completely misinterpreted what I was saying in the video.
It was probably Google+ that lost his comment. I say we decide on a name for these weapons, take them to the Google servers, and start smashing until either they fix things or we break everything. But maybe that's just me.
Oxnate I agree entirely. Just break things until Google stops ruining the internet. Then we shall head over the Electronic Arts, and finally finish at Wizards of the Coast. Make sure to bring your torches.
In german this whole group of weapons is referred to as "Schlachthacken" Wich would roughly translate to "things to hack with in a battle". I think that sums it up quite nicely.
Klomster While "schlacht" indeed originates from "slaughter", it mostly means "battle", so "battle-hackers" it is. It is indeed a good name for most close quarter weapons, but it´s perfect for the PRIMARY close quarter weapon of the time. When on foot, in the late middle ages you got two big blocks of guys in heavy armour with these things, with swords (mostly) only being the secondary weapon for backup and for REALLY close quarters.
Italian knights were actually spaghetti golems in armor? Intriguing. What's in German knights, beer or bratwurst? Man, this could make for an awesome video game.
Knight,"Mr. blacksmith I'm tired of switching between weapons on my belt mid battle can you help me?" Blacksmith,"Why yes I can here is something I made to kill all sorts of buggers." Knight,"This is great!,now what to name it." Blacksmith, “How about the 'you've got two seconds to run-or else-stick’." Knight,"Ya that'll work."
Great stuff! Currently going back through your videos. I tell my students all the time that language shifts through millennia, and usually start my course speaking "Old English" when we start off with Beowulf. It blows their minds every time.
Aye, 'tis remarkably difficult to get a heavy tapestry to give the appearance of moving so that the characters portrayed therein nod and point. Bravo! Oh, you meant...
Lindy can you please do some more on these weapons - how they were used, who used them, what they eventually morphed into down the weapons tree, etc. There is a lot of material online about swords, less about axes and daggers, much less on spears, but little at all about pole weapons. cheers and keep up the great work old chap!
I am glad that you pointed out that halberd were noticeably longer, I have had arguments with people who think that pollaxes and halberds are the same length and it is just the choice of fluke/hammer opposite the axe that is the difference. I think the problem is that wikipedia (yep, them again) bizarrely states that halberds were only 5 or 6 foot (pollaxe length) despite the fact that even the pictures in that very article show that they were more like 7 or 8 foot.
Say what you want about the modern industrial military complex but a least we know what to call weapons. I vote for the halberd to be renamed the: CB 1302.
Which one? The Swiss polearm halberd? Or the destroyer HMS Halberd? Or the anti-personnel mine Halberd, or the anti-tank missile Halberd, or the artillery shell Halberd, or the private security firm Halberd, or the government anti-terror intel operation Halberd? ...or the French equivalent Hauberd, the alternative spelling Halbard, or the arctic archipelago Svalbard?
Pretty much what Jane said. The purpose in having pointy bits on the hammer is so that it bites into the armor more when it hits, because otherwise it will be more likely to glance off the plates. This is actually the same reason why maces have flanges and spikes.
I would recommend very highly a French Castle ( w/ museum areas...) named Haut Koenigsburg in the Alsace region ( near Strasbourg, FR ). There is a wonderful armory room, with rows of pole arms, some match locks and other ancient firearms, some crossbows, and a whole assortment of cannons ( up on an outdoor cannon terrace). Plus marvelous views of the Rhine Valley, french wine, and a great area... but the pole arms are worth seeing... ( a VIP like yourself might be able to even touch them/ dis-mount them from the wall racks).
The animation sequences in this are top quality Lindybeige! Whoever did them should be congratulated! Was it you? If so, what did you use? That's not tweening, that's straight up animation, I loved it.
From my understanding you've got the Lucerne hammer there (usually the pronged hammer head, but sometimes they had a flat convex hammer head ) and the bec de corbin(usually the flat convex hammer head, but sometimes they had a pronged hammer head) - throughout history the names were used relatively interchangeably when referring to either weapon
Really digging the animated bit of this. I'm eventually going to make a prop bec de corbin, I just need to find a material that's both not gonna break easily, and not going to de-ocular anyone.
Is there ANY chance you could do a video on the Tarch? That wild gauntlet/dagger/shield the Russians may have used sometimes in defending seiges during the Renaissance.
New words to remember, "Stab stick!" :-) love the descriptive and all inclusive title for something on a stick that's stabby, but with a little something extra that hurts people. :-)
On the subject of wikipedia, I don't find it really that bad at all. You obviously don't want to use it for a college paper in fear of getting laughed out of college, but it's *generally* reliable. The only stuff I wouldn't trust is very long articles on controversial figures and movements.
@@gjermund1161 It's chock full of bias, supposition, inline citations referring to internet Chinese whispers and misremembered half-truths or factoids.
To my mind, and I'm just a layman, the ones with the pecky bit descend from the warhammer and the ones with the cutty bit are descended from the long axe. The first is a crow's beak/falcon's beack/lucene hammer/etc, the second is a poleaxe//pollax/polax/etc. Their use and purpose is the same, they're just of slightly different origin.
***** Your misspelling of "agree" looks very cool written, especially taking your name in consideration. I picture a large Viking, grunting: "Agrre!" :-)
For the sake of clarity, I would just refer to the cutty version as the poleaxe, and the pecky version as the crowbeak/whatever. Easier to remember that way and better understand what the actual weaponhead looks like.
***** There is something of that ilk that's sometimes called the "horseman's pick", though as I'm not familiar with Mount and Blade I don't know if it's the same thing.
Oh I was going to ask what the difference was between a halberd and a pole-axe. Now you've cleared it up... I think. I had thought the halberd had a hooking thing instead of a hammer. They all look like they could take an eye out if you weren't careful.
I'd say that a cutty bit is pretty different from a pecky bit. Although sticking four bits onto one weapon will make it inconvenient to name every variation, so I don't blame you.
Daniel Carrier it’s kind of the annoying thing about the medieval era is they didn’t really care about categorizing things. Pollaxe is the catch all term that I use for them because it’s always right.
I was really hoping to see your comments on actual fighting with this weapon. Pros and cons and how it would fare against similar weapons like the famous danish axe.
A continuation of this trend (making more useful variations of a shortish pole arm, not getting in a huff about what to call it.) can be seen in the Russian Streltsy who had the combination of a pole axe and a musket, the former of which would be used as a mono pod for the latter.
Lindybeige That seems to come at a price, though. Maybe it's just me, but I'm guessing that pronging it might guide the full force of the blow away from the center of the impact. Could be wrong, though.
I recently found a type of axe called hungarian axe(I don't know if that's a historical term or not), which looks similar to the dane axe, but the stabby portion is more prominent. Axes can be surprisingly versatile it seems.
The crow's beak also is available in one-handed version :), but the main diference between lucern hammer, poleaxe and crow's beak is that a lucern hammer has a hammer as main dmg-ing piece, a poleaxe has an axe as main dmg-ing piece and a crow's beak has a curved spike/blade as a main dmg-ing piece.
The pole axe is probably my favorite medieval weapon. It can cut, bludgeon and pierce. And most importantly, deal with armor. I'd buy one but theyre not allowed in HEMA competitions afaik.
I've come to the conclusion that those Danish axes were used less like a battle ax and more like a pole-arm. as Lloyd pointed out. As an ax making huge, sweeping blows just doesn't work well particularly in close combat. In battle I think your elite shock troops would have picked a portion of the enemy shield wall and just started hacking downward. That would smash shields, kill and injury foes and then they could follow up with a thrust. Their own spear men could protect their flanks and exploit the gap created. It allows your Thanes to be used in a offensive style that doesn't waste them and allows battles to be brought to a decisive conclusion which would minimize casualties for the winner. The trick was making sure your side won.
Dane axe era was shield wall era. when you have a shield wall in front of you a 2 handed axe is good to hack in it or hook the shield to open a hole. I think it was the main reason of existence of the Dane axe.
excuse me to point out that our principle combat tactic was to get off boats often intoxicated on shrooms and alcohol and practically go berserk on coast cities which often didn't have time to mobilize a garrison, it's not to say there never was any larger shield wall battles but even in the unification process it was at best minor skirmishes and raids rather than feild battles, we simply didn't have the man power for that.
***** Which is obviously the reason why the Norse didn't cause absolute turmoil in the British Isles, didn't destroy half a dozen cities and name half of Scotland and Ireland, and by no means conquered vast tracts of Northern Britain. Because that would be silly, wouldn't it? They were all high on alcohol or shrooms. ...In case the sarcasm isn't laid on thick enough there... ...I'm being sarcastic.
***** You're only describing Viking raiders while ignoring the very real conquests that the vikings engaged in, primarily in the British Isles. There was even a famous battle where the Saxons fought against Viking invaders and came down to the strength of the Saxon shield walls.
SpitshineSneakers the "conquest" first happend mostly after the viking age had ended around year 1000 (Denmark was united in 960 and the viking age ended there as a result) some English king began a sort of ethnical cleanning of northern England where a lot of the population was danish, so svend the first decided that he simply couldn't accept this sort of behavior so we invaded and well practically kicked englands arse. ofc previously we ad invaded england, but it was in smaller scale and more scuttle, fx the Saxons came from Denmark and what is now north Germany.
Reminds me of that classic AD&D cartoon, with the gnome saying, "I used to carry a lucern hammer. Imagine my surprise when I found out it was a pole arm!"
A bit late, but wouldn't this be a very useful weapon in D&D? You get to choose whether to deal Slashing, Piercing, or Bludgeoning damage, with reach, and you get a bonus on sundering. Well, I know what weapon I'll choose now.
+IllogicalBeans Well mind you that you might be sacrificing the damage from a weapon dedicated to one of those roles, though I could see the time it would save over having to waste time swapping to an appropriate weapon if you're fighting a mixture of enemies.
These weapons have been in the game since the 1979 PHB. They actually got bonuses to hit through armor back then Can say now, cause I still play that version of the game
Ok so, a bashy bit, a stabby bit, a cutty bit and a hooky bit, all one piece or is it sometimes not? I have a book called the Art of blacksmithing that shows a polearm being made of parts with sections riveted on or a spear head put in as a wedge for a axe head. is this even close to a proper construction of a historic weapon? The book is rather old but I am not sure how accurate it is. Would anyone know of a manual that would detail historic smithing in greater detail ?
All the different names for basically the same type of weapon does at least help with RPGs wanting to pallet swap the same weapon many times instead of making different ones, or letting them just sound fancy.
Got a question. Didn't the pick bit tend to get stuck in the victim thus leaving one subject to being killed by someone using a bashey, hackey, or stabby bit?
Would halberds be used against cavalry or were they essentially anti-pike weapons? I have seen certain reenactment groups use 9 foot halberds in a shiltrom formation, which seems to be inappropriate for something 9 feet long.
In the news today they talked about the injuries sustained by King Richard III and the death blow seems to (me) to have been from an implement similar to this striking the back of his skull and penetrating it, cutting through the brain and striking the inside of the skull. He probably had lost his helmet just prior to this.
I hit the bell 3 times u really changed my perspective about sling but also that almost killed my dog xexex, THATS why I sling underarm and my dog figured out what a good stone is >
I have a somewhat unrelated question. I am under the impression that generally shield and spear was more commonly used in the infantry in the early medieval period and pikes were predominant in the later medieval period. When was the general turning point, and in what context? What major events accompanied or reflected this? Was there a time or context where the use of one over the other was highly contentionus?
I'm no expert on this topic, but here are my thoughts. In the late medieval period, shock tactics with heavy cavalry are mature and can be immensely effective. Pike formations are great against this. Also, firearms. The early firearms were long to reload, so they needed protection. Pikes are also good for that (spanish tertio ?). Other thing: when infantry got heavy armor (mail, then plate), the need for a shield decreased, allowing soldiers to wield very long pikes, or halberds.
Lloyd, question. Was there ever such a thing as a, for lack of a better term "Great Hammer". The sort of thing like what Ajax used in the totally historically accurate film Troy. Which is to say, a really tall hammer with a very big head designed for smashing shields. Also, was there really any weapons which could smash a shield?
I'm afraid I'm not Lloyd, but I can answer the first question about big hammers: No. There were never any polearms with huge hammer heads because the heads would be ridiculously heavy, meaning you can't swing them or recover from a miss quickly. The huge amount of material needed would also make them expensive, for no actual improvement in fight-y power. The huge hammer head would also spread out the power of the hit a lot more than a small one would. The closest thing I can think of is a kind of large, wooden mallet used in Japan called an "Ōtsuchi", but I believe that was for bashing down doors - not as an actual weapon.
BurningSunBloodyMoon I think another example of such a thing would be a maul, more for driving posts than bashing skulls, if I'm not mistaken. Still, I could see something around long sword length, akin to a baseball bat with more of a mace shape, might be a useful weapon.
The closest approximation to a real weapon would be the Maul, which was really just a slightly modified sledgehammer. Warhammers normally didn't get bigger than that for the reasons stated above.
I believe that there is a programme by Mike loades where (in the course of experiments) he manages to smash a poorly made shield with a Francesca. A properly made shield though is designed primarily to prevent harm happening to the user, be it the energy transmitted through (hence why a completely metal shield is a bad idea) or the actual sharp bit taking your head off. there may have been weapons designed for breaking shield but (as of writing) I am not aware of any historical or archaeological evidence supporting this theory apart from a small section of Viking law about duels. It mentioned something about each combatant being allowed three shields (no mention if these were designed to break after extended use).
How about the massive hammer in Conan from 1982 ?? It's pretty big and this movie is a great reference to historic weapons and techniques (lol, kidding) encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTz7htcXtNOkWPkUZYm2KXOdyG-UhE5dkEz2kHy7yG525896NgF
So you'd say that these medieval pole-arms are different from other pole-arms like halberts? In what way would that be? Just the length of the shaft? Or would they have been used differently? Halberts, guisarmes, glaives or berdysches also seem to offer the same variety of bashy, stabby, cutty/pecky and hooky cutlery.
Just a general principle. I mean, those weapons you list aren't fake weapons, but you see how many of them are glaive-guisarme-halberd-spork-alan keys. There's just no need.
Whats the fat bit on the side opposite the axe for ? First thought is anti-armour concussive damage, but after this video I would think more weight balance.
you can't pierce plate armor in combat so what is the use of the back pike, just hooking ? Because even against unarmed opponent i prefer to strike with the hammer side, i don't want to see my weapon stuck in opponent flesh !
It would have been useful for a number of things such as tripping, hooking weapons/shields and unhorsing cavalry, but in terms of actual killing it would have been very effective against chain mail or for attacking into the weak areas of plate armour like behind the knee, elbows, armpits or neck.
commando552 hmm in a fair fight i really don't think about aiming weak area but just hope landing a good hit with the hammer side, even against chainmail its too risky to stuck your weapon in a dude ... the same solid blow of hammer side is enought to take wound advantage i think. the back pike is perfect for hooking behind the knee with greater chance of succes than a axe head.
clubinglex When you have got somebody on the ground is when you would generally be trying to kill them by aiming for the weak points in the armour (with the beak or the top spike), either after stunning them with the hammer head or tripping them. I doubt over penetration or the weapon getting stuck would be too much of an issue, as by design the beak is relatively short so it can only penetrate about 6 inches anyway, you have a massive lever to be able to pry it out in the form of the wooden pole, and the profile and constant taper of the beak means that it should be relatively easy to remove. The design of the beak also suggests that it was designed more for armour penetration than hooking, as although slightly curved this is more to do with getting the point in line with the arc of your swing. If it was intended primarily as a hooking instrument I imagine it would curve downwards to a greater degree, more like the fluke on a guisarme or on the back of a halberd.
I Ireland there is the expression to be "poleaxed". The term is used when someone has consumed so much alcohol that they are lying motionless and unresponsive on their back. Is this just a colloquialism or is the phrase more Universal?
Showing off those animation skills aren't we Lindy?
Someone posted a long comment on this, to which I wanted to reply, but it seems to have disappeared. He was saying that I was spreading misinformation, whereas it seemed to me from his words that he had completely misinterpreted what I was saying in the video.
It was probably Google+ that lost his comment. I say we decide on a name for these weapons, take them to the Google servers, and start smashing until either they fix things or we break everything. But maybe that's just me.
Oxnate I agree entirely. Just break things until Google stops ruining the internet. Then we shall head over the Electronic Arts, and finally finish at Wizards of the Coast.
Make sure to bring your torches.
In german this whole group of weapons is referred to as "Schlachthacken"
Wich would roughly translate to "things to hack with in a battle".
I think that sums it up quite nicely.
benjamin lammertz If my german isn't too far of i'd say its "slaughter-hackers"
But whackin device is a good word for most close quarter weapons.
Klomster
While "schlacht" indeed originates from "slaughter", it mostly means "battle", so "battle-hackers" it is.
It is indeed a good name for most close quarter weapons, but it´s perfect for the PRIMARY close quarter weapon of the time.
When on foot, in the late middle ages you got two big blocks of guys in heavy armour with these things, with swords (mostly) only being the secondary weapon for backup and for REALLY close quarters.
Great video. Reminds me somewhat of a can opener. I imagine bashing an italian knight and having ravioli leak out.
Well, depending what bit you hit him with and what he had for lunch, that may very well happen!
zerg0s Mama mia, delizioso!
Chef boyardee?
Italian knights were actually spaghetti golems in armor? Intriguing. What's in German knights, beer or bratwurst?
Man, this could make for an awesome video game.
canned ravioli. that's sacrilige.
Stunning CGI, someone give this man an Oscar.
Better than Avatar.
@@Poodleinacan Then he deserves TWO(2) Oscars!
Hmmmm.... The Swiss made a multipurpose sharp object?
The Elephant of Doom as usuall.
The swiss were the badass troops in medieval times so much so that most European rulers wouldn't go to war without swiss mercenaries in their army
Knight,"Mr. blacksmith I'm tired of switching between weapons on my belt mid battle can you help me?"
Blacksmith,"Why yes I can here is something I made to kill all sorts of buggers."
Knight,"This is great!,now what to name it."
Blacksmith, “How about the 'you've got two seconds to run-or else-stick’."
Knight,"Ya that'll work."
I call them all the "Please don't hit me with that." Except for my own, I call that one "Don't make me hurt you."
at 2 minutes is how I imagine warhammer orks describing stuff.
Why not Bashy Stabby Cutty Pecky Hooky Stick?
***** I suppose you could vary the order to suit the priorities of an individual design.
The BSCPHS! Sounds Egyptian... or something.
@@endorsedbryce Sounds like some town in Serbia
The hurty hurty stick
I jut hope the pecky bits dont hit your naughty bits.
Im more worried bout the bashy bits against my squishy bits,
Personally I just wouldn't want any bits hitting my bits
I don't like any of these bits at all.
That would be a bit painful
Kudos for the amazing animation, I thoroughly enjoyed that segment.
Great stuff! Currently going back through your videos. I tell my students all the time that language shifts through millennia, and usually start my course speaking "Old English" when we start off with Beowulf. It blows their minds every time.
This video is so informative and entertaining that i am now watching it for the third time. You are awesome Lindybeige.
That animation must have taken AGES.
Aye, 'tis remarkably difficult to get a heavy tapestry to give the appearance of moving so that the characters portrayed therein nod and point. Bravo!
Oh, you meant...
There should be miniature versions of these that you can use in the kitchen.
Lindy can you please do some more on these weapons - how they were used, who used them, what they eventually morphed into down the weapons tree, etc.
There is a lot of material online about swords, less about axes and daggers, much less on spears, but little at all about pole weapons.
cheers and keep up the great work old chap!
I am glad that you pointed out that halberd were noticeably longer, I have had arguments with people who think that pollaxes and halberds are the same length and it is just the choice of fluke/hammer opposite the axe that is the difference. I think the problem is that wikipedia (yep, them again) bizarrely states that halberds were only 5 or 6 foot (pollaxe length) despite the fact that even the pictures in that very article show that they were more like 7 or 8 foot.
Excellent :-)
I love your'e content :)
"are we french" the question that defined the medieval era
I've always loved polearms. Long, heavy, plenty of area to add all sorts of hurty bits and they just have such a diversity.
Oh, Lloyd. Your videos are the high point of my week.
Say what you want about the modern industrial military complex but a least we know what to call weapons. I vote for the halberd to be renamed the: CB 1302.
Which one? The Swiss polearm halberd? Or the destroyer HMS Halberd? Or the anti-personnel mine Halberd, or the anti-tank missile Halberd, or the artillery shell Halberd, or the private security firm Halberd, or the government anti-terror intel operation Halberd? ...or the French equivalent Hauberd, the alternative spelling Halbard, or the arctic archipelago Svalbard?
What's the advantage of having a hammer split into multiple prongs? Wouldn't that just spread the impact and make it weaker?
Plate armour is quite smooth, it helps keep the blunt hammer head from sliding off to the side.
And you have many spikes :3
Pretty much what Jane said. The purpose in having pointy bits on the hammer is so that it bites into the armor more when it hits, because otherwise it will be more likely to glance off the plates. This is actually the same reason why maces have flanges and spikes.
Jane Murphy
Plus, couldn't you catch swords in it?
50Calabyte In between the prongs? Not unless you're unnaturally lucky.
I would recommend very highly a French Castle ( w/ museum areas...) named Haut Koenigsburg in the Alsace region ( near Strasbourg, FR ). There is a wonderful armory room, with rows of pole arms, some match locks and other ancient firearms, some crossbows, and a whole assortment of cannons ( up on an outdoor cannon terrace). Plus marvelous views of the Rhine Valley, french wine, and a great area... but the pole arms are worth seeing... ( a VIP like yourself might be able to even touch them/ dis-mount them from the wall racks).
Loving the little animations you're plonking in.
The animation sequences in this are top quality Lindybeige! Whoever did them should be congratulated! Was it you? If so, what did you use? That's not tweening, that's straight up animation, I loved it.
Lindybeige production values are going up I like it :)
Never before or since have I ever seen Lindy being so enthusiastic about something being French.
Loved the animation with the Bayeux tapestry at the end.
This is still one of my favorite vids.
From my understanding you've got the Lucerne hammer there (usually the pronged hammer head, but sometimes they had a flat convex hammer head ) and the bec de corbin(usually the flat convex hammer head, but sometimes they had a pronged hammer head) - throughout history the names were used relatively interchangeably when referring to either weapon
Really digging the animated bit of this. I'm eventually going to make a prop bec de corbin, I just need to find a material that's both not gonna break easily, and not going to de-ocular anyone.
Is there ANY chance you could do a video on the Tarch? That wild gauntlet/dagger/shield the Russians may have used sometimes in defending seiges during the Renaissance.
New words to remember, "Stab stick!" :-) love the descriptive and all inclusive title for something on a stick that's stabby, but with a little something extra that hurts people. :-)
On the subject of wikipedia, I don't find it really that bad at all. You obviously don't want to use it for a college paper in fear of getting laughed out of college, but it's *generally* reliable. The only stuff I wouldn't trust is very long articles on controversial figures and movements.
It's as unrealiable as your standard encyclopedia.
It's quite unreliable. State and academia on the other hand is much more organized and has a much better process so they are far superior
@@gjermund1161 It's chock full of bias, supposition, inline citations referring to internet Chinese whispers and misremembered half-truths or factoids.
Its far better than most of what you can find on google nowadays. I swear it's somehow gotten harder to find actual information on the internet
Shouldn't there at least be a difference between the ones with a pecky bit and the ones with a cutty bit?
To my mind, and I'm just a layman, the ones with the pecky bit descend from the warhammer and the ones with the cutty bit are descended from the long axe. The first is a crow's beak/falcon's beack/lucene hammer/etc, the second is a poleaxe//pollax/polax/etc. Their use and purpose is the same, they're just of slightly different origin.
E. A. Deasar I second that! That makes total sense.
***** Your misspelling of "agree" looks very cool written, especially taking your name in consideration. I picture a large Viking, grunting: "Agrre!" :-)
For the sake of clarity, I would just refer to the cutty version as the poleaxe, and the pecky version as the crowbeak/whatever. Easier to remember that way and better understand what the actual weaponhead looks like.
***** There is something of that ilk that's sometimes called the "horseman's pick", though as I'm not familiar with Mount and Blade I don't know if it's the same thing.
Nice job with the animated scenes, quite informative and funny
That ending....BRILLIANT
What would be the pros and cons of a pronged hammer vs. a flat hammer?
Level 58 Death Knight A prong concentrates the force on a smaller surface.
Schensue But they're also curled outward a little bit, wouldn't that sort of cause the energy to deflect outward instead of going inward?
They'd also catch and grip on armor, like big metal cleats, as opposed to an un-pronged hammer that might glance off.
Your video editing is just superb! Great video, very informative
Im now going to called all polearms "bashy stabby hooky peckies".
Oh I was going to ask what the difference was between a halberd and a pole-axe. Now you've cleared it up... I think. I had thought the halberd had a hooking thing instead of a hammer. They all look like they could take an eye out if you weren't careful.
Your best video so far. Keep up the good work.
I'd say that a cutty bit is pretty different from a pecky bit. Although sticking four bits onto one weapon will make it inconvenient to name every variation, so I don't blame you.
Daniel Carrier it’s kind of the annoying thing about the medieval era is they didn’t really care about categorizing things. Pollaxe is the catch all term that I use for them because it’s always right.
I was really hoping to see your comments on actual fighting with this weapon. Pros and cons and how it would fare against similar weapons like the famous danish axe.
A continuation of this trend (making more useful variations of a shortish pole arm, not getting in a huff about what to call it.) can be seen in the Russian Streltsy who had the combination of a pole axe and a musket, the former of which would be used as a mono pod for the latter.
The exact information I was looking for and presented in such a funny (cheeky?) manner.Well done!
Lindy how was that four pronged head used? - just like a hammer or does it have some sort of special magic abillities because it's four pronged?
So far as I know you just wallop people with it. The prongs mean that it is more likely to grip the target and not slide off.
only if you prongs were folded over a million times
A pronged head basically works the same as a meat tenderizer. Lots of small points do more damage than one big surface
Lindybeige That seems to come at a price, though. Maybe it's just me, but I'm guessing that pronging it might guide the full force of the blow away from the center of the impact. Could be wrong, though.
Great videos! Only finding you now as i join a Viking reenactment group in Dublin! Keep it up!
Actually, I have heard it the other way around with a bec de corbdin and lucerne hammer.
Do anyone know why the axe blade on so many poleaxes were straight instead of curved?
I recently found a type of axe called hungarian axe(I don't know if that's a historical term or not), which looks similar to the dane axe, but the stabby portion is more prominent. Axes can be surprisingly versatile it seems.
2:00 replace the spike on top with a long spearhead, that way you don't have to choose between cutty and pecky!
The crow's beak also is available in one-handed version :), but the main diference between lucern hammer, poleaxe and crow's beak is that a lucern hammer has a hammer as main dmg-ing piece, a poleaxe has an axe as main dmg-ing piece and a crow's beak has a curved spike/blade as a main dmg-ing piece.
So it's not so much the weapon, but the method of wielding that has the different names?
Earthenfist
Precisely not his point. He is saying what he said... the main damaging part, the biggest part, determines the name.
The pole axe is probably my favorite medieval weapon. It can cut, bludgeon and pierce. And most importantly, deal with armor. I'd buy one but theyre not allowed in HEMA competitions afaik.
I've come to the conclusion that those Danish axes were used less like a battle ax and more like a pole-arm. as Lloyd pointed out. As an ax making huge, sweeping blows just doesn't work well particularly in close combat.
In battle I think your elite shock troops would have picked a portion of the enemy shield wall and just started hacking downward. That would smash shields, kill and injury foes and then they could follow up with a thrust. Their own spear men could protect their flanks and exploit the gap created. It allows your Thanes to be used in a offensive style that doesn't waste them and allows battles to be brought to a decisive conclusion which would minimize casualties for the winner. The trick was making sure your side won.
Dane axe era was shield wall era. when you have a shield wall in front of you a 2 handed axe is good to hack in it or hook the shield to open a hole. I think it was the main reason of existence of the Dane axe.
excuse me to point out that our principle combat tactic was to get off boats often intoxicated on shrooms and alcohol and practically go berserk on coast cities which often didn't have time to mobilize a garrison, it's not to say there never was any larger shield wall battles but even in the unification process it was at best minor skirmishes and raids rather than feild battles, we simply didn't have the man power for that.
***** Which is obviously the reason why the Norse didn't cause absolute turmoil in the British Isles, didn't destroy half a dozen cities and name half of Scotland and Ireland, and by no means conquered vast tracts of Northern Britain. Because that would be silly, wouldn't it? They were all high on alcohol or shrooms.
...In case the sarcasm isn't laid on thick enough there...
...I'm being sarcastic.
***** You're only describing Viking raiders while ignoring the very real conquests that the vikings engaged in, primarily in the British Isles. There was even a famous battle where the Saxons fought against Viking invaders and came down to the strength of the Saxon shield walls.
SpitshineSneakers the "conquest" first happend mostly after the viking age had ended around year 1000 (Denmark was united in 960 and the viking age ended there as a result) some English king began a sort of ethnical cleanning of northern England where a lot of the population was danish, so svend the first decided that he simply couldn't accept this sort of behavior so we invaded and well practically kicked englands arse.
ofc previously we ad invaded england, but it was in smaller scale and more scuttle, fx the Saxons came from Denmark and what is now north Germany.
You forgot about the bashy / spike bit on the but end!
That was possibly the most hilarious diagram of a polearm in all of history.. I am still laughing after three hours. xD
i can't understand what the last guys are saying, can someone explain it to me?
Nice animation at the end
What purpose does a hammer with a split head serve over a regular solid head?
I personally lump the bec-de-corbin in with war hammers, albeit a fairly long variety.
wouldn't a crowsbeak with an enlarged beak be a double-sided deathscythe?
as a computer geek, I really love the way you did the sarcasm warning
Reminds me of that classic AD&D cartoon, with the gnome saying, "I used to carry a lucern hammer. Imagine my surprise when I found out it was a pole arm!"
A bit late, but wouldn't this be a very useful weapon in D&D? You get to choose whether to deal Slashing, Piercing, or Bludgeoning damage, with reach, and you get a bonus on sundering. Well, I know what weapon I'll choose now.
+IllogicalBeans Well mind you that you might be sacrificing the damage from a weapon dedicated to one of those roles, though I could see the time it would save over having to waste time swapping to an appropriate weapon if you're fighting a mixture of enemies.
These weapons have been in the game since the 1979 PHB.
They actually got bonuses to hit through armor back then
Can say now, cause I still play that version of the game
I just love that outro
Ok so, a bashy bit, a stabby bit, a cutty bit and a hooky bit, all one piece or is it sometimes not? I have a book called the Art of blacksmithing that shows a polearm being made of parts with sections riveted on or a spear head put in as a wedge for a axe head. is this even close to a proper construction of a historic weapon? The book is rather old but I am not sure how accurate it is. Would anyone know of a manual that would detail historic smithing in greater detail ?
I love your animations!
But then how will you know if it does 2d8 or 2d10 damage?
All the different names for basically the same type of weapon does at least help with RPGs wanting to pallet swap the same weapon many times instead of making different ones, or letting them just sound fancy.
Did the animated poleaxe show me it's tongue in it's last form?
This question might be asked further down in the comments, but: Who made you're Bec-de-Lucerne-pollsmasher? I like it a lot!
Got a question. Didn't the pick bit tend to get stuck in the victim thus leaving one subject to being killed by someone using a bashey, hackey, or stabby bit?
Give us more medieval weapon/armour/culture/everything-videos!(!)
But...
Where might one be acquired today?
Would halberds be used against cavalry or were they essentially anti-pike weapons? I have seen certain reenactment groups use 9 foot halberds in a shiltrom formation, which seems to be inappropriate for something 9 feet long.
In the news today they talked about the injuries sustained by King Richard III and the death blow seems to (me) to have been from an implement similar to this striking the back of his skull and penetrating it, cutting through the brain and striking the inside of the skull. He probably had lost his helmet just prior to this.
I hit the bell 3 times u really changed my perspective about sling but also that almost killed my dog xexex, THATS why I sling underarm and my dog figured out what a good stone is >
I have a somewhat unrelated question. I am under the impression that generally shield and spear was more commonly used in the infantry in the early medieval period and pikes were predominant in the later medieval period. When was the general turning point, and in what context? What major events accompanied or reflected this? Was there a time or context where the use of one over the other was highly contentionus?
I'm no expert on this topic, but here are my thoughts. In the late medieval period, shock tactics with heavy cavalry are mature and can be immensely effective. Pike formations are great against this. Also, firearms. The early firearms were long to reload, so they needed protection. Pikes are also good for that (spanish tertio ?). Other thing: when infantry got heavy armor (mail, then plate), the need for a shield decreased, allowing soldiers to wield very long pikes, or halberds.
Lindy, you make no mention of the queue (stabby bit on the other side). Something for the next video perhaps?
Lloyd, question. Was there ever such a thing as a, for lack of a better term "Great Hammer". The sort of thing like what Ajax used in the totally historically accurate film Troy. Which is to say, a really tall hammer with a very big head designed for smashing shields. Also, was there really any weapons which could smash a shield?
I'm afraid I'm not Lloyd, but I can answer the first question about big hammers: No. There were never any polearms with huge hammer heads because the heads would be ridiculously heavy, meaning you can't swing them or recover from a miss quickly. The huge amount of material needed would also make them expensive, for no actual improvement in fight-y power. The huge hammer head would also spread out the power of the hit a lot more than a small one would.
The closest thing I can think of is a kind of large, wooden mallet used in Japan called an "Ōtsuchi", but I believe that was for bashing down doors - not as an actual weapon.
BurningSunBloodyMoon
I think another example of such a thing would be a maul, more for driving posts than bashing skulls, if I'm not mistaken. Still, I could see something around long sword length, akin to a baseball bat with more of a mace shape, might be a useful weapon.
The closest approximation to a real weapon would be the Maul, which was really just a slightly modified sledgehammer. Warhammers normally didn't get bigger than that for the reasons stated above.
I believe that there is a programme by Mike loades where (in the course of experiments) he manages to smash a poorly made shield with a Francesca. A properly made shield though is designed primarily to prevent harm happening to the user, be it the energy transmitted through (hence why a completely metal shield is a bad idea) or the actual sharp bit taking your head off. there may have been weapons designed for breaking shield but (as of writing) I am not aware of any historical or archaeological evidence supporting this theory apart from a small section of Viking law about duels. It mentioned something about each combatant being allowed three shields (no mention if these were designed to break after extended use).
How about the massive hammer in Conan from 1982 ?? It's pretty big and this movie is a great reference to historic weapons and techniques (lol, kidding)
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the animations were great! really impressed.
I love the pythonesque animation at 2.30
occasionally, they have 2 cutty bits either side byt those are much more rare.
Fantastic video!
You must be related to Mike Hock!
I'd like to hear your thoughts about Espontoons. I sighted them in a german castle at Constance Lake and they look extremely deadly to me!
So you'd say that these medieval pole-arms are different from other pole-arms like halberts? In what way would that be? Just the length of the shaft? Or would they have been used differently? Halberts, guisarmes, glaives or berdysches also seem to offer the same variety of bashy, stabby, cutty/pecky and hooky cutlery.
Glaive Naginata Bisento Halberd Guisarme Lucerne Corbin Polaxe Polhammer Spear Lance Pike.
What else is there?
Fuuuuuuuuck anything D&D. Just weapon names, no hyphenation stuff.
Military fork eh? Also, I can't believe I forgot partisan.
Just a general principle. I mean, those weapons you list aren't fake weapons, but you see how many of them are glaive-guisarme-halberd-spork-alan keys. There's just no need.
Which is why I posted the beginning of a list of them for shits and giggles.
Did I put pike in my initial post?
For great shame. Trident, too.
At a festival in central Europe, they insisted in calling it the "Hungarian War Pick." So there's yet another name for the growing list.
You've out done yourself with the animation.
Where did you obtain this pointy, pokey, pole weapon?
Goddamn you, I woke up my birds with my hysterical 10pm laughter.
Whats the fat bit on the side opposite the axe for ?
First thought is anti-armour concussive damage, but after this video I would think more weight balance.
Lindy love your sarcasm.But did you forget the handle would that be called the “the woody bit”?
you can't pierce plate armor in combat so what is the use of the back pike, just hooking ? Because even against unarmed opponent i prefer to strike with the hammer side, i don't want to see my weapon stuck in opponent flesh !
Charged by horses.
It would have been useful for a number of things such as tripping, hooking weapons/shields and unhorsing cavalry, but in terms of actual killing it would have been very effective against chain mail or for attacking into the weak areas of plate armour like behind the knee, elbows, armpits or neck.
commando552
hmm in a fair fight i really don't think about aiming weak area but just hope landing a good hit with the hammer side, even against chainmail its too risky to stuck your weapon in a dude ... the same solid blow of hammer side is enought to take wound advantage i think. the back pike is perfect for hooking behind the knee with greater chance of succes than a axe head.
clubinglex
When you have got somebody on the ground is when you would generally be trying to kill them by aiming for the weak points in the armour (with the beak or the top spike), either after stunning them with the hammer head or tripping them. I doubt over penetration or the weapon getting stuck would be too much of an issue, as by design the beak is relatively short so it can only penetrate about 6 inches anyway, you have a massive lever to be able to pry it out in the form of the wooden pole, and the profile and constant taper of the beak means that it should be relatively easy to remove.
The design of the beak also suggests that it was designed more for armour penetration than hooking, as although slightly curved this is more to do with getting the point in line with the arc of your swing. If it was intended primarily as a hooking instrument I imagine it would curve downwards to a greater degree, more like the fluke on a guisarme or on the back of a halberd.
hmmm perhpaps beak side strike is more like a "finishing blow" when you have a clear advantage.
well done. nice video. I liked the animation
I love that opening. "Or if you like saying things in foreign languages for no reason" lol
This object eventually evolved into the spork, which has been known to take out an eye or two, down through the ages.
I Ireland there is the expression to be "poleaxed". The term is used when someone has consumed so much alcohol that they are lying motionless and unresponsive on their back. Is this just a colloquialism or is the phrase more Universal?
"Wouldn't want someone's eye out with that would we..." Comedy gold
I love when he said "You got a 4 to 6 foot long stab stick".
I don't know, just the term stab stick makes me laugh.