Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

tom hyle · 12th June 2011, 12:44 AM

Does anyone have any information as to the identity/construction/apperance of the German migration era "longo-bard" axe; ie long-bearded axe? I envision a long handled axe with a very long cutting edge similar to a bardiche or Lake Haber axe and probably related, possibly by descent, to long-bladed turf axes, but this is speculation much more vague than my equation of halberd (hall beard=hall axe=house axe) as a meat cleaver on a stick. But I've seen a lot of early halberds, with their rectangular blades, their heavy edges, and their commonly tanged construction. Does anyone have pictures of objects that are thought to be long-beard axes?
I wonder if Billman reads this forum? I suspect he might have something to say.
BTW, the 18th century dress/show/guard "halberds" seem to me to be largely fairly clearly pole axes, not anything I'd recognize as a halberd. A halberd on a shorter stick with a thrusting point and a rectangular blade persisted in Northern and central Europe into modern times as a travelling axe, similar in use though not appearance to those Polish(etc.) axes with the lil mountain climbing spear on the butt, but I'm not sure what they're called.

12th June 2011, 12:44 AM	#1
tom hyle Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Houston, TX, USA Posts: 1,254	longobard axe Does anyone have any information as to the identity/construction/apperance of the German migration era "longo-bard" axe; ie long-bearded axe? I envision a long handled axe with a very long cutting edge similar to a bardiche or Lake Haber axe and probably related, possibly by descent, to long-bladed turf axes, but this is speculation much more vague than my equation of halberd (hall beard=hall axe=house axe) as a meat cleaver on a stick. But I've seen a lot of early halberds, with their rectangular blades, their heavy edges, and their commonly tanged construction. Does anyone have pictures of objects that are thought to be long-beard axes? I wonder if Billman reads this forum? I suspect he might have something to say. BTW, the 18th century dress/show/guard "halberds" seem to me to be largely fairly clearly pole axes, not anything I'd recognize as a halberd. A halberd on a shorter stick with a thrusting point and a rectangular blade persisted in Northern and central Europe into modern times as a travelling axe, similar in use though not appearance to those Polish(etc.) axes with the lil mountain climbing spear on the butt, but I'm not sure what they're called.