Horseman's 16th century Battle Axe

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Atlantia

I should avoid reading your posts Jim!


Because you give me so much to think about that I'll be 'googling' for days to come!
Fantastic post and a Rembrandt as well!

As for the drawing of the Rupert from the English Civil war....
I wonder if the axe isn't more part of the political statement that the drawing represents?
His villainy is clear as he single handedly pillages the poor downtrodden city of 'Brimighani' (Birmingham) accompanied by his hellhound 'Boy' (An evil poodle with supernatural powers!).
Perhaps his 'axe' was part of the symbolism of the piece?

LOL! Welcome to my world Gene My curiosity and fascination with the history is almost maniacal. I can barely get through movies or articles etc. without the research alarm sounding. I was intrigued by Rembrandt and symbolism hidden in classic art long before the DaVinci code. There are so many nuances and inuendos in these works, its wonderfully amazing.

You are spot on in your idea of symbolism in these kinds of illustrations which are often far more than 'artistic license' and actually become in a sense allegorical. As I noted, it is observed in these two accounts of these cavalrymen, one contemporary, the other Victorian, that they carried pollaxes/poleaxes, respectively. Obviously a horseman is not going to be carrying an 8-10ft. polearm, so either the term was used rather collectively for war hammer or these were indeed polearms, but cut down hafts for mounted use.
This kind of investigation and analysis is known as 'historical detection' and is best described in a book titled "After the Fact", Davidson & Lytle, 1982.
Thats what I always think of us here as, historical weapons investigators

All the very best,
Jim