What is the difference between spontoon & Partisan? Was not that halberd you showed as an early halberd a Voulge, it's my understanding that a Glaive is mounted on the end of the haft, but a Voulge is mounted to the side on the haft? Is it not polaxe? Pol-axe (head-axe) not pole-axe (our good friend on modern history TV is most decisive about this point) Is the mallet not called a maul? A leaden maul I have read about in sources but not a mallet, English archers did have them I forget where I read it but it was in an account of agincourt where mauls were sometimes used to hammer roundel daggers through gorgets, I could be mistaken in this recollection but I am modestly confident in it. Ketten means chains or in more modern times, tracks (kettenkrad) I think that last one you pointed to its a modified duelling sword (a kind of sword with an axe head on one side half way along it)
Nice to see a more relevant sponsor again. That said, you do whatever you need to do to get paid, to be able to continue putting out excellent content. :)
@@jacobmyers3868kind of - we have the term „Halskette“ , literally meaning „neck chain“. You also find the the diminutive “Kettchen”, meaning “little chain”. It may be used in a more broad sense (for all kinds of necklace, like woven wire and such) today, but that is where the expression comes from originally.
All I know is, I’m four and a half minutes into this.. I’m finally able to stop all the inappropriate jokes that flood my mind as he’s describing shafts, and thrusting, and such.. Then he has to say “length of pole matters” (paraphrasing) 🤣🤣 It’s been a long day.. don’t judge.
About the morning star: - the name holy water sprinkler comes from the fact that it looks like a giant version of the holy water sprinklers used in catholic church service. - Nowadays in Germany Morgenstern is mostly used for the chain and ball version of the flail and not for the club. About the glaive: - Kuse comes from the polnish word for scythe (kosa). One tip: - If you do not know the pronunciation of a foreign word. It seems that google translate may help you: simple select the correct language, enter the word and click on the listen button.
As for the Ahlspieß (Ahlspiess) the german "ie" is a lenghtened german i and sounds like the english "ee" (in free) The "Ahl" commes from the "Ahle" which the dictionary tells me is called awl in english. So it's an Awl-spear. Kettenmorgenstern: Ketten is plural for Kette which is a chain. So: Chainmorningstar. German is quite descriptive.
In the fantasy game 'das schwarze Auge' a Kettenmorgenstern is called a 'Dreschflegel', I guess that's the name of the agricultural tool but maybe you have fun pronouncing it, it means thrash (whacking, in case I got the word thrashing wrong) flail, 'flegel' today means a rude person, so not sure what word came from what here.
It is one of the earliest multipurpose infantry weapons. The spike could be used to hold off cavalry and the heavy two handed blows could do some serious injury to knights even in full hauberk. It was also relatively easy and cheap to make and was more effective than farming tools.
The naming of pointy sticks is surprisingly controversial among experts, enthusiasts and even people in the past. I obviously haven't seen the whole thing yet but I am curious to see your take on the matter.
Hello Matt, Luzerner Hammer is called as it is not because this was "a Swiss thing", it is called Luzerner Hammer because of a massive find of this type of weapon near the city of Luzern. It is a relative new name from the 19. century. Back in the days it was simply known as "hammer"...
I hope they at least called it something like a long hammer or the like because I could see a guy trying to set nails asking for a hammer and responding with "Well I suppose technically this could be something I asked for but this is not quite what I wanted"
Easton "Concise". Video length - an hour. Yep, checks out. Super interesting video. I knew of most of the weapons described, but their names and groupings in my head were REALLY off :) Thank you for clearing things!
maybe :) or perhaps it was for swinging laterally at the side of a guys head? or perhaps it actually resembles some medieval tableware and we dont get the reference?
@@markhill3858 Earspoons or other spatula-shaped tools made of metal are toilet requisites for clearing your ears from earwax and are the size of your ear canal at the tip. Until the introduction of qtips they were used at least since the bronze age and are still widly used in India and other parts of Asia afaik. In early 15th cent. the Hussites from Bohemia used their spears to clean the ears of german knights quite successfully (at least those who received the treatment didn't complain any more)
.As far as I know it's the "Arkansas Toothpick", which is a very narrow, symmetrical, double edged dagger that is used predominatly for thrusting at your opponent whereas the typical Bowie Knife is a single edged "Messer" kind of blade that offers considerable cutting/hacking/slashing capabilities, that are in the bigger versions used similarly to a short sword. The fighting style with an Arkansas Toothpick is quite different from that with a Bowie knife. Of course such fine detail were no longer of great concern after Col. Colt made all men equal thanks to him inventing and making generally available the Sixshooter.
Hey Matt! French speaker from Quebec here! I wanted to add a little bit on the glaive word complication. In the early mid 20th century in France, when people in the mainstream were not so keen on researching historical accuracy in litterature, terms like "épée longue" ou "épée bâtarde" were not taken too seriously regarding sword shapes and "glaive" was more or less used for all sorts of sword shapes and sizes (I've even seen stuff like "glaive à deux mains" meaning two-handed glaive, when talking about a zweihander). This most likely comes from the fact that pretty much all the school history books refer to the Roman gladius, the Xiphos, Kopis and virtually all the Germanic and proto-germanic and Keltic swords as simply "glaives". Therefore, glaive has not only been used to describe a short or arming sword, but it has been used to describe most types of swords in Europe, really. Today not as much, as the more accurate terms have made their way to the mainstream, but you still can still see "glaive" used in modern mainstream books like the French traduction of the Witcher novels, where "glaive" is used to describe all types of swords and even some forms of sabers if I recall, perpetrating the confusion further even more...
Irritatingly, “glaive” can also refer to a large shuriken; I wasn’t able to find much on why, but it seems like it may have been in a 1983 movie called Krull. This usage of the term is common in video games and fiction, and I hate it.
@@ex0ne and kätting, at least today refers specifically to a utility chain used like medium-heavy ropes and cables while a smaller chain like the safety chain on an appartment door, a hanging flower pot or kitchen ceiling lamp is called kedja and fine jewlery chains are refered to as länk (eng. link)
I very much appreciate the fact that you decided to include even the names of these polearms in other languages: in fact, as an Italian, i didn't know some of the names in my native language and i knew them only in English, due to a more easy access to english sources about the argument (including RUclips channels); so thank you very much Matt.
@@brittakriep2938 Old English and German look practically identical. Only after the linguistic revolution after Middle English did it start to really become its own language. When dealing with historical stuff, translations are easy. Nowadays, it's hard to believe that this is even related to Old English.
Holy water sprinkler is called an aspergill which does look similar to a mace. And also to a mould fungus under the microscope, therefore named aspergillus fungus.
Funny, if you ask a German about a "Morgenstern" most of them would not know that there is a polearm that bears the name they would all think about what you called a "Ketten Morgenstern" (Chain Morningstar) I personally just learned that from your video. Morgenstern in the mind of most Germans would be something like a wooden stick about half an arm's length with a chain (Kette) attached to it and at the end of said chain, there is a spiked ball either of wood or of metal. Also, there is a form of mace featuring this spiked metal ball which is sometimes also called a Morgenstern, but most people would call it a "Streitkolben" basically a mace. So, it might just be that the word "Morgenstern" does just ever to any weapon with a spiked ball as the main "feature".
This video has big Dark Age of Camelot energy. That MMO had tons of love for polearms, all sorts of odd ones like lochaber's and lucene's along with halberds, bills, pikes, pollaxes, bardiches, and volgues were in there.
When talking about hammer poleaxe you didn’t mention (or I totally miss it) my favorite: the Bec de Corbin (and its “bigger” version the Bec de Fauchon). Similar to a lucern hammer but in my opinion a quite different and more beautiful pole weapon .
I thought that too, but it really is just a variation of a pollaxe when you think about it. But I am surprised he didn’t mention it. But at least my beautiful glaives did lol
A little correction about the word "Spiedo", it's probably not derived from the same etymon as "spear" but it came from the latin word "spiga". Today "spiga" in italian means "ear of corn" but at the time it could also mean "spike", and "Spiedo" nowadays means "skewer".
I have been wanting a video about all the different polearms for some years now. Somehow I knew that if someone from the community was to make this type of video, it was going to be you. Long, comprensive, categorized and with comments. Thank you!
I might be missing a joke here, but there is actually style of bowie knife called Arkansas toothpick. Also, if I am not mistaken, in Czech republic we call the Bohemian ear spoon "sudlice ušatá". I am not sure about the meaning of the first word, the second one means roughly "with ears".
@@janbernad4729 Oops yes, Arkansas. Texas Toothpick is another traditional American knife, but a small one not a big Bowie. Calling a big sturdy knife a toothpick is the joke. As if one would use it for a dainty personal hygiene task. Likewise an ear spoon is a small tool for cleaning your ears.
@@janbernad4729 Does this wiki article clarify anything? It's something of a jumble in English translation, but seems relevant. cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudlice
"I'm going to talk about every medieval pole arm ever in just under an hour." Wow. Way to poke the bear. I will give you this, you are not even a little bit fainthearted. (Matt disappears under an avalanche of "Well, actually..." and "You missed...")
The swedish swordspear is pretty interesting in itself… you should do a video on norwegian 16 - 17th century peasant axes… much like dane axes, but with a kink
Bec De Corbin, which is just a Lucerne Hammer that has a spike opposite that is shaped specifically to resemble a Crow's Beak. Which is the French translation. It was prolific enough that it was standardized complete with drawings for a blacksmith to produce all portions of its weapons features. I believe that Fabrique Nationale still have surviving examples of the blueprints in their armament museum. Since they trace their origins back to being a Frankish armory, before Belgium existed as a separate country.
as you have mentioned many interesting names, there's one you've missed: a Roßschinder, could be translated with horse-mauler. It's used for Italian bills in (of course) the HRE.
First Rob Schneider was a Pike, then he was a Bec-De-Corbin. Now Rob Schneider is a Roßschinder! (Yes, I know it's pronounced like a long S, but c'mon guys; someone had to make the joke, right?)
The winged speer is much older: there are many examples e.g: from around 700/750 (Frankish, in Württembergisches Landesmuseum Stuttgart) and also earlier surviving winged spear heads from Frankish Graves of the 7. and 8. century. The winged spear (Flügellanze) was a common typ of weapon used by the Frankish cavallery (and often depicted in period Frankish art)...
Yes a grain thrash was sometimes used like a polearm. But I wouldn't really consider it one in the same way you don't consider a pickaxe or a felling ax to be one.
@@generalvictorironraven.1347 Actual farming bills being used in war almost always are accepted as polearms though, I always wondered why the same wasn't extended to mining picks and felling axes that also were pressed into service.
Kind of! But it's more like the grain thrash is an ancestor to the flail more than a relative. It's kind of like considering the hewing axe as the craftsman ancestor to the military bardiche. Same kind of idea of a wide axe blade with a lot of cutting potential, and was likely to be hanged on a longer pole to transform it into a makeshift pole weapon in times of war, but it had to undergo a substantial amount of changes to be fit for the military (thinner cross section, extra support at the base of the blade to allow more strength with a longer, curvier blade with a thinner cross section). In truth, all the military weapons have some sort of origins in the trades and agricultural tools because that's what people had in their hands 12 hours a day, that's what they knew and could base themselves off of instead of trying to come up with entirely new weapon systems. Tradespeople were practical and pragmatic people. If something they already had could be only slightly modified to become a valid weapon system, they would not be likely to reinvent the wheel and would stick to what they knew how to make and tweak them until they were more suited for the military.
Great Video Matt, Pole-arms never get enough love in media! Just an honourable mention, but Jeddart staves/axes from the Scottish borders in the 15th to mid 17th centuries are fun. There are only one or two surviving examples, though they are mentioned in legislation and other records fairly often. Its like glaive in that its basically a staff with a sword on the end with a handguard and langets, but the blade seems to have been quite long and slender for most glaives. I've seen some speculation that they were maybe intended to be used on foot and on horseback like a sort of lance, but i don't know of any sources that describe them used that way and we know borderers used lighter lances on horseback too, so I'm a bit unconvinced.
My eye has been injured for awhile and I have been listeninig and an occasionally looking up to see what I can with my good eye and I just wanted to say that I love your videos. They are so good and helpful right now. Thank you for them and please more
Hi, awesome work! I've got a little comment on agricultural tools becoming weapons. The long flails that was used by Husites were originally used for beating the wheat to separate the corn, if I'm correct. Cheap ready made peasant weapon to start your uprising :) Just spice it up with some spikes and there you go.
Being a military history student, I read story about the defense of an English (?) castle whose wall had been scaled. Two men armed with halberds defended the exits from the wall allowing other defenders to reposition themselves. Based on the flowery verbage I envisioned ninja-twirling halberds. It broke up a rather boring text on the stagnation of tactical thinking due to the ability to avoid a field fight by locking yourself in a castle.
re:glaive as sword - growing up and reading Asterix comics in French, the roman gladius was always referred to as "un glaive", and so I was confused when I recently started watching channels like yours and hearing "glaive" refer to the polearm form.
When I see the words "staff weapons", I am always reminded of a ridiculous translation error in norwegian subtitles on some TV show a long time ago. The person on-screen said something like "the damage has been done by staff weapons", but they translated it into something meaning roughly "the damage has been done by the employees' weapons". Staff = employees.
Error in translation. "Kitten morgenstern" was a long club that someone tied a cat onto. Fortunately this practice did not last terribly long. Hissing cat fury has no place on the battlefield. The weapon was evemntually shortened and more cat-heads added to make a cat o'nine tails, which is a bit of gallows humor, as it was nine cats fastened at the tails that was an implement of torture. Please note: I am joking. I do not advocate cruelty to animals.
... A single known, thus rare engagement was recorded between a German mercenary company wielding Kitten Morgensterns (the unit was known as Kopfstoß) and Flemish irregulars from a small border village - under the command of the local magistrate Luid Bastaard - fielding a local variant of the national weapon called a 'Guten Daug', which turns out to have been a rat terrier threaded through the elongated tines of a common pitchfork. After a nearly 20 minutes of snarling and swatting, the battle had to be called a draw due to a sudden downpour.
Thanks for a very informative video! I especially liked that you placed a lot of the weapons in an approximate historical time frame, although I'm sure it is difficult to find reliable sources for all the specialized or regional weapon variations out there.
33:42 I wonder if there is a shortened version of the Axe/Warhammer poleaxe combo that be used from horseback? It should be short enough to use on horseback comfortably but long enough to give you some reach.
Extremely helpful video as always. I’ve enjoyed your content for a long time now. May I recommend having the terms appear on screen, however? Had trouble spelling a lot of these.
I though that too. So curios and intriging but it's most likely the way of saying "ascia" in old italian. They had lots of word that nowadays seems so off and hilarios: "Zuppa" (modern italian for "Soup") for "Giubba" (jacket) refearring to "Zuppa d'arme" (Gambeson, litteraly Arming Jacket) or "Zengiaro or Zenchiar" for "Cinghiale" (boar)
The Bohemian Ear Spoon differs from the winged spear in that it has spikes pointing straight out rather than short blunt lugs. The spikes would be the ears. I think there's an example labeled as such in the Wallace Collection. It's while since I've been so I might have seen it somewhere else.
I don't know which came first, but the "holy water sprinkler" thing reminds me what I saw on graves, in my childhood in Bavaria. It was literally a holy water sprinkler, a short grip and a head formed either kinda like those honey "spoons" or a brush (so some were very short toilet brushes in essence). And it was used to dunk into a container with holy water and sprinkle that on the grave.
+scholagladiatoria *The lance and pike were the longest- and heaviest-shafted spears used in Europe.* Most lances had a head of triangular cross-section for stiffness and weight mitigation, whereas most pikes had a flattened-lozenge cross-section for ease of manufacture. One possible head for the glaive would be a scaled-up version of the clip-point _Meſſer,_ suitable for cutting and chopping as well as thrusting, with a socket tang for the shaft.
@scholagladiatoria , just to add to the confusion surrounding glaives: Liechtenauer's zettel says you should wrestle well and learn how to handle "glefen, sper, swert vnde messer". The orthography varies and some sources omit glefen entirely. The mounted combat section of the Zettel (and the associated commentaries) seem to use glefen only when mounted on horse, although it sometimes it is exchanged with sper. I've seen people claim glefen essentially means lance.
Any chance of doing something similar for Asian polearms in the future? Especially Chinese polearms, there's a lot of interesting ones that are completely absent from popular culture representations.
Thank you Matt. I love polearms, specially spears. They are so practical and elegant. It seems to be made specially for humankind to wield, so good it is. If I could choose a weapon to practice it would definetely be the spear.
As you started talking about flails, for the first time I thought about them in formation as opposed to in one on one fighting. I wonder if the articulation helped in hitting over the top of the line? I'm thinking that with a downward swing the people in front could easily block (or even just be struck) by the pole. With a non-articulated weapon that would be the end of it, guy in front gets bumped with shaft but doesn't care much because of his armor. However, with an articulated shaft suddenly the bump in front causes the end to come whipping around and potentially injure a guy in the second rank.
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Is this the end of Raid shadow legends?
What is the difference between spontoon & Partisan?
Was not that halberd you showed as an early halberd a Voulge, it's my understanding that a Glaive is mounted on the end of the haft, but a Voulge is mounted to the side on the haft?
Is it not polaxe? Pol-axe (head-axe) not pole-axe (our good friend on modern history TV is most decisive about this point)
Is the mallet not called a maul? A leaden maul I have read about in sources but not a mallet, English archers did have them I forget where I read it but it was in an account of agincourt where mauls were sometimes used to hammer roundel daggers through gorgets, I could be mistaken in this recollection but I am modestly confident in it.
Ketten means chains or in more modern times, tracks (kettenkrad)
I think that last one you pointed to its a modified duelling sword (a kind of sword with an axe head on one side half way along it)
I think you have forget the Swordstaff
Nice to see a more relevant sponsor again.
That said, you do whatever you need to do to get paid, to be able to continue putting out excellent content.
:)
Why did they change their name? The Great Courses Plus is a much better name. (I'm not expecting anyone here knows, just shouting at the screen.)
I died with that sudden cut, you were going to keep talking about pike and shoot warfare but this was suposed to be concise xDD never change matt
But it was Contextual wasn't it P
Kette indeed means chain. One of our terms for hauberk is Kettenhemd, wich literally means chain shirt.
Isn’t kette also used for necklace?
@@jacobmyers3868 only if it's a chain necklace.
Same in Dutch 🇳🇱 we use Keten ✌🏻
@@jacobmyers3868kind of - we have the term „Halskette“ , literally meaning „neck chain“. You also find the the diminutive “Kettchen”, meaning “little chain”.
It may be used in a more broad sense (for all kinds of necklace, like woven wire and such) today, but that is where the expression comes from originally.
@@jacobmyers3868 it also means track as in tracked vehicle.
If you're looking for something specifically:
3:10 Spear
5:17 Pike
6:50 Boar Spear - Winged Spear - Bohemian earspoon
13:30 Spiedo - Cutting Spear - Hewing Spear
14:17 Partisan - Partizan - Protazan
16:12 Corsec - Spetum - Runka
19:57 Ahlspieß - Ahlspiess
22:20 Dane Axe - Great Axe
23:35 Halberd
27:10 Bardiche - Bardische - Berdish - Geesam
28:50 Lochaber axe
30:10 Poleaxe
33:54 War hammer - Lucerne hammer
35:44 Mallet - Maul
37:44 Billhook - Ronca
41:48 Glaive - Kuss
47:22->48:30 Morgenstern - Holy Water Sprinkler
52:03 Goedendag
53:21 Flail - Kettenmorgenstern - Ketten Flail
Bonus:
55:29 Scythe - War Scythe
56:06 Fork - Pitchfork
57:04 other
Thanks my dude
18:50 langue de boeuf
I was looking for the Bec de Corbin. Disappointing it didn't make the list.
"Let's look at every single medieval polearm ever used." My immediate thought, "Wait, how long is this is video?"
The word "is" has invaded your thoughts.
I thought the same exact thing 🤣🤣🤣
"concise"
I'm like "ALL" that's a bold statement. Then immediately we get the caveats... :(
All I know is, I’m four and a half minutes into this.. I’m finally able to stop all the inappropriate jokes that flood my mind as he’s describing shafts, and thrusting, and such.. Then he has to say “length of pole matters” (paraphrasing) 🤣🤣
It’s been a long day.. don’t judge.
"Bohemian ear spoon" is in Czech "ušatá sudlice" for which a better and more literal translation would be "A lance with ears" or something like that
oh that actually makes sense
My introduction to polearms was AD&D PHB.
This is the way
I’m Scottish,we get introduced to these when very young
This is why Matt holds the honourary rank of 'Staff' Sergeant.
Take your upvote and go.
Lmao
I'm pretty sure he was promoted a Shaft Sergeant recently.
About the morning star:
- the name holy water sprinkler comes from the fact that it looks like a giant version of the holy water sprinklers used in catholic church service.
- Nowadays in Germany Morgenstern is mostly used for the chain and ball version of the flail and not for the club.
About the glaive:
- Kuse comes from the polnish word for scythe (kosa).
One tip:
- If you do not know the pronunciation of a foreign word. It seems that google translate may help you: simple select the correct language, enter the word and click on the listen button.
As for the Ahlspieß (Ahlspiess) the german "ie" is a lenghtened german i and sounds like the english "ee" (in free)
The "Ahl" commes from the "Ahle" which the dictionary tells me is called awl in english. So it's an Awl-spear.
Kettenmorgenstern: Ketten is plural for Kette which is a chain. So: Chainmorningstar.
German is quite descriptive.
Chuchichästli
Entgegensprechanlage
Antibabypille. Always gets me laughing.
In the fantasy game 'das schwarze Auge' a Kettenmorgenstern is called a 'Dreschflegel', I guess that's the name of the agricultural tool but maybe you have fun pronouncing it, it means thrash (whacking, in case I got the word thrashing wrong) flail, 'flegel' today means a rude person, so not sure what word came from what here.
I've seen it called an awlpike in English before.
this is going to be the best hour of my life.
Mat : before i start running you through.....
And yes he is talking about big pointy sticks...
Short spear : shorter than a man (12ft)
The 'Goedendag' is still famous in Flanders, but for some reason nearly everyone thinks it was a flail.
That's a funny name for a brutal weapon 😜
Or as Matt calls it: ketten morgenstern. And yes, ketten means chain.
It is one of the earliest multipurpose infantry weapons. The spike could be used to hold off cavalry and the heavy two handed blows could do some serious injury to knights even in full hauberk. It was also relatively easy and cheap to make and was more effective than farming tools.
@@uncanny_bassman It means "good day". :oP
**Stab!** **Smack!** I said good day, sir!
The naming of pointy sticks is surprisingly controversial among experts, enthusiasts and even people in the past. I obviously haven't seen the whole thing yet but I am curious to see your take on the matter.
Perfect shitstorm starter :D
One might say there's quite a few sticking points in describing polearms.
The Type XXXVII-Q pointy stick is the best pointy stick. Change my mind.
@@coreys2686 It's a very polarising issue. People can get very up in arms about it.
Well they can be classified into pokey choppy and whacking sticks
The Poleaxe is my favorite polearm, and I am happy to learn that the different combinations can be called the same name. :D
Hello Matt, Luzerner Hammer is called as it is not because this was "a Swiss thing", it is called Luzerner Hammer because of a massive find of this type of weapon near the city of Luzern. It is a relative new name from the 19. century. Back in the days it was simply known as "hammer"...
I hope they at least called it something like a long hammer or the like because I could see a guy trying to set nails asking for a hammer and responding with "Well I suppose technically this could be something I asked for but this is not quite what I wanted"
...can't touch this !
By now I expected him to call this a "short video" 😆
No no no, that would be the video on one handed pole weapons.
Nah, this video is at least man-height in length.
Here's a guide to the weapons mentioned:
4:37 Short-spear
5:16 Pike
6:47 Winged spear (Bohemian Ear-Spoon)
13:29 Spiede (broad-headed spear)
14:14 Partisan
16:11 Corseque/Runca/Spetum
18:47 Ox-tongue
19:58 Ahlspiess (awl pike)
22:29 (not exclusively) Dane axe
23:35 Halberd
27:11 Bardiche/Guisarme
28:50 Lochaber axe
30:10 Poleaxe/Pollaxe (which does not necessarily include an axe)
34:29 Lucerne hammer
35:43 Mallet (hammer-spear)
37:43 Bill (numerous variations, including ronca)
41:48 Glaive/Voulge (sword-headed pole)
48:36 Morningstar (polearm version), Holy Water Sprinkler
52:11 Godendag
53:25 Flail
55:43 War scythe (scythe version of glaive)
56:07 Military fork
57:04 miscellaneous unnamed objects
Getting a handle on this terminology, thanks.
Has your handle got langets though?
Easton "Concise".
Video length - an hour.
Yep, checks out.
Super interesting video. I knew of most of the weapons described, but their names and groupings in my head were REALLY off :) Thank you for clearing things!
Matt: "Now, medieval pole arms, before I start running you through..."
Me: "please don't"
Matt: "...the list"
Me: "oh."
The Lucerne is best used whilst wearing a Leo Ring, to get that sweet buff to thrust counterattack damage.
The flail itself is also agricultural in origin
I have a wooden one from before WWll.
"I could make a whole dedicated video just talking about spear types." Easton, Matt. Please do it!
Yes! I would totally listen to Matt talking about spears for hours!
Bohemian earspoon was a jokey name similar to how certain large daggers were called Texas toothpicks.
maybe :) or perhaps it was for swinging laterally at the side of a guys head? or perhaps it actually resembles some medieval tableware and we dont get the reference?
Or maybe people used them for clearing their ears in peace time
@@markhill3858 Earspoons or other spatula-shaped tools made of metal are toilet requisites for clearing your ears from earwax and are the size of your ear canal at the tip. Until the introduction of qtips they were used at least since the bronze age and are still widly used in India and other parts of Asia afaik.
In early 15th cent. the Hussites from Bohemia used their spears to clean the ears of german knights quite successfully (at least those who received the treatment didn't complain any more)
Also I read, the Hussites called their war flails "Scorpions" because they hit their targets out of the blue just like the animal.
.As far as I know it's the "Arkansas Toothpick", which is a very narrow, symmetrical, double edged dagger that is used predominatly for thrusting at your opponent whereas the typical Bowie Knife is a single edged "Messer" kind of blade that offers considerable cutting/hacking/slashing capabilities, that are in the bigger versions used similarly to a short sword. The fighting style with an Arkansas Toothpick is quite different from that with a Bowie knife. Of course such fine detail were no longer of great concern after Col. Colt made all men equal thanks to him inventing and making generally available the Sixshooter.
The Madman Matt did the impossible,polearms toponomastic!
Hey Matt! French speaker from Quebec here!
I wanted to add a little bit on the glaive word complication. In the early mid 20th century in France, when people in the mainstream were not so keen on researching historical accuracy in litterature, terms like "épée longue" ou "épée bâtarde" were not taken too seriously regarding sword shapes and "glaive" was more or less used for all sorts of sword shapes and sizes (I've even seen stuff like "glaive à deux mains" meaning two-handed glaive, when talking about a zweihander). This most likely comes from the fact that pretty much all the school history books refer to the Roman gladius, the Xiphos, Kopis and virtually all the Germanic and proto-germanic and Keltic swords as simply "glaives". Therefore, glaive has not only been used to describe a short or arming sword, but it has been used to describe most types of swords in Europe, really. Today not as much, as the more accurate terms have made their way to the mainstream, but you still can still see "glaive" used in modern mainstream books like the French traduction of the Witcher novels, where "glaive" is used to describe all types of swords and even some forms of sabers if I recall, perpetrating the confusion further even more...
Irritatingly, “glaive” can also refer to a large shuriken; I wasn’t able to find much on why, but it seems like it may have been in a 1983 movie called Krull. This usage of the term is common in video games and fiction, and I hate it.
"Kette" is indeed German for chain, relating to 53:40
Swedish being a german languge I can tell you that "kätting" is a Swedish word for chain
Same in Dutch 🇳🇱 which is "Keten".
@@ex0ne and kätting, at least today refers specifically to a utility chain used like medium-heavy ropes and cables while a smaller chain like the safety chain on an appartment door, a hanging flower pot or kitchen ceiling lamp is called kedja and fine jewlery chains are refered to as länk (eng. link)
Where was this video when I was trying to figure out how to arm my character in AD&D in 1983?! :)
Glaive guisarme, guisarme voulge, guisarme guisarme ........oh yes, it all comes painfully back. :D
If "kuss" appears in the early 15th century, it could be from the Czech "kúsa" (from "kosa", the Czech word for scythe; it was used in Hussite wars).
I think everything Matt calls Glaves can be reffered as Kůsa in Czech...
I very much appreciate the fact that you decided to include even the names of these polearms in other languages: in fact, as an Italian, i didn't know some of the names in my native language and i knew them only in English, due to a more easy access to english sources about the argument (including RUclips channels); so thank you very much Matt.
If I'm not mistaken, the Ahlspiess is called awl pike in English.
That would make sense.
Mount and blade online flashbacks
True. As a german i can say german and english language are not so different than many personsthink.
@@brittakriep2938 Old English and German look practically identical. Only after the linguistic revolution after Middle English did it start to really become its own language. When dealing with historical stuff, translations are easy. Nowadays, it's hard to believe that this is even related to Old English.
BTW the spieß part would is pronounced more like spees. Overall the german ie is a lot like the english ee.
Holy water sprinkler is called an aspergill which does look similar to a mace. And also to a mould fungus under the microscope, therefore named aspergillus fungus.
Imagine a spinoff polearm channel called "The Big Long Shaft"
Matt’s Hard Wood Shafts
'He's a baaad motha-...' 'Shut your mouth!'
Penetration station
Funny, if you ask a German about a "Morgenstern" most of them would not know that there is a polearm that bears the name they would all think about what you called a "Ketten Morgenstern" (Chain Morningstar)
I personally just learned that from your video.
Morgenstern in the mind of most Germans would be something like a wooden stick about half an arm's length with a chain (Kette) attached to it and at the end of said chain, there is a spiked ball either of wood or of metal. Also, there is a form of mace featuring this spiked metal ball which is sometimes also called a Morgenstern, but most people would call it a "Streitkolben" basically a mace.
So, it might just be that the word "Morgenstern" does just ever to any weapon with a spiked ball as the main "feature".
This video has big Dark Age of Camelot energy. That MMO had tons of love for polearms, all sorts of odd ones like lochaber's and lucene's along with halberds, bills, pikes, pollaxes, bardiches, and volgues were in there.
I would watch a whole video on spears. I would watch several in fact.
When talking about hammer poleaxe you didn’t mention (or I totally miss it) my favorite: the Bec de Corbin (and its “bigger” version the Bec de Fauchon). Similar to a lucern hammer but in my opinion a quite different and more beautiful pole weapon .
I thought that too, but it really is just a variation of a pollaxe when you think about it. But I am surprised he didn’t mention it. But at least my beautiful glaives did lol
Finally a good sponsor. You bring honor to your Daimyo, Matt.
A little correction about the word "Spiedo", it's probably not derived from the same etymon as "spear" but it came from the latin word "spiga". Today "spiga" in italian means "ear of corn" but at the time it could also mean "spike", and "Spiedo" nowadays means "skewer".
In norwegian spyd = spear and å spidde = to skewer.
I have been wanting a video about all the different polearms for some years now.
Somehow I knew that if someone from the community was to make this type of video, it was going to be you.
Long, comprensive, categorized and with comments. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
"Bohemian Ear Spoon" sounds like it's making exactly the same joke as calling a Bowie Knife an "Arkansas Toothpick"
I might be missing a joke here, but there is actually style of bowie knife called Arkansas toothpick. Also, if I am not mistaken, in Czech republic we call the Bohemian ear spoon "sudlice ušatá". I am not sure about the meaning of the first word, the second one means roughly "with ears".
@@janbernad4729 Oops yes, Arkansas. Texas Toothpick is another traditional American knife, but a small one not a big Bowie.
Calling a big sturdy knife a toothpick is the joke. As if one would use it for a dainty personal hygiene task. Likewise an ear spoon is a small tool for cleaning your ears.
@@cargo_vroom9729 oh I see it now, English is not my first language, so thanks for explanation
@@janbernad4729 Does this wiki article clarify anything? It's something of a jumble in English translation, but seems relevant. cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudlice
Fancy meeting you here!
"I'm going to talk about every medieval pole arm ever in just under an hour."
Wow. Way to poke the bear.
I will give you this, you are not even a little bit fainthearted.
(Matt disappears under an avalanche of "Well, actually..." and "You missed...")
The swedish swordspear is pretty interesting in itself… you should do a video on norwegian 16 - 17th century peasant axes… much like dane axes, but with a kink
Bec De Corbin, which is just a Lucerne Hammer that has a spike opposite that is shaped specifically to resemble a Crow's Beak. Which is the French translation. It was prolific enough that it was standardized complete with drawings for a blacksmith to produce all portions of its weapons features. I believe that Fabrique Nationale still have surviving examples of the blueprints in their armament museum. Since they trace their origins back to being a Frankish armory, before Belgium existed as a separate country.
"Bardiche" - thanks for the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha flashbacks 😀
101 types of dagger/knife on a stick. Cheers Matt.
as you have mentioned many interesting names, there's one you've missed: a Roßschinder, could be translated with horse-mauler. It's used for Italian bills in (of course) the HRE.
First Rob Schneider was a Pike, then he was a Bec-De-Corbin. Now Rob Schneider is a Roßschinder!
(Yes, I know it's pronounced like a long S, but c'mon guys; someone had to make the joke, right?)
Obviously used to collect the raw material for mortadella ?!!
9:16 So glad you mentioned my favourite name of polearm!
The winged speer is much older: there are many examples e.g: from around 700/750 (Frankish, in Württembergisches Landesmuseum Stuttgart) and also earlier surviving winged spear heads from Frankish Graves of the 7. and 8. century. The winged spear (Flügellanze) was a common typ of weapon used by the Frankish cavallery (and often depicted in period Frankish art)...
Wow! What an undertaking and in less than an hour!! Well done, sir, you have my utmost respect, as always!!
Isn't the flail not also derived from an agricultural tool for thrashing grains?
Yes a grain thrash was sometimes used like a polearm.
But I wouldn't really consider it one in the same way you don't consider a pickaxe or a felling ax to be one.
@@generalvictorironraven.1347
Actual farming bills being used in war almost always are accepted as polearms though, I always wondered why the same wasn't extended to mining picks and felling axes that also were pressed into service.
Kind of! But it's more like the grain thrash is an ancestor to the flail more than a relative. It's kind of like considering the hewing axe as the craftsman ancestor to the military bardiche. Same kind of idea of a wide axe blade with a lot of cutting potential, and was likely to be hanged on a longer pole to transform it into a makeshift pole weapon in times of war, but it had to undergo a substantial amount of changes to be fit for the military (thinner cross section, extra support at the base of the blade to allow more strength with a longer, curvier blade with a thinner cross section).
In truth, all the military weapons have some sort of origins in the trades and agricultural tools because that's what people had in their hands 12 hours a day, that's what they knew and could base themselves off of instead of trying to come up with entirely new weapon systems. Tradespeople were practical and pragmatic people. If something they already had could be only slightly modified to become a valid weapon system, they would not be likely to reinvent the wheel and would stick to what they knew how to make and tweak them until they were more suited for the military.
Mr. Matt this is really great gift for tonight. One hour. Thank You.
Perhaps I wasn't paying attention, which is very possible, but did you gloss over the guisarme naming conventions?
I just call them murder sticks. No need for complication.
That would be the so called "gutten tag"
They come in so many flavors.
The German word for pollaxe is murder axe (Mordaxt)
Great Video Matt, Pole-arms never get enough love in media! Just an honourable mention, but Jeddart staves/axes from the Scottish borders in the 15th to mid 17th centuries are fun. There are only one or two surviving examples, though they are mentioned in legislation and other records fairly often. Its like glaive in that its basically a staff with a sword on the end with a handguard and langets, but the blade seems to have been quite long and slender for most glaives. I've seen some speculation that they were maybe intended to be used on foot and on horseback like a sort of lance, but i don't know of any sources that describe them used that way and we know borderers used lighter lances on horseback too, so I'm a bit unconvinced.
My eye has been injured for awhile and I have been listeninig and an occasionally looking up to see what I can with my good eye and I just wanted to say that I love your videos. They are so good and helpful right now. Thank you for them and please more
the wings of the wing spear was the cross guard of it.
Hi, awesome work! I've got a little comment on agricultural tools becoming weapons. The long flails that was used by Husites were originally used for beating the wheat to separate the corn, if I'm correct. Cheap ready made peasant weapon to start your uprising :) Just spice it up with some spikes and there you go.
Matt Easton doing god's work once again 👏👏👏
Being a military history student, I read story about the defense of an English (?) castle whose wall had been scaled. Two men armed with halberds defended the exits from the wall allowing other defenders to reposition themselves. Based on the flowery verbage I envisioned ninja-twirling halberds. It broke up a rather boring text on the stagnation of tactical thinking due to the ability to avoid a field fight by locking yourself in a castle.
re:glaive as sword - growing up and reading Asterix comics in French, the roman gladius was always referred to as "un glaive", and so I was confused when I recently started watching channels like yours and hearing "glaive" refer to the polearm form.
And don't even start on video games and movies where "glaive" seems to mean some sort of multi-bladed thing that is often thrown.
@@Nerdsammich ah yes I believe Warframe is guilty of that
@@bassemb In WoW, a "warglaive" consists of a small buckler-looking thing with a large blade at top and bottom.
I really enjoyed this long format.
Isn't the Holy Water Sprinkler named after a ceremonial tool that priests used to sprinkle holy water?
That's what I thought as well.
I though its obvious but maybe nowadays people dont know about religious stuff
When I see the words "staff weapons", I am always reminded of a ridiculous translation error in norwegian subtitles on some TV show a long time ago. The person on-screen said something like "the damage has been done by staff weapons", but they translated it into something meaning roughly "the damage has been done by the employees' weapons". Staff = employees.
Matt "... it carried on right on in into the age of pike & shot, hinse the name, where you have..."
Me "An obvious jump cut!"
Lol
Hey, have we met in the comments before? I know I've seen your name, but I can't remember if you've seen mine...
@@cyrilgigee4630 i think we have
I’ve been keeping this video in my backlog since it came out and definitely worth the wait. I sure wouldn’t mind more longform videos like this, Matt.
Error in translation. "Kitten morgenstern" was a long club that someone tied a cat onto. Fortunately this practice did not last terribly long. Hissing cat fury has no place on the battlefield. The weapon was evemntually shortened and more cat-heads added to make a cat o'nine tails, which is a bit of gallows humor, as it was nine cats fastened at the tails that was an implement of torture. Please note: I am joking. I do not advocate cruelty to animals.
... A single known, thus rare engagement was recorded between a German mercenary company wielding Kitten Morgensterns (the unit was known as Kopfstoß) and Flemish irregulars from a small border village - under the command of the local magistrate Luid Bastaard - fielding a local variant of the national weapon called a 'Guten Daug', which turns out to have been a rat terrier threaded through the elongated tines of a common pitchfork. After a nearly 20 minutes of snarling and swatting, the battle had to be called a draw due to a sudden downpour.
The Katzbalger sword has possibly its name from Katzenbalg/ cat's fur.
Wow, that was awesome. Glad you put this together.
Wait...I have to dig out my AD&D 1e Unearthed Arcana to compare this with Gygax’s appendix on pole arms. 😀
you cannot give me enough of this type of video...please do thrown, mounted, ancient & post renais. as well!
The morning Star. When you need a pole weapon but spent all your money on Wenches.
An hour long Schola video. This is going to be an absolute delight.
So basically, if something existed, someone, somewhere probably put it in a pole and added a topspike.
Or a form of wings (one could even see the disk guard of the Ahlspiess as a form of wings)
Thanks for a very informative video! I especially liked that you placed a lot of the weapons in an approximate historical time frame, although I'm sure it is difficult to find reliable sources for all the specialized or regional weapon variations out there.
lmao 6:30 the abrupt cut as he starts rambling.
33:42 I wonder if there is a shortened version of the
Axe/Warhammer poleaxe combo that be used from horseback?
It should be short enough to use on horseback comfortably but long enough to give you some reach.
Wait, I need to make coffee for this video!
Extremely helpful video as always. I’ve enjoyed your content for a long time now. May I recommend having the terms appear on screen, however? Had trouble spelling a lot of these.
"No! Not enough! More polearms!" - Gary Gygax
I personally like the aestethic look of the "spear of forbidden cermonies" from Anarchy online.
I surprised he didn't include the many different types of man catchers or at least count them amongst the other polearms.
I thought about including man-catchers, but in Europe they seem to have been really rare compared to the main types of polearm.
Please make that video series on spears. I am excited about watching that.
"Every medieval polearm categorized"
I think the youtube algorithm figured out I'm an aspie
This is honestly just the kind of video I want to watch after a long day of work. If you can, please do more polearm videos!
on Azza, maybe I'm wrong, but it look like a combination between the italian words:
ASCIA (axe) and MAZZA (mace)
I though that too.
So curios and intriging but it's most likely the way of saying "ascia" in old italian. They had lots of word that nowadays seems so off and hilarios: "Zuppa" (modern italian for "Soup") for "Giubba" (jacket) refearring to "Zuppa d'arme" (Gambeson, litteraly Arming Jacket) or "Zengiaro or Zenchiar" for "Cinghiale" (boar)
The Bohemian Ear Spoon differs from the winged spear in that it has spikes pointing straight out rather than short blunt lugs. The spikes would be the ears. I think there's an example labeled as such in the Wallace Collection. It's while since I've been so I might have seen it somewhere else.
So is the “maul” another name for a mallet Matt? (Presumably from malleus)
Yes :-)
Yep, but it's the honkin' big version.
I would love to see a video of all the types of Bronze Age swords from around the world
I was waiting for this.
I don't know which came first, but the "holy water sprinkler" thing reminds me what I saw on graves, in my childhood in Bavaria. It was literally a holy water sprinkler, a short grip and a head formed either kinda like those honey "spoons" or a brush (so some were very short toilet brushes in essence). And it was used to dunk into a container with holy water and sprinkle that on the grave.
34:38 Lucerne hammer and and very similar bec de corbin ( raven's beak )
"shall I strike at it with my Partisan?" - Hamlet
+scholagladiatoria *The lance and pike were the longest- and heaviest-shafted spears used in Europe.* Most lances had a head of triangular cross-section for stiffness and weight mitigation, whereas most pikes had a flattened-lozenge cross-section for ease of manufacture. One possible head for the glaive would be a scaled-up version of the clip-point _Meſſer,_ suitable for cutting and chopping as well as thrusting, with a socket tang for the shaft.
can we talk about reverse placed axe heads? looks like some Mordäxte were turnen into Anti Flesh Unit Weapons.
@scholagladiatoria , just to add to the confusion surrounding glaives: Liechtenauer's zettel says you should wrestle well and learn how to handle "glefen, sper, swert vnde messer". The orthography varies and some sources omit glefen entirely. The mounted combat section of the Zettel (and the associated commentaries) seem to use glefen only when mounted on horse, although it sometimes it is exchanged with sper. I've seen people claim glefen essentially means lance.
Any chance of doing something similar for Asian polearms in the future? Especially Chinese polearms, there's a lot of interesting ones that are completely absent from popular culture representations.
Thank you Matt. I love polearms, specially spears. They are so practical and elegant. It seems to be made specially for humankind to wield, so good it is.
If I could choose a weapon to practice it would definetely be the spear.
Surely if a pollaxe doesn't have an axe blade, it should really be called a war pick or a bec de corbin?
It doesn't need to have a pick either. It does have an upward pointy bit, which differentiates it from war hammers en war picks.
As you started talking about flails, for the first time I thought about them in formation as opposed to in one on one fighting. I wonder if the articulation helped in hitting over the top of the line? I'm thinking that with a downward swing the people in front could easily block (or even just be struck) by the pole. With a non-articulated weapon that would be the end of it, guy in front gets bumped with shaft but doesn't care much because of his armor. However, with an articulated shaft suddenly the bump in front causes the end to come whipping around and potentially injure a guy in the second rank.