Polish war hammer Oxford
 

I think we saw something along the same line not so long ago.

I did a little image adjustment on this on so that you can see the details a little better.

Very nice. I'll move this over to the Euro section

Interesting Polish nadziak, similar to that in "The Polish Rider" by Rembrandt and of 17th c. form. It seems there is a great deal of confusion on the terms for classification of these several types of war hammer with often a great deal of indiscriminate use. While these fell out of use in Europe, they prevailed in Poland and Hungary through the 17th into the 18th.c.

Hey there!

The classification is simple. I did my best to sketch that with Microsofts Paint in a minute. 1 = Nadziak 2 = Obuszek 3= Czekan

I would like to add that Poland and Hungary are located in Europe, Poland even in Central Europe, despite constant neglect in Western media for years.

Best, P.

Thanks for the elucidation, and for clarifying my faux paux by the unfortunate use of the always clearly defined regional term, 'Europe' and inadvertent exclusion of Poland and Hungary. My wording should have noted that the later use of these 'war hammers' ,which were apparently always classified by these distinct terms for each, with certain features was after cessation of use elsewhere in other countries. Obviously I should also have included that there MAY have been some exceptions.

In references to many weapon forms historically it does seem that there were often cases of terms for certain weapons of particular forms which were referred to in an 'indiscriminate manner involving terms more commonly used elsewhere. As noted in one reference, "...clear distinction among these types and accurate use of the names developed only with time".

It is good that you have offered a simple solution to remedy the misuse of terms for each type of these war hammers by many writers and sometimes artists. The case of the war hammer in Rembrandt' painting "The Polish Rider" is a good example as the consternation over who the rider was, what was his true nationality, what sort of weapons and dress, and even who painted this, and when? remains prevalent (or so it seems in my opinion).

While the profound dearth of awareness on Poland and Hungary in the west is indeed staggering, I have struggled to gain some knowledge on these countries so your clarification of their categoric location is much appreciated as well as proper classification for these war hammers as discussed.

How does mine fall in the above categories?
I've thought it was an obuzek.:confused:

I noticed afterwards that I forgot a detail: The Czekan can have a spike- or hammer-head.. Thought nobody would notice :p

Per definitionem your object is a "Czekan" in the Polish classification without looking on details like age or origin. I am more than sure that f.e. Persians got their own names for very similar weapons. Hungarians have - as far as I remember correctly - a pretty similar name to "Czekan" for that object.

Obuszek and Nadziak stay like depicted and have little to no alternations in general.

Many Thanks -Vielen Danke.
I've renamed the file on my PC accordingly. :D

In contemporary sources one may find that "obuszek" evolved from "nadziak" by replacing the spike with more round shape (in fact "obuszek" means any blunt part of the weapon in Polish).
The obuszek replaced nadziak after the changes in law in 18th century when nadziak was banned from wearing as personal weapon by szlachta during the meetings because the blow with nadziak was quicker and more fatal then drawing the sword...during the political argument.
Later on obuszek evolved in longer form and served as the walking stick for "szlachcic".