rare medieval weapon against heavy Armour.

[fearn]

I should point out that most one-handed swords (steel and bronze) way no more than about a kilogram. Five pounds is reasonable for a two-handed weapon, but that's not what is shown. As for the video, he's not the first to reproduce the Maciejowski glaive. Museum Replicas had an edition about a decade ago, and it was judged extremely awkward and tip heavy.

The point here is that when most warriors go for kilogram-scale single-handed weapons, regardless of culture, regardless even of metal used, a double-weight weapon doesn't immediately jump out as a massive improvement

Just to dump some more sand in the gears, I'd like to point out that the plow (pflug) is one of the fundamental stances in European sword fighting, one that probably will look very familiar (http://www.thearma.org/essays/StancesIntro.htm). If a swordsman says "the Plow" is his favorite and he's killed many men with it, what's an artist to make of that? Paint a warrior with a plowshare in his hand, perhaps?

Best,

F

[Richard Furrer]

Fearn,
I believe the fourth picture in the Bible posted above is a two handed sword...which is what Michael was reproducing.

As to a weapons awkwardness:
It often comes down to the particular piece and who made the item. As they are hand made items they vary and a vast majority of the particulars of the item depends on the skill and understanding of the person who made it.
A tool made for farm use may not lend itself to the battlefield in our mind, but be sure that the farmer who harvests with the tool can harvest whatever may be the crop....veg or meat.

I have never held a Museum Replicas piece so I can not comment on what they make.

Is your point that there may be a discrepancy between art and reality?

Ric

[Billman]

Hi

The original item is almost certainly a plough coulter - the origins of the word for knife in Latin 'cultellus' also gives us words such as cut, cutter in English and couteau in French.

Many agricultural tools could have been used as weapons, or turned into weapons.

Bill hooks can be concave (i.e. with a hook), but also convex or even straight bladed (see www.billhooks.co.uk), or with a back blade, or a hook.

Fitted to a long handle they become the English slasher, the American brush axe or the French croissant.

Given an even longer handle they become pole arms - various names given, depending upon the blade shape and country of origin - in the UK the most common was the bill....

Billhooks were just known as bills until the 19th century - sometimes with a prefix such as hedging bill - hookbill is another spelling - origins probably hackebeil (DE) or hakbijl (NL) - meaning a chopping sword or axe....

The Dacian falx, one of the few weapons to strike fear into the Roman legions, was shaped like a big billhook. Falx in Latin means sickle, or with a suffix it means billhook (falx vinitoria, falx silvaticus, falx arboraria - spellings may be off at it is late at night here in the UK, and well past my bedtime...)

[cornelistromp]

Originally Posted by Billman

Hi

The original item is almost certainly a plough coulter - the origins of the word for knife in Latin 'cultellus' also gives us words such as cut, cutter in English and couteau in French.

Many agricultural tools could have been used as weapons, or turned into weapons.

Bill hooks can be concave (i.e. with a hook), but also convex or even straight bladed (see www.billhooks.co.uk), or with a back blade, or a hook.

Fitted to a long handle they become the English slasher, the American brush axe or the French croissant.

Given an even longer handle they become pole arms - various names given, depending upon the blade shape and country of origin - in the UK the most common was the bill....

Billhooks were just known as bills until the 19th century - sometimes with a prefix such as hedging bill - hookbill is another spelling - origins probably hackebeil (DE) or hakbijl (NL) - meaning a chopping sword or axe....

The Dacian falx, one of the few weapons to strike fear into the Roman legions, was shaped like a big billhook. Falx in Latin means sickle, or with a suffix it means billhook (falx vinitoria, falx silvaticus, falx arboraria - spellings may be off at it is late at night here in the UK, and well past my bedtime...)

what...........The French croissant ????

[Billman]

Ha! Ha! Croissant = crescent = half moon... The croissant (tool) is a curved blade, often with a hook on the back, fitted to a long handle by a socket. The English equivalent is the slasher. This type of tool is common throughout most of Europe, and is also called a vouge (alt spelling voulge) in France. It is often sold by unscrupulous or ignorant weapons dealers as a pole arm.

Problems often arise because the same word is used for both the tool and the similar shaped weapon, e.g bill in English, vouge in French or roncone in Italian. The situation is further confused by the adoption of an old tool name for that of a modern one, e.g. in Spanish a vine pruning billhook is called a podadora (alt spelling podadera) - the same word is also used for a pair of secateurs (which replaced the billhook for vine pruning in the late 19th century), but also is used for a motorised chainsaw or a grass strimmer.....

I supose edible croissants could be used as a weapon if laced with arsenic....