Table of Contents

Foreword / Walter J. Karcheski, Jr.

1 General background and forerunners 7
2 Halberds 17
3 Extant examples of halberds 33
4 Different styles in simultaneous use 81
5 Fastenings, poles, and finishing procedures 87
6 The use of halberds 99
7 Halberds : details of rapid identification 105
8 Glaives 107
9 Bills 115
10 Partizans 125
11 The Morgenstern group 137
12 Ahlspiesse 151
13 Axes and axe derivatives 155
14 The guisarme and the bardiche 165
15 The brandistocco, corseke, and related weapons 177
16 Vouge and Couteau de Breche 183
17 The military scythe 191
18 The Jedburgh staff and Lochaber axe 195
19 The doloir 199
20 Conservation and restoration of polearms 203
21 The marketplace 209

About the Author

JOHN WALDMAN, M.D. received his B.A. from Yale University in 1954 and his M.D. from the University of Basel, Switzerland in 1962. He is an independent scholar of early arms and armor and of prints of an early period.