Glaive: weapon for the infantrymen and then the ceremonial equipment of the guards.

The feudal era, which began after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, gave rise to many new or improved types of weapons in Europe. The appearance or modification of edged weapons was caused primarily by the need to achieve a certain efficiency on the battlefield. Also, a social and economic factor could play into the appearance of murder weapons, depending on the conditions in a particular region. In any case, the medieval era presented such types of weapons as halberd, poleaxe, war hammer, flanged mace  and glaive to the treasury of materials for the study by weaponologists. We will discuss the glaive in the article.

A glaive of the couse type.

Glaive: history, blade shapes and subtypes:

The glaive appeared apparently in the second half of the 13th century and is widely used under various names in medieval Europe. First of all, it was an infantry weapon and, in accordance with the different shape of the blade, it could be used on the battlefield with different techniques from each other.

The glaive was a large blade mounted on a shaft 150 to 200 cm long. The blade had a length of 30 to 60 cm. The tip had different shapes, on which the possibilities of use on the battlefield depend. The glaive was a chopping and stabbing shaft weapon.

The tip with the end of the blade curved into the horseman's pick) was used in Europe to resist cavalry. This was due to the ability to pull the rider off the horse with such a blade. A glaive with such a tip in Europe was called a guisarme and a bill, despite slight differences in shapes. Such glaives were very popular in the British Isles and in Italy until the 16th century. It was difficult to inflict piercing blows with a beak-shaped blade, so the infantrymen used cutting blows, but a thorn on the butt could be used to puncture the chain mail.

The tip could be provided with a spike on the spine to create an additional working surface. The bill usually had a straight spike, and guisarme had an awl-shaped branch going in the direction of the shaft.

Copies with a straight blade with a pointed end were also distributed. Glaives of this type were called couses. Such specimens could perfectly serve for piercing chain mail and weakly protected places in plate armor (neck and armpits).

Glaives become quite widespread by the middle of the 14th century and gradually this weapon becomes one of the main ones for infantry. So the Burgundian Duke Charles the Bold demanded that the soldiers standing in front of the shooters had swords, daggers and glaives with them. Also, the French feudal lords called the militia brought with them “glaives”, which indicates the main weapon of this infantry. These weapons were relatively cheap, which made it possible to equip fairly large infantry troops.

Transition to the ceremonial weapons:

By the beginning of the 16th century, ornate glaive specimens appeared, with etching and chasing patterns on the blade. Such copies can be seen in the bodyguards of European kings and dukes. Such glaives primarily served as an indicator of the status of the customer, who equipped his guards with expensive shaft weapons.

The tip of the couse of bodyguards of the Elector Palatine Karl Ludwig. On the tip of the couse is the coat of arms of the Electorate of the Palatinate.

The ceremonial type of glaive, unlike simple combat specimens, lived much longer, until the second half of the 18th century. Joseph II's guards were armed with glaives. But after that, the tradition of ceremonial glaives was discontinued.

Analogues of the European glaive in other regions:

Asia had its own analogues of the glaive. For example, the Chinese shaft weapon guandao can be attributed to this type of weapon. The main differences between guandao and the European glaive are the wide blade (about 16 cm) and the tip length can be up to 60 cm. The functionality was not much different from the European glaive. The Chinese analogue of the glaive appeared earlier than its European counterpart around the 7th century AD.

"Three Heroes of Three Kingdoms " - Japanese woodcut. In the image you can see guandao.

There were also special weighted guandao to test the skills of warriors. In general, most researchers believe that this shaft weapon originated as a training one, only later it became a combat one. Guandao were common in neighboring countries with China and were used by elephant riders.

Also, an analogue of the glaive could be seen in Japan in the form of a naginata. In fact, this type of Japanese weapon is a long-handled blade. Weapons of this type from the Japanese were in demand in all strata of society from monks and commoners to samurai.

Naginata in the absence of a culture of using shields could be a more effective weapon. The weapon was actively used from the 8th century to the 19th century. In particular, with the advent of the samurai class, girls of noble families had to master naginata by the age of 16. This was necessary, especially during the period of feudal fragmentation, when representatives of noble families sometimes had to directly participate in the defense of the castle. Indeed, during the Sengoku period or the Boshin War, there were episodes of onna-musha (female warriors) participating in combat.

Tomoe Gozen is a medieval Japanese warrior with a naginata who lived in the 13th century. Naginatas were used in Japan until the second half of the 19th century.

Conclusion

The glaive as a shaft weapon has come a long way from one of the most common and relatively cheap weapons for infantry to the ornate weapons of the guards. Glaives, like most types of edged weapons, with the exception of sabers and small swords, lost their mass demand in the era of mass proliferation of firearms – the 18th century.