Polearm

"Put not thy spirit unto too much paine, In searching secrets farre above thy skill: And know a halbert from a hedging bill."

"Whither is Europe’s ancient spirit fled? Where are those valiant tenants of her shore, Who from the warrior bow the strong dart sped, Or with firm hand the rapid pole-axe bore?"

"Among our pole-arms we find curious forms developed which could have been used only for special purposes, like animals whose teeth were suited for a particular kind of food. Such pole-arms we find, too, did not long survive, disappearing just as specialized animals did when their special kind of food gave out."

"Halberds doe properly belong unto the serjeants of companies."

"Halbard is the arms carry'd by the serjeants of foot and dragoons; the head of the halbard ought to be a foot or 15 inches long; one end ought to be hollow to receive the staff, but the other broad, ribb'd in the middle, edg'd on both sides, and drawing to a point, like the point of a two-edged sword. On one side of the head is likewise fixed a piece in form of a half-moon or star, and on the other a broad point of four inches long, crooked a little, which is very commodious for drawing fascines, gabions, or whatever obstacle happen in the way. The staff of the halbard is about five foot long, and an inch and half diameter, made of ash or other hard wood. Halbards are very useful in determining the ground betwixt the ranks, and for dressing the ranks and files of a battalion, and likewise for chastising the soldiers."

"The billmen and pikemen wore salades and morions. Steel caps were made to the shape of the head and sometimes called scull-caps; a woollen cap was worn within. The bill-men were called also halberdiers; their chief weapon being a sort of double battle-axe or bi-pennis, called a bill; when affixed to long staves, as usual for infantry, they were termed alle-bardes or cleave-alls. The halberd or bill had a long slender blade or spit, and a side blade or blades, with cutting edge, sometimes crescent form with a concave side sharp, at others with a convex side outwards and edged. The opposite blade terminated in a sort of beak or pick, for splitting. The partizan was a sort of broad-bladed bill, terminating in a crescent with concave blade. The blackbill was so called from its blades being blacked, instead of being kept bright."

"Staff-weapons in Medieval or Renaissance England were lumped together under the generic term "staves" but when dealing with them in detail we are faced with terminological difficulty. There never seems to have been a clear definition of what was what; there were apparently far fewer staff-weapons in use than there were names to call them by; and contemporary writers up to the seventeenth century use these names with abandon, calling different weapons by the same name and similar weapons by different names. To add to this, we have various nineteenth century terminologies used by scholars. We must remember too that any particular weapon ... had everywhere a different name."

"Four Knaves in Garbs succinct, a trusty Band, Caps on their heads, and Halberds in their hand; And Particolour’d Troops, a shining Train, Draw forth to Combat on the Velvet Plain."

"Come, stand by me; fear nothing. Guard with halberds!"

"Many a time, but for a sallet, my brainpan had been cleft with a brown bill;"

"Yea, distaff-women manage rusty bills Against thy seat: both young and old rebel, And all goes worse than I have power to tell."

"Unmanner'd dog! stand thou, when I command: Advance thy halbert higher than my breast, Or, by Saint Paul, I'll strike thee to my foot, And spurn upon thee, beggar, for thy boldness."

"So frown'd he once, when, in an angry parle, He smote the steeled pole-axe on the ice."

"Bring up the brown bills."

"I bring my fraught unto the wished port, My Summer’s hope, my travels’ sweet reward: And here, with humble duty, I present This sacrifice, this first fruit of my sword, Cropped and cut down even at the gate of death, The king of Boheme, father, whom I slew; Whose thousands had entrenched me round about, And lay as thick upon my battered crest, As on an Anvil, with their ponderous glaves:"