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Hafted Weapons in Medieval and Renaissance Europe ReviewedHAFTED WEAPONS IN MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE EUROPE, The Evolution of Medieval Staff Weapons between 1200 and 1650
By John Waldman This is an area that has been neglected by most studies of arms and armor. Mr. Waldman has done an excellent job on the subject matter, and I hope this is just the first of books on the subject.
I would very much like to see a work dealing with the period before 1200AD, but I realize that information from this time period is sketchy, and that there are very few examples. As with all arms and armor enthusiasts I delight in good photography of the subjects presented, and this book does a wonderful job. The photographs are superb, and the information is well researched. There are some things that I find curious. One is the halberd that is freqnetly called a “Sempach” halberd. However it appears that this halberd is actually much later that the time of the battle of Sempach (1386AD) I have seen several of these in various museums, and all are considered to be later, about 1450-1500, but he believes that they are much later than that, probably in the early 17th century. There is one thing which I disagree with him about. In the Maciejowski Bible there is a weapon, no originals have ever been found, that he considers a polearm. We put out a blade similar to this at Museum Replicas, and I consider it a early type of falchion. Although typical falchions are present at this time, the size of the weapon is just does ring true to me to call it a pole arm. It is in the panel on the Rescue of Lot, and you see a warrior about to strike a two hand blow with it. The weapon appears to around 3-31/2 feet overall. (If you’re interested in polearms, this is the book you need to get). - Hank Reinhardt
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