holds a short
Lucerne hammer. Anachronistic fresco dated 1420. ,
Lithuania The poleaxe design arose from the need to breach the plate
armour of
men at arms during the 14th and 15th centuries. Generally, the form consisted of a wooden
haft some long, mounted with a steel head. It seems most schools of combat suggested a haft length comparable to the height of the wielder, but in some cases hafts appear to have been created up to in length. The design of the head varied greatly with a variety of interchangeable parts and rivets. Generally, the head bore an
axe head or
hammer head mounted on ash or other hard-wood shafts from 120–180 cm in length, with a spike, hammer, or fluke on the reverse. In addition, there was a spike or spear head projecting from the end of the shaft which was often square in cross section, sometimes referred to as the "dague dessous". A round hilt-like disc called a
rondelle was placed just below the head. They also appear to have borne one or two rings along the pole's length as places to prevent hands from slipping. Also of note is that the butt end of the staff, opposite the weapon's head, bore a spike or shoe. On quick glance, the poleaxe is often confused with the similar-looking
halberd. While they may have both been designed for hacking and piercing through armor plates, the axe blade on a poleaxe seems to have been consistently smaller than that of a halberd. A smaller head concentrates the
kinetic energy of the blow on a smaller area, enabling the impact to defeat armour, while broader halberd heads are better against opponents with less mail or plate armour. Furthermore, many halberds had their heads forged as a single piece, while the poleaxe was typically modular in design. == Fighting with poleaxe ==