Bardiche

This article is about the "long poleaxe". For the regular poleaxe, see Poleaxe. For the Berdysh pistol, see OTs-27 Berdysh.
Two examples of a bardiche together with a flail, on display in Suzdal

A bardiche /bɑːrˈdiːʃ/, berdiche, bardische, bardeche, or berdish is a type of polearm used from the 14th to 17th centuries in Europe. Ultimately a descendant of the medieval sparth axe or Dane axe, the bardiche proper appears around 1400, but there are numerous medieval manuscripts that depict very similar weapons beginning c. 1250. The bardiche differs from the halberd in having neither a hook at the back nor a spear point at the top.[1] The use of bardiches started in early 14th-century Austria.[2]

In the 16th century the bardiche was associated with the streltsy, arquebusiers of Imperial Russia established by Ivan the Terrible.[3]

  1. ^ R. E. Oakeshott, European weapons and armour: From the Renaissance to the industrial revolution (1980), 48–49.
  2. ^ "A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries". archive.org. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
  3. ^ Kirpichnikov, A. N. (1976). Voyennoye delo na Rusi v XIII–XV vv Военное дело на Руси в XIII–XV вв. [Warfare in Russia in the 13th–15th centuries] (in Russian). Leningrad: Наука [Nauka]. OCLC 3556933.