Swordstaff

Evidence

Period description

Evidence of the weapon in use at the battle of Elfsborg (Alvesborg) in 1502 is provided by Paul Dolnstein, a landsknecht mercenary who fought in the battle, who refers to the Swedes carrying "good pikes made from swords". He also provides sketches of the weapon.

Period Swedish texts mention swordstaffs separately along with other polearms, such as halberds, poleaxes, partisans, spears, and thereof. A period text uses the term brander (compare ), an older term for swordblade, to drescribe the blades of swordstaffs:

Other languages

Various other languages have analog terms which might have referred to similar or the same type of weapon.

• – dagger
• – swordstaff, hunting spear, dagger
• – sword cane
• – sword cane
• – throwing spear
• – dagger, sword cane
• – hewing spear

In Variarum rerum vocabula cum sueca interpretatione (1538), Sweden's oldest dictionary, , a type of hunting spear, is translated as both "swine skewer" (swijn spett), and "swordstaff" (staff swärdh).

In Russia, a similar weapon, called (), a heavy daggerbladed spear for hand-to-hand combat and hunting large animals (compare sovnya), featured in later forms a full crossguad and sword length blade.

Origins

The weapon has visual similarities to the partisan and ox tongue spear and may share common origins. However, Scandinavian sagas make references to a number of pole weapons, usually translated as "halberd" or "bill". These weapons are used to cut and to stab but their names suggest they were derived from the spear rather than a cutting weapon, such as the hewing spear (hǫggspjót) and the atgeir. While clearly identifiable artistic or archaeological evidence of the form of these weapons is lacking, it is possible that the swordstaff may be a late derivative of this family of weapons.

Chinese swordstaff

Chinese polearms that resembled swordstaves were also commonly used in ancient China from the late Warring States/Qin dynasty to the Han dynasty era. These were known as the pi (鈹), translated into English as either "sword-staff" or "long lance", and a long bladed ranseur-like swordstaff weapon called the sha (鎩) with a blade that was around 62 cm long (up to 80 cm long) and a hilt that was about 19 cm long. File:Bronze Spear from the Tomb of the King of Chu, Shizi Mountain Xuzhou Jiangsu Western Han 2nd century BCE MH.jpg|Chinese swordstaff called a pi (鈹), Han dynasty File:Han Dynasty Sha 铩 with bat shaped guard and scabbard.jpg|Han dynasty Sha 铩 with bat shaped guard and scabbard File:Han_Dynasty_Sha_%E9%93%A9_with_bat_shaped_guard_and_blade.jpg|Closeup of a modern recreation of the sha with a bat shaped guard File:Han Sha Classic.png|Han dynasty sha (swordstaff), modern recreation of the classic version of the swordstaff "sha" from the Han dynasty era

Footnotes

References

References

1. "stavsvärd". [[Swedish Academy]].
2. "stafsvärdh".
3. Hodnet, Andrew Arthur. (2018). "The Othering of the Landsknechte". North Carolina State University.
4. Richards, John. (2002). "Landsknecht Soldier 1486–1560". Osprey.
5. "рога́тина".
6. Orkisz, Jan. (2016). "Pole-weapons in the Sagas of Icelanders: a comparison of literary and archaeological sources". Acta Periodica Duellatorum.
7. "Viking Age Arms and Armor: Other Viking Weapons".