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Pole Arm Quiz


tkdguy

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Re: Pole Arm Quiz

 

12 of 22

but this quiz is a fake: last summer i was at lochaber, in scotland, and i saw in a poster a lochaber axe who looked exactly like the one they depicted as "halberd"... :P

Medieval weapons classification is somewhat fuzzy, probably because medieval people didn't classify very well or do things very systematically. Basically, every weapon was made to whatever design the weaponsmith thought would work best and, when made, with a single person in mind. Any weapon you had not specifically made for you, was probably one you either inherited or looted. You didn't go to a store and buy a sword that was made out of a mold and practically identical to ten thousand other swords, with the model number of the sword giving its design parameters.

 

Or in other words, take that to two different medieval weapons experts (that is, through time travel) and one of them could very well call it a Lochaber Axe and the other a Halberd.

 

Also, the poster may as easily be mislabeled as the website.

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Re: Pole Arm Quiz

 

Medieval weapons classification is somewhat fuzzy' date=' probably because medieval people didn't classify very well or do things very systematically. Basically, every weapon was made to whatever design the weaponsmith thought would work best and, when made, with a single person in mind. Any weapon you had not specifically made for you, was probably one you either inherited or looted. You didn't go to a store and buy a sword that was made out of a mold and practically identical to ten thousand other swords, with the model number of the sword giving its design parameters.[/quote']o yeah i totally agree

was just a funny argument :)

 

honestly, most of "modern" classification does'nt exists or was not strict in the middle age

ie there was no "long sword" nor "bastard sword"; there was a claymore that someone classify like a "one and half hand" sword and someone like a "two handed" sword. there was almost hundred differnt type of swords that could be classified like a "bastard sword" (and honestly, i don't know them)

as for katana, who generally speaking means "single edged sword", there are half a dozen different sword type (uchigatana, daikatana and tachi being the most famous); and for every type there are several differences amongs hilt and blade lenght: during war periods hilts was longer and blade more efficient, while during peace periods hilt was shorter and blade more elegant

 

for polearms this was even worse 'cause mainly there where no specific name: in fact they where named by the place where this specific polearm was used (like lochaber axe or lucern hammer) or modern days naming

 

so, those terms are just a gaming classification.

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Re: Pole Arm Quiz

 

o yeah i totally agree

was just a funny argument :)

 

honestly, most of "modern" classification does'nt exists or was not strict in the middle age

ie there was no "long sword" nor "bastard sword"; there was a claymore that someone classify like a "one and half hand" sword and someone like a "two handed" sword. there was almost hundred differnt type of swords that could be classified like a "bastard sword" (and honestly, i don't know them)

as for katana, who generally speaking means "single edged sword", there are half a dozen different sword type (uchigatana, daikatana and tachi being the most famous); and for every type there are several differences amongs hilt and blade lenght: during war periods hilts was longer and blade more efficient, while during peace periods hilt was shorter and blade more elegant

 

for polearms this was even worse 'cause mainly there where no specific name: in fact they where named by the place where this specific polearm was used (like lochaber axe or lucern hammer) or modern days naming

 

so, those terms are just a gaming classification.

Or historian classifications, although theirs tend to use fancy names and numbers.

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Re: Pole Arm Quiz

 

Technically, historians don't give a crap about the difference between one polearm and another. (The random article in Antiquity aside). You're thinking about "antiquarians" there. Now, there's admittedly some crossover when the historical narrative is just screaming for a technical investigation, but hopefully you can still tell the difference between the two.)

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Re: Pole Arm Quiz

 

Technically' date=' historians don't give a crap about the difference between one polearm and another. (The random article in Antiquity aside). You're thinking about "antiquarians" there. Now, there's admittedly some crossover when the historical narrative is just screaming for a technical investigation, but hopefully you can still tell the difference between the two.)

...So antique radios concern themselves with styles of pole-arms? :D

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  • 2 weeks later...

Re: Pole Arm Quiz

 

 

for polearms this was even worse 'cause mainly there where no specific name: in fact they where named by the place where this specific polearm was used (like lochaber axe or lucern hammer) or modern days naming.

 

Sometimes, not even for polearms. I had a copy of a 14c. manual of chivalry that was in parallel text (Modern English on one page and Medieval French on the facing). The word "Glaive" was so consistently translated as sword, I actually contacted the author to check it. He replied that he was well aware of the polearm, but in context, it was clear the author (Geoffroi de Charny) was referring to swords. His view was that it was originally an idiomatic term for any sort of bladed weapon.

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