Halberd for the Bodyguard of the Prince-Bishops of Salzburg
Artist
Master HP
and
Artist
Master CS
Datedated 1611
Mediumsteel and wood
Dimensions210.8 × 63.5 × 27.9 cm (83 × 25 × 11 in.), 6 lb, 7 oz (weight)
ClassificationsArms and Armor
MarkingsH.A.M. accession tag on haft below langets; rectangular brass tag stamped with Bavarian Armeemuseum number "A1307" on haft just below socket; etched dated "1611" and "MDCXI" on apical spike at top of etched design; serial number "47" etched on one socket face above basal rivet and rosette. (See also Description)
A1307 ( Bavarian Army Museum number)
Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection
Object number2014.129
DescriptionStout thrusting spike with strong rib on both faces. Flat down curved fluke and large crescentic axe blade with cusped edges. Open socket with long langets. Decorated overall with strapwork, foliation, grotesque figures and the owners arms on the axe blade, dated 1611 in Arabic and Roman numerals. Etched number '47' of group. Maker's initials 'HP' and decorator's mark 'CS' within shields on opposite langets.The coat of arms, and probably the dates, are done by a different hand than the main etching, suggesting that this was something of a stock piece that could be personalized for the client.
The head has an asymmetrical axehead with a slightly concave edge, and multiple, double cusped points on the edges above and below. The blade is opposed by a downturned, flat fluke cusped at its base. An apical blade of hollow ground diamond section with a pronounced medial rib on both faces terminates in a reinforced tip of quadrangular section. The head extends down onto the haft sides in the plane of the blade, forming a rectangular socket open on both of the remaining sides, and flaring slightly to the point where it is necked to the integral, long langets. There are four of these, the other separate pairs extending from within the open side of the socket, and all are obliquely cut at the basal ends. The socket is secured to the haft with a pair of rivets with spiked, leaf – etched iron rosettes (one set lost, the other washer opposite the number "47" is replaced). The langets are fastened with seven plain rivets at each (see Condition), plus an eighth rivet on those langets on the open sides (one of these rivets is also lost). The base of the socket is reinforced with a rectangular steel clamp with very worn decoration of a leaved motif overall.
The original oak (?) haft is octagonal in section, with a slight taper to its base which is straight cut, and without a provision for a ferrule.
Except for the cutting-edge of the axe blade and the upper half of the thrusting blade, the head of the weapon and the upper quarter of the langets are decorated with etched motives on a blackened, stippled ground. Both faces of the heads are decorated with interlaced, voluted strapwork, the spaces between which are filled with foliation on the blackened ground. The center of the head below the apical blade has two forms seated face-to-face. Etched within a strapwork frame on the same level on the ax blade is a central cartouche with the Sitticus arms, an ibex rampant, with those of the Salzburg archbishopic, per pale or, a lion sable, and gules, a fess argent in chief. These are surmounted by a cardinal's hat with cords and six tassels in double rows. Just below the upper terminal of the etched decoration on the apical blade is the date – MDCXI on one face and 1611 on the other. On the socket face of the Roman – numeralled side, above the basal rivet and rosette is the number "47" etched within an hexagonal, voluted strapwork frame. On either of the separate langets, just above the clamp, is a similar panel. On that below the ax head, this is filled with a small "heater" shield divided per fess, and charged with three smaller shields below, and the letters "HR" above. The panel on the opposite face has a shield with concave sides and convex above and below. This is undivided, and has a central device of a four-armed cross with flared terminals, to either side of the base of which are addorsed, comma-like marks. The cross is surmounted by the letters "CS". (See Additional Notes regarding the possible identities of the etchers).
Some areas of the decoration appear to have been re-etched, and much of the ground re-blackened, particularly in the axe head cartouche. Here the stippled ground is rougher, with larger dots. The areas of polished and blackened areas within the Salzburg arms are reversed, although this may have been a contemporary error. (There is a possibility that some of the weapons in the group were hurriedly etched with the appropriate arms after the abdication of Wolf Dietrich von Raitnau in 1612. See von Kienbusch, catalog number 585, and Nickel/Pyhrr/Tarassuk, catalog number 76 for a weapon with the latter's arms.)
Label TextThe halberd was developed by Swiss footsoldiers in the late Middle Ages to counteract the power of knights on the battlefield. The head had a stout spike for thrusting at an armored opponent; the axe-blade could deliver terrible blows to both horse and rider, and the rear-hook was designed to punch through plate armor. By the time this weapon was made, close-quarters combat was already losing some of its importance to musket fire, and halberds served more as badges of rank than as military weapons. This highly decorative example was carried by the bodyguard of the archbishop of Salzburg, who was also the territorial lord over the Salzburg region in Austria. It is dated 1611, the year in which it was reetched with the coat of arms of the new prince-archbishop.ProvenanceSalzburg arsenal (to about 1805) Munich arsenal Bavarian Armee Museum (Munich) Don Miguel Nebel to (1923) Anderson Galleries (NYC) Clarence H. Mackay (Roslyn, L.I.). Mackay collection (#J-59) Purchased by Museum from Gimbel Brothers, Hammer Galleries (NYC) on October 31, 1941. Collection transfer from Higgins Armory, january 2014.
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