Halberd
Cultureprobably
Austrian
Date1637
Mediumetched and blackened steel and wood
Dimensions179.1 × 38.1 cm (70 1/2 × 15 in.), 4 lb 9 oz (weight)
ClassificationsArms and Armor
MarkingsObverse of fluke has what may be combined stamped & etched maker's mark, consisting of conjoined group of 3 wedges. Socket & langets are etched in paly-bendy pattern suggesting the Arms of Bavaria.
Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection
Object number2014.155
DescriptionWide partisan-like thrusting blade of lozenge section. Small crescentic axehead, cusped above & below & pierced with groups of holes. Opposed by chisel-like slightly downturned fluke with curved lug above & pierced below. Open socket extending down staff in pair of long langets. Separate set of langets fitted to sides. Obverse of thrusting blade etched with figure of officer in contemporary costume with sword & holding partisan, on stippled blacked ground. Above figure's head is inscription 'CRISTOPH/NA?GNICH'. Reverse of thrusting blade etched with group of military trophies above crowned Tyrolean eagle & date "1637" Both faces of axehead, fluke, socket & langets, similarly decorated.
Centered on obverse is bust of male figure in Eastern costume with turban-like headgear. Reverse, same position, bust of male with mace wearing E. European headgear. Ground of axe blade & fluke on both faces filled with fine running vines on a stippled blacked ground.
May be original staff of roughly carved knobbed wood, each projection fitted with brass capped nail.
Label TextStaff weapons like these helped tip the military scales in favor of infantry. Pikes, which were usually about 16-18 feet long, could stop a cavalry charge dead, leaving the troopers as targets for musket fire. These tactics required group discipline and training, and contributed to the professionalization of military life. The halberd had originally been used in conjunction with the pike to break up enemy formations, but by Shakespeare's day it had become purely a badge of office, carried by sergeants. This example bears the turbaned head of a Turk--the Turks were seen as the great imperial threat to western Europe, yet their military and political success inspired a measure of grudging admiration in Christian Europe.ProvenancePurchased by the Museum on December 9, 1930 from Ernst Schmidt, Munich, Germany, his no. 118. Collection transfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.
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