Editing Halberd (section)

==History==
[[File:Luzerner Schilling Battle of Grandson.jpg|thumb|left|Early-16th-century miniature depicting the Battle of Grandson, from the [[Luzerner Schilling|Lucerner Schilling]]. Swiss soldiers can be seen armed with earlier halberds.]]

The halberd is first mentioned (as {{lang|de|hallenbarte}}) in a work by 13th-century German poet [[Konrad von Würzburg]].<ref name=HDS>{{HDS|8614|author=Jürg A. Meier}}</ref> [[John of Winterthur]] described it as a new weapon used by the [[Old Swiss Confederacy|Swiss]] at the [[Battle of Morgarten]] of 1315.<ref name=HDS/> The halberd was inexpensive to produce and very versatile in battle. As the halberd was eventually refined, its point was more fully developed to allow it to better deal with [[spear]]s and [[Pike (weapon)|pikes]] (and make it able to push back approaching horsemen), as was the hook opposite the axe head, which could be used to pull horsemen to the ground.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|url=http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=gle |title=History of Warfare – Land |publisher=Historyworld.net |access-date=2013-06-13}}</ref> A Swiss peasant used a halberd to kill [[Charles the Bold]],<ref>Klaus Schelle, ''Charles le Téméraire'' (Arthème Fayard, 1979), p. 316</ref> the [[Duke of Burgundy]], at the [[Battle of Nancy]], decisively ending the [[Burgundian Wars]].<ref name="Gilbert">{{cite book |last=Gilbert |first=Adrian |title=The Encyclopedia of Warfare: From Earliest Times to the Present Day |year=2003 |orig-year=2002 |publisher=The Lyons Press |location=Guildford, CT |isbn=1-59228-027-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwa0000gilb/page/71 71] |chapter=Medieval Warfare |quote=At Nancy, it was a halberd that brought down Charles the Bold with a single blow that split his skull open. |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwa0000gilb/page/71 }}</ref>    

[[File:Rom, Vatikan, Soldat der Schweizer Garde 3.jpg|thumb|left|A member of the [[Pontifical Swiss Guard|Swiss Guard]] with a halberd in the [[Vatican City|Vatican]]]]

The halberd was the primary weapon of the early Swiss armies in the 14th and early 15th centuries.<ref name="autogenerated1"/> Later, the Swiss added the [[Pike (weapon)|pike]] to better repel [[knight]]ly attacks and roll over enemy infantry formations, with the halberd, [[Longsword|hand-and-a-half sword]], or the [[dagger]] known as the [[Swiss Dagger|''Schweizerdolch'']] used for closer combat. The German ''[[Landsknecht]]e'', who imitated Swiss warfare methods, also used the pike, supplemented by the halberd—but their [[Sidearm (weapon)|side arm]] of choice was a [[short sword]] called the ''[[Katzbalger]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tko5DAAAQBAJ&q=The+German+Landsknechte%2C+who+imitated+Swiss+warfare+methods%2C+also+used+the+pike%2C+supplemented+by+the+halberd%E2%80%94but+their+side+arm+of+choice+was+a+short+sword+called+the+Katzbalger&pg=PT87|title=Tools of War: History of Weapons in Medieval Times|last=Ramsey|first=Syed|date=2016-05-12|publisher=Vij Books India Pvt Ltd|isbn=9789386019813|language=en}}</ref>

As long as pikemen fought other pikemen, the halberd remained a useful supplemental weapon for ''[[push of pike]]'', but when their position became more defensive, to protect the slow-loading [[arquebus]]iers and [[matchlock]] musketeers from sudden attacks by [[cavalry]], the percentage of halberdiers in the pike units steadily decreased. By 1588, official Dutch infantry composition was down to 39% arquebuses, 34% pikes, 13% muskets, 9% halberds, and 2% one-handed swords. By 1600, troops armed exclusively with swords were no longer used and the halberd was only used by sergeants.<ref>Olaf van Nimwegen. "The Dutch Army and the Military Revolutions, 1588-1688", Boydell: 2010. Page 87.</ref>

Researchers suspected that a halberd or a [[Bill (weapon)|bill]] sliced through the back of King [[Richard III]]'s skull at the [[Battle of Bosworth Field]] on 22 August 1485, leaving his brain visible before killing him during the battle, and were later able to confirm that it was a halberd.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-21245346 Richard III dig: Grim clues to the death of a king] By Greig Watson, [[BBC News]],  4 February 2013</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Skull |url=http://www.le.ac.uk/richardiii/science/osteologyskull.html |access-date=3 December 2014 |website=The Discovery of Richard III |publisher=[[University of Leicester]]}}</ref>

While rarer than it had been from the late 15th to mid-16th centuries, the halberd was still used infrequently as an infantry weapon well into the mid-17th century. The armies of the [[Catholic League (German)|Catholic League]] in 1625, for example, had halberdiers comprising 7% of infantry units, with musketeers comprising 58% and armored pikemen 35%. By 1627 this had changed to 65% muskets, 20% pikes, and 15% halberds.<ref>Guthrie, William. "The Later Thirty Years War: From the Battle of Wittstock to the Treaty of Westphalia." Praeger, Feb. 2003. Page 16.</ref> A near-contemporary depiction of the 1665 [[Battle of Montes Claros]] at [[Palace of the Marquises of Fronteira]] depicts a minority of the Portuguese and Spanish soldiers as armed with halberds. [[Antonio de Pereda]]'s 1635 painting ''El Socorro a Génova'' depicting the [[Relief of Genoa]] has all the soldiers armed with halberds. The most consistent users of the halberd in the [[Thirty Years' War]] were German sergeants who would carry one as a sign of rank. While they could use them in melee combat, more often they were used for dressing the ranks by grasping the shaft in both hands and pushing it against several men simultaneously. They could also be used to push pikes or muskets up or down, especially to stop overexcited musketeers from firing prematurely.<ref>Wilson, Peter (2009). Europe's Tragedy: A History of the Thirty Years War. Allen Lane. Page 95.</ref> Halberds and other polearms remained useful during instances of close-in fighting such as during stormings of towns and forts. At the [[Siege of Lyme Regis]] in April 1644 during the English Civil War, halberdiers were among the troops that repelled the attackers after their cannons made breaches in the walls.<ref>Kenyon, J.P. and Ohlmeyer, Jane H. (eds.). "The Civil Wars. A Military History of England, Scotland, and Ireland 1638–1660."  Oxford University Press: 1998. Page 217.</ref>

[[File:Lviv - Arsenal - 26.jpg|thumb|Halberds of various shapes, sizes, and ages]]
The halberd has been used as a court bodyguard weapon for centuries, and is still the [[ceremonial weapon]] of the [[Swiss Guard]] in the [[Vatican City|Vatican]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Beam |first=Christopher|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2007/06/what_does_the_swiss_guard_actually_do.html |title=What does the Swiss Guard actually do? |publisher=Slate.com |date=2007-06-06 |access-date=2014-03-04}}</ref> and the ''Alabarderos'' (Halberdiers) Company<ref>{{cite book|first=Jose M.|last=Bueno|page=11|title=Tropas de la Casa Real|year=1982|publisher=BPR Publishers |isbn=84-86071-01-1}}</ref> of the [[Spanish Royal Guard]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.guardiareal.org/|title= Inicio|publisher=guardiareal.org}}</ref> The halberd was one of the polearms sometimes carried by lower-ranking officers in European infantry units in the 16th through 18th centuries. In the British army, [[sergeant]]s continued to carry halberds until 1793, when they were replaced by [[spontoon]]s.<ref>David Fraser. "The Grenadier Guards", page 33. {{ISBN|0850452848}}</ref> The 18th-century halberd had, however, become simply a symbol of rank with no sharpened edge and insufficient strength to use as a weapon.<ref>Robin May. ''Wolfe's Army'', Osprey Publishing Ltd 1974, page 33</ref> It served as an instrument for ensuring that infantrymen in ranks stood correctly aligned with each other and that their muskets were aimed at the correct level.<ref>{{cite book|first=Christopher|last=Duffy|page=123|title=The Military Experience in the Age of Reason|year=1998|publisher=Wordsworth Editions |isbn=1-85326-690-6}}</ref>

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