Lucerne hammer

The Lucerne hammer is a type of polearm which was popular in Swiss armies during the 15th to 17th centuries. It was a combination of the bec de corbin with the blunt war hammer.

Man with Lucerne hammer, 18th century.

Name

The name comes from a discovery of many of these weapons in Lucerne, Switzerland.[1]

Design

The hammer-part of the Lucerne hammer was a three- to four-pronged head mounted atop a 2m-long (7 foot) polearm stick. It bore a long spike on its reverse, and an even longer spike extending from the very top.

Use

The Lucerne hammer required both hands for effective handling. As a modified polearm, Lucerne hammers had multiple functions in battle. The forward-pointing spike could be used for spearing, while the hammer proved effective at puncturing or smashing armor. Like many other polearms, the Lucerne hammer was also used for dismounting the enemy. The long pole could provide a swing of the hammer with a large torque, resulting in tremendous force upon impact.

gollark: Due to something, palaiologos won the vote by rather a lot, despite having only been a member for a few months.
gollark: Due to LyricLy being somewhat unserious as owner, we wanted to remove them and get someone else in place. This worked; LyricLy agreed to resign due to things (no blackmail*!) and we held an election.
gollark: I don't know, really. There are theories.
gollark: I forgot.
gollark: If you don't have access to our internal memos and such you can't have a full history of it, see. And you don't. Muahahaha.

See also

References
  1. Oakeshott, Ewart (1980). European Weapons and Armour. Guildford and London: Lutterworth Press. p. 51. ISBN 0-7188-2126-2.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.