Bardiche
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
A bardiche or long poleaxe is a type of polearm that was used during times of war in medieval and renaissance Europe, especially in Eastern Europe and Russia. It consisted of a blade very much like a 'tall' axe head mounted on a pole. Usually it was attached to the pole via two sockets: one at the top of the pole and one lower, on the bottom of the blade. While the blade was very long for an axe (usually over 2 feet) the shaft was one of the shortest of all polearms; rarely did it exceed 5 feet in length. It relied more on the weight of its heavy blade to do the damage then a swing from a long pole. This makes the bardiche more similar to the Danish axe in some respects than a true polearm. Depending on the design of the particular weapons in question, at times a bardiche may greatly resemble a voulge.
