Bill (c. 1480): Art, History and Details

Bill (c. 1480) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This weapon known as the "bill" was developed from an agricultural tool and was one of the first staff weapons to be used by medieval infantries. Used throughout Western Europe, it was particularly popular in Italy and England where it served as an equivalent to the Central European halberd. Fitted with a pronounced hook whose inside and outside curves were cutting edges, it was topped by a long spike.

Object facts

• Title: Bill
• Date: c. 1480
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Arms and Armor
• Technique: steel, wood haft
• Dimensions: Overall: 184.8 cm (72 3/4 in.); Blade: 11.4 cm (4 1/2 in.)
• Collection: MED - Arms & Armor
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1916.1835

A detail from the museum

With its long shaft, the bill was useful for reaching mounted men, and a military version soon emerged.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance

Further reading listed by the museum

• Catalogue of Arms and Armour. [Boston, Massachusetts]: [Frank Gair Macomber], 1900.
• Gilchrist, Helen Ives. A Catalogue of the Collection of Arms & Armor Presented to the Cleveland Museum of Art by Mr. and Mrs. John Long Severance; 1916-1923. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1924.
• Cleveland Museum of Art, and Helen Ives Gilchrist. Handbook of the Severance Collection of Arms and Armor. 2d ed., 1948.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.