Halberd (c. 1550): Art, History and Details

Halberd (c. 1550) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The most effecient weapons used by the infantry (foot soldiers) during the 15th and 16th centuries were pole arms (or staff weapons). The halberd, like the examples shown here, was a weapon of great versatility. The word halberd comes from the German words Halm (a staff) and Barte (an axe). The halberd is, in fact, an axe mounted on a long pole with a very specialized shape and function: the axe blade was used for hacking, the spike for thrusting, and the beak either for piercing plate armor or for pulling a knight from his saddle. Used by shock troops, the halberd was the weapon of choice for Swiss and German mercenaries. From about 1550 onward, the halberd underwent major changes. Its distinctive outline became exaggerated and its functional elements evolved into purely ornamental shapes. The halberd's large blade conveniently provided space for armorial devices. By the late 1500s, it became a ceremonial weapon favored by princely body guards. It is still carried today by the Swiss Guard at the Vatican.

Object facts

• Title: Halberd
• Date: c. 1550
• Culture: Germany
• Type: Arms and Armor
• Technique: steel, with pierced trefoils; wood haft (rectangular with planed corners)
• Dimensions: Overall: 200.7 cm (79 in.); Blade: 25.4 cm (10 in.)
• Collection: MED - Arms & Armor
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1916.1542

A detail from the museum

The lives of both Leopold III, Duke of Austria, and Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, were ended by a halberd strike.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance

Further reading listed by the museum

• Catalogue of Arms and Armour. Vol. 2, 16th century. [Boston, Massachusetts]: [Frank Gair Macomber], [1900-1915].
• 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.

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.