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| | Polearms |
 | | In their hands was the halberd, a weapon equally apt to fight a foot-soldier and a mounted knight. |
 | | Many of these weapons have their origin in high-middle-ages farmer’s tools, such as the axe, the pruners, the pitchfork, etc. Besides the halberd, the other polearms that saw widespread use in the period were the pike and the half-pike, the ronca or guisarme, the spiedo and the partisan. |
 | | Compared to the medieval pollax, the high-Renaissance halberd is optimized for the thrust: its axe-head is less ponderous and often remains unsharpened, while its thrusting spike is longer. |
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