Bardiche invented by King Jan III Sobieski). Another use of the bardiche was for execution. Bardiche A bardiche , berdiche, bardische, bardeche,("long pollaxe") or berdish is a type of axe/pole weapon known in the 14th through 17th centuries in Europe. Ultimately a descendant of the medieval sparth (Danish axe), the bardiche proper appears around 1400, but there are numerous medieval manuscripts that depict very similar weapons beginning . The bardiche differs from the halberd in having neither a hook at the back nor a spear point at the top. Use of bardiches started in early 14th century Austria and in Scandinavia
Altarpiece of the Halberd Altarpiece of the Halberd The Altarpiece of the Halberd is a painting from around 1539 by the Italian High Renaissance painter Lorenzo Lotto. It is housed in the Pinacoteca civica Francesco Podesti of Ancona, central Italy. The work was seen by the art biographer Giorgio Vasari in the church of Sant'Agostino in Ancona, where Lotto had fled in reply to the hostility received in Venice. It was later moved to the church of Santa Maria della Piazza and, after other locations, the current one. The painting dates to a few years after the coup by which Ancona had been restored