Viking Age arms and armour to claim it for Odin. Possibly due to its cultural significance, pattern welded blades are common in spear heads, and the sockets were often decorated with silver inlaid patterns. A polearm known as the "atgeir" is mentioned in several sagas of Icelanders and other literature. "Atgeir" is usually translated as "halberd", akin to a glaive. Gunnar Hámundarson is described in "Njáls saga" as cutting and impaling foes on his "atgeir". Several weapons (including the "kesja" and the "höggspjót") appearing in the sagas are Viking halberds. No weapon matching their descriptions have been found in graves. These weapons may have been
Vatican City are equipped with small arms and the traditional halberd (also called the Swiss voulge), and trained in bodyguarding tactics. The Palatine Guard and the Noble Guard, the last armed forces of the Vatican City State, were disbanded by Pope Paul VI in 1970. As Vatican City has listed every building in its territory on the International Register of Cultural Property under Special Protection, the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict theoretically renders it immune to armed attack. Civil defence is the responsibility of the Corps of Firefighters of the Vatican City State,