Bardiche heavy weapon with which he clave the head of an ox. It was this primitive halberd which the Swiss mountaineers used in their early struggle with Austria, and at Sempach and Mortgarten it destroyed much splendid armor. But in battle it was found useful not only for chopping but for thrusting, hence the narrowing of the front end of its plate."The blade varied greatly in shape, but was most often a long, cleaver type blade. The distinction was in how the blade was attached to the pole. The bardiche blade was attached to the pole either via two sockets (one
Glaive Glaive A glaive (or glave) is a European polearm, consisting of a single-edged blade on the end of a pole. It is similar to the Japanese naginata, the Chinese guandao and pudao, Russian sovnya and Siberian . Typically, the blade is around long, on the end of a pole long, and the blade is affixed in a socket-shaft configuration similar to an axe head, rather than having a tang like a sword or naginata. Occasionally, glaive blades were created with a small hook on the reverse side to better catch riders. Such blades are called glaive-guisarmes. According to the 1599