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
Voulge meant for hacking, while that of the glaive was narrow and meant more for cutting. A voulge thus looks something like a squashed bardiche, or just a meat cleaver attached to a long pole. In early designs it consisted solely of a cutting edge, but in time voulges often had a 'pointed-top' blade for stabbing. Hooks were also incorporated onto the back of the blade, in which case they are referred to as "voulge-guisarmes". The voulge was commonly used by the French. The Hundred Years War provided many opportunities to prove its utility. It is commonly believed that this was