Glaive

The glaive is a European polearm formed by mounting a single-edged blade, resembling a large knife or short sword blade, on the end of a long shaft, giving an infantryman a cutting weapon with the reach of a spear rather than the shorter reach of a hand-held blade. In wide documented use across Western Europe from roughly the thirteenth through the sixteenth centuries, the glaive was valued by infantry facing mounted opponents because its length let a foot soldier strike at a rider or a horse from outside the reach of a cavalry sword or lance, while its blade shape, unlike a plain spear point, allowed effective slashing cuts as well as thrusts. Surviving medieval and Renaissance fencing manuals describe organized techniques for the glaive alongside other polearms, and ceremonial versions of the weapon, often highly decorated, continued to be carried by guard units in some European courts well after its practical battlefield use had faded with the rise of firearms.