The guisarme (also called gisarme, giserne or bisarme) is a pole weapon that was mainly used in Europe between 1000 and 1400. It probably has Germanic origins, from the Old High German getīsarn, which literally means "scythe iron".
Like many medieval pole weapons, the early form is difficult to determine precisely from texts, and identifying surviving weapons often remains guesswork.
Two main theories
According to the first theory, the guisarme originated from farm tools. Farmers attached tools to long sticks, and in this case a pruning hook was set on a longer shaft.
According to Guy Francis Laking, the guisarme was the most important weapon for the common soldier after the spear. Around the 13th century it was so effective that there were even calls to ban it from the battlefield.
In its earliest form it was simply a hook at the end of a stick, but later variants gained an extra small point at the back of the blade. Weaponsmiths later incorporated the hook into all sorts of other pole weapons, making "guisarme" a collective term for any weapon with a hook on the blade, such as bill-guisarmes, voulge-guisarmes and glaive-guisarmes.
The second theory, put forward by Ewart Oakeshott in European Weapons and Armour, sees the guisarme as a "crescent-shaped double axe" on a long shaft. His main argument is that in the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight the words "giserne" and "axe" are used interchangeably. John Waldmann also agrees with this.
Images and texts
The original illustrations in the Gawain poem clearly show Gawain with a long, crescent-shaped axe, which supports the second theory. Yet other texts from that time distinguish between an axe and a guisarme.
For example, Chaucer writes in Romaunt of the Rose: "With sword, or axe (sparth), or gysarme", and in Mandeville's Travels too, swords, guisarmes and axes appear side by side. The usage in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight could thus also have been poetic licence.
Olivier de la Marche described the guisarme in the 15th century as a pole weapon that combines dagger and battle axe and considered it a weapon of "great age".
Writer George Shipway chose the interpretation of the guisarme as a double axe in his novel Knight in Anarchy, and described how knights trained with it for judicial duels.
German tradition
In German, the guisarme is also known as Gesa, Gisarme, Gysarme or Jasarme. The weapon originated from the scythe. Many older books classify it among the glaives, partisans or battle axes, but it actually belongs to the storm or war scythes.
The first mentions in England date back to the 12th century. It was a popular and widespread weapon in the Middle Ages, probably because it was simple and cheap to make. The guisarme or war scythe was used from the 11th century right into the early 19th century.
Appearance
The guisarme usually had a long or wide scythe blade with a reinforced back. Often there was an extra narrow, pointed blade on the back: short and slightly curved upwards, or long and straight.
Sometimes a small thrusting point was added on top of the blade. In other variants, the blade looked more like a pruning knife than a scythe. There are guisarmes from England, Germany, Italy and France.
Internal links
- Fauchard: medieval pole weapon of scythe form
- Glaive: Medieval pole weapon for infantry and cavalry
- Voulge: 15th-century French pole weapon with single-sided blade
- Bill: agricultural tool, pole weapon and English war weapon
Sources:
- Primary Source: Battlefield chronicles from the Hundred Years' War (such as those by Jean Froissart), in which the weapon is described as an instrument for dragging knights from their horses.
- Typology: Mario Troso, Le armi in **asta.
