The Voulge.—This weapon may be regarded as a cousin to the guisarme, from which at times it differed but little. In its simplest form it consists of a broad blade fixed at the side of a shaft, and attached to it by two or more rings which spring from the back of the blade. The latter is invariably carried up to a sharp point over the axis of the shaft, and some examples show a spike upon the side opposite to the blade. The voulge is a Swiss weapon, and was in use by that nation at a very early period; it did not become popular among the Continental nations, although the French seem to have used it in the fifteenth century, when the arbalestiers were armed with it.
The Fork.—The military fork undoubtedly owed its conception to the agricultural implement, and in its earlier forms was of equally simple construction. The two prongs were eventually made of unequal length, and examples are to be found having three prongs, all unequal. As usual with shaft weapons, hooks were added with which a horseman might be dismounted from his charger, and barbs were occasionally added to give effect to side blows. During the fourteenth century it was much used; it appeared as early as the eleventh century, and was not entirely discarded until the end of the seventeenth. [Plate XXVII.] from the Edinburgh Collection is a scaling-fork with a particularly long shaft, the very prominent hooks being designed to drag defenders off the battlements.
Fig. 432.—1. Military fork. 2. Halberd. 3. Corseque (partisan). 4. Spetum
Fig. 433.—1. Spontoon (partisan). 2. Partisan. 3. Glaive. 4. Halberd.
The Bill.—The bill was in its incipient condition the agricultural scythe mounted on a staff, and as such was used for many years following the ninth century, but developments took place in its structure, and it subsequently became much altered in form, invariably, however, preserving the one characteristic feature of a crescent-shaped blade with the inside edge sharpened. A small portion of the point was double-edged. This weapon was usually referred to as the “brown” bill, which suggests that their usual condition was a rusty one. It remained in use until about the fifteenth century, when it was superseded by the pike. The term “bill” is essentially a generic one, and all shafted weapons of peculiar form which do not fall readily under any particular heading are classified as bills. Thus the weapon shown in [Plate XXVII.], and classified under the term “bill” in the Edinburgh Collection, has a very strong resemblance to that variety of the guisarme called the fauchard, but its extreme narrowness in the centre of the blade disqualifies it. It dates from c. 1470.