Hache

Also "Bec de Faucon" or "Pollaxe" or "Polaxe" -The "pollaxe" is something of a misnomer, for a variety of reasons. Firstly, the term "poll" is a period reference to the skull, not a "pole" on which the axe head rode. Secondly, the hache was often not an axe at all. Based on surviving examples, there seem to have been two principle forms of hache. The first bore an edged, axe shaped cutting blade on the front side, a small hammer head or curved spike on the back, and was surmounted with a long rectangular or diamond cross-sectioned spike at the top of the haft. The second form, usually referred to as the "Bec de Faucon" sported a large hammer head instead of an axe, and was backed with a spike or curved fluke. Both weapons either terminated in a heavy steel counterweight, or a sharpened buttspike, and seemed to range anywhere from five to seven or more feet long. Thalhoffer and De Liberi both provide many instructional plates on the use of the hache, but the most important document is the anonymous "Le Jeu de la Hache," of the mid-15th century, and translated into modern English by Dr. Sydney Anglo.