Amanda Sopchockchai, Class of 2027, College of the Holy Cross
As opulent as this gleaming, brass-inlaid, Northern European weapon may appear at first glance, it was designed for violent tasks. Capable of damaging armor and fracturing bone, a pollaxe had a sharp axeblade, a thrusting tip, and a cleated hammerhead, and was mounted on a long pole. It could have been used by a knight to pierce through the gaps in an enemy’s steel plate armor in mortal battle, to deliver a death blow at the end of a fight, or to defeat an opponent on foot during a more friendly tournament. The multiple uses of this weapon speak to the chivalric and military culture pervading the 1400s, a culture that crossed boundaries of geography and faith.
Plate armor was rounded and smooth to avoid catching an opponent's weapons. However, the stout, pyramidal spikes protruding from the pollaxe’s hammerhead could gain traction on the surface of an opponent’s plate armor, giving the wielder of the pollaxe an advantage in a fight.
