brandistock
Illustration — Brandistock with retractable blades. Early 17th century, Italy A brandistock (also called brandestoc, buttafuori or feather staff) was a short type of polearm which was used by both infantry and civilians alike, primarily police officers in Italy between the 16th and 19th centuries. Measuring some 1.5 meters long, the brandistock construction was unique for polearms in that it had a retractable blade; the weapon was able to be covertly carried as a walking staff.
Also recorded as brandestoc · buttafuore · feather staff
brandistock
Charles Boutell, Translated by Paul Lacombe · Arms and armour in antiquity and the Middle Ages: also a descriptive notice of modern weapons · Public domain
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- weapon
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Illustration — Brandistock with retractable blades. Early 17th century, Italy A brandistock (also called brandestoc, buttafuori or feather staff) was a short type of polearm which was used by both infantry and civilians alike, primarily police officers in Italy between the 16th and 19th centuries. Measuring some 1.5 meters long, the brandistock construction was unique for polearms in that it had a retractable blade; the weapon was able to be covertly carried as a walking staff.
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wikidata · Q9246099 · wikipedia · Brandistock
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Overview
The head consisted of either a single or a trio of long thin points, which were kept in a hollow aperture inside the rest of the shaft. The blades would often be triangular or diamond-shaped. A sharp thrust of the weapon forward propelled the heads out, where they could be readily locked in place. This weapon is essentially a spear with a sliding blade, or alternatively, a long handled out-the-front gravity knife.
Brandistock is a weapon or weapon type.
Arbirs of Indonesian Pencak Silat martial arts. (a) Spear-butted type (b) Spike-butted type (c) Another view of (b), showing the shallow groove used to determine the cutting edge
The Avisaurian
FULL-LENGTH PIKES - A weapon, usually between 2.44 and 2.74 m long, consisting of a shaft tipped with a sharp point. The shaft is usually made of wood, and the point, first made of flint or bone, was later made of such metals as bronze or steel. The spear has been used from prehistoric times, both as a hand weapon and as a missile. The medieval pike and lance developed from the spears of antiquity
KNOW MALTA by Peter Grima · ARMOURY OF THE KNIGHTS OF MALTA
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Reference “Kobold” in the source article.
- 2.Balent, Matthew. The Palladium book of exotic weapons. Palladium Books. 43. 1984. 978-0-916211-06-6.
- 3.All Things Medieval. Medieval Polearms.
- 4.MyArmoury.com. Combination Weapons.
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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