swordstaff

A swordstaff blade has been found at the Husaby castle ruin in Västergötland, Sweden. The blade has a smith's mark similar to the Passau Wolf mark. With the original wooden shaft, the full length of the weapon was approximately two metres long.

The weapon has visual similarities to the partisan and ox tongue spear and may share common origins. However, Scandinavian sagas make references to a number of pole weapons, usually translated as "halberd" or "bill". These weapons are used to cut and to stab, but their names suggest they were derived from the spear rather than a cutting weapon, such as the hewing spear (hǫggspjót) and the atgeir. While clearly identifiable artistic or archaeological evidence of the form of these weapons is lacking, it is possible that the swordstaff may be a late derivative of this family of weapons.

Various other languages have analog terms which might have referred to similar or the same type of weapon. • stafswert – dagger • stafswert – swordstaff, hunting spear, dagger • stæfsweord – sword cane • staffsword – sword cane • stapaswert – throwing spear • stapswert – dagger, sword cane • hǫggspjót – hewing spear In Russia, a similar weapon, called rogátina, a heavy daggerbladed spear for hand-to-hand combat and hunting large animals (compare sovnya), featured in later forms a full crossguard and sword length blade.

Chinese polearms that resembled swordstaves were also often used in ancient China from the late Warring States/Qin dynasty to the Han dynasty era. These were known as the pi (鈹), translated into English as either "sword-staff" or "long lance", and a long bladed ranseur-like swordstaff weapon called the sha (鎩) with a blade that was about 62 cm long (up to 80 cm long) and a hilt that was about 19 cm long. • Illustration — Chinese swordstaff called a pi (鈹), Han dynasty • Illustration — Han dynasty Sha 铩 with bat shaped guard and scabbard • Illustration — Closeup of a modern recreation of the sha with a bat shaped guard • Illustration — Han dynasty sha (swordstaff), modern recreation of the classic version of the swordstaff "sha" from the Han dynasty era