It just struck me that polearms occupy both ends of the training spectrum.
More people focus on the sword, but traditionally the spear was the more common weapon throughout the Middle Ages. It can then be claimed that the spear is one of (if not the) simplest weapon to learn.
On the other end we have the pollaxe, which is viewed by myself and many others as being the "acme" weapon - the tip of the pyramid of weapons training. This is because the poleaxe combines so many aspects of the other weapons - the spear, the sword and the dagger.
Discuss.
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I believe that the cad who used to ran Schola St. George started students with Fiore's spear, based on a similar argument. Unfortunately their website doesn't have many details.
Yeah, and to be clear I'm not advocating that all students should begin with spear - mainly because, if we're honest with each other, most people only get into WMA for the sword.
I've never understood that. But I'm the one whose massively frustrated that the only source on spear and shield is Manciollino, and that only about 20 people are working with large shields of any kind (Hammaborg's early medieval round shields, the Langenschilt groups, and very rarely NoVA Assaulto with sword and rotella). Proper soldiers have a big spear and a shield at least 3 feet long :)
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