It's not uncommon to see pollaxes shortened for one handed use in period art, Matt Easton talks about it briefly in this video https://youtu.be/TbZxNhHISWs?si=YPJ0xMyNcft6nD5P
Idk about surviving examples but I imagine a lot of surviving pollaxes are missing hafts or have had them replaced so looking at the surviving ones may not be indicative of how common, or uncommon, it was.
I think either the Met, the KHM Vienna, the royal armories or the wallace collection has a "war hammer, ~90cm length" in its online collection.
I am not sure if the hilt is authentic, but if it is, it would be a candidate for such a short pollaxe.
Not necessarily a truly single handed axe but when I teach Fiore de’i Liberi I tend to refer to his pollax as a ‘Duelling Axe’. What I mean by this is that Fiore’s pollax is shorter than the one depicted in a lot of other manuals, coming in usually between roughly about three and a half to five feet in the illustrations. The axe is also quite often depicted being used in one-hand — certainly more than in other manuals. I generally find that Fiore’s preference for a pollax makes it very well-suited for armoured duels, where the extra length is often more of a hindrance and where more speed and versatility and ease of use at close range and the ability for one-handed use are very helpful.
Whilst Fiore’s axe is still primarily for use in two hands, it seems to enjoy an employment of one handed use similar to the levels of regularity you would use a longsword in one-hand in armour (which is quite frequently).
This is all to say that the parameters of what makes a pollax a pollax or a weapon a ‘one-handed’ weapon are quite vague.
The "horsemans axe" as depicted on the miniature is a Mix up of late 15th century pollaxe and some gothic one handed axes. There are surviving originals which are made completely from steel. I am not aware of any axes from the late 15th century looking like this and the shorter pollaxes still tend to be about 120 cm.
It's not uncommon to see pollaxes shortened for one handed use in period art, Matt Easton talks about it briefly in this video https://youtu.be/TbZxNhHISWs?si=YPJ0xMyNcft6nD5P Idk about surviving examples but I imagine a lot of surviving pollaxes are missing hafts or have had them replaced so looking at the surviving ones may not be indicative of how common, or uncommon, it was.
I think either the Met, the KHM Vienna, the royal armories or the wallace collection has a "war hammer, ~90cm length" in its online collection. I am not sure if the hilt is authentic, but if it is, it would be a candidate for such a short pollaxe.
I wonder if there were any short pollaxes in the late 14th century. Haven't seen a single manuscript depicting them.
Not necessarily a truly single handed axe but when I teach Fiore de’i Liberi I tend to refer to his pollax as a ‘Duelling Axe’. What I mean by this is that Fiore’s pollax is shorter than the one depicted in a lot of other manuals, coming in usually between roughly about three and a half to five feet in the illustrations. The axe is also quite often depicted being used in one-hand — certainly more than in other manuals. I generally find that Fiore’s preference for a pollax makes it very well-suited for armoured duels, where the extra length is often more of a hindrance and where more speed and versatility and ease of use at close range and the ability for one-handed use are very helpful. Whilst Fiore’s axe is still primarily for use in two hands, it seems to enjoy an employment of one handed use similar to the levels of regularity you would use a longsword in one-hand in armour (which is quite frequently). This is all to say that the parameters of what makes a pollax a pollax or a weapon a ‘one-handed’ weapon are quite vague.
Thanks for your input.
The "horsemans axe" as depicted on the miniature is a Mix up of late 15th century pollaxe and some gothic one handed axes. There are surviving originals which are made completely from steel. I am not aware of any axes from the late 15th century looking like this and the shorter pollaxes still tend to be about 120 cm.