Bill (weapon)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pole weapons and Mortuary Swords in the Great Hall of Edinburgh Castle. The center weapon is not a "Bill," but another variant of Halberd. On the left, for comparison, is a Halberd, and on the right a Scottish Lochaber axe.

The Bill was a polearm mainly used by the English. The Bill's effiency as a close combat weapon meant it was commonly used by 15th and 16th century English infantrymen. Descended from agricultural billhooks and the pollaxe, the bill was a chopping blade with several spiking projections mounted on a staff of six or seven feet. The blade almost universally had one pronounced spike straight off the top like a spear head, in addition to a hook mounted on the 'reverse' side of the blade. George Silver, a great supporter of the bill, recommended that the overall length should be from the ground to as high as the user can reach with his hand, with the distance between the wielder's hands when the weapon is held added to that length, making it 9 feet long or so.

It is similar in size, function and appearance to the halberd. Other terms for the bill include English Bill, bill hook or bill-guisarme

One advantage that it had over other polearms was that while it had the stopping power of a spear and the power of an axe, it also had the addition of a pronounced hook. If the sheer power of a swing did not fell the horse or its rider, the bills hooks were excellent at finding a chink in the plate armour of cavalrymen at the time, dragging the unlucky horseman off his mount to be finished off with either a sword or the bill itself. These characteristics also made it effective against heavily armoured infantry, dragging them into the melee or exploiting the weak points in their armour.

During the 16th Century when most European states were adopting the pike and arquebus, the English preferred to stick with the tried and tested combination of bill and English longbow that had been so successful during the Hundred Years' War, the Wars of the Roses and in constant conflicts with the Scots. Even in the Elizabethan period bills were still common with levies sent to fight the Scots.