_The Partisan._--This weapon was introduced into England in the middle of the fourteenth century, and from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries was used extensively on the Continent, but especially in France. It consists of a long double-edged blade, wide at the base, where it is provided with projections of various forms, hooked, crescent, &c., and tapering to a point. It is always symmetrical, both sides balancing in form. The Ranseur and the Spetum are modifications of the partisan. In Plate XXVII. a ranseur is shown from the Edinburgh Collection, dating from the early sixteenth century: here the two points on the lateral projections give a graceful outline to the weapon, while at the same time increasing its efficiency. A spetum from the Wallace Collection is shown in Fig. 430; it dates from _c._ 1490. _The Pike._--The pike was the “bayonet” of the mediæval and later periods, and only disappeared at a comparatively recent date. It was one of the simplest of weapons, being merely a long, narrow, lance-like head of steel strengthened by lengthy strips of metal, which ran for a considerable distance down the pole, rendering it almost immune from sword-cuts. The length of the weapon varied very considerably, from over twenty feet to less than ten, but the latter was the usual length. For resisting a cavalry charge the base of the pike was fixed into the ground, an iron shoe or point being provided to protect that part. The long strips of steel down the shaft may be considered one of its special features, as it could not be put out of action by any ordinary cuts of the sword, axe, &c. [Illustration: FIG. 430.--1. Spetum (partisan), 1490. 2. Partisan, 1570. 3. Partisan, 1580.] [Illustration: FIG. 431.--1. Glaives. 2. Ox-tongue partisan. 3. Guisarme. 4. Bills, 1540.] During the eighteenth century a half-pike was carried by infantry officers which was known as the Spontoon. It had a long shaft with a leaf-shaped head, the latter having as a rule a cross-guard beneath it. _The Voulge._--This weapon may be regarded as a cousin to the guisarme, from which at times it differed but little. In its simplest form it consists of a broad blade fixed at the side of a shaft, and attached to it by two or more rings which spring from the back of the blade. The latter is invariably carried up to a sharp point over the axis of the shaft, and some examples show a spike upon the side opposite to the blade. The voulge is a Swiss weapon, and was in use by that nation at a very early period; it did not become popular among the Continental nations, although the French seem to have used it in the fifteenth century, when the arbalestiers were armed with it.