The corseque is a type of European

pole weapon A polearm or pole weapon is a close combat weapon in which the main fighting part of the weapon is fitted to the end of a long shaft, typically of wood, thereby extending the user's effective range and striking power. Polearms are predominantly ...

, characterised by a three-lobe blade on a 1.8 to 2.5-metre shaft. The head features a long spike and two shorter and stronger lateral blades. The Corseque is said to have originated in Corsica, from where it takes its name. It would have evolved from the

spetum A spetum is a pole weapon that was used in Europe during the 13th century. It consists of a pole, some 6–8 feet long, on which is mounted a spear head with two projections at its base. Many variations of this design flourished over time; s ...

in the later Middle Ages. It was popular in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. Surviving examples have a variety of head forms, but there are two main variants, one with the side blades (known as flukes or wings) branching from the neck of the central blade at 45 degrees, the other with hooked blades curving back towards the haft. The corseque is usually associated with the rawcon,

ranseur A ranseur, also called roncone, was a pole weapon similar to the partisan used in Europe up to the 15th century. It was still seen in court as a ceremonial weapon through the 17th century. Often thought to be a derivation of the earlier spetum ...

and runka. Another possible association is with the "three-grayned staff" listed as being in the armoury of Henry VIII in 1547 (though the same list also features 84 rawcons, suggesting the weapons were not identical in 16th century English eyes). Another modern term used for particularly ornate-bladed corseques is the ''chauve-souris''.Oakeshott (1980), p.51.

Sources and references

Polearms Renaissance-era polearms {{Polearm-stub