Swiss infantry

The halberd was not considered as effective as the pike, for large battlefield engagements.  In fact, the pike became the main pole weapon of the Swiss infantry, after the deficiencies of the halberd were demonstrated at the Battle of Arbedo, in 1422.  At that particular action, dismounted Milanese men-at-arms, under the famed condottiere Carmagnola, used their lances as pikes, and came close to defeating their Swiss opponents.  The Swiss were badly shaken by the results of this battle, and they revised their entire infantry system afterwards, by adopting the pike on a wide scale.

Obviously, the halberd was more of an individual weapon, that could be used at close quarters to good effect against both enemy infantry and cavalry, and the latter was illustrated well in Albrecht Altdorfer's drawing from 1512, Knight Confronted by a Landsknecht in a Forest.  However, the pike retained an obvious reach advantage.  George Silver noted this in his Paradoxes of Defence from 1599:

"The long staff, morris pike, or javelin, or such like weapons above the perfect length, have advantage against all manner of weapons, the short staff, the Welch hook, partisan, or glaive, or such like weapons of vantage excepted..."

At the Battle of Bicocca in 1522, the Swiss captain of Unterwalden, Arnold Winkelried, fought with his halberd against the pike-armed "Father of the Landsknechts", Georg von Frundsberg.  Frundsberg killed Winkelried.

FWIW.

Peace,

David

Well, but the halberd must have been good at something for it to maintain some degree of popularity in the later years of the 15th century. Or--I suspect--was it popular because it was good at looking good, regardless of all questions about effectiveness?

Warhead,

Show me where the phrase "single combat" appears in Temujin's post.  Here it is:

Nowhere above does he specify "single combat".  All he says is that, when wielding the halberd, one "didn't needed [sic] to stay in formation".  That implies troops fighting in a more open order--either halberdiers in a large battle filtering up to the front line to give close support to the pikes; or perhaps halberdiers fighting in a skirmish, like the English ones shown engaging Irish Gallowglass infantry, in that one plate from John Derrick's Image of Ireland (1581).

Peace,

Dave

the story of the pikeman killing the halbredier sounds like single combat...

So, would halberdiers been better in fighting the spanish swordsmen than the pikemen had?

Actually, ancient Macedonian phalanxes had a defensive square formation they could form, that protected them from all sides.  An example of this can be found at the Battle of Gabiene(316BC) between Antigonus and Eumenes.  I'll explain:

Antigonus' cavalry had benn attacking the opposing cavalry with great success.  However, Eumenes' phalanx was actually managed to rout part of the Antigonid phalanx, and was beginning to roll up the rest of the formation.  Seeing this, Eumenes, attempted to rally his cavalry to attack, but one of his officers decided to retreat.  Following suit, Eumenes retreated with his cavalry.  Antigonus, with part of his cavalry, pursued Eumenes and his fleeing cavalry.  One of Antigonus' commanders, Pithon, with another part of the Antigonid cavalry, pursued the fleeing infantry.  However, the infantry formed into a defensive square, and thsuly, Pithon's cavalry was rendered useless.  The infantry made it back to their camp.