The Original RENAISSANCE ITALIAN BILL Weapon Examined

[@malatesta177]

Oh, oh! It's my time to shine here! I came exactly from the place from where the agricultural tools from which this weapon is a derivate is! The Roncola, or Ronca, is up to today a kind of "fat" small sickle, pretty similar to what you can see on the top of this bill, mostly used to clean bushes and small branches. This weapon took it's name from that tools BUT... BUT where i grown up, in the outskirt of Arezzo, we call it a PENNATO. Pennato it's a dialect word that come from Penna, which could be transted in Pen or Feather (we use the same word in italian because you know, people used feathers as pen!). By extension the world PENNA means something pointy (like a pen) so PENNATO is actually an adjective to decribe a pointy object. So, while Roncola or Ronca is a fat short sickle still used all over italy, near Arezzo the ronca has a point going up where the curve of the sickle begins, exactly like this bill! And it's still called differently for that specific trait. Adding to that, while reading the chronicles from Villani about the campaldino battle (11 june 1289, Florence vs Arezzo) he was talking about the weird Arezzo's long axes, and while describing them he was litterlay talking about a Pennato mounted on a staff which is pretty identical to the bill in this video with the exceptions of the two smaller points on the side. This is entirely a speculation but I'm quite sure we can guess that when this bill became widespread people called it roncola because it was a more known name but the origins of this weapon may be from thay period in the Tuscany wars before Florence egemony. Up to today the only place you can find a pointy roncola is around Arezzo.

[@maikilangiolo]

The ronca is one of the two italian tools-turned-weapons I truly love. The other being the beidana. Just lovely stuff

[@malatesta177]

@@maikilangiolo TIL about the existence of the Beidana! Thank you for mentioning it.

[@Tvianne]

Yep! I'd describe it as a hooked machete!

[@raffaellointernational2401]

Il pennato 😂. Haven't heard that term in a long time. I was about to give pretty much the same background on the weapon you did. You're spot on about everything. Early communal militias would organize in "work groups" during battles, in the same way they would work in a field or orchard. The top spike is presumed to have been used for picking apples and was very thin so as not to blemish the fruit, later purpose made polearms thickened it to be able to take down a horse.

[@dangvorbei5304]

This comment is why I'm here.

[@matthewlong9369]

You buy a funky spear at auction: You: How do I pay for it and how do I take possession? Them: Don't worry, we will send the bill in the mail...and...we will send the bill in the mail

[@michaeljfoley1]

I enjoy seeing these authentic polearms, the real workhorses of the battlefield. Aside from bows, crossbows and arquebuses/muskets, of course.

[@phillipmargrave]

Don’t forget spears!

[@Ninjamanhammer]

​@@phillipmargraveSpears are polearms.

[@Jimmy-p9n]

That you. Never seen a bill so closely viewed and descibed. Enjoyed that, cheers!!!

[@hocsx]

Lovely video. I learned a lot. This hands-on approach gives a much more clearer picture of what the weapon was like than arms catalogues, no matter how detailed they are. Please keep 'em coming.

[@LuxisAlukard]

I've spend a lot of time watching history/medieval/HEMA videos, and I can't remember seeing that spike is reenforced on this type of a billhook. You learn something every day (or just are reminded of it) :-D

[@seraphwithatank6535]

I didn't know that either 😕

[@morbihan9857]

This is pretty common in 15th and later century halberds (and bills). In fact, it become pretty much universal to have reinforced spikes. If you take a look at the Brescia's castle museum, there is a lovely collection of italian bills (and halberds), the billhook either have hexagonal or square spikes.

[@theassening4563]

I know it's more "modern history tv" -side, but have you considered doing a video about the use of standards/flags? Seems that carrying one for a unit would be a pretty important job. I've heard that in the napoleonic era as well as ancient roman era these "standard barriers" might also be protected by a handful of assigned or picked soldiers. In the modern military these items are only carried on parade and I've known soldiers who don't even know what their unit flag looks like. I remember seeing one in a glass cabinet and wondering what the ugly thing was.... it was my unit flag at the time.

[@andyleighton6969]

Your "flags" are the Colours, every regiment had two, the Regimental and the Kings/Queens Colour .which were carried into battle as rallying points. In the very early days, when regiments were raised by individual noblemen, there would only have been one of their own design often showing their own arms but this was regularised as the Army slowly became more "professional". The Colours were carried by the Ensigns, the most junior officers. The Colours were protected by a bodyguard of the most senior sergeants - which is why an infantry staff sergeant is referred to as a Colour Sergeant. The word flag does them no justice, they are embroidered heavy silk and weigh an absolute ton. In the old days they were huge, 6ft 9in by 6ft [39 square feet, now reduced to 11.25 ] I have no idea how they handled them in the wind and weather. They are stored in big heavy leather tubes called "boots", and having had to boot the Colours myself I can tell you that manhandling the modern ones is no small job. The Trooping The Colour we see on the TV is a relic of the Colours being regularly passed through the ranks so everyone could recognise "their" Colours.

[@SchlangeVonEden]

The prettiest style of pole-arm, in my opinion.

[@thezieg]

I'm just a bill, yes I'm only a bill, and I'm sittin' here up on Tower Hill . . .😂

[@griffinswanepoelyoung7848]

Love these breakdowns, especially with actual items hundreds of years old 😍

[@farkasmactavish]

I ordered the Arms and Armor replica as a self-gift for my bday/Christmas and I'm so stoked for it to get here

[@guaporeturns9472]

That’s a good idea

[@phillipmargrave]

I’ve looked at that one several times but I think the haft is too short.

[@davidcarr7436]

"Every summer, we could rent a cottage on the Isle of Wight, if it's not too dear." Yeah, I've heard of it!

[@MadNumForce]

Bills derive from billhooks. Billhooks have been diverging frol sickles in the bronze age. Sickles and scythes have diverged in the iron age. When these bills/ronca came around, billhooks had been in use for two millennia already, and you find precursor of such shapes at the end of the Roman era. During the Italian Renaissance, it got slender and more specialized, but you still see the essential features of a 5th century billhook here. Even the rectangular socket used to be the norm, even in tools, initially in just semi-closed, or "strapped", sockets.

[@darthnihilusthebestsith]

The billhook is indeed similar to a sickle, but a much more similar agricultural implement is what in Italy we call "roncola", which I believe is the real origin of this weapon as well as of the name "roncone" or "ronca"

[@ObatongoSensei]

If I remember correctly from what a gardener friend once told me, in Italian "roncola" is the short, hand-held tool, while "ronca" is the pole-fitted tool. "Roncola" actually means "little ronca", so it makes sense. The military bill was mainly called "roncone", which just means "really big ronca", and that makes sense too.

[@paavobergmann4920]

Yeah, there is a tool in southern germany that is used mainly in vineyards to cut back vines and brushes, it´s extremely effective. It looks like a bill, but only few have a spike at the back, and obviously no point in the front. If they have a back hook, it is used to gather twigs for bundling. it´s called "Hippe". It´s much more sturdy than a sickle, to be used on wood rather than grass, and a really good alternative for a hatchet when camping. It´s more like a hooked machete, really.

[@ObatongoSensei]

@@paavobergmann4920 That seems pretty much what a roncola is in Italy. It's an inwardly-hooked machete for chopping fronds and branches, really effective.

[@paavobergmann4920]

@@ObatongoSensei Yes! That thing! I just checked "Roncola", and it is exactly what I was talking about. Super effective tool in the garden, really handy. Where I live, it is also called "Gertel". de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippe_(Werkzeug)

[@ObatongoSensei]

@@paavobergmann4920 And that effectiveness is what prompted our medieval ancestors to turn that tool into a super-nasty enhanced war chopper/hooker.

[@wiskadjak]

The Ronca is absolutely my favourite polearm!

[@willd6515]

Nice to hear some one who knows his stuff and talks about it in a compelling way.

[@janzizka9963]

These were popular even with Hussites. Under the terms "sudlice" and "kůsa" (=archaic for scythe) there were many types about the design of pike with hook, halberd or glaive with various spikes and hooks to annoy the cavalry. (originally the term "sudlice" was used before the adoption of word "pike", ale later shifted closer to hook type, the word "sudlice" is archaic but is of the same base as "šídlo" =awl, big needle; and verb "šít" =to sow)

[@BradKaboord]

Ever since I first saw BraveHeart I've wanted a Bill/Pike. But knowing me Ive made one out of pvc, hot glue and a pen. Better for everyone. Being older now and a little smarts some sizes of the tool would help me create one of my own. That being said, thanks for the post.

[@bobrobinson1576]

That would be my chosen battlefield weapon. I've always preferred the Italian over the English.

[@thomashuegel3729]

I’d really love to see one of these videos on military forks and man-catchers in the future

[@adamokerblom]

Great information as always, Matt!

[@nilo70]

Well played title, point ! Cheers From California

[@Matt_The_Hugenot]

Love Woodley and Wallace catalogues.

[@sergireig]

The frontier between "visarm" and "bilhook" would require an extensive video and probably wouldn't cover everything. In català I've read "visarma" for both weapons as for adapted working tools. For example, getting a "podall" (working billhood); adding a spike on the opposite side and from that moment consider it a "visarma"

[@pimar5654]

Love this weapon

[@57WillysCJ]

The old bill. You could make a TV series.

[@Sirsethtaggart3505]

I really like this series of vids

[@densamme1752]

I wonder if that missing "thorne" is a soldiers modification. If you drag the shaft against a enemies polearm or leg that protution could make the blade bounce of instead of letting the hook doing the work the original agricultural implemented was designed for, removing limbs by way of a sharp pull.

[@morbihan9857]

There is a lovely collection of these in Brescia, Italy. They are sometimes called "scoprions" , mostly due to the mark they have, which is, surprise surprise, a scoprion.

[@crazylegoman]

Once I was cutting down the sides of an ash pole to be the shaft in a poleaxe. I had to remove enough material on one end for the shaft to fit between the langets and into the weapon head of course, but once that was done, I could shape the rest of the pole however I wanted. That makes me wonder why the socket would need to be rectangular. It *could* be rectangular, but it could also be round, and then the rest of the shaft would be cut down to octagonal or whatever the user preferred for edge alignment.

[@krystofmraz]

Its interesting that Bills Are not Common here in Bohemia even tho a lot of tools were weaponized during husite wars. And actually, some kind of Bill/machete was used to cut bushes if i am not misstaken. But they actually prefered halbers for some Reason.

[@Glimmlampe1982]

Here in Southern Germany there's also a similar tool for cutting bushes (and firewood), still in use basically. The 'Hippe' (probably had also like a bazillion names in different districts). Like a bill, minus the pointy bits and one handed. And I'm pretty sure we're in 'halbert county' too

[@paavobergmann4920]

Yeah, halberds, flails and arkebuse, wasn´t it? Well, if you already got a halberd, you don´t need more, a halberd is super versatile and devastatingly effective. Maybe they had some guys already trained on halberds, and they went " Look, this is what you use", and it worked, so it stuck?

[@paavobergmann4920]

@@Glimmlampe1982 "Gertel" where I live, but, yeah, that thing. And yes, halberd county, southwest corner

[@douglasdea637]

Very nice. I like Bills, if I was a medieval soldier or knight I would choose a spear or Bill as my weapon.

[@matscarlsson2522]

I thought theses weapons where made to kill an armoured knight at horse. Part of the weapon was used to drag the knight from the horse, other part was used to open the armour slightly, lika a can opener, and then the long spike was used to kill the knight with the long spike.

[@saoirse5308]

with the title "Original RENAISSANCE ITALIAN BILL " my brain 100% read it as Original RENAISSANCE fair ITALIAN BILL. I thought what is he doing looking at larping weapons?

[@EriktheRed2023]

He did have some nice things to say about foam swords. Mostly that they're a lot of fun.

[@SgtGigawattz]

One of my absolute favorite medieval weapons. My second being the Flamberge.

[@parkeryourefired]

Did somun’ say choppa? Also, what is the conclusive difference between a “lug” and a “fluke”? Is it form (hooked/straight, longer/shorter, cross-section, purpose, location on weapon, etc.), an evolution of terms/language, what weapon it’s attached to, or just an element with multiple terms?

[@colbunkmust]

Lug can mean any protrusion or projection off of an object, there are countless examples from various different fields. Fluke typically refers to a protrusion that is fin shaped, like the shape of a whale's fluke or tail fins or an anchor. Flukes are more common on halberds as they normally don't extend perpendicularly but are canted at an angle rearwards. This is almost always the case, though the angle and shape can vary or have multiple protrusions.

[@parkeryourefired]

@ Hey, thanks for the clarification!

[@MaciejNaumienko]

Forgotten Polearms

[@MattesSPunkt]

He even disassembled the bill 🤩😄

[@darthkek1953]

@@MattesSPunkt he twisted the shaft off...

[@jamesduda6017]

Great video

[@fpassow1]

I never guessed the curved part was sharpened on the front edge. But it makes sense. Were English bills sharpened on the outside curve, too?

[@-RONNIE]

Thanks for the video ⚔️

[@braddbradd5671]

Isle Of White is an amazing place to visit if your not English its like a time capsule stuck in the 50s England ,and i think Queen Victoria lived there

[@talscorner3696]

An Italian bill, also known as a guglielmo

[@meatballdivino8955]

Oh we are getin spoiled for italian beauties, thanks Matt

[@DaDudeb]

looks almost as terrifying as my electricity bill

[@fatman4792]

collab woth windlass to reproduce one? arms and armor seems lile only production option

[@Subsidiarity3]

So this is an Italian Bill, a "Guglielmo"?

[@malatesta177]

I would argue that the English Bill is an English Ronca, a "Roncow" or something like that with added weird letters.

[@bushnut8305]

You beat me to it. Lol.

[@wolfganghuhn7747]

No its for 2 espressi

[@Rex_Tremende]

Volevo scriverlo io! 😭

[@abnerhazard-uk9iy]

Fascinating as always. Thank you, Matt. I've read that bills remained in service well into the pike and shot/ Early Modern period. Do you have any insight on how mixed units of bills, pikes and shot were structured and fielded?

[@hawkname1234]

Goddamn. Chainmail would be basically worthless against that narrow spear point.

[@penitentialarts]

The Italian and English bills are among my favorite weapon designs of all time. Thank you for doing this video! How much did that one end up selling for?

[@Kidarcana]

thank you, more pole arms please

[@HowHingPau]

I'm surprised the socket is so short.

[@thekaxmax]

There's langets missing, they count as part of it

[@paavobergmann4920]

Maybe if the langets were long enough, that would work?

[@christallon184]

Another great video any chance of a video on the piakes used in the 1798 United irish rebellion its a hard subject to find information on

[@grenmoyo3968]

England: Bill Italian: no! Guglielmo!

[@lacittadellamedievale8492]

I love it! ❤

[@johnstuartkeller5244]

"The English bill was fine!" - G. Silver

[@JCOwens-zq6fd]

Pretty cool piece of history.

[@cadenceclearwater4340]

You get the bill, I'll cover the taxi 🚕

[@billberg1264]

To me, this one looks like it was designed for a haft that was hexagonal in cross-section. I had read that hexagonal cross-sections were sometimes used for polearm hafts, but until today, I never really understood how they could be comfortable to use. It turns out, I want imagining them wrong. One of the flat faces is on the forward and rear sides. I'd been imagining one of the corners being in those positions instead.

[@patrikhjorth3291]

"The person who mugged you, did they use a glaive, a bardiche, or maybe a halberd?" "Uhhh... it was a pointy, choppy thing on a stick."

[@basilbrushbooshieboosh5302]

4:38 Did the Scots go for glaves as well as the French?

[@plasmaburndeath]

About time you did a video on a Wonka! Did you win the factory tour!? 😀

[@freeheeler09]

Looks like a tool I own for shifting and moving logs for milling

[@braddbradd5671]

How come the Italians do everything better than us pre Victorian times ?

[@MrSven3000]

sooooo many original flintlocks in the background 🤤

[@EriktheRed2023]

Looks a lot like a fishing/whaling implement once the long pole is off. Mean and business-like.

[@eldorian91]

Just a correction, Matt. A billhook is an agricultural/forestry tool, not a sickle or a scythe which are used for harvesting or mowing, but a tool for clearing brush (shrubs, small trees and branches). Used basically like a kukri or machete. The military bill almost certainly originates as a billhook put on the end of a long shaft.

[@bl4cksp1d3r]

the billhook is basically a sort of machete. Even more obvious, scythes and sickles had edges that thinned out extremely to the cutting edge, to cut through the grass and weeds, the billhook was (and IS, you can still get new ones today) sturdier for use in the thickets

[@patrikhjorth3291]

...and the hook on the blade is useful in "braiding" branches when shaping a hedge. It's one of my favourite hand tools.

[@scholagladiatoria]

Sorry but I don't understand which bit you are correcting LOL. I use bills in my garden, both long and short, exactly for lopping branches off.

[@bl4cksp1d3r]

@@scholagladiatoria Because you talked only about scythes and sickles as agricultural tools fashioned into pole weapons, and not about specifically the bill, i think

[@CrimeVid]

you might call it a "Devon Staff, or a fagging hook. A good tool. I guarantee to shorten you !

[@ArkadiBolschek]

Bravissimo 🤌🤌🤌

[@Philtopy]

Man these things are nasty. A formation with them must have been like a shredder. Some stab, some cut, some slash, some jab, some grip, some push in a big cloud of choppystabbygrabby steel. I wonder: Are there records of formations with such bills getting into close combat or „push of pikes“ like they tempt to call it in the Pike&Shot era?

[@farkasmactavish]

8:26 So you're saying that any noble with one of these might be called an edgelord.

[@thekaxmax]

One with a pointed argument

[@fr3nk-01]

I don't know, but surely many armies and soldiers would be edging with this weapon

[@paavobergmann4920]

That would be the Marquis ;-)

[@firestorm8471]

Wouldn't an English bill be a .....William ?

[@rasmusn.e.m1064]

I guess this makes me a sort of idiot, but up until the "Point, blade, blade, blade" I'd never really considered how much of a weapon a billhook is. Much more of a Kill Bill than a lollipop-coloured shepherd's crook for going humpty-dumpty on knights when they got a little too high on their horses.

[@paavobergmann4920]

Bills are absolutely devastating, and I imagine, plenty gory.

[@grantcox4764]

I want one, lol. Excellent video mate, you guys in Europe get all the good stuff...

[@Mark2024Hola]

good video. Surprised it didn't sell for more. I paid £1850 for a 1796 trooper's light sabre!

[@martingreen2018]

Does Bill know you've got his Italian?

[@brittakriep2938]

In german collections you sometimes see polearms, which have similarities. The basis is a rectangle (?)/ Rechteck in german, with a similar looking hook, two wide, but relative short spikes on backside , and a third spike of this type on frontside. But i don' t know, if this are real relicts of old days, or ,Historismus' products of german romantic periode of 19th century.

[@manfredconnor3194]

No, I mean Ja, ze are Reälli real. Wirklich Echt. Ohne Scheiß!

[@ArkadiBolschek]

"It has to be thick in order to be strong." -Matt Easton, 2024.

[@SvenElven]

“What you want is penetration” - Matt Easton, countless times.

[@daigoro1381]

"Roncone all'italiana"

[@johncook3817]

Very interesting! Thanks 😊

[@leons232]

Dear Matt, what was the total length of the weapon?

[@ThisHandleIsDefinatelyTaken]

These multitool pole-weapons are so weird and rather cool.

[@SimeonSimeonides]

I recently finished up writing and teaching a unit on Marozzo and Manciolino's Ronca for my home club. One interesting thing I noticed was that I couldnt find the specific word "Ronca" used by anyone other than these two authors. "Roncone" seems to be the label applied to these weapons by museums. Any thoughts on this discrepancy of language? Is it just a matter of old language, or a regional dialect, or something else? A thing I found funny was Marozzo's plate for the Ronca showing a completely dofferent type of weapon (some type of glaive) which cannot perform some of the techniques he talks about due to the lack of front hook.

[@cicciobastardo2564]

"Roncone" is used specifically for the weapon. Means "Big Ronco" ( or "Ronca"). "Ronca" is an archaic form, not so used today. "Roncola" is the modern synonymous; a typical agricultural tool.

[@cicciobastardo2564]

The Glaive is commonly referred as "Falcione" in Italy. More like a Falchion on a pole.

[@Rex_Tremende]

​@@cicciobastardo2564 Quando poi devi tradurre un gioco che cerca di essere accurato ti ritrovi con il falcione-spada e il falcione-asta.

[@robertharding5972]

What is the purpose of the short spike (spikes) just above the haft? They seem rather close to the hands to be regularly used as weapons. Hand stops, possibly, similar to the discs on some halberds?

[@Kargoneth]

Nasty, versatile weapon.

[@randomspacemonster6796]

does bad dragon make strapond version of this??

[@dan_the_dj]

Would really love to know how thick the flat part is. Looks no more than 3mm at best, which is making me worry about a possible bend if a less than perfect strike was made with or on it...

[@seriousmaran9414]

Says €42... must be a new bill 😊

[@kahunab7400]

Is there any source that agri cultural tools have actually been used in combat? I know in the hussite wars, flails were used, but those were made specifically for combat, and built differently than their agri-tool cousins.

[@steemlenn8797]

If it doesn't kill, it's not a bill.

[@dwwolf4636]

Any chance of reviewing a Scorpion ?

[@BIG-DIPPER-56]

Cool 😎👍

[@scipioafricanus2071]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think you've ever made a dedicated video about glaives and fauchards. They were only ever part of comparison videos.

[@belongaskip]

my favorite. the more weapons on one stick, the better

[@mrwoo1]

Take a shot everytime he says Bill (including Billman)

[@ShadowMage]

You did bills, now you have to do a video on bows.

[@uliphotode]

What are the measurements and the weight?

[@LeVraiPoio]

The sharp part between the point and the back point is really puzzling to me as a maker (in the making). It feels like this sharp section would very rarely meet the target without the backpoint or longpoint touching first. The reinforced long point would also hinder cutting with this part. This design choice is weird to me, I see little advantage to it, and I see how it might weaken the point, and how having a thick spine might allow for a shallower edge angle on the other (more likely to chop) side.

[@danielmcbriel1192]

In german it's called Rossschinder ~ horse torturer. I Like the name.

[@steemlenn8797]

If I am not totally wrong the Schinder (siehe "Schindergasse") was the guy who slaughtered the horses, so it's actually a horse killer, not torturer.

[@danielmcbriel1192]

@steemlenn8797 schin·den /schínden/ unregelmäßiges Verb 1. quälen, grausam behandeln, besonders jemanden durch übermäßige Beanspruchung seiner Leistungsfähigkeit quälen "Rekruten schinden" 2. umgangssprachlich Definition ausblenden sich mit etwas sehr abplagen, abmühen "er hat sich in seinem Leben genug geschunden" 3a. umgangssprachlich Definition ausblenden die Bezahlung von etwas umgehen, etwas nicht bezahlen und so das Geld dafür einsparen "Fahrgeld schinden" 3b. etwas (was jemandem eigentlich nicht zusteht) mit zweifelhaften Mitteln erzielen, gewinnen; herausschlagen "Eindruck, Mitleid schinden [wollen]"

[@SvenElven]

Edgiest polarm so far!

[@edi9892]

If you have such a spike shouldn't the stress point be the flat metal below? I bet that a hard impact will bend or break it there...

[@kahn04]

I obviously have no way to prove it, but my imagination went to someone returning to the Isle of Wight after fighting and deliberately turning this weapon into something handheld by removing the shaft,langets, and front spike to use in clearing the farm/brush.