Foot Combat with Halberds c. 1512 - 1515

This watercolour drawing, "Foot Combat with Halberds", was made by an anonymous artist. It depicts two figures engaged in combat, each wielding a halberd. What does this image tell us about the time in which it was made? Given the detail of the armor and weaponry, the drawing likely served a didactic function, recording techniques that were probably developed in a military context, and which may have been the subject of formal instruction. But it might also have been made for a noble patron, interested in tournaments and martial display. The social standing of the combatants is indicated through the elaborateness of their headgear. To better understand this image, one would want to examine similar illustrated manuals, commissioned at royal courts across Europe, to see how it represents the institution of warfare in its time. The very existence of the image points to the importance of combat as a social ritual, beyond its purely military application. The drawing is therefore a document of social and institutional history.