H - K

Halberd
A two-handed pole weapon typically with an axe blade, a thrusting spike, and a back spike that came to prominent use during the 14th and 15th centuries. [also Habert or Swiss Voulge]

Hauberk
A shirt of (chain) mail armour. There is some debate as to its precise nature.

Heavy Cavalry
Heavily armed and armoured mounted troops. Term used to differentiate from both medium and light cavalry in which the riders are relatively lightly-armoured.

Heavy Infantry
Heavily armed and armoured ground troops. Term used to differentiate from both medium and light infantry, in which the soldiers are relatively lightly-armoured.

Helm
A form of metal armour that, in the late middle ages and Renaissance, completely encased the head, though in earlier times it often did not. See helmet.

Helmet
Diminutive of helm, which by a twist of history has come to mean any form of protective gear worn on the head, including what were originally called helms.

High Middle Ages
The period of European history in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries (AD 1000�1200). The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which by some conventions ended around 1500, though others would start the Renaissance in the mid 1300's.

Hilt
The handle of a sword, consisting of a guard, grip and pommel.

Hoplite
Heavy infantryman that was the central focus of warfare in ancient Greece.

Infantry
Soldiers who fight on foot in order to neutralize and destroy the enemy in close personal combat.

Javelin
A short spear used as a hand-hurled missile weapon.

Knight
English term for a social position originating in the Middle Ages. In the High and Late Middle Ages, the principal duty of a knight was to fight as, and lead, heavy cavalry. In the Commonwealth of Nations, knighthood is a non-heritable form of gentility, but is not nobility.