weapon consisting of an ax blade balanced by a pick with an elongated pike head at the end of the staff. It was usually about 1.5 to 1.8 metres (5 to 6 feet) long. The halberd was an important weapon in middle Europe from the 14th through the 16th century. It enabled a foot soldier to contend with an armoured man on horseback; the pike head was used to keep the horseman at a distance, and the ax blade could strike a heavy cleaving blow to finish the opponent. The blades of halberds took on a variety of shapes, often being engraved or inlaid and exquisitely finished as works of art. Concurrently with the disuse of armour and the development of firearms, the pike, or thrusting element, gradually displaced the cleaving element in such weapons. In some of the burghs of Scotland, the halberd is retained as the symbol of authority borne before the magistrates on public occasions.