besague

plural besagues

1. A kind of double-bladed axe.

   These were clearly different from the besague (an axe with two edges) described in the Glossaries of Meyrick and Carpentier, in v. Besogium.

   1840, Roxburghe Club, Ashmolean Museum, Illustrations of Ancient State and Chivalry: From Manuscripts Preserved in the Ashmolean Museum; with an Appendix, page 6

2. A kind of martel or war-hammer, with its head(s) shaped like a pick, mattock, or beak.

   Under Henry IV. appeared a large martel, or hammer, called the Besague, apparently intended more for throwing than combat. In the reign of Edward IV. are found garnished spears, having a head called a coronal, a vamplate, or ...

   1828, Richard Thomson, Illustrations of the History of Great Britain, page 186

3. A plate (as of armor) that protects an otherwise-exposed area, such as the armpit (alternative form of besagew), the elbow, or the hand

   But none approaches in completeness the axe in the Liverpool Museum, which besides possessing the greater part of its original octagonal haft, still retains the besague for the protection of the advanced hand of its wielder, […]

   1935, J. T. Herbert Baily, The Connoisseur

   4 more examples

   The points or laces for attaching the besagues are clearly shown. In brasses the attachment is generally shown as a diamond-headed nut, but the attachment by points or laces just as the elbow caps are seen attached in various effigies ...

   1907, The Archaeological Journal, page 22

   ... to escape the inference that it was evolved solely to avoid the inevitable and unpalatable conclusion that the pouldrons on the Metropolitan armour, and incidentally either the besague or the entire Riggs shaffron, were forgeries.

   1932, The Connoisseur: An Illustrated Magazine for Collectors

   The principal varieties are as follows : (1) With circular besagues at elbow and shoulder. This type is generally, though not invariably, very small in size. (2) With circular besagues at the shoulder and 90° fan-shaped elbow-pieces .

   1948, Journal of the British Archaeological Association, page 88

   The most conspicuous visual and formal element of the armour is the pair of besagues or roundels protecting the underarm area; these circular plates have sharp spikes that point to the viewer's right and catch the light in a dramatic way.

   2010, Carolyn Springer, Armour and Masculinity in the Italian Renaissance, University of Toronto Press, →ISBN, page 138