Bill
The bill is a medieval European polearm that developed from the agricultural and forestry tool of the same name with a curved cutting blade. The Vikings and Anglo-Saxons already knew the bill as a powerful infantry weapon; in the 14th to 16th centuries it was used throughout Europe, especially in England and Italy. While European armies of the 16th century fought with pikes and arquebuses, the English continued to rely on the bill and longbow, as in the Battle of Flodden Field on September 9, 1513, which ended in a devastating defeat for the Scots and the death of their king.
Source: Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, 6. Auflage 1905–1909