Ancient Weapons -The spear, pike, and jousting lance

A History in Ancient Weapons

The spear is an ancient offensive weapon. The word "spear" is derived from the Latin word, "sparus", which may have a relation with "spar", or a beam. The spear began as a stake with a sharp end, and in addition to the club, may be one the oldest weapons used by man. The spear was used by all prehistoric races, and savages learned to hurl or thrust it. The spear form is still used in modern day bayonets, which are spears attached to a rifle, as well as the lance and boar spear.

The English people that lived before the times of the Norman Conquest, were a race of spear bearers. Spears, usually around six feet in length, and made of ash, were almost always kept within reach for any free man, and every warrior in that day had a spear head lying near his bones as evidence of his death. The popularity of the bow was even surpassed by the casting javelin. The lance, a weapon associated with knights, was created by Norman horsemen, and stretched twelve feet, with a pennon flying just below the point. The English knights of the Black Prince were intrigued by the thrown darts of the Spanish, as throwing spears grew scarce. The vamplate, a guard placed just above the grip on a lance to protect the hand, entered the picture around the 14th century. As an additional safeguard for jousters, the coronel head was introduced around this time, although most jousters preferred to use a dull or blunted point. Advances continued as the girth of the shaft increased near both sides of the hand grip, which was further increased in the 16th century jousting lance, which weighed around twenty pounds, was hollowed and fluted, and had a girth that could reach up to twenty-seven inches. This girth was contained in the broadest portion of the lance. Below the grip, leather grapers or burres were added, and because of the increased weight of the lance, the latter part of the 14th century brought with it a catch that was attached to the right side of the harness breast, called a lance rest. The Scots were never as good as the English at archery, and preferred to use a long spear as the weapon of choice for their infantry, and starting in Falkirk’s time, formed a schiltron formation that held up against the cavalry until arrows overtook them. Harquebusiers, a form of heavily armed cavalry, eventually started to replace archers. The English at this time replaced bills with pikes that were eighteen to twenty feet in length and protected the shot, and many traded their lance for a sword, muketoon, or pistol. Every man that fought on foot during the 17th century civil wars was a musketeer or a pikeman. The bayonet took the place of the pike after 1675, in the form of a dagger with a hilt that could fit into a musket muzzle, which evolved, including a ring catch, as the last of the pike’s advances.

From this point, up until the 18th century, halberts were carried by the sergeants and another form of the pike, a spontoon, or half-pike, was employed by many infantry officers. Demonstrated by Cossacks and Poles, lances were added to many dragoon regiments in 1816, and are still used in service equipment. Many dispute the value of the lance during combat, however, supporters claim that the lance is an intimidating foe when facing broken troops. Once used to repel boarder attacks, pikes were eventually replaced with cutlass bayonets by Queen Victoria’s navy troops. At this time, the only Englishmen to employ the use of this ancient weapon are the javelin men for the High Sheriff.