[Gordon Frye]

John Cruso says this on page 29 of "Militarie Instructions for the Cavall'rie" 1632:

"Of the Lancier his arming.

"(H)is lance, either after the wonted maner, or (as Walhausen hath it) after the manner of a pike, only somewhat thicker at the but end, the head of it to be either three-edged or otherwise like a pike head, made strong and sharp, the length to be about* 18 foot; it being (otherwise) of little effect either against Infanterie or Cavallrie: within two foot of the but end to be bored through, and through it a thong of strong leather to be put, to fasten it to the right arn, for the surer holding and better managing thereof."

*His note (actually "b" on the page) states "Because it hath been usually objected (to such as stand for the continuance of the lance) that it is of no effect against foot because of the length of their pikes.
"Wallhausen here would take away that argument, by having the lance made of a length exceeding the pike: but how any man (so laden with arms) should be able (with one hand) to weild a lance 18 foot long, I leave to the consideration of the judicious"

This brings up a number of thoughts. First, if the lance recommended by Walhausen is to be thicker at the but than usual, it stands to reason that the normal infantry pike is either of the same diameter there as (most of) the rest of the pike, or thinner than that part of the pike immediately before it. So that's figured out. Next, Walhausen recommends a three-edged pike head (rather like the British late-19th Century ones, I imagine) rather than the leaf or spike point. Interesting. Then he states that it is rather difficult to concieve of a man handling one of these 18' pikes with one hand... which suggests that they are fairly beefy. Or certainly seemed so when held with one hand below the point of ballance! (The nice thing about the lances made "after the wonted manner" with the hourglass grip was that the POB is LOTS further down towards the grip!)

Lances "after the wonted manner" are certainly tapered both fore and aft, there is absolutely no doubt about it. So there is also no question that should the commanders of the various armies of the day wanted tapered pikes, they could have had them. The question is, then, was this standard? Or even common? I too would LOVE to get some good documentation on this either way!

Cheers,

Gordon

Edit: Duh, if the pike/lance is thicker on the butt end per Walhausen, then OBVIOUSLY those particular pieces were tapered! I guess the questions for standard pikes are:
Were all, or most of them tapered?
How much were they tapered?
In what way were they tapered?

[Ryan A. C.]

I recall reading something of the combat from the English Civil War and it mentioned soldiers carrying tapered pikes. I'll try to locate the passage where this is mentioned. I didn't save it, I thought it an interesting read, but as it didn't deal with a period I was really interested with at the time I didn't bother keeping it....It dealt with troop numbers and such, but it was a list of equipment orders that I remembered mentioning something of what I took as tapered pikes.

[David Evans]

The Pike we use are reproductions. I'll have to ask what examples they are based on thro I suspect from somewhere like the Royal Armouries. We've been using ( http://www.fairfax.org.uk/ ) the pike for a good few years now and I can't see a decent pcture of any ! Typical! However the better picyture are from the Bushy Park event,a garden part held by HM Queen for the Jubilee. The pike drill pictures include the lovely " Charge Your Pike for Horse ". The Full order is "Charge your pike for horse and draw forth your sword" As you can see there is a far degree of flex in the shaft! I'll have to ask, or run a tape measure over one myself

[Sean Flynt]

I just want to interrupt the proceedings to thank everyone for making this a fascinating and informative thread. This is the best single source of information I know of for this subject!

[Gordon Frye]

David;

Glad to hear that you got a new A&A Italian Rapier... we'd love to hear your views on that! But anyway, I really look forward to getting the specs on the pikes you fellows use. I guess we also need to get Blaz Berlec to go back to Graz with a tape measure to check out the pikes that are stored there, too!

Sean; Glad to know that I'm not the only one blown away by the scholarship shown here. Not only a good discussion, but a discussion with lots of documentation on specifics to back up broad generalities, LOL!

Cheers,

Gordon

[Austin Demshar]

Polearms have strangely grown on me from my measly games like diablo 2. I was in Lake Tahoe about 3 weeks ago and picked up a supposed "Spanish" Halberd. Its pretty nice, for starters, unscrews in the middle. After a little playing around with it though i was unhappy with the wood and fastenings of the whole thing. I think someday i might fix it up as a little project . Just thought id share because i have an undescribable love for polearms of all sorts. I love reach and i love axes. That about sums me up!

[Austin Demshar]

By the way... has anyone bought any good polearms off the internet? Id like to know where good and reliable sources are to buy from ! I came across one the other day but, like i say... how do you know if its good quality or not ??

Thanks muhc for the help.

PS oh yea are the Museum Replica's War hammers/foot soldiers hammers nice ? Worth the price ?

[Russ Ellis]

So far all I've got is by the sword and www.arms-n-armor.com... still looking though...