The lance was, of course, the weapon specially associated with the knight. At its head, in the great days of chivalry, it bore the small flag which indicated the knight’s rank and. status. A baron or knight-banneret had a square or rectangular banner emblazoned with its owner’s arms. A knight commanding in the field had a swallow-tailed pennon, also
FIG. 6. BATTLE-AXES.
2, Henry VIII; 3 & 4, Elizabeth I; 5, James I; 6, Dutch.
emblazoned with his arms. If, for his distinguished conduct in action, he was made a knight-bannerct on the battlefield, his pennon was converted technically into a banner by cutting off the swallow tails. An ordinary knight, fighting in the ranks, carried a triangular pennon, or pensil, on which might be either his badge or arms, and frequently depicted so that they were the right way up when the lance was horizontal. In the reign of Henry VIII all this gay individual heraldry was swept away, and the lances of the cavalry bore the white pennon and red cross of St. George.
There were a number of other shafted weapons which had their origin in mediaeval times; some of them lasting until a
FIG. 8. BATTLE-AXES. From the Bayeux Tapestry.
much later period of history. The oldest of these was probably the battle-axe, which was used by the Normans at Hastings, and it had some affinity with the Saxon bill. It had, however, a much shorter shaft, and was essentially a weapon for the mounted man. Another early weapon was the guisarme, which was a form of lance with a hook at,its side, and which was known to the Normans in the eleventh century. It was probably derived from the peasant’s ox-goad.
FIG. 9. MACES.
Top row: Quadrelle, temp. Edward IV; Massuelle, temp. Richard III; temp. Henry VII with hand-gun; Henry VIII; Philip & Mary. Middle row: Mace, temp. Henry V-, Henry VI; Henry VI, Edward IV; Henry VII; Henry VII; Henry VIII. Bottom row: Henry VIII; Henry VIII; Henry VIII; Edward VI.
The guisarme appears to have been little used in England, but from it came a derivative which was very popular in Wales. It had a broad, heavy, pointed blade on the end of a long shaft, and could be used either for cutting or thrusting. Presumably experience of it in the Welsh wars had impressed its value on the English, for in the first year of Richard III’s reign one Nicholas Spicer is recorded as having issued an order for the impressment of smiths to make Zoo Welsh glaives. Chaucer gives a hint at its formidable nature in a line: ‘And
FIG. 10. PIKE HEADS.
Left to right: Henry VII;’Henry VIII; Edward VI; Elizabeth I;
James 1; Charles I; Cromwell; Charles II; Charles II.
whet their tongue as sharp as sword or glaive’. In the sixteenth century the glaive was fashioned in all manner of decorative shapes, and generally richly engraved.
The baston is another of the shafted weapons of the Bayeux Tapestry. At its best it was an iron-tipped staff, but was sometimes merely a wooden bludgeon or a knotted club. It was succeeded by the similar but much more decorative mace. Maces became very popular with the many war-like prelates of the Middle Ages; since by using this arm in battle they were able to persuade their elastic consciences that they were evading the condemnation of all holding office in the Church who fought with the sword. Maces were made in all sorts of decorative and fantastic shapes, and they were the weapons of the King’s Serjeants-at-Arms as early as the fourteenth century. There was a smaller kind of mace called a masuel. This must have been a cheap, handy and dangerous little weapon, for it was included in the list of arms which Edward 1, in the first year of his reign, forbade his turbulent London subjects to carry.
The pike, which from the time of its introduction until the coming of the bayonet was to be the main shock weapon of the British infantry, did not reach England until the reign of
FIG. II. LINSTOCKS.
Early Italian; Elizabeth I; Elizabeth I; Charles 1.
Edward IV. It could not claim to be an original weapon; for it was merely a modification of the cavalry lance adapted to the needs of infantry, and a reintroduction in a slightly different form of the earlier short and light infantry spear. Nevertheless, its appearance on the continent of Europe in the hands of well-disciplined infantry revolutionized military tactics. For the first time for centuries infantry had a shock weapon with which they could face and repel cavalry. For 400 years mounted troops had dominated the battlefield. That place was now to be taken by the infantry until armoured formations arrived to-redress the balance some 5oo years later.
