![]() ![]() The shaft near the head was often reinforced with metal strips called "cheeks" or langets. It had a wooden shaft with an iron or steel spearhead affixed. ![]() It was approximately 2.5–6 kg (5.5–13.2 lb) in weight, with the 16th-century military writer Sir John Smythe recommending lighter rather than heavier pikes. Generally, a spear becomes a pike when it is too long to be wielded with one hand in combat. The pike was a long weapon, varying considerably in size, from 3 to 7.5 metres (10 to 25 feet) long. A similar weapon, the sarissa, had been used in antiquity by Alexander the Great's Macedonian phalanx infantry.ĭesign Re-enactment during the 2009 Escalade in Geneva. The pike was particularly well known as the primary weapon of Swiss mercenary and German Landsknecht units. ![]() By that period, pikemen would primarily defend their unit's musketeers from enemy cavalry.Ī pike is a very long thrusting spear formerly used in European warfare from the Late Middle Ages and most of the early modern period, and were wielded by foot soldiers deployed in pike square formation, until it was largely replaced by bayonet-equipped muskets. ( April 2009) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Ī modern recreation of a mid-17th century company of pikemen. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations.
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