Osprey - Weapon 59 - The Cavalry Lance.pdf

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THE CAVALRY LANCE
ALAN LARSEN & HENRY YALLOP
THE CAVALRY LANCE
ALAN LARSEN & HENRY YALLOP
Series Editor Martin Pegler
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
DEVELOPMENT
The rise of the lance
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6
23
61
76
77
78
80
USE
The lance at war
IMPACT
The critics’ verdict
CONCLUSION
GLOSSARY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
INTRODUCTION
Throughout history the lance has been the quintessential cavalry shock
weapon. Following the adoption of the stirrup, the lance dominated
European mounted warfare between the 11th and 16th centuries. Military
elites trained from childhood were schooled in the use of lances in excess of
13ft in length. Couched under the arm, and from the late 14th century
stabilized on a lance rest affixed to the user’s breastplate to spread the shock
of impact, these huge weapons were solely intended to transmit the power
of a charging armoured horseman into a target through the point of the lance.
With the development of practical cavalry firearms in the 16th century
and the widespread disappearance of armour from the European
battlefield by 1650 the lance became marginalized, however. The training
and skill necessary to use the weapon was by the 17th century generally
only used at tilts, events that were a sport in their own right and which
bore little resemblance to the changed reality of warfare.
The lance never went away completely, however, and by 1800 it was
back, much changed from its medieval and Renaissance namesake, and in
use by the majority of European armies. During the next century the use
of the lance spread to almost every Western military and it was employed
all over the world. It saw action in wars on mainland Europe between
major powers, in civil conflicts and wars of freedom, and also in the far-
flung corners of empire.
Throughout a period of rapid advances in weapons technology, this
seemingly most simple of weapons became increasingly popular. The lance
was continually modified and there was much debate about how best to
make use of this ‘queen of weapons’, right into the 20th century. Were the
weapon’s strengths enough to offset its weaknesses? Was the lance suitable
for use by regular cavalry, men not born in the saddle or trained in the
lance’s use since childhood? The evidence was almost as varied as opinions
on the subject, but it was not until the disappearance of the mounted
warrior from the battlefield that the lance was finally consigned to history.
4
OPPOSITE
Austrian Uhlan of the
1st Regiment, 1798. These troops,
recruited from Polish provinces,
were men who considered the
lance a ‘national’ weapon. (Anne
S.K. Brown Collection, Brown
University Library)
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