"Length of Swedish Pikes during the TYW" Topic
6 Posts
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DFLange  | 12 Dec 2019 1:56 p.m. PST |
There are accounts of the Swedish forces shortening their pikes during the Thirty Years War. Was this unique to the Swedes or a general trend for all armies in the War? |
| Green Tiger | 13 Dec 2019 3:50 a.m. PST |
it is certainly said to have happened during the ECW- quite how much of that is just historians repeating the same stories I am not sure of… |
| DFLange | 13 Dec 2019 7:22 a.m. PST |
I think there was always some pikemen who would shorten their pikes. I have heard the same about Landsknecht in the 16th century. It was probably not official policy but a decision made by an individual pikeman to ease his burden. In the case of the Swedes there is a famous complaint from a Scottish officer in Swedish employ about soldiers shortening their pikes. English speaking authors probably picked that up as official policy. Officially pike length was established at 9 Swedish ells (5.3 meters) in 1616. I just wanted to confirm if that was ever officially shortened. |
| Daniel S | 13 Dec 2019 8:49 a.m. PST |
Pikes were never shortend but rather kept the same length until the pike went out of use in the 18th Century. The soldiers cuting down their pikes to a more managable length was a problem all armies faced, escpecially in the more disorderly parts of the war. We know from Imperial documents that in the early 1640's not only had many pikemen turned themselves into musketeers but the pikes that were still in use were often several feet short of regulation lenght. So a system was introduced where the end of the pike was branded to make it easy to inspect the lenght and convinct any offenders. |
| DFLange | 13 Dec 2019 1:23 p.m. PST |
Thank you Daniel. I was hoping you would see this post. |
| KeepYourPowderDry | 14 Dec 2019 3:45 p.m. PST |
Green Tiger possibly not as common as believed. I believe that there are only two references to pike shortening with regards the BCW. Monck said it was bad practice, which has since been interpreted as 'pikes were shortened' The other is a reference written in the 1670s by Sir J Turner (quoted by Haythornthwaite), "few exceed fifteen (feet)… many base soldiers will cut some off the length of that". So if it was as a wide a practice as believed, why no contemporaneous evidence? |
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