Armour & Weapons

WEAPONS CHAP. VII H O O' the pikeman had to keep the cavalry at bay while the arquebusier was reloading—a lengthy process—we can understand the impor- tance of these regulations. The pike was carried by the colour- sergeants in the British Army at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and was last used in the French Army in 178g. The Spontoon is a species of half-pike, which was carried by the colour- sergeants in the British Army up to the end of the eighteenth century, if not longer. The Spetum and the Ranseur are often confused. The names are usually given to those weapons which „ have sharp lateral projections fixed at a more or /1ft less acute angle to the point. They could not be //l I used for cutting, but used for thrusting they // j inflicted terrible wounds. The Partizan is some- II ri i what of the same order, but is known best in If 1 ! museums in its decorated form as used in H j ceremonial parades. These show-weapons were II AT-j, used by the Judge’s guard in Oxford up to // 1875, and are still carried by the Yeomen of IJ the Guard on State occasions. The Bayonet, although introduced in France FlG 5°Starl0rnmS in I047’ is so essentially a part of the firearm that we -need do no more than mention it among the thrusting weapons. The scope of this work will not allow of any notice of firearms ; that subject, owing to modern developments, is too wide to be treated in a few sentences. Of short-handled weapons the Club or Mace is to be found on the Bayeux Tapestry, and is generally quatrefoil or heart- shaped at the head. The mace was the weapon of militant ecclesiastics, who thus escaped the denunciation against ‘ those who fight with the sword’. It is generally supposed that the Gibet was of the same order. Wace, in the Roman de Rou (line 13459), writes Et il le gibet seisi Ki a sun destre bras pendi. The mace was usually carried slung by a loop to the saddle-bow