Musings on Spears and Shield Part One
I did some experimentation with spears heater shields recently which I thought I would share with (both?) the people who read my history blog posts.
Prior to the bout, I had experimented with a couple of ways to try and deal with central question of one-handed spear use: How do I take advantage of this weapon’s reach and get in long thrusts without loosing control of it? I had tried both the famous over-arm (little finger nearest the spearhead) and underarm (little finger farthest from the spearhead) thrusts, before settling on a third option of couching the spear under my arm and bracing the shaft against the rim of my shield.
As soon as I actually started bouting with a live opponent, I immediately abandoned this couched grip and switched to holding my spear like a sword (so, the underarm grip). I had read through Achille Marozzo’s partizan (large, broad-bladed Rennaisance cut-and-thrust spear) and rotella (mid-sized Rennaisance round shield with arm and grip straps) plays, but without having drilled them much, I was only able to make use of the general principle that in a spear and shield fight, one attempts to overwhelm one’s opponent with repeated thrusts to the face and lower legs. My opponent’s large shield meant that I needed to deliver multiple quick thrusts from different angles in order to get past it, and the only way to do that was to essentially use my spear as a large rapier. I was largely successful in this, and I was able to land a good number of hits on my opponent’s feet and face and generally dominate the fight.Â
I was more aggressive and my more extensive rapier and sword-and-buckler experience stood me in good stead. When I tried to brace my spear against my shield rim my opponent was able to pin them together with his shield. When I tried to hold my spear in an overarm grip I was unable to strike with much speed. Both times I was overwhelmed and swiftly struck.
Marozzo repeatedly makes use of his partizan’s shaft to parry incoming thrusts, enabling him to gain control of the enemy’s spear, pin it with his shield, and then free his own spear and stab his opponent. Prior to the bout, I had put on a mask and invited a fellow fencer to try his best to stab me in the face with a blunt spear. Under these conditions, I found that I was able to parry the incoming thrust in the manner Marozzo recommends (he brings his spear in a sweeping arc in front of his face, starting with the tip pointing up and ending with the spear pointing down.) In the actual bout, however, with my opponent delivering multiple quick thrusts at my face, I found that my spear-shaft parries were too slow and I was obliged to defend myself with my shield and use my spear almost entirely for offense. When used in two hands a spear is quite handy for defense, but I found that in one hand it was a bit too cumbersome, and since I had a big shield on my other arm it was easier to just step back and use the rim to block incoming thrust while stabbing with my own spear. I would be curious to practice Marozzo’s technique and see if I could get good enough at it to make it work in a bout, but for novice spear user, it is frustratingly clumsy.
We got into a lot of grapples which were extremely awkward, since our arms were caught up in our shield straps. There may exist a graceful way of grappling with this weapon set. I have no idea what that would look like. If we had tried to do something like that on a battle field we would have been very exposed to being stabbed by other soldiers, since our weapons were totally tangled up.
In summation, I don’t think I have done enough experimentation with spear and shield to really comment on techniques. I was, however, a little more satisfied with my tactics. Carefully judging distance, relying on both the rim and face of my shield to defend against spear thrusts, and delivering a rapid series of attacks to face and feet with my own spear seemed to work pretty well.
Spear and shield work is exhausting. I like to think I am reasonable fit. I fence some combination of longsword, rapier, sword-and-buckler, and broadsword 2-3 times a week, generally at fairly high levels of intensity, and I generally get in a good amount of other exercise. Spear and shield fencing wore me out in a couple of minutes.
Some background information and caveats:
I was working with a shield that I made myself, but which I think reasonably matches the shape and design of later 13th century “heater” or “triangular” shields. My opponent was using an octagonal, two strap shield of his own design which somewhat resembled a Scottish targe, although it was a bit larger. We were each wielding six-foot rubber tipped spears made by Purpleheart Armoury. These spears are not really designed for one handed use, and I wouldn’t be surprised if spears purpose built for spear and shield fighting were more slender, and maybe a bit longer.
Neither of us had any spear and shield experience, but I think we are both at least competent swordsmen, as modern HEMA folk go in any case. As mentioned above, I have fenced quite a bit with a variety of European swords, my opponent had fenced mostly longsword. This certainly puts us well below the level of period knights, but I don’t know, nor do I think anyone else knows, how we would match up in terms of technical skill against the free farmers and peasant militiamen who might have taken the field with this weapon set and no armor beyond gambesons. I think we were both fencing in a fairly tactically and maritally sound fashion, but there may be whole body of techniques that we were entirely ignorant of.
I think of spear and shield as being a military weapon set. We were fighting one-on-one. I don’t know how, if at all, the that I was doing would work on a battle field. I think the general principles would carry over, but I don’t know, and I suspect a lot of battle-field fighting comes down to unit cohesion, morale, and the situational awareness of the soldiers, all of which are probably more important than “spearmanship.”
