Shortened lances feature a good amount in the 14th century, so I though it would be nice to compile the references to this practice that I have seen. The most detailed descriptions come from Jean Froissart, who is one of the few (I say few, but he is the only that I have seen) who actually describes their length, but other authors do give us some details that Froissart does not provide.
I will, of course, start with Froissart. Froissart mentions shortening the lances to five feet quite often; this should not be taken as a mistake of the translator, and such a short length is completely acceptable. Let us remember that pollaxes were often the same length, and many of the treatises even wanted them to work primarily with the point.
"We will now speak of the king of England, who was there incognito, under sir Walter Manny's banner. He advanced with his men on foot, to meet the enemy, who were formed in close order with their lances, shortened to five feet, planted out before them. The first attack was very sharp and severe."
This is an account of Calais (1350).
"WHEN the battalions of the king of France wore drawn up, and each lord posted under his proper banner, and informed how they were to act, it was ordered, that all those who were armed with lances should shorten them to the length of five feet, that they might be the more manageable, and that every one should take off his spurs."
This is an account of Poitiers (1356).
"When the Navarrois perceived they had the appearance of coming to attack them, they issued out of the town, and drew up their army in three battalions: the first of them was given to sir Robert Knolles, the second to sir Lewis de Navarre, and the third to the earl of Harcourt. Neither of these battalions consisted of more than seven hundred fighting men. They cut their lances to five feet in length, and ordered their servants to carry their spurs to the slope of the hill, where they were to fix them with the rowels uppermost; so that their enemies might not ascend the hill at their case."
This is an account of St. Valery (1358).
"Having dismounted his men, he caused their lances to be shortened to the length of five feet, and placed his pennon before him, which had his arms, ermine, three humets in pale gules."
This is an account of Nugent sur Seine (1359).
"Thus then, when the lord James de Bourbon and the other lords, with banners and pennons flying, approached and ascended sideways this hill, the weaker and less completely accoutred of the freebooters were enabled to harass them; for they flung upon them so rapidly and vigorously stones and flints, that the boldest and best armed were in dread of them. When they had thus for some time kept them in check, their grand battalion, fresh and untouched, advanced by a secret road round the hill, and being in close order like a brush, with their lances cut down to six feet or thereabouts, with loud cries, and a thorough good will, fell upon the French army."
This is an account of Brignais (1362). Here, they are using their shortened lances even against horsemen. Here, as seen, is the one time we see that they are shortened to something other than five feet.
"A LITTLE before eight in the morning, the two armies advanced near to each other. It was a very fine sight, as I have heard those relate who saw it; for the French were in such close order that one could scarcely throw an apple among them, without its falling on a helmet or lance. Each man at arms carried his spear right before him, cut down to the length of five feet; an axe, sharp, strong and well steeled, with a short handle, was at his side, or hung from his neck. They advanced thus handsomely a foot's pace, each lord in array and among his people, with his banner or pennon before him, well knowing what they were to do."
This is an account of Auray (1364).
Froissart doesn't mention the shortening of lances at Aljubarrota (1385), but the some of the Iberian accounts claim at least the Castillians did so (Fernão Lopes here); Froissart focuses on the French perspective, so it is possible the French didn't.
"If you find it written that at this stage the Castilians cut their lances shorter than when they brought them, you should consider it to be true and have no doubts about it, because many of them, though expecting to fight on horseback, when once they saw that the battle was being fought on foot, cut down their lances so as to wield them to better advantage, an act that was to bring them more trouble than benefit."
However, Fernão Lopes was writing in the mid-15th century (1443), so his perspective on bringing them "more trouble than benefit" might be his own interpolation of the facts.
Now I believe these to be all of the accounts from Froissart; if I have missed any, do tell!
And now as we must leave Froissart, and we will work backwards, to perhaps the earliest account of shortening lances. This is found in Muntaner, practiced by the almogavars.
"And at once some of the almugavars who were near the Lord King collected round him, but there were not more than a hundred when they attacked. And they broke the lances in half. And the Lord King was the first to rush on, and he attacked the first man he encountered with his lance, in the middle of his shield, in such manner that the man had no need to seek a doctor. And then he drew his sword and lay about here and there, and opened a way for himself, so that none of them, when they had recognised him by his mode of attack, dared to await him for a direct blow. And the others who were with him did so well that no knights could perform greater feats of chivalry than they did. Of the almugavars, it is right I should tell you that they went at them with shortened lances in such manner that there was no horse left that was not disabled. And this they did when they had spent all their darts, for you may believe that there was no one who, with his dart, had not killed a knight or a horse. And then, with the shortened lances they did marvels."
And on a different occasion:
"And the almugavars, who saw this press and that the French held their own so strongly, broke their lances short and then went amongst the enemy and proceeded to disembowel horses and to kill knights."
And again:
"And count Galceran and Don Blasco would not form a van and rear, but, all collected together, the chivalry on the left and the almugavars on the right, attacked the van of the others in such manner that it seemed all the world was crumbling. And the battle was very cruel, and the almugavars hurled the darts so that it was devil's work what they did, for at the first charge more than a hundred knights and horses of the French fell dead to the ground. Then they broke their lances short and disembowelled horses, and they went about amongst them as if they were walking in a garden."
And once more:
"When the almugavars and the retainers saw the battle of the knights begin, about two hundred proceeded to break their lances in half and went amongst the knights to hamstring horses; and others attacked the footsoldiers so vigorously that each one threw down one with his dart, and then they threw themselves upon them in such wise that, in a few hours, they had them discomfited or dead."
These three events all occurred during the very late 13th or very early 14th centuries. As seen, this practice was done by the almogavars, certain foot soldiers, and they did so to fight at close quarters (as you have seen). Ramon Muntaner himself was a captain in the Catalan company, and thus would have seen many of the practices of the almogavars.
And leaving Muntaner, Wauvrin (an eyewitness, who served with the English) describing the French at Azincourt (1415), writes:
"Also it was settled among the said French that every one should shorten his lance, in order that they might be stiffer when it came to fighting at close quarters."
And a little later:
"Thus they went forward a little, then made a little retreat, but before they could come to close quarters, many of the French were disabled and wounded by the arrows; and when they came quite up to the English, they were, as has been said, so closely pressed one against another that none of them could lift their arms to strike their enemies, except some that were in front, and these fiercely pricked with the lances which they had shortened to be more stiff, and to get nearer their enemies."
Since the earliest account are from the late 13th/early 14th century Iberians, perhaps that is where the practice originated, although without more research (particularly for the first half of the 14th century), this is not a very well supported position. After Azincourt, the shortening of lances seems to pretty much disappear as a common military practice, although I wouldn't be surprised if it lasted for another couple of decades (and in the early modern period, soldiers would sometimes break their pikes in half; and at Praga (1794), Suvorov ordered his dismounted lancers to shorten their lances).
That is all for now!
- William
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