Ancient & Medieval Combat: Spear & Shield Combat Important Facts

Hey folks, Matt Easton here, Scholar Gladiatorial, so we're going to talk a little bit here about some important points, some really critical points to note about the use of the spear either with a shield or without a shield, but very very important things to consider and remember when we're talking about spear combat and remember that spears either with or without shields have been pretty much the dominant hand-to-hand combat weapon throughout history from the ancient period and prehistoric period in fact all the way through to the early modern era. So the first point I'd like you to note is that generally speaking used one-handed with a shield or used two-handed, one-on-one in a dual type situation, one-on-one combat, these two are roughly equivalent. They have different strengths and weaknesses, different advantages and disadvantages, but by and large using the spear two-handed versus using it one-handed with a shield is approximately equal. The second point I want you to note is that in warfare, in melee skirmishes, in battles, so in large-scale or small-scale combat where there are multiple opponents, the use of a shield enables you to protect yourself from missile weapons in a way that of course if you're using a polearm two-handed by itself doesn't confer you, so quite simply in a multiple opponent scenario having a shield of any type offers you a lot more protection, unless you're wearing full armour, offers you a lot more protection than using the spear alone in two hands. And of course if we bring armour into it, if a person has partial or even complete head-to-foot armour, then of course that changes the situation once again. But if we're talking about a situation where people have a relatively large amount of their body exposed, shields are incredibly important for protecting you against either thrown or shot weapons. The next point I want to make is connected to my previous point. The use of the shield not only protects you in a multiple opponent situation against thrown weapons, but actually in a one-on-one scenario as well. So even if you're fighting one-on-one against a person, we have to remember that your opponent could at any point throw this weapon. So if I switch to the Roman pilum for a second, if you're fighting someone one-on-one and you know that at any moment they might throw that thing at you and embed it in you, could be in your legs, could be in your upper body, wherever, then that very much changes the nature of the fight. Just knowing that they're able to do that, it's a huge, huge threat, and they're able to feint with that as well as actually do it. The next important point I want you to note is that the length of the spear is relatively important. Again, changes your strengths and weaknesses and advantages and disadvantages. Quite clearly in most situations, the weapon which can reach further has an advantage because it can offend from further away, at a distance where if your opponent has a shorter spear, they can't yet offend you. However, that all changes if you're forced to fight close, or indeed if you end up close or if you deliberately come close to the opponent, then the longer weapon can be disadvantageous, not only in terms of in front, where a shorter weapon can be used more deftly in close range, so if we're very squished up in a melee situation in a battle, or you simply, you've closed with the opponent, but also the back end of the weapon, if you have less sticking out of the back, it makes it more nimble in the hands and makes it easier to manoeuvre. Whilst with the longer spear, I could shorten it up to here and end up with a shorter mount in front, I've now got so much sticking out of the back that it becomes not very effective as a weapon. So in scenarios where you're going to come close in and get squished in with opponents, actually in those situations, the shorter spear can be advantageous. The next important point to make is about the shields themselves. The type of shield you use changes the nature of the spear and shield combat. Assuming that all people are using spears and shields, which of course throughout a lot of history they did, whether you have a boss grip shield versus a strap shield for example, so same kind of era as that Anglo-Saxon shield, we go to the Norman kite shield. If you have a strap shield, that changes quite a bit because they have different strengths and weaknesses. The strap shield is closer to your body, generally speaking, but it is less easy to manipulate, whereas the boss grip shield is held further from your body, but it is easier to manipulate either deliberately or by the opponent. The next very important point to make is about the size of the shield as well, and it changes the nature of the combat a lot. And notice that with a long shield such as the Norman shield here, it covers me from my chin down to my leg, which doesn't leave a lot of opening for the opponent to attack into. With the smaller boss grip shield here, or any type of smaller shield that might be held further away from your body, you can protect a lot of your body with angulation, geometry essentially, however it is a smaller object, so there are larger openings around it. If we go to an extreme example of a large shield, the Roman scutum, then that covers an absolutely massive amount of the body, and it's very difficult to attack around it. Connected to this point about shield size and shield type, it can be that a shorter weapon, when you've got a very large shield, is actually advantageous. If you're able to use a pavis or a large Roman scutum that covers so much of your body, it enables you to get close to the opponent more easily under more protection, and in that situation, if you're getting close to the opponent, a shorter spear might be what you want, or indeed a sword. And so in those situations, the shorter spear or the shorter weapon, so even the sword, the gladius for example, can be a better weapon to have, because this shield means that you're going to end up, and you're going to choose to end up, close to the opponent, at a distance at which they're at a disadvantage using their longer spears. So I hope that's been fairly interesting. Spears come in a huge variety, obviously there are spears that can cut, there are spears that have projections that can hook, or even parry or defend with. So there's different types of spears, different weights of spears, some that are more appropriate to throwing than others, some that are longer of course, some have bigger heads, some that have smaller heads, these have different advantages. Obviously some spears that are perhaps primarily designed for throwing, you can nevertheless still use as a pointy object in close combat, in hand-to-hand combat. So really, considered as a weapon system, together with the shield, and you have to consider the type of shield and the type of tactics being used, many, many different designs of spears have been used throughout history for different advantages and disadvantages. So spear and shield combat, or just spear combat, if the weapon's used two-handed by itself, are very, very interesting and surprisingly complex things to study. And when we're considering these strengths and weaknesses, you have to break it down into all of its component parts, and also consider the context that that weapon system exists in. Is it for single combat? Is it for group combat? Is it for large-scale battles? Are the spears going to be thrown? Are they going to mostly be used against cavalry or other infantry? Are they going to be used more statically, like pike blocks, although pike blocks were used offensively as well? Are they going to be used more closing and attacking as quickly as possible, like the Romans often did? So many things to consider, and the spear really deserves a lot more airtime than it gets, when this is really a much more important weapon than swords ever were. But that being said, as I've shown with the large shields, the nature of the shield also plays a part in this, and if the shield changes, the sword can become a relatively more potent and more important weapon if certain types of shield are used, or certain types of armour are used, which reduces the usual effectiveness of these spears. Anyway, thanks for watching. Give us a like and a subscribe, and I'll see you really soon for another video on Scholar Gladiatoria channel. Cheers, folks. Thanks for watching. We've got extra videos on Patreon. Please give our Facebook a like and subscribe if you haven't already. Cheers, folks.