Lance fournie
The lance fournie (French: "equipped lance") was a
. Each lance was supposed to include a mixture of troop types (the men-at-arms themselves, lighter cavalry, infantry, and even noncombatant pages) that would have guaranteed a desirable balance between the various components of the company at large; however, it is often difficult to determine the exact composition of the lance in any given company as the available sources are few and often centuries apart.A lance was usually led and raised by a knight in the service of his liege, yet it is not uncommon in certain periods to have a less privileged man, such as a serjeants-at-arms, lead a lance. More powerful knights, also known as a knight bannerets, could field multiple lances.
Origins
The origins of the lance lie in the retinues of medieval knights (
The lance had no consistent strength of arms throughout its usage as a unit. Different centuries and different states gave it a fluctuating character. However, the basic lance of three men; a knight, a squire who served as a fighting auxiliary, and a non-combatant squire, primarily concerned on the battlefield with looking after the knight's spare horses or lances, seems to evolve in the 13th century[1] An excellent description to convey its relevance is in Howard, "a team of half a dozen men, like the crew of some enormous battle tank".[2] The 13th-century French rule of the Templars had specified that a brother knight should have one squire if he had one warhorse, two if he had an extra one. In addition, he had a riding horse and a packhorse. In battle the squires would follow the brothers with the spare warhorses.[3] A similar arrangement was also seen in Spain in the 1270s,[4] according to Ramon Llull:
Neither horse, nor armour, nor even being chosen by others is sufficient to show forth the high honour that pertains to a Knight. Instead he must be given a squire and a servant to look after his horse[5]
Organisation
France
The term lances fournies itself appeared much the same way as the
Burgundy
The last Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, made a number of ordinances prescribing the organisation of his forces in the 1460s and 1470s. In the first ordinance of 1468, the army is clearly organised in three man lances; a man-at-arms, a coustillier and a valet. In the Abbeville Ordinance of 1471, the army is re-organised into 1250 lances of nine men each : a man-at-arms, a coustillier, a non-combatant page, three mounted archers and three foot soldiers (a crossbowman, handgunner, and pikeman). This organisation is repeated in the 1472 and 1473 ordinances.[7]
Brittany
The Duchy of Brittany also ordered the equivalent of the lance in an ordinance of 1450. While the basic lance was the familiar three man structure of man-at-arms, coutilier and page, dependent on the wealth of the man-at-arms, additional archers or juzarmiers (that is, men equipped with a
Italy
In Italy in the 14th and 15th centuries, mercenary soldiers were recruited in units known variously as barbuta, lance or corazza, consisting of two to six men.[9] Although it is traditionally thought that the three man lance was introduced to Italy by the mercenaries of the White Company in the 1360s, in fact they had evolved somewhat earlier[10] The three man lance consisted of two combatants, a man-at-arms and an armed squire, plus a page.[11] Occasionally, a mounted archer could be substituted for the squire.[12]
In the mid 15th century, soldiers called lanze spezzate (literally broken lances) evolved. These were men who, for some reason, had become detached from their mercenary companies and their lances and were now hired as individuals. They were then placed in new companies and lances under a new commander.[13]
Germany
In Germany, an indigenous form of the lance known as a gleve (pl. gleven) developed. A gleve may have consisted of as many as ten men - both horse and foot soldiers - supporting the knight.[14] The three-man gleve may have existed in the early 14th century, with a knight supported by two sergeants. Later the sergeants were replaced by mercenaries. The equivalent of the lance of two combatants with page is seen in Germany in the later 14th century, when the second combatant can be a spearman or an archer. However, in various regions, other sizes of gleven existed of up to ten men, including up to three mounted archers (who would dismount to fight) and armed servants who acted as infantry.[15]
Poland
Kopia (Polish for
From the 15th century the term kopia was replaced by Poczet.
See also
References
- ISBN 0-19-280208-9.
- ISBN 978-1-85409-236-6.
- ^ Matthew Bennett (1989) La Régle du Temple as a Military Manual or How to Deliver a Cavalry Charge Archived 2011-09-11 at the Wayback Machine in Studies in Medieval History presented to R. Allen Brown
- ^ Lull, Ramon (1484). The Book of the Order of Chivalry. William Caxton (trans.). Retrieved 11 September 2011.
- ^ The Book of the Order of Chivalry or Knighthood
- ISBN 0-905746-09-0.
- ISBN 0-85115-918-4.
- ^ Ordonnance du Duc Pierre pour faire armer la Noblesse & les Archers des Paroisses : "Preuves" de Dom Morice, Tome II, colonnes 1555-1557. Publié ez plaids generaux de Rennes le 29. jour de Mars 1450. Tiré des Archives du Présidial de Rennes.[1]
- ISBN 0-370-10502-8p. 81
- ^ Mallet (1974), p.37
- ISBN 978-0-8018-8323-1p.88
- ^ Caferro(2006), p.90
- ^ Mallet (1974), p.112
- ISBN 0-8032-6585-9.
- ISBN 0-85045-614-2.