4 replies to this topic

[Ruffian21]

Although i notice that lances (generally speaking a big long spear) had been an integral part for any cavalry forces in the central plain, i still haven't come across any reading on the methods they wield them.

So how do they use them in general? Do they go by the couch lance like the normans and arabs? Overarm or underarm with 2 hands beneath like the sarmatians, greeks and parthians

Enlighten me please

[tadamson]

Although i notice that lances (generally speaking a big long spear) had been an integral part for any cavalry forces in the central plain, i still haven't come across any reading on the methods they wield them.

So how do they use them in general? Do they go by the couch lance like the normans and arabs? Overarm or underarm with 2 hands beneath like the sarmatians, greeks and parthians

Enlighten me please

Standard use was two handed - mostly underarm but sometimes overarm.

Couched lance starts with Western Europeans in the mid 11th C. By 1066 (Hastings) it's used by some Normans. But we still get European knights using two handed lances in the 13th C (eg in Majowski Bible). The couched technique slowly spread Eastwards over the next few hundred years but was never very popular in Asia.

[shurite7]

During the Song era I haven't seen any depictions or read of any specific techniques for the lance. Most depictions that I have seen are with two-handed pole-arm type weapons.

I have seen depictions of Arabs & Persians using the couched method during the medieval era. But like Tom said, it wasn't very common in Central and Far East Asia.

A while back I read a source that stated some knights in the 12th and 13th centuries threw their lance like a spear.

[Altaica Militarica]

Look here - some frags from the painting of the Qianlong's Campaign against Dzhungaria (1755-1760):

[RollingWave]

During the Song era I haven't seen any depictions or read of any specific techniques for the lance. Most depictions that I have seen are with two-handed pole-arm type weapons.

I have seen depictions of Arabs & Persians using the couched method during the medieval era. But like Tom said, it wasn't very common in Central and Far East Asia.

A while back I read a source that stated some knights in the 12th and 13th centuries threw their lance like a spear.

Throwing spears / javelin from horse back is not something that happened then, it was the norms of western cavalry UP TO THAT POINT (it was dieing out by the 12th / 13th century though). classical cavalries were formed up with the vast majority of light regiments throwing spear as their main weapon. heavy cav that actually charged into enemies were actually more rare until the middle ages.

If you think about it it obviously make more sense. a close range javelin is quiet deadly, if your a horseman not exactly armored to the teeth, throwing javelins close to the line make far more sense then crashing into a bunch of infantry. (of course horse archery is even better but that's a different story.)