Pike Postures

All the pike drill we do comes from period sources, the main one in use being Directions for Musters which was originally printed in 1638, probably to help with the forces being raised for the Bishops' Wars.

We also use Barriffe, which comes from slightly later, we only have the sixth edition that was published in 1661, but Barriffe fought in the Civil Wars and the drill in his book is very similar to that used as it was based on the experience from the wars. There are also a few drill books from during the civil wars that cover basics, usually to ensure that a particular army was all doing much the same thing, there being no standing army to train up the new recruits.

Anyway, Directions for Musters shows the postures for the pike and the musket. It being essential that all soldiers do the same thing the same way (and at the same pace) so that they don't get in each other's way and cause an accident, especially in the musket division.

First of all you get all your pikemen together and you work out who has the most dignity. Usually this will be the guys that have been doing it for longest and are of the higher social classes. You then do your sums and work out how many ranks and files you need. The ranks are the chaps standing next to each other and the files one behind the other. The number in each file varied from four to ten and was usually an even number (6 and 8 appear to be the most commonly referred to).

Anway once you have sorted out your division you are ready to take them for some drill. In practice the file leader will drill his file in the individual postures below. the soldiers start in a single rank with their pikes on the ground in front of them. The commands for the pike are:

Handle your pike	The pikeman reaches down and picks up the pike in his right hand, bring the butt of the pike to his hip.
Order your pike	The pikeman Steps forward with his left foot, grabs the pike with his left hand and brings it up to the vertical, then stepping back he moves his right hand from the butt to around shoulder height and places the butt on the ground next to the outside of his right foot. See picture to see what the position looks like.
Advance your pike	This is done in three motions. Firstly the pikeman picks up the pike and puts his left hand about half way between where his right hand is and the butt of the pike as he brings it up in front of his body. Next he takes his right hand off the pike and grasps the butt. The third movement involves stepping forward with the left foot as he brings the pike to his right hand side. The right arm twists slightly to have his hand at the front holding the pike vertical, the left hand returns to rest on the sword pommel. See the picture for what the final position looks like.
Shoulder your pike	The pikeman brings the pike back in front of him with right hand on the butt at full stretch and left hand at about eye height. The right hand then reaches as far back along the pike as the left hand pushes the pike forward and allows the point to fall backwards. The right hand catches the pike at about 45 degrees from the vertical and then lays it gently on the pikeman's right shoulder with the butt about five feet in front of him and six inches off the ground. See picture to see what the position looks like.
Porte your pike	The pikeman pushes the pike upwards and grasps the pike with his left hand about half way between where his right hand is holding it and the butt and brings the butt sharply back so that the pike moves through about 90 degrees. He then moves his right hand down the pike to grasp it near the butt so that he has it under control and can see the point in front of him just above head height. His right hand is at about waist height. He should have full control of where the point is and be able to avoid sticking it in doorways. See picture to see what the position looks like.
Charge your pike	The pikeman brings his left hand under his chin and his right hand remains holding it near the butt but moves up to shoulder height which brings the point down until it is at about eye height. See picture to see what the position looks like.
Charge for Horse your pike	This starts with the pike at Order, but I've condensed some of the orders above to save typing. ;-) The pike is driven into the ground. Then the pikeman steps out wide in front of the pike facing left but still holding the pike vertically. Holding his sword so that he knows where it is when it comes to the next stage he lowers the pike to about 30 degrees from the horizontal and holds it in his left hand. He is by now leaning forwards with is left knee supporting his left arm. His right hand then draws his sword and holds it ready. See the pictures to see what the positions look like.

There are more postures and various ways to move between them, but at the moment I don't have time to do all the typing and only have pictures for the ones described above.

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last update 22:51 20/12/2002