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Old 16th January 2011, 07:39 PM   #11
Matchlock
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Bavaria, Germany - the center of 15th and 16th century gunmaking
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Hi there,

Jasper, I do no keep any similar sample on hand, otherwise I would have posted it.

As to pikes:

The longest pikes known are those of ca. 1500 (the Maximilian era); very few are known to have survived in their original ca. 6 meter overall length as most of them were cut down to ca. 4.60 to 4.80 m as early as the 1520's, in the Peasant wars, and further during the 16th c. A new style of pikes' heads and hafts was created during the latest Renaissace for the infantry type of pikemen, in ca. 1580-1600, now measuring about ca. 4.0-4.50 in length. They were kept this way during the Thirty Years War (1618-58) after which they got considerably cut down to ca. 1.80-2.30 m and thus survived till the 18th c.

Their hafts usually consisted of ash wood, oak was extremely rare to find on the longest types and seems to have been preferred for halberds.

Please also see my thread How pikes/lances were made 500 years ago:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=7123


Best,
Michael
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