It is my understanding that pike guards evolved at the end of the 15th century, I assume, as the name would seem to imply, in response to the proliferation of pikes on the battlefield. Were pike guards intended to protect the neck while fighting on foot or the head while mounted? Though I suspect they performed both functions to various degrees of effectiveness.

Another thing to ponder about! :)

Thanks,
Brian

Do you mean the haute pieces on a mounted gendarme's pauldrons? You're right, they started in the late-15th Century, and continued in use until somewhere in the last third of the 16th Century from what I can tell. And as far as I know, they were more for deflecting lances than pikes per se, though I'm sure that they worked well to deflect pikes as too.

Here are some links to armours on this site with such haute pieces on the pauldrons:

http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/displayimage....mp;pos=203

http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/displayimage....mp;pos=202

http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/displayimage....mp;pos=208

I could be wrong, but I don't recall seeing them on infantry harnesses, only on pauldrons for mounted men. As they went out of fashion at about the same time that lances went out of fashion, I suspect that they were indeed meant more for lances than for pikes (though the fashion for charging headlong into a pike formation went out of fashion about this time too... )

Cheers!

Gordon

Thanks Gordon. I had not been able to find anything authoritative on haute pieces, but I did find them referred to as pike guards on several manufacturer's websites (one also refers to them as "baffles"). Were they ever reffered to as such historically, or do you think that pike guards are a modern misnomer?

Brian

Brian;

It is my belief that the term "pike guard" is a more modern (read "Victorian") invention. When they were at a loss for what something actually did, they would merrily invent names and jobs to explain what was otherwise inconceivable to them, even if the real explanation was pretty simple and clear cut. At any rate, I believe that the proper term from the period was "haute piece" (at least in English, with a mis-mash of French thrown in for good measure.) What the French or Germans referred to them as I don't know off hand.

Cheers!

Gordon