Lanzalonga
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Lanza Longa sometimes also known in Italian as gialda.;[1] modernly known scholarly mostly as lanzalonga,[2][3] the term was also, normally, translated in Tudor period english as Long Spear, was a medieval polearm typical of Italian municipal infantry, a type of spear between 3 and 4.5 meters long[4]
Known as "lanza longa"[5] (long lance) precisely for the minimum length of its rod of at least 3 meters, it served to counter the charges of the enemy cavalry by forming in front of it the forehead of a forest of spikes. The blade was generally leafy - but varied in length, thickness, width - and the rod was round in section. It evolves or is replaced by the even longer pike.
In detail the lanzalonga was specifically an infantry weapon, a spear, typical of northern Italy; the shorter version known as the gialda[6] was more commonly in use in central Italy, particularly in Tuscany, and was, technically, a long lance used by both infantry and cavalry. The later Lanza Longa as was more commonly known in the British islands was a shorter version used for training and in duels and its use was taught by most of the more famous manuals of the period.
Notes and References
[edit]- ^ The latter term usually refers to the longer models of Italian medieval lances.
- ^ From medieval Italian meaning long lance or also, indifferently long spear.
- ^ https://www.hroarr.com/manuals/fiore/omsg_lanza.pdf
- ^ Shorter length models, but at least 2.5 meters long, were used for training or dueling.
- ^ In modern standard Italian it would now be written as lancia lunga.
- ^ The distinction is specialistic, or find in literary works, and the term commonly used for the weapon is Lanzalonga or, in english, Lanza Longa/Long Spear.
Further reading
[edit]- Aldo A. Settia: De re militari. Pratica e teoria nella guerra medievale; Collana: I libri di Viella, 83; Novembre 2008.
- Fiore dei Liberi; Tommaso Leoni: Fiore de' Liberi's Fior di Battaglia, a full translation of the Getty manuscript. 1st ed. Lulu.com (2009). 2nd ed. Wheaton, IL: Freelance Academy Press (2012).
External links
[edit]- Ottawa Medieval Sword Guild: The Spear, the King of Weapons. A Practical Analysis of the Spear in Fiore dei Liberi’s Flos Dellatorum and Fillipo Vadi’s Ars Gladiatoria
- Italian Encyclopaedia of Science, Letters, and Arts - Treccani: Enciclopedia dell'Arte Medievale (1991): ARMI BIANCHE