Pig feather

A pig's feather is the name given to a spit from the late 17th century, based on the “ Saufeder ” hunting spit . In the Turkish wars of that time , the pikemen armed only with a spear were often dispensed with . It was more practical to equip the musketeers with a defensive weapon against cavalry attacks. This is how this 1.80 m long weapon was created. Although the muskets had become lighter, a hook was attached to the side of the pig's spring for inserting the firearm. In addition, the army carried around 4 m long beams with laterally offset holes. 20 or more pig feathers were inserted into these holes - at an angle of 45 degrees and alternately from the left and from the right. Because the front half of the shaft was thicker, they couldn't slip out of the beam. In this way a Spanish cavalryman could be put together relatively quickly and easily , which provided a perfect obstacle for use against the enemy's cavalry.

With the roughly simultaneous spread of the much less bulky bayonet (initially in the form of the bung bayonet ), however, this new weapon quickly had a serious competitor, and so it largely disappeared together with the last pikemen at the beginning of the 18th century. Only in Russia was it sometimes used up to 50 years longer.

literature

• Finn Asgaard: The pig's feather . In: Karl Stüber, Hans Wetter (Ed.): Edged weapons. Festschrift Hugo Schneider on his 65th birthday . Gut-Verlag, Stäfi / Zurich 1982, ISBN 3-85717-008-8 .