Object Title

Lance

Lance

Date

1800-1850

Object Number

VII.2860

Provenance

Found un-numbered in the Brick Tower, 1982/1983; first accessioned 24 October 1989. Probably originally purchased from the Beriah Botfield collection at Norton Hall, Northamptonshire, with the aid of the National Art Collections Fund, 1942.

Physical Description

The lance has three major components: a head, a haft and a shoe.
Head: the head is comprised principally of the blade and the socket which are connected by a an integral neck and langets for securing it to the haft. Blade: 207 mm (8.15 in) long, 27 mm (1.062 in) wide at base tapering to a point in an elongated leaf shaped profile and having a trapezoidal section with deeply hollowed faces producing a pronounced medial ridge and creating a flattened cruciform section. At its root, the blade is shouldered and changes section to form a circular neck by means of which it is smoothly joined to the socket.


Socket: of circular section and truncated ogival form, 70 mm (2.75 in) long, 25 mm (1 in) diameter at its open end; the upper portion forming the neck by which it is connected to the blade, and the lower edge having two langets extending from it. The langets are of unequal length, being 570 mm (22.4 in) and 480 mm (18.9 in) long and approximately 10 mm (0.39 in) wide. The junction between langets and socket produces a markedly square shoulder. The langets are secured to the haft by rivets; three of these rivets have eyelets formed at one end and pass from the shorter langet and terminate in the longer langet.The spacing of the eyelets is such that the first is 30 mm (1.2 in) from the root, a space of 200 mm (7.87 in) between first and second eyelets and 205 mm (8.1 in) between second and third. The eyelets are thus on the short langet and arranged so that the axis of the eye lies transversely to the haft. The fourth rivet (or probably spike) simply passes through the tail of the longer langet and terminates within the body of the haft.The juxtaposition of blade and socket is such that the edges of the blade are coincident with a plane between the langets


Haft: comprising a single piece of timber, possibly ash, 25 mm (1 in) diameter at the junction with the head and 28 mm (1.1 in) diameter at the junction with the shoe, being suitably shaped at each end to fit the sockets of the head and shoe and recessed to receive the langets. A buff leather looped strap is fitted and bound to the shaft by buff leather thongs.


Shoe: of hollow circular section 28 mm (1.1 in) diameter at the mouth and 155 mm (6.1 in) long, gently tapering to within 25 mm (1 in) of the foot where the taper becomes much more pronounced and terminates in an almost flat bottom of approximately 6 mm (0.25 in) diameter. On the upper edge of the mouth are two short diametrically opposed leaf shaped langets approximately 25 mm (1 in) long and 18 mm (0.7 in) wide at the root. A rivet passes through these langets to secure the shoe to the shaft.
In two of these details, this lance differs from the French 1812 Pattern lance illustrated in Aries; the latter is shown with much longer langets on the shoe and the shoe is shown as being secured by screws through the langets rather than rivets.

Dimensions

BladeLength214 mm
OverallLength2328 mm
OverallWeight1.672 kg
HeadLength811 mm

Associations

Notes

For lances of similar pattern in Royal Armouries collection, see entry for VII.1433 (under Notes).
This lance was almost certainly originally numbered as VII.1432, VII.1437 or VII.1439 (for a full explanation, see entry for VII.1433 (under Notes).

Information

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