Medieval armour vs bullets

[Erpingham]

And you have not defined what a schiltron looks like and how it differs from -say the chaps at Coutrai a few months earlier.

Interesting question for Justin. To me, they were pretty similar and capable of pretty similar tactics.  There is a myth that Schiltrons were circular.  They could be, but rarely were. Likewise, Flemish infantry were linear and blocky but could form circles.  The Flemings were probably better armoured but I doubt it was that significant. Both were stubborn fighters.

It isn't clear from Justin's functional definition of pikes whether the Flemings would have the same status as Scots, as they Scots were mainly "pike" armed, whereas "pikes" only formed a small part of the Flemish force, whose distinctive weapon was the Goedendag, a spiked club.

[Justin Swanton]

What's the essence of a pike formation that sets it apart from a spear formation? My take is partly a stronger weapon held more firmly in two hands, but principally the ability to present a wall of sharp points in front of the first rank. You can't really do that with spears. The wall will definitely stop cavalry, whereas spears might stop cavalry, or might not.

No idea what the schiltrons at Bannockburn looked like, just that they were effective.

[Erpingham]

No idea what the schiltrons at Bannockburn looked like, just that they were effective.

Day 1 sees the deployment of a circular schiltron in a blocking position. The English cavalry can't do much about this.  Day 2 sees more aggressive schiltron use, and these are more shieldwall like.

[skb777]

What's the essence of a pike formation that sets it apart from a spear formation? My take is partly a stronger weapon held more firmly in two hands, but principally the ability to present a wall of sharp points in front of the first rank. You can't really do that with spears. The wall will definitely stop cavalry, whereas spears might stop cavalry, or might not.

No idea what the schiltrons at Bannockburn looked like, just that they were effective.

No horse will charge into a solid object of anything, they aren't that stupid.