Pike & Shot Warfare – 17th Century formations & tactics
Pike and Shot warfare developed out of the military revolution that characterised the 17th Century. It was to see a dramatic shift in the employment of formations and tactics, from deep Spanish tercios, to linear Dutch battalions and offensive Swedish brigades. Ultimately, it was to see a clash of the last two of these Early Modern military theories at the Battle of Edgehill in 1642.
Pike & Shot Warfare – the 17th Century Military Revolution
The Early Modern period was one of great change, not least in military theory and practice. The battle of Edgehill was to witness a clash of the two latest military doctrines in 1642. Many English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh fought in the endless Wars of Religion, Eighty Years War and Thirty Years War in Europe. They brought both doctrines back to Britain and Ireland.
The 17th Century saw a military revolution that dominated warfare for the next two and half centuries. Until their defeat at the Battle of Rocroi in 1643, the Spanish imperial tercios were feared as the finest infantry in Europe. However, smaller linear formations of pike and musket – Pike and Shot – progressively replaced these great squares of pike, shot, sword and buckler.
Spanish Tercios – piqueros, coseletes, arquebusier & musketeers
The Spanish word ‘tercio’ translates as ‘one third’. Initially, these huge formations were made up of one third of the foot soldiers within a Spanish army. By the 17th Century, the number of tercios had grown so that many tercios an army might deploy many tercios.
In theory, each tercio had a strength of 3,000. In practice, years of hard campaigning reduced their numbers to 1-2,000. The tercio consisted of ten companies. Each company consisted of 150 pikemen, 100 arquebusier and 40 ‘coseletes’ armed with sword and buckler, under a captain. These were deployed in a single great square block, ‘bastioned’ with smaller blocks at each corner.
The central square ‘cuadro’ consisted of pikemen, 22 ranks deep. Ideally, this block had a frontage of 56 files. Arquebusier and men with sword and buckler lined the square. More arquebusier formed the bastions, or ‘mangas’ (sleeves) at its corners. Each manga consisted of 240 men. Finally, each tercio could deploy two skirmish lines, each of 90 musketeers.
Although slow and difficult to manoeuvre, the tercios great depth brought all-round defence. They were impossible to outflank. They also delivered an almost unstoppable momentum in an attack. However, their weakness lay in the limited firepower they could bring to bear to their fronts. This was to be increasingly exploited by their enemies.
17th Century Military Formations & Tactics – pike & shot
Inspired by classical Roman tactics, the Dutch reforms of Prince Maurice of Nassau brought greater firepower to bear and strength in defence. This saw a return to linear formations. These were pitted against the Spanish tercios during the Eighty Years War in the Netherlands.
King Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden adapted the Dutch tactics further to combine and deliver both firepower and offensive mobility. He employed them against the Imperial Hapsburg and Catholic League tercios in Germany. However, the protestant Dutch and Swedish military doctrines were to clash on the battlefield of Edgehill.
Pike & Shot Companies – files, divisions & corporalships
Both the Dutch and Swedish models of Pike and Shot warfare were based around groupings of file, division (section), company, battalion and regiment; organisational structures that persist today in the British Army. At its most basic level, men formed files; one man standing behind another.
A Dutch file consisted of eight men, one behind another in eight ranks. This depth was able to withstand a charge of pikes and allow continuous volley fire as each rank of musketeers fired and reloaded. As the British Civil Wars progressed, both sides adopted the Swedish model of six ranks only. This reflected both a lack of manpower and growing professionalism.
Files were grouped under a corporal to form a division or corporalship (a section today) of either pikemen or musketeers. In practice, the number of files depended on manning. However, four files per division was the ideal. The corporal led his right-hand file, with his lansprizado (lance-corporal) leading the left-hand file.
A standard foot company consisted of one pike and two musketeer divisions. It was a mixed grouping capable of independent operations. In theory, a captain’s company comprised 100 rank and file; 32 pikemen and 64 musketeers (including corporals), two drummers, a clerk and an armourer. In practice, most parliamentary companies at Edgehill were closer to 70-80.
Early Modern Regiments – battalions, pike blocks & plotoons
As today, each foot regiment consisted of a number of companies (generally ten in 1642). The regimental colonel, lieutenant-colonel and major each nominally commanded their own (slightly larger) companies. Captains commanded the remaining companies. Company officers consisted of a lieutenant, an ensign (who carried the company colour with the pikes) and two sergeants (responsible for musket drill).
Although part of a regiment, individual captains held commissions to recruit, equip and maintain their companies. They had to bear the financial risk when pay from King or Parliament was inevitably in arrears. In some cases, they were still referred to as private companies. This is key to understanding the apparent ill-discipline of the time, when troops were unpaid and hungry.
On the battlefield, companies grouped together to form a battaile or battalion. The pike divisions massed to form a single stand or block of pikes. The two musketeer divisions of a company formed a plotoon. These deployed to form two wings of shot that normally flanked the pike block.
Pike and Shot warfare theory allowed a fully manned foot regiment to field two battalions. In practice, regiments rarely had the strength to form more than one. Increasingly, as the war progressed, regiments had to be combined to form a single battalion. The minimum strength of a battalion seems to have been about 400, the ideal 600.
Sergeants & Sergeant-Majors – professional soldiers
Each company, battalion and regiment needed a cadre of experienced soldiers that could mould others into a fighting force. As today, 17th Century armies relied upon their sergeants to do this. A pair of sergeants trained, drilled and directed the two musketeer divisions within each company.
At the regimental level, a professional soldier was employed as the sergeant-major. This officer was responsible for much of the day-to-day training, operations and security of the regiment. He conducted these duties through and with the sergeants in each company.
Above the sergeant-major, a sergeant-major-general oversaw these functions across the foot regiments of an army. As the 17th Century progressed, the titles of these officers became shortened to major and major-general. These ranks remain today in the British Army.
Dutch Tertias & Swedish Brigades at the Battle of Edgehill
At Edgehill, the parliamentary foot battalions deployed in three Dutch style tertias (thirds). Each tertia consisted of four battalions; one forward, two in second line and a fourth in reserve. The three tertias of a Dutch army deployed in line, vanguard (right), main (middle) and rear-guard (left). Like the Roman quincunx, these formed a checkerboard of battalions in three offset lines.
Prince Rupert had studied King Gustavus Adolphus’s Swedish tactics. Under his influence, the King’s foot deployed in five (smaller) Swedish style brigades. These also consisted of four battalions in diamond formation. However, these battalions were considerably smaller than those of Essex’s army.
Prince Rupert’s engineer, Bernard De Gomme, has left us a map of the royalist deployment at Edgehill, on 23 October 1642. This shows the King’s foot clearly, in tighter offensive (attack) formation. The pike blocks of the fourth battalions have closed up, while their musketeer wings have dropped back in reserve.
English Civil War Horse Troops, Squadrons & Regiments
As was normal for the period, at Edgehill, brigades of horse deployed on the flanks of each army. De Gomme shows the King’s horse drawn up in two lines of squadrons, each of two to three troops. The parliamentary horse seem to have operated as individual troops. On their left flank plotoons of musketeers deployed between troops of horse.
In theory, a troop of horse consisted of 72 rank and file (69 troopers and three corporals). These made up three divisions, under a captain, a lieutenant and a cornet. However, numbers were often in the mid-forties. The files of an English horse troop were, in theory, six deep. However, civil war troops generally drew up in half files of three deep for battle. The order of precedence between the ranks was: 1, 3, 2.
Ordnance – artillery, fireworkers, engineers & pioneers
Armies of the 17th Century included trains of artillery. These were divided into siege trains and field pieces. The latter ranged in calibre from full cannon firing 32 pound iron shot to five pound sakers. Smaller drakes, minions, falconets and robinets tended to belong in pairs to regiments of foot.
In battle, the field guns normally worked together in batteries. Professional gunners, mattrosses and labourers manned them. A gentleman of the ordnance directed a number of guns. A battery master oversaw the battery under the Master Gunner and the army’s General of the Ordnance.
Other professional officers and soldiers accompanied the Train of Ordnance. These included fireworkers who directed the use of fire-pikes, mortars and explosive petards. Engineers and pioneers worked to clear routes and dug siegeworks. Finally, a company of firelocks generally acted as guards for the ammunition train.
Baggage Trains – quartermasters, camp followers & boys
Each foot regiment and each troop of horse had a quartermaster. This officer was responsible for arranging billets, victuals and fodder on the march and in garrison. Their arrival in a village or town was often feared. The word ‘harbinger’, still in use at this time, was an earlier title for a quartermaster.
As the English Civil War progressed, both sides turned to the system of free quarter. Households, rich and poor, were forced to provide bed, board and stabling for soldiers. The quartermaster issued a ticket, or cheque, that might be redeemed at the end of the war, if it was issued by the winning side.
Invariably, a significant number of non-combatant followers accompanied every company and troop. These were generally women and boys, often wives and sons, as well as prostitutes and orphans. Many were washerwomen. They were vital to preserving health on campaign, removing lice and disease.
Boys acted as servants, grooms, baggage carriers and foragers. Nehemiah Wharton writes of ‘our knapsack boys’. It is not clear how many boys followed each company during the English Civil War. However, the Spanish expected one boy per file. It is likely that a similar ratio was common across all armies of the period.
We cannot underestimate the numbers of child soldiers that almost certainly served during the civil wars across Britain. We should also acknowledge the likely violence that accompanied them. Child soldiers today, as ever, tend to lack any moral compass or restraint.
More English Civil War Historical Notes & Maps
I hope you found this article on Pike and Shot warfare useful. This website also includes pages on the crisis facing Early Modern Britain in the 1640s, the English Revolution and Great Rebellion of 1642.
You may want to read about Pike and Shot Warfare in the 17th Century and how the Dutch and Swedish military doctrines came to clash at the Battle of Edgehill in 1642. More articles can be found on the Battle of Edgehill, the Battle of Lansdown Hill, the Battle of Roundway Down, and more.
You can also read about 17th Century Military Theory. This article explains the clash between Dutch and Swedish military doctrines at Edgehill in 1642. More articles on the Wars of Religion and The Thirty Years War are also at Notes and Maps.
Divided Kingdom – English Civil War historical fiction
These historical notes accompany the text of the English Civil War historical fiction series Divided Kingdom. The novel God’s Vindictive Wrath opens at the Battle of Edgehill and ends with the Battle of Turnham Green in 1642. Desecration is a short story during the Storming of Winchester and the desecration of Europe’s greatest medieval cathedral. The Keys of Hell and Death covers the war in the west, from the Battle of Lansdown Hill to the Storming of Bristol in 1643.
The Divided Kingdom books take a fresh approach. They are not based on a single hero, they do not take sides. Their voices – ordinary men and women – face each other in the chaos of Britain in civil war. They are both relatable and sharply relevant today. They are also as historically accurate as is possible.
Please do check out some of the writing at Divided Kingdom Books, including book tasters and a FREE ebook short story.
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