Pavise

Origin

The origin of the pavise goes back to 14th-century Italy, and its name is said to have come from the Lombard city of Pavia, though some scholars trace it instead to the Latin palvensis. As the Genoese crossbowmen took service as mercenaries in the wars of the Italian city-states and in the Hundred Years' War in the early 14th century, the great shield they carried became known across Europe. About the same time the free cities of the Holy Roman Empire took up the same shield, and in the Hussite Wars (1419-1434) of the early 15th century, when the Czech foot ranged a row of pavises before their wagon fort (the wagenburg) and from behind fired crossbows and war flails, a new tactic was born, and the pavise grew from a personal shield into a part of the field fortification itself.

Features

• Great rectangular shield some 120 to 150 centimeters tall
• Large enough to cover the whole body of the shooter
• Stood on its own on the ground with a small prop at the bottom
• Carried and managed by a dedicated shield-bearer called the pavisier
• The name came from the Italian city of Pavia
• Splendid decoration of city arms and saints painted on a gesso ground

Stories

The pavise was a tool to cover the slow span of the crossbow. Even a stirrup crossbow took four or five seconds to span anew, and a heavy crossbow spanned with a cranequin or windlass took from ten seconds to nearly a minute, and during that time the shooter needed a great shield to hide his whole body. The crossbowman ducked behind the pavise, spanned the string, leaned out to one side or over the top to shoot, and pulled back behind it again. In a large field, a dedicated shield-bearer called a pavisier went along with him, carrying the pavise in front of the shooter and shielding him, and so a two-man team came to be the rule. In the Hussite Wars the Czech foot set a row of pavises in front of the wagenburg, the wagon fort, and used them as a temporary wall against the knight's charge, and this became the standard of central European field battle for a century.

Weakness

The greatest weakness of the pavise grew from its own size. It was a great shield weighing more than five kilograms, so it could not be held in one hand, and had to be slung on the back or carried under the arm, slowing the march of the crossbowman much. Once it was set up, it was hard to shift, so the shooter had to lift it again or call on the pavisier when he wanted to move, and in close combat the great bulk became a burden that could not be swung, so the man had to fall back on a dagger and a short sword. The episode of the 1346 Battle of Crecy, in which the Genoese crossbowmen of the French side faced the English longbowmen without their pavises, which had been left in the baggage wagons in the rain, and suffered great loss, plainly shows how vulnerable the crossbowman was when his pavise was missing. From the late 15th century, as the arquebus spread and the rate of shooting rose again, the place of the great pavise slowly shrank.

Cultural Significance

The pavise was not merely a piece of war gear but also a painted work that bore the identity of the city-state and the free city. A pavise on which the arms of the city, the figure of the patron saint, and a Latin motto were painted on a gesso ground let men know from afar to which city the shooter belonged and under whose protection he stood, and so it was a panel that the city's painter finished with all his care. The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich, and the National Museum in Prague hold many splendid 15th-century Bohemian pavises, among them several with the figure of Saint George slaying the dragon set beside the arms of the city. The goose, the Czech husa, that often stood on the pavises borne by the Hussite Czech foot, the symbol of Jan Hus, became a visual mark of the heretic army as strong as the banner they raised.

In Popular Culture

The pavise appears without fail as the sign of the crossbowman in films, period dramas, and games set in the late Middle Ages. In works of the Hundred Years' War such as the film Joan of Arc it stands as the great shield of the Genoese crossbowman, and in period dramas of the Hussite Wars the row of splendid pavises set before the wagenburg lies at the visual heart of the scene. In strategy games such as Medieval II: Total War and Crusader Kings III, and in the action RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance, set in 15th-century Bohemia, the pavise is treated as the core gear of the crossbow unit, and its splendid painting is sometimes rendered faithfully. Films, however, often draw the pavise as too light, exaggerating it as if it could be swung in one hand.

Trivia

• It is said that the name pavise came from the Lombard city of Pavia, though some scholars trace it instead to the Latin palvensis, so the trace of its origin has not been settled into a single path.
• At the 1346 Battle of Crecy the Genoese crossbowmen of the French side, having left their pavises in the baggage wagons in the rain along with their wet strings, faced the English longbowmen and suffered great loss, an episode often cited to show plainly how vulnerable the crossbowman was when the pavise was missing.
• The Czech foot of the Hussite Wars (1419-1434) set a row of pavises in front of the wagenburg and used them as a temporary wall, and on those pavises was often painted the goose, the Czech husa, the symbol of Jan Hus, which became a visual mark of the heretic army as strong as their banner.