Elizabethan 1560-1610

When Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1558, the bill and longbow were still a dominant feature of English armies; Irish musters occasionally even make reference to small companies of mounted archers. By the time of the queen’s death in 1603, the traditional infantry had almost completely been superseded by bodies of pike and shot. Gentlemen and sons of gentlemen waiting for commissions might serve as demi-lancers or as gentlemen pike. While there is no evidence that the latter performed any better than the other pike armed levies, their resolve might be expected to be somewhat superior.