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Originally Posted by Jim McDougall
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With lances, it seems that the purpose in use was not impalement, but jabbing thrusts, at least as described in most of what I have found.
With pikes, I'm not sure as they were literally a barrier against encroaching cavalry typically, and the impact must have been pretty powerful in a fast moving target.
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Jim, I agree wholeheartedly with your conclusion on the use of lances. A jab can be debilitating and fatal if rightly placed, and skewering an opponent at the gallop can have obvious disadvantages to with the weapon stuck in an opponent especially at speeds of 20-30 mph.
However I do believe that massed infantry formations with pikes could provide an effective barrier against horse -- if you would look at manuals of pike drill, there is a position requiring the soldier to hold the butt against the ground and steady it with his foot, with the weapon pointing forward and upward. Seems to me that the angle of the shaft would be just right to level with the rider's body or the horse's head. And from what I have read, horses are smart enough to get nervous when they see sharp things pointed at their chests and faces. (hence the popularity of those wooden barriers called chevaux-de-frise, which provided rows of upward-pointing wooden stakes intended for the same purpose).