Interview to a pike man of the Tercios of Flanders.

Today, we are interviewing a pike man of the Tercios of Flanders. He was born in 1506 and enlisted to the Tercio of the kingdom he lived in when it was created, so he has being one the first pike men in history.

1. Which was the purpose of the creation of the Tercios?

They were created by Charles I when he faced the difficult job of maintaining secure the territories he had inherited in Milan, Naples and Sicilia.

With France trying to snatch these regions to the King, he had the duty of reorganizing the Spanish infantry of these Italian regions.  So, the first Tercios were created in order to accomplish the defense of these territories.

2. Which of the Tercios you belonged to?
I was part of the Sicilia’s Tercio, one of the first three Tercios, together with the ones of Naples and Lombardi. This three Tercios were called “Old Tercios” because of its long service.

These groups were born, by order of Charles I, for defending some of his kingdoms, and each of them had its own authorities. 

Later, Tercios’s formation continued as we were doing a very good job and demonstrating our loyalty to the King.

3. How did it come to your mind the idea of enlisting to a Tercio for defending your region?

Well, you have already said it: it was a matter of defending my own region. However, it was also a great opportunity of showing the world my loyalty to the king; all men that were there demonstrated a huge loyalty to Charles I in every battle and, of course, to God, as all were also catholic.

Moreover, it seemed to be a great chance to form myself as a soldier, as I had no experience in the job and Tercios were formed by great soldiers but also by unexperienced ones.

4. Talk us about the tactics you used in your battles.

Our tactics were inspired by the ones that the Swiss army used; we fought combining, in a very efficient way, bladed weapons (such as spades and spears) and fire arms (like harquebus and muskets).

Moreover, we had a huge mobility and a big capacity for adapting to each fighting field, so everybody knew us as the invincible army.

5. What part did you take inside this tactic? Which was your job?

I was a pike man, as well as most of the people that worked in the Tercios.

First of all, the muskets started the war, over one hundred meters away from the enemy.

Then, harquebuses fired when the opposite army was nearer.

And finally it was our turn, the turn of the pike mans, who were organized in a square formation. We put our pikes pointing the outside of the square, so the enemy army couldn’t get closer to us. I don’t want to brag, but we were the most important part of the attack, because the enemy army, whose soldiers were mostly on horses, was unable to fight against us as it was very easy to make them fall with our pikes.   

Furthermore, next to us, there were situated what we called “mangas”, that were groups of soldiers with fire arms that helped us during the battle.

6. What would you say that were the keys for wining so much?

I would stand out the organization of the Tercios and the huge help that pikes provided us. The square organization was a fundamental part of our attacks in order to defeat our enemies as they could do nothing to penetrate the formation. Moreover, pikes were important because they were between 4 to 6 meters long, so they made us able to manage the other army’s soldiers without getting out of our place and they also avoid a lot of deads as we used them to protect ourselves too.

7. Did you participate in the “encamisadas”? ¿What did they consist in?

Of course, and I think they provided our army a huge help.

The “encamisadas” were tactics in which we attacked the enemy when it was off-guard. The best pike mans of the Tercio were in charge of putting into practice this strategy.

It consisted in travelling during the night to the enemy’s field (where they slept), taking with us only bladed weapons and a white T-shirt for distinguishing us from the other army.  

Although these were only eventual attacks, with them we managed to sabotage our enemy’s arms and to cause the most injuries as possible.

8. What can you tell us regarding the “12 apostles”?

As a mentioned, I was part of one of the first Tercios, so it still was a big difference between the two groups of soldiers that had fire arms: the harquebusiers and the musketeers. Both groups used different arms.

The ones used by the harquebusiers, needed 12 gunpowder’s loads in tubes made of wood, this is what was popularly called the 12 apostles.

However, as time went by, differences between the two groups of soldiers disappeared, and the arms that harquebusiers used started to be similar to the ones of the musketeers.

9. Did you use any uniform or method for distinguishing from your enemies?

We didn’t use any uniform, each person wore what he wanted or could afford; however, all of us had to wear a red ribbon tied to our wrists and those who were pike men also had to tie another like it in our pikes and similar weapons.

10. How did Tercios end?

The end of the scary Tercios took place during the reign of Philip V, who dissolved and transformed them into regiments with less free captains, controlled by a more centralized power.

However, I think Tercios will remain during history because of all the battles they have fought and won and the good reputation they have given to the Spanish armies.