Lance

thumb|Polish uhlans from the army of the Duchy of Warsaw, 1807–1815, [[January Suchodolski painting]] Uhlan (; ; ; ; ) is a type of light cavalry, primarily armed with a lance. The uhlans started with the tartars in the Lithuanian irregular cavalry, that were later also adopted by other countries during the 18th century, including Poland, France, Russia, Prussia, Saxony, and Austria. The term "lancer" was often used interchangeably with "uhlan"; the lancer regiments later formed for the British Army were directly inspired by the uhlans of other armies (even though they were never known by that

according to the Gospel of John, lance that pierced the side of Jesus as he hung on the cross

thumb|300px|Normans|Norman cavalry attacks the Anglo-Saxon [[shield wall at the Battle of Hastings as depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry. The "lances" depicted here are held with a one-handed over-the-head grip, and so their use is not the same as the "lances" of the later medieval period, when they were fitted with a "grapper" designed to engage a lance rest attached to the wielder's plate armour and used couched in the charge.]]

thumb|upright=1.20|Polish Lancer (left) and Austrian Cuirassier (right) in a mêlée A lancer was a type of cavalryman who fought with a lance. Lances were used for mounted warfare in Assyria as early as and subsequently by India, Egypt, China, Persia, Greece, and Rome. The weapon was widely used throughout Eurasia during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance by heavy cavalry, but fell out of general use by the late 16th century, before its revival by light cavalry in the early 19th century. Lance cavalry remained in an active role into the early 20th century and World War I. In modern times, many

Chinese character radical

Sarmatian Roman pole weapon

very narrow pointed window

250px|thumbnail|Picador in Mexico corralling with a bull, 2010. thumb|A pair of picadors en la Santamaría Bullring|Santa María de Bogotá, 2018. A picador (; pl. picadores) is one of the pair of horse-mounted bullfighters in a Spanish-style bullfight that jab the bull with a lance. They perform in the tercio de varas, which is the first of the three stages in a stylized bullfight.

equestrian sport derived from jousting

device attached to a breastplate to support a lance

thumb|Soldier with a barsha A barcha, barsha or brchha is a type of lance with a wooden handle, once common in South Asia (the word itself is Hindi). They were common in the 16th century. ==Use in combat== The weapon found itself very handy with the emerging Marathas in the early seventeenth century. It was lighter to carry in the mountainous terrain and easier to manufacture. A skilled spearman (bhalaeet) could keep a heavily armed foot soldier at bay. With his slashing and thrusting motions, he could inflict much damage while surrounded by a number of swordsmen. The illustrious use of this w