Editing Flying wedge (section)

=== The Middle Ages ===
In the Middle Ages, the tactic was especially effective against defensive [[shield wall]] formations when defenders would link their shields together to form an all-but impenetrable barrier. Armored, heavily armed infantry could use their momentum in wedge formation to drive open small sections in the shield wall. This would break up the shield wall exposing the defenders to flank attacks.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}

==== Western Europe ====
Two complete descriptions of an infantry wedge are given by [[Saxo Grammaticus]] in his ''[[Gesta Danorum]]''. In Book I, he describes a shallow wedge, with the front rank of two men then each thereafter doubled.  In Book VII, he depicts a sharper pointed formation 10 men deep with the first rank being composed of 2 men, each rank composed of 2 more.<ref>[http://mcllibrary.org/DanishHistory/ "The Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus", translated by Oliver Elton (Norroena Society, New York, 1905)]</ref> Thus, each wedge was composed of 110 men, 10 deep, 2 men on its tip, and 20 on its base. According to the [[Viking]]s, the wedge formation, called by them [[svinfylking]], cf. the Latin ''caput porcinum'', was invented by [[Odin]] himself.<ref>[[Peter Foote|Peter G. Foote]] and [[David M. Wilson]], ''The Viking Achievement'' (New York, 1970),p.285</ref>

A triangular or wedge formation was also used in the medieval period by the [[Flemings|Flemish]] and [[Swiss people|Swiss]] infantry.<ref>{{cite book |title=War in the Middle Ages |last=Contamine |first=Philippe |author-link=Philippe Contamine|year=1984 |publisher=Blackwell |location=Oxford |isbn= 0-631-13142-6|pages=231–2}}</ref>

Deep wedges of cavalry were used by German armies in the later Middle Ages.  At the Battle of [[Pullenreuth|Pillenreuth]] in 1450, both the armies of [[Albrecht III Achilles, Elector of Brandenburg|Albrecht Achilles]] and [[Nuremberg]] fought in wedge formation. The Nuremberg cavalry was drawn up in a wedge led by 5 picked knights, then seven, then nine, then 11.  The following twenty ranks held 250 ordinary [[men-at-arms]], then a final rank of 14 picked men to hold the formation together.<ref>{{cite book |title=History of the Art of War vol III; The Middle Ages |last=Delbrück |first=Hans |author2=Trans Walter J. Renfroe |year=1990 |orig-year= trans 1982 |publisher=Greenwood |location=Westport, Conn. |isbn= 0-8032-6585-9|page=275}}</ref>  Sir Charles Oman refers to an unpublished manual of 1480 by Philip of Seldeneck<ref>{{cite book |title=A History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth Century |last=Oman |first=Sir Charles |year=1987 |orig-year=1937|publisher=Greenhill |location= London|isbn= 0-947898-69-7|pages= 82–3}}</ref> which describes the formation, calling it the ''Spitz''.  He gives examples of various formations varying from 200 men to 1000.  The formation of 1000 men places seven men in the first rank, with each rank increasing by two men back to the eighth rank with 21.  The remaining men are in a column 20 men wide behind the point. The banner would be carried in the seventh rank.

The use of the cavalry wedge in 13th Century [[Castile (historical region)|Castile]] is described in the [[Siete Partidas]], a law code compiled for king [[Alfonso X of Castile]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Gassmann  |first1=Jürg |date=2021 |title=The Siete Partidas: A Repository of Mediaeval Military and Tactical Instruction|url=https://bop.unibe.ch/apd/article/view/7464 |journal=Acta Periodica Duellatorum |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=9–10 |doi=10.36950/apd-2021-002 |access-date=17 July 2021|doi-access=free }}
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==== Byzantium ====
[[Byzantine Emperor]] [[Nikephoros II|Nikephoros Phocas]] analyzes the wedge formation of the [[Byzantine army|Byzantine]] [[Cataphract]]s in the third chapter of his ''[[Praecepta Militaria]]''. There, he relates that the wedge must be formed by 354 cataphracts and 150 horse archers to a total number of 504 men. The row of the first line comprised 20 horsemen, the second 24, the third 28, down to the 12th line, which consisted of 64 men. If such a number of men is not available, he proposes that the wedge be formed by 304 cataphracts and 80 horse archers, or a total of 384 men, the first line comprising 10 men. In his next chapter (''Ordinance on Cavalry Deployment''), he ordains that the wedge must be accompanied by two cavalry units, which will guard its flanks. A wedge whose ranks are not complete in the middle is shaped as an Λ instead of a Δ and is called a hollow wedge, or in Greek κοιλέμβολον,
''koilembolon''.