Why did pila or other equivalent weapons fell out of use? It seems useful to pepper an enemy with some sort of missiles immediately before the attack but seemingly this practice was abandond during the middle ages. And by practice I mean the regulated use of such weapons like the ancient romans did.

Did they? I was under the impression that Javelins were still in use fairly regularly in the middle ages

>>17871196 (OP)
People still used javelins in the early middle ages.
But by the high middle ages the meta shifted from infantry blobs to richfags on horses and a javelin didnt do much against that, also the crossbow was much more accessible and effective.

>>17871201
>>17871215
>People still used javelins in the early middle ages.
In the same way as the ancient romans did? I know that the spanish Almogavars of the 13th and 14th century also used javelins but they aren't comparable to the roman legions as the Almogavars were light infantry.

>>17871196 (OP)
They switched to multiple light weight javelins.

>>17871196 (OP)
Taking a guess, throwing pila is mostly to give infantry (men at arms later) some type of ranged advantage, rather than being ranged units in themselves.

Not sure either. One could ask same question of why Testudo formation fell out of use, or why mass use of short swords also fell out of use.

Maybe the roman military discipline was lost and not compatible with the Feudal "Caste" system. Can't have every peasant having same Citizenship rights as nobility after some years of military service.

>>17871268
>Taking a guess, throwing pila is mostly to give infantry (men at arms later) some type of ranged advantage, rather than being ranged units in themselves.
Iirc the purpose of the pilum was to be thrown during the last meters of the legionaries advance in order to create disorder amongst their foes by getting stuck into shields and generally being quite heavy for a javelin (and ideally kill or wound some of them).
>One could ask same question of why Testudo formation fell out of use,
I don't think it did. Shields were always used during sieges to cover the advance under hostile fire.
>or why mass use of short swords also fell out of use.
Wasn't that due to the fact that in the later roman empire cavalry made up ever more soldiers and thus longer swords were required for fighting from horseback.