Osprey, Men-at-arms #050 Medieval European Armies (1975) 00ed Ocr 8.12.pdf

~ MILITARY

MEN-AT-ARMS SERIES

50

MEDIEVAL EUROPEAN ARMIES

TERENCE WISE GERALD EMBLETON

EDITOR: MARTIN WINDROW

mImI MIUTAll.Y

MEN-AT-ARMS SERIES

50

MEDIEVAL EUROPEAN ARMIES Text by TERENCE WISE

Colour plates by GERALD EMBLETON

First published in Great Britain in 197,; by Osprey Publishing, Elms Court, Chapel \\'a)', Bodey, Oxford OXz 9L1~ United Kingdom. Email: [email protected] Cl 1975 Osprey Publishing LId. Repl'imcd 1979, Ig81, 1982, 1983, 198'1' 1985, 1986, Ig87. Ig88 (twice), Ig8g, 1990, Ig92 (lwice), Ig96, Igg8, 1999, 2000

All rights l·cscrvcd. Apan {i'om an}' fair dealing for the purpose of pri\"atc study, research. criticism or review, as pcmlilled under the Copyright Designs anc! Patents Act, tg88, no pan of this publication may be.' reproduced, stored in a retricml systelll. or transmilled in any foml or by any means. electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocop)ing, recording or Otherwise. \.ithout the prior pcnnissioll of the copyright 0\'11~r. Enquiries should Ix' addrcs:sro to lhc Publishen.

Most of the black and wrute illustrations have been laken from A en/ua! Enquiry into Ancient ArmtNr in Euro/Jt, vols_ I and 2, by Sir Samud Meyrid: (,824) and II Trtaliu on Anamt Armour and Wtapons by Francis Grose (1786). The photographs are reproduced by courtesy of the Keeper, the Library of the Victoria and Albert Museum. (Photographer, Berkhamsted Photographic, Bcrkhamsted, Hertfordshire.) Sir Samuel Meyrick was Ihe father of the study of armour in England, and the firSl eollc<:.tor on an extensive scale: much of his collection is 11010'1' in the Wallace Collection" The paintings in his book were based on actual weapons and armour. or the evidence supplied by tomb effigies, monuments and illuminated manuseriplS. The author and publisher wish to thank the Royal Artillcl)' Institution and the Wallace Collection ror supplying the remainder of the photographs.

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<0'rCedieval european rJlrmies Introduction Almo t continual warfare raged in Europe during the period 13°0-15°0: the Hundred Year ar between France and England· lh cotti h wars and War of the Roses ip England itself· the struggl for political and religious freedom from feudal overlords in Switzerland, Boh mia and Flanders' to stem th advan of th Turks in Hungary; b tw en the city states republics and papal territories of! taly; civil war and th fighl against the Moors in Spain· and th invasions of Italybyth Fr ncb at the ndofth 15lhcentury. The e war w re the furnaces in which many of the modern European nations were forged. Parallel with thi emerg nee of th nation cam the d v lopm nt of national armie to protect the et newly-won borders and independence throughout thi period the old feudal m thad of raising an army persisted.

the e m n being known as hou hold knight. Each ub-t nant I t th farm on hi manor to opyhold I' on condition th provid d h mselve with the appropriate arm and must red under his banner when called upon for military ervi e. Therefor each manor uppli d a troop f oldi I' known as a retinu : th small farm rs and the knight personal retainers fighting on foot, clad in leather jerkins and armed wi th spear or bow, wi th p rhaps two or chI'· of his more important copyhold r in padd d and quilted body-armour and eel helmets; his younger brothers or son as men-at-arms and quires on hal' back with lane word and shi ld and in armour alma t campI t a hi own; and th knight him elf full armoured arm d with lance sword and shield, and mounted on a heav charger. (In th mid-fourteenth century the

~singa geudalufrmy Und r th fI udal sy tem all land wi thin a kingdom wa owned by the king. He retained large e rates to provide himself with per onal followers and royal r v nu ,but th gr ater part of the kingdom was let in large lordships to his principal noble on condition they maintain d a certain number of men for the d fI DC of th kingdom. These chi f t nants of the Crown retained a portion of th ir land and sub-let the remainder in estates on condition that each nobl or knight who held an tat upplied a proportion of the armed force required of the chief tenant by the king. few of the chief tenants, particularly churchmen and German baron, preferI' d to maintain per onal control over all their lands, upplying their quota of knights by hiring them,

A knight of the fir t baH of the fourteenth century wearing orne Corm of padded garment, po ibly leath.er, over his hauberk and his mail hose reinforced by poleyns

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SpearDlan with round shield and kettle bat and wearing scale armour, which was ligbter and more 8exible tban Dlail and reDlained in service amongst inIantryDlen until c. 1325' Man-at-arDls c. 1300 wearing hauberk (a.rtists used a number of sucb methods to represent mail), mail bose and iron poleyns to protect his knees. Slinger of the early fourteenth century, completely unarDloured and carrying a staff ling for large Dlissiles. Tbe ordinary sling had a range of about 275 yards.

LongbowDlan in hauberk, hardened leather breastplate reinforced by four iron c:l.iscs, and sitnple cerveUiere helmet of the early fourteenth century. Note he is holding an arrow beaded with a phial of quickl.inle. E"'treDle range was 300 yards, effective range about 200 yard. CrossbowDlan wearing helDlet with na al bar, also early fourteenth century, and ca.rrying a short sword or possibly long dagger. Ranges were about the same as the longbow but the crossbow was Dluc.h slower to load and lacked the penetrative power of the longbow

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retinue of Richard Lord Talbo was '4 knights, 60 quire and 82 archers' that ofJohn d Vere, Earl of Oxford 23 knights 44 squires and 63 archers.) Such retinues combined to make up the force which he chief tenant was bound to furnish the king, and the forces of all the chief tenants made up the army of the kingdom. ub-tenants holding less than a knight's manor were known as sergeants i.e. mounted soldiers below the rank of knight. Sergeancy did not ex.ist in England but on the Contin nt th s men were requir d to provide a numb r of infantry in r turn for their land, or 1 ad th local forces, or carry tbelord' banner theirobligationdepending on the iz of their estat . They weI' equipped in the same manner a a knight but usually wore less armour and rod alighter unarmoured horse. These sergean ts should not be confused wi th sergeants-at-arms, who were members of a royal bodyguard originally formed by Philip Augustus of France but soon copied by other European monarchs. Sergeants-at-arms were u d to an ord rs or to s that orders were carried out, and together with the hou ehold knights of the king, formed an elite body of fighting men round the king's person. ntil the emergence of standing armies they provided the nucleus for all armi s raised by the king. Th kings of most countries also bad the right to call out en masse all able-bodied men to rYe as foot oldjers in emergencie . In England this was called the Posse Comitatus the force of the county or shire, under th command of th· . heriff. In the Holy Roman Empire the force was known as the Heerhan' in France as the Arriere-han. Th m n were usually required to arm thems Iv in ac ordanc with their wealth, either as light infantry with bow or spear or as medium infantry with a mail haubergeon or paddd jack t a teeI helmet and a spear and shield. The length of servi e in th field owed by these forces varied lightly from country to country but on average was limited to forty day. Servi e could be extended by paying the troops although many were reluctant to tay away from their lands for long periods and this ma,de i t exc dingl y difficult to keep an army in the fi.eld for any length of time. The peasant 1 vy was under no obligation

to serve outside their own country and frequently up to two-thirds of lhe knights ignored the call to arms, preferring to pay fines or sclltage tax, which allowed kings to hire a smaller number of professional soldiers in their place. England, France, Sicily and southern Italy, the Scandinavian countries and the various duchies and counties of the Holy Roman Empire all followed this feudal system but because feudalism

was based on a rural society it did not develop along the same lines in northern Italy and in Flanders, where the wealth and influence of the cities was often far greater than that of the lords. In fact many nobles abandoned their estates to take up trade in the rich cities, thus giving those cities control of the surrounding countryside. Florence, Venice and Genoa were such cities in Italy; Ypres, Ghent and Bruges in Flanders.

~bf inCa..fry....... ohhe pellsanllevy .rmPel ooly wiLh. bucl<Jer .ad oaci.., Or pido:j .ad. kai&hl dad in mail hau~k, coif IIDd bose, Jon! lJurcollt .Dd .rmPel wiLh Ibe simple lauce or Ihe early rOllrleeaLh eeoillry. A sre.1 helm, or beaume, was wara oyer Lhe coif ror baltle

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thi feudalism .was n v l' a trong in pain as in England, France and Germany, although the number of knights available was considerabl increased by the numerous Spanish and Portuguese mili tary orders. During the fourteenth and much of the fift enth centuri s Castile and Aragon wer torn by civil wars and the ci ties raised mili tia forces for their own protection. These were known as the He1mandades in Castile Comunidades in Aragon. This creat d a situation in which four diff< rent forces could be rai cd: those of the king the barons, the military orders and th citi . The for fough teach oth l' in various combination..

C]JieU'rCercenaries Robert Rouse, Baron ofWatre in Yorkshire, c. 1300. His mail is covered by a surcoat and reinforced by poleyns. The huge axe is the Eastern European bardische. It is unlikely to have been used by IIlen-at-arms until c. T450, though i,t was used by some infantry in the fourteenth century

These Clues and many oth I' great cItIes in Europe, raised a third type of fighting man-th city militia. nJjke the feudallevy the city militia was a regular force, for its du ties included policing the city garrisoning the ci ty's castles which protected the trade routes and ports and guarding the borders of the state or republic. There may have b en some form of conscription, or the militia may hav be 'n on a purely voluntary ba is but eith r way the m n w r b tt l' equipped and trained than the peasant Ie ie and appear to have been rated the equal ofprofessional mercenary infan try. In Spain both the paniards and the Moors fought a war of lightning raids with plunder as th ir main obj ctive and th pam h knights therefor tended to wear light r quipm nt than in th rest of Europ and to ride rab horse'. Ca aIry below the rank of knight was armed only with a Ian e javelins or darts, and a knife. The infantry consisted of pearmen linger and arch rs. Thi gu rilia warfare drove th population from the la~d and in many ways pain came to resemble northern Italy, with a number of more or less independent citi s but-unlike Italy -remaining under royal sov '1' 'ignty. Because of

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In theory the f, udal ystem enabled a king to call on large bodies of infantry and cavalry but in practi e neither force could be relied on. Apart from the failure to answer the call to arm and th difficulty of maintaining them in the field for more than forty days thos who did an weI' the ummons often quarrell d amongst themsel e , making it impossible to control the army as a unified body. The pea ant I vy was poorly equipped untrained and in an age when nationalism was still unknown usually had no enthusiasm for war. As early as th end of the eleventh century military leaders recognised that no efficient army could be raised entirely by the feudal system and began to mploy bands of mere naries who were more fRci nt, b tter equipped and more willing to fight than the I vi s. The e troops were mainly Braban on pearmen and Gascon crossbowmen equipped with mail hauberks, helmets and shields. By the middle of th twelfth entury the infantry of most armies wa ·tiff, ned by a ub tantial body of these mercenaries and by the end of the thirteenth century the payment of soldiers whether they were mercenaries or levies, had become standard practice in order to maintain an army in the fi ld for prolong d campaign . By the end of the birt enth century the city states of nortJlern Italy had exhausted themselves fighting each other for supremacy and relinquished their independence to local signori

such a th Este of Ferrara, Visconti of Milan and Medici of FloI' nc . Th s signori soon found the city militias inadequate for the larger wars they now wished to wage to increase their territorial posse. ion, while th la k of an exten iv f; udal system meant there were comparatively few heavily armour d cavalry available. Therefore in the fir t quarter of the fourteenth century the signori began to recruit bands of foreign mercenarie , mostly from Germany. These bands, known a compagnie di ventura (compani of fortune) consisted of between fifty and a hundred poorly armed men who reverted to their mar u ual occupation of brigandage at th nd of their employment. The fir t large well equipped and disciplined force of m rc narie wa the Gr at Gompany of 6,000 Germans and Swiss led. by Werner von rslingen. This company fought for variou factions in Italy until 1351. An even larger but slightly later company was th Grand Company of Fra Morial (he had been expelled from the Order of t John) which had 7,000 mounted men-at-arms and 2 000 crossbowmen. This mpha is on the heavy cavalry, supported by inferior number of crossbowmen and spearmen, is typical ofmost companies offortune d uri ng the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and reflects the es entially feudal character of Italian armie of thi period. In the second half of the century the Italians began forming their own companies the most notable being the Company of t George led by Alberico, Count of Barbiano, and by the end of the century whole armies of such mercenaries were being raised. These mercenary armies endured in Italy until the end of the fifteenth century. The captains of mercenalY companie were highly skilled fighting men, often members of th signori families or their rival for power. 1'h size oftheir company d p nded on thein putation and the ability to raise money against that reputation. Employment wa al 0 gov rned by their reputation and the quality of the equipment of their meo. The captain guarante d their men pay even when the company was unemployed and this arran ement was known as condolta, from which came the name condottieri for the captain.

In th same period that the condoua y tern was becoming establish d in Italy, th thr Edwards of ngland were taking the first steps towards developing a purely mercenary army. Edward I (1272-1307) had attempted to increas the number of his cavalry by making all landowners with estat worth mar than [,2 a y ar rend I' the s· rvice of a knigh t, but this move had been resisted. Edward III (1327-77)- tried to raise a well equipped fore of infantry by making communities pay th ir ontingents of the shire levy, but this was also resisted by the people. M rc nari weI' therefore mploy d on an increasing scale for. the Welsh and cottish wars of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. By the tim of the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) English armie' in Fran e were composed almost entirely of paid men. However the Magna Carta forbade the extensive u e of foreign troops b a king of England and therefore these mercenaries were for the most part Englishmen-in effect a small but pro~ ssional army of paid volunteers. Th longbowmen were selected at village archery contests the men competing for the honour ofb ing chosen, a form ofselectiv service unknown els wher in Europe. In 1341 Edward III instituted a system of

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A knight of the de Vere family, Earls of Oxford. (Q.uarterly, red and gold, the gold star indicating thi is the heir of the ea.rL) He is armed in the style CODLDlon during the first quarter of the fourteenth century

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A kn;Slu of lhe early fourtHnth cennory armed wilh sword, mace and dagger. The padded prmellt appearing below the hauberk I. the .kelon, • •hirt.like prmenl of buckram. sluffed with conon, wo .... beneaw lhe hauberk to suppan the mail and pre"'enl brokenlin"s being dri",en into a wound.

written indentured contracts between the Crown and prominent captains, a method of raising a professional army which soon spread to most of nonhern and weSlern Europe, becoming standard practice by lhe late fourteenth century and remaining in usc until the emergence of standing armies. Under this system Ihe captains contracted with the king to provide a certain number of men at a place of assembly by a set date. The contract set down precisely how long the men would have to serve, traditionally a minimum of forty days and a maximum of a year, their rates of pay, obligaLions and privileges. These companies usually contained men-ai-arms, moullled and foot archers, and spcannen. The firsl instalment of their wages was normally paid by the captain

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of the company, the king gIving secunlles to repay lhe money at the mustering point or as soon after that date as possible. In lhe founeelllh century neither France nor England had the financial resources to engage in prolonged warfare, yet the use of mercenaries for the campaigns of the Hundred Years War did creale large armies, attracting Illen from all over Europe. Because these mercenaries had no means of earning a living except by war, lhey were extremely difficult to disband at the end of a campaign and the men who hired them were often forced to find lhem employment elsewhere in order to prevent their counlries being overrun by brigands. After the French defeat at Poiliers (1356), resulting in the capture of the French king and the collapse of law and order, many of these bands, known as Free Companies, did resort to brigandage, having observed thal the spoils of war were sufficienl to make them rich without hiring lhemselvcs oul to nobles and kings. Thcse brigands usually established themselves in a stronghold and terrorized the surrounding countryside into paying tribule, capturing for ransom any wealthy travellers who passed through their area and sometimes uniting with other companies lO sack a poorly defended town. In an altempl to gel these brigands out of France the Marquis of Montferrato hired many French, English and German companies in 1361 and attempted to seize the duchy of Milan. A large band known as the Guglers was taken to Switzerland by Enguerrand de Coucy, where it was almost annihilated by the men of Bern. Sir John Hawkwood took his White Company of 2,500 men-at·arms and 2,000 longbow men into Italy, where he fought for Pisa, Milan and Florence until his death in 1394. The Great Company went to Avignon and forced the Pope to pay them large sums of money before Berlrand du Guesclin, later Constable of France, led them across the Pyrenees in 1364 to suppan Henry of Castile against Pedro the Cruel. The Black Prince hired olher Free Companies and marched into Castile in 1367 lO support Pedro and in lhe wars which followed the companies on both sides were practically exterminated. These actions curbed the chaos in France but encouraged the spreading of Free Companies to

other parts of Europe, whe"e they often had a direct influcnce on subsequent events. Bands continued to plunder Briuany and Normandy and fight over the borders of Languedoc where, until the end of the Hundred Years War in '453, :English' companies could always be found to fight the troops of the king of France. At the end of the Hundred Years War England was in chaos, the people rebelling against heavy taxes, the nobles seuling their quarrels with private wars, and the rivalry between the Houses of York and Lancaster leading inexorably to the Wars of the Roses (1455-85). Many soldiers returning from France found employment in the private armies of the nobles. The king, lacking a standing army, was able to control disloyal nobles only by using the armies of those who remained loyal and this weakness in the royal authority led to corruption in the courts of law for, whenever the interests of a landowner were involved in a legal case, rival bodies of armed men would ride into the county town and intimidate \",itncsscs,judge and jury. Because justice was no longer obtainable for the small landowner, many of the yeoman farmers and lesser gentry turned to the great nobles for protection, entering into a contract known as Livery and Maintenance whereby they undertook to wear the noble's livery and badge and fight for him in times of need, and in return they would receive his protection whenever they needed il. These large private armies, and the contract troops raised by the Crown, formed the bulk of the fighting men for the Wars of the Roses, the royal or feudal levy being called out only at moments of great crisis.

tongues yet capable of welding themselves into one nation. In the first half of the founeenth century this new nation forged a national army of peasant foot soldiers which was to prove capable of defeating in the open field time after time the chivalry of the Holy Roman Empire. After their decisive defeat of the Burgundians in the 1476-7 campaign the Swiss began hiring this infanU)' to other European countries and it soon became recognised as the elite infantry of Europe, superior to all other infantry and most cavalry until the sixteenth century. No other national army emerged in Europe until '4'9, when the Hussite Wars began betwccn the people of Bohemia and the Holy Roman

Cjlie:First ~OlltIl uirmies In 1291 the three forest cantons of Uri, Schw}'z and Unterwalden in Switzerland formed a league against domination by the Houses of Habsburg and Savoy and in the fourteenth century Ihe wars of emancipation from the Holy Roman Empire began which were to last until 1499. After the early victories Lucerne and Zurich joined the league to begin the formation of a confederation of peoples, speaking different

Infantryman .ltd knlsht of tbe fint half of the fourteeltth «atury. The iltfantryma... q we.rl..S. haubtork O;:Oyued by • prman m.d.. up of multi-e:oloured leatb..r flaps and SOme form of padded hose. Th.. knisbt wea... an early form of visored bas<:lnet, bit; ..Ibo_ ..... suarded by iron coute"" and ltis bands by pUlltlets ....infon:ed with lrolt plates and <....

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Empire, a ain for reli iou and political fr d m. The Bohemian chivalr wa outnumbered by several hundreds to one, the peasants and burghers w re poorly armed and undisciplined. The task of creatin a national army from thi unlik Iy material was given toJan Ziska, wh had acquired military experience fighting for the Poles against th Teutonic Order and more recently for the Engli b at Agincourt (1415)' nd r his rigid discipline the entire adult male population of Bohemia was conscripted for militar service enabling large armies to be fi. lded by a comparatively small state. While half this army fought, the other half cultivated the land, roles being reversed ·periodically. his army won more than fifty battles and minor action in its fir t fourteen year, but its moral fibre was gradually weaken d by th loss s it suffered casualties of neces ity being replaced by mercenane . The Fr nch vic tori ov r th English in the 1430 inspired by Joan of rc led to a truce which la ted from 1444 to 1449 and Charles VII used these quiet years to reorganise his forces. In 1439 under the Ordonnance sur la Gendarmerie

he had made the first step towards a national army led by royal offic rs and financ d by a royal tax, and at th sam time forbidd n hi noble to rai e roop without a royal licenc . This provoked a lising amongst the nobles, which was crushed leaving the king in a position of power and the way clear for France to become the first Europ an natioo to have a royal tanding army as opposed to the people's armies' of witzerland and Bohemia. Charles' aim was to raise a police fore to suppress the Fre Companies and to provid a nuel u for an army with which to defeat any further En. lish invasions. Amn sties were granted to the less villainous ree Companie and under the Constable d Richemont and the Comt d Dunois fifteen Compagnie d' Ordonnance du Roi wer formed by 1445, each commanded by a noble chosen for his loyalty and military skill the company being known by th name of its commander. These companies later increased to twenty formed the royal cavalry. They were Lodged in strategic towns and cities and in peace time were paid by the provin es. In 1448 another ordinan e wa pass d which

A knight of c. 1330, howing how the plate arlDour was fixed on the arlDS. Beneath the short (ronl of the surcoat may be seen the coat of plates and the hauberk, which was now cut away at the sides

Earl of Pembroke (died 1323) wearing the mixed lDail and plate arntour typical of the first half of the fourteenth century. The lower leg is now fully protected by a larger poleyn, greaves and sabatoo (iron shoes): the shoulder reinforcement is a besague. The shield waS suspended acroSS the chest by the guige until the lance was broken, when the rein hand was transferred to other straps on the back of the bield

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created an infantry militia-the Frallc·archiers. Every group oUifty homes had to provide, equip and pay an archer or crossbow man, and by this ordinance Charles created a permanent, well armed and trained force of c. 8,000 infantry. During the same period the Royal Artillery was organised and trained by Gasper andJcan Bureau, who gave France the most technically advanced and effective artillery in Europe. In the last campaigns of the Hundred Years War the infantry, cavalry and artillery of the Royal Army of France were victorious time after time, defeating the English in the field and recapturing castles and towns in rapid succession. At the close of the war France had a regular army of at least 12,000 mcn-at-arms and crossbowmen. For the invasion of Italy in 1494 this army was supplemented by Gascon crossbowmen and German and Swiss pikemen and halberdiers. A different form of 'national' army was raised in Hungary in the second half of the fifteenth century. Hungary was ruled from 1309'"""82 by two Angevin kings, Robert and Louis, who strengthened the kingdom's military resources by in trod ueing the feud al sys tcm, es lablishing mi Ii tary orders and raising a large bodyguard. These forces were the equal of the feudal cavalry of the Ottoman Turks until the early fifteenth century, by which date the Turks were using large numbers of infantry-the famous Janizaries, armed with the crossbow. (Suleiman the Magnificent, sultan from 15'20-66, had about 12,000 Janizaries.) Since the Hungarians had no native infantry apart from the peasalll levy, they began hiring mercenaries, mainly pikemen and arquebusiers, Mauhias Corvin us, who dreamed of uniting central Europe under his I'ule, inherited thjs army when he became king in 1458 and from 1468 used it to make a series of conquest's which gained him control of Bohemia, Moravia, SiJesia and Austria. To help him conquer Austria, and hold on to what he had already gained, he organised a standing army of mercenaries, drawn mainly from Silesia and Moravia, known as the Black Army. This was financed by a lax which even the nobles, whose retinues formed the feudal army of the kingdom, were forced to pay. in Spain Granada was retaken from the Moors by the RLconquista of 1481-91. The Spanish armies

A "nJSht of 13"'5""30 wnrmll: a d _...ted bascinet with • 'nth_ aV~lail to protect his neck., beupes, coute.... and studded punde.. ofle>rlile. lid arm.. are now protected by pu",...shaped plale.., ........ b ...ce on the fornrrft, rereb ... ~ on the "'pper ........ toe! the shouldcn by overl.ppinll: plates called spaudlers. NOle the aketon IIhowins: at the wrist. Under the "horte.eeI .urc_t m.y be 5«D • coat of plates,. prmnu of Iro. pl.tes held between two I.ye of cloth or leather by .tuds, wOrn OVer the hauberk as ext protection .~t the tonshow.

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Engli b IDOunted and foot archer and cro bOWIDan of about 1330 40. Men as well equipped a the e would have been lDercenaries hired for the Scottish wars of Edward m. The mounted arcbers used a longbow, not the bort how illustrated, and did not fire froID hor ehack

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of this period contained large numbers of feudal levie back d up by wiss pikemen, German and Italian artillery specialists, English archers and billmen, French men-at-arms and German arquebusiers. The militias of the cities were now united under the command of a royal offi r t form he anla He1'1lzandad, the beginning ofa national army paid for by a tax not only on the burgh rs but also on the clergy and nobilit.. The hiring of wiss pikemen I d th Spaniards to form their own companies of pik m nand these companies stiffened b swordsmen, rose to u h prominen e that in the last decade of the century Spanish infantr were in gr at demand for the wars in Jtaly. One other national army to emerge in the late fifteenth century was that organized by MaximilianI,kingofG rmany 1486-1519. aximilian u ed as a basi for his army the mercenaries known as Landsknechts who had formed bands of pikemen in imitation of the wiss. When he came to the throne Maximilian issued commissions ro his aptains authorizing them to rai e 'regim nts' from the more respectable Landknecht companies and during his reign he form d these mer nari. into an organized well disciplined national army ncouraging hi knight· to serve in their ranks and nobles to I ad them. When Maximilian wa made Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 14.93 he attempted to raise a standing Imperial army but the prin es of the Empire refused to serve with the army or pay a ax to support it. Th Landsknecbts reverted to mercenaries and brigands after Maximilian death in 1519.

(9rgtlflisation Medi val armi s were normally eli ided into tbre divi ions on the battlefield the award (or Vanguard), Main and Rearward Bartles, \ ith the light troops occasionally operating separately und r their own commander. he Battles always marched in that order and normally deployed for battle wi th the Main Battl in th ntr, th Vaward on the right and tb R arward on the left. (The Rearward Battle hould not be confll cd with a rearguard which was a force specially

'Earl of Cornwall (died 1329) £rOD> the effigy in Westminster Abbey. He is wearing a surcoat shortened in front, reveaJing the skirts of the various layers of body armour, while his lintbs ar protected by plate armour

elected to prote t the rear of a r treating arm .) Wber' tb re was in ufficieot roorn for such deploym ot the Battles might be placed with two in the front lin and one in res rve or in thr e succe sive lines. malleI' units operating within each Battle are describ d below. THE CAVALRY Th smail st unit within the cavalry wa the 'lance not to be onfuseel with a retinue, which also contained foot soldi rs and was normally split up at the ass mbly p int in ord r to group tb troop into more c nv ni n t bodies ofdifferen t arms. The English lance consisted tbeoreticall of a knigh , a man-at-arms arid two mount d arch rs: Ohaucr writingc.1360 m ntion only a knight, a qui.re and one mounted archer. The French lance of 1450 contained a man-at-arms, a squire, and three moun ted archers or two mounted archer and a hobiJar (light avalryman). In Italy th' arli . t unit m ntion d for th companie of forrune is a barbuta of a mounted serg ant and a man-at-arms. This was changed in th 1350S to a lane r a man-at-arm , a quire and a boy or page. In Italy five lances made a posta and five poste a bandiera (flag) i.e. a unit of twenty-five cavalry.

13

According 10 a royal ordinance of 135 t the French cavalry was grouped in 'squadrons' (rollles) of a fixed number, but lhe number is 110t mentioned. In England such squadrons varied from twentyfive to eight)' in number, giving an average of about fifty, and wcre commanded by a knight flying a pcnnoncelle on his lance. In the Byzaminc army the term for this commander was Vinltnor;es, suggesting finy was the original number for a squadron. Byzantine military methods wcre studied in western Europe, both by reading extant Roman military writings and practical experience gained on crusade. and the rank of l'intl'1laryis mentioned quite often in contemporary English documents. Several such squadrons, perhaps making a total of from twO to three hundred men, formed the equivalent of a modern cavalry regiment. At Bannockburn (1314) the 3,000 English cavalry were divided into ten 'baules', each of 300 men. These battles were then formed into the usual Vaward, ).Iain and Rearward Battles, theC3valry in each case in three ranks, with the tenth haule acting as an advanced guard. The l.'quivalent Byzantine formation was the bandon of 450 men: the Compagnie aOrdonnance du Roi of the midfifteelllh century contained 500 men: 100 lances offive. A 'regiment' was led by a knight bachelor, entitled to fly a pennon. Two or three of these 'regiments' were usually united under the commander of a Baule, as at Bannockburn. Such a commander might be a king, prince or noble, all of whom could fly their personal banner and a standard for their troops to rally on. From the 1350S the command of a Baule was also ~iven to knights below the rank ofnoblc who had valuablc military experience or could bring to the field of battle a largc force of mCll. These cOlllmanders were known as knights banncret and were also permitted to fiy a banner and standard. The cavalry therefore consisted of nobles, knights. sergeants, squires, men-at-arms, hobilars and mounted archers, and some explanation is needed to clarify exactly what each of these terms means. The nobles and knights were of various ranks by which they may be positively identified: barons, counts, carls, dukes and princes in the nobility; and knights banneret, knights bachelor

14

and simple knights. These men wcre the officers ofthe anny, with the household knights and poorer knights fighting in thc ranks. They and their horses were heavily armoured. The sergeants were. all those below the rank of knight who had the equipment of a knight, or a lighter form of it. Their horses wcre smaller than those of the knights and were unarmoured. Squires were apprentice knights, equipped in the same st)'le as sergeants. The senior squire was known as Lhe squire of the body and always accompanied his lord in baule, although two or three squires might go on campaign wiLh each knight. Originally the squire's responsibilities were numerous: 10 assist his lord don his armour; hand him new weapons to rcplace broken or lost ones; supply a fresh horse if the lord was dismounted; take charge of any prisoners captured by the lord; rescue the lord if he was captured; carry him from the field if wounded; lend him assistance if he was attacked by several men at once; and act as subaltern to the retinue. Howcvcr, there is evidence to suggest that after the middle of the fourteenth ccntury most of these duties had become merely token ones, and squires were relied on to provide a forceofmedium cavaJry with the sergcants. The term man-at-arms ae!Ually applies to aJl mounted fighting men who wore armour, but although a knight might therefore be called a man-at-arms, a man-at-arms was not neccs.~arily a knight, being possibly a sergeant or a squire. Thus the sergeants and squires, who normally fought in the ranks behind the first line of nobles and knights, formed the bulk-the rank and fileof thc cavalry. The light cavalry was represcllled by the hobilars, a term applied to unarmourcd spearmcn or archers mounled on small, light horses. They were used as despatch riders and scouts and normally played no part in the cavalry fighting. They were nOt cavalry in the true sense, being more akin to mounted infantry, using their horses only to get Ihcm to the scene of action. although they were sometimes used as light cavalry in pursuit of a defeated enemy. Edward III created a mounted archer corps in '334 in order to obtain greater mobility in the Scottish border wars. The tactical use of large

A. kuisbt of Co 1:).40 we-rial blat;k armour 0 .. his limbs. ne eervemert ba. dewelope'CI mto tM mort poialeel basc:iJlet, with mailawe.tail aludled, aod Lhe be-wne at his fed ...... DOW U.l'eeI oDly for touraameDc.s. Note llte rowd "pun;, wh.leh replaeeellM prick .p...., ,bown m preeedin! ill...tn.. Ii....... bou, IJJO. l.n haly Lhe baKmd wa. £requftldy wono witho"t .a .veauil

Earl or W.rwid< (died 1370) we-rins • ,bo"ftIed ba"berlt (baube. ._aJ; j"poa lUHI plate .nno..... iJld"dial" ~ _ 0" the thiSh" whieh wert eommOft Lhrousho"t E"rope by this dale. He was M.nlbaI .t Poitienl.ad do shown ca..-ryiJll" Lhe.raft' of offiee

numbers of archers supported by men·at-anns crossbowmen, spearmen, and the city militias; during the Hundred Years War made it essential and the light infantry of archers, unarmoured that the twO arms should be able to travel at the spear or javelin men, slingers, and the rabble of same speed and therefore during the fourteenth the levy armed with a variety of crude weapons, century an increasing number of English archers often nothing more than an agricultural tool were mounted. By the second half of the century mounted on a long haft. ~me French infantry were also mounted so that The levy was mustered al various points in they might engage the highly mobile 'flying 'companies' but in battle these companies seem columns' of lhe English raiders. lO have been merged to form a mass of light troops There were three dislinct lypes of horse in usc with liltle or no ability lO manoeuvre in formation. at this time: the tall and heavy deslrier, used only Since they were normally kept 10 the rear they for tournaments; a poor breed of horse called a did not usually playa decisive pan in a baltle rounsey, which was ridden by all troops on and were eilher massacred by the triumphant campaign; and lhe courser, which slood aboul cavalry of the enemy or assistcd in the pursuit fifteen hands high and resembled a large show- and despatch of defeated infantry. If thcy could jumper. The last was lhe war horse of the knighl join in a cavalry melee lhey were quite deadly, and was led by lhe squire (possibly the page boy, hacking off men's legs with their polearms and in fact) until battle became imminent, when the a.xes, hamstringing the horses wilh their long knight changed mOll illS. knives or galling them with their spears. Before a battle commenced, bowmen, slinger'S and javelin THE INFANTRY men from the levy served in loose formation as There were several distinct types of infantry: skirmishers before the main battle line. The Swiss heavy infantry in the form of fully armoured, in particular placed great importance on skirdismounted men-aI-arms; the medium infantry mishers and frequently employed up to a quarter of professional soldiers in half armour, such as of their army in that role.

15

A knil!;bt of abo.. t 1,80 dnlllled for !.be jo.... t. The bn.1IIDe is: deco.... ted with cn~', wreath aad scarf. la battle a visored ba""loet would have been won> aod !.be l.aoce would have had a .harp polot

16

Thc militia and mcrcenaries, who formed the hard core of the infantry, had a definite system of companies. The professional infantry of the French armies in the founcelllh century consisted of spearmen and crossbowmen, organized in companies of about thiny men, each company commanded bya constable who flew a pennoncclle on his lance. In English armies the infantry was aJso commanded by constables on occasions and at the end of the twelfth century a constabulary of Welsh infantr), numbered 500 men, and this seems to have been a uniform size for infantry units of that time. (When the English aml)' crossed the Somme prior to Agincourt the ad\
colon 1 ie of 1,000 men, clivid d into four companies of 250 men on· armed \ ith sword and bu kl r n with th pik n with th arqu bus and th fl urth a light ca aIry, or gilleles.

THE

R TILLER Y

!thou b artillery did not be am I' all ffi ti e un' th fift euth ntu it w u ed in battles and i g as arly a th 132 and from lh beginning t ok tw di tin t form . si g gun and anti.per anne! weapons, The siege uns of the fourt nth ntury and man of tho of th fifteenth century were manufactured by wIding iron bars together round a wooden core and uring th m by hrinking n iron hoop after which the wooden 'Core was burnt out. On end of the tube thus formed was closed by an iron chamb r holding a powd r harg h ld in plac b a wedge between it and a barri r erected at

th r ar of th gu n, These cham b· rs were bott! shap d, with an op rung whi h lin d up with th bre h and a t u h hole for firing th harg, Many guns had several chamber so that a faid high rale of fIre could be achieved, B 1430 su h gun w r bing manufactur d with alibres of 25 in, apabl f firing ton ball w i hin up to 400 pounds. any of thes lar er muzzl -load r th breech nd blo k d bam Lal plu ,Th mall r gun w r la h d t I d for firing and transportation but th lar er guns were fired I ing on the ground held in po ilion b a od w r tran, fram work f wo d n b am ported on carriages with iron-shod wh els. The wer lift d n and ofT'the arriag by ran. mailer muzzl -Ioadin uns wer a t in brass and in the 1320S are illustrated firing metal arrow', Another ady form of anti.p rsonn I cannon was th ribauldequin, a s ri of mall A knight of c. 1395 armed for battle. The chains on the breastplate were attached to sword and dagger hilt and first appeared in the 1360s. They were replaced soon after this date by the sword knot

17

cannon mountcd on a wheeled carriage so that they could be dischuged togcther by a sweep of a slowmatch. All these guns used agunpowder which was mixed on the spot to prevent explosion or segregation of the ingredients during transportation. Loading a charge of this powder was a skilled task, for if rammed too tightly it would not ignite instantaneously, yet if packed too loosely it might fizzle OUl. In the '450S gunpowder was granulated to make it more stable but only the cast guns could withstand the greater force of this new explosive. Bronze guns were being produced throughout Europe by the I440S and therefore during the second halfof the century many long guns ofsmall caHbrc were cast in bronze which fired a metal ball and rdied on their high muzzle velocity for effect against fortifications. About 1470 these lighter, more mobile guns began to be cast with trunnions on each side which enabled the gun to be mounted on a wheeled carriage and acted as piVOLS to allow the gun to be elcvatcd or depressed. The first rcally mobile field artillery accompanied Charles VII I on his invasion of Italy in 1494 and fomova (1495) was probably the first battle where field artillery played a really decisive part, although it had been effective in the field since mid-century. A derivative of the ribauldcquin was the handgun, a small cannon fixed to a wooden stock, which came inlo general usc about 1385. The early handguns were inaecurale and slow to load but in the early fifteenth century the gun was made much smaller, the slock shaped so lhal it could be held against the chest, and a trigger introduced for applying the slowmatch. This handgun was effective in volleys at close range but A knight of about '.lIS. Arm and leg armour baR changed it was not until the introduction of lhc malch- Titde hut the earlier body armoura were replaced by. combinatioo of mail and plate during the '34~ period. By the lock in mid-century that lhe arquebus, as it was nrl)' 14- the aolid bre••l pla.e _tid ra.dd(akin) we .." m.ad" now called, became a really effective weapon and of overlapping hoopll (lam...) to liv" I!reooter f1,,:rihility. It.li... fa .. ld. were oft"n of mail only. TI,';. knigbt c:arriu a provided an answer to the longbow and pike war hammer, which beeame popul... about '150, and wears column. Companies of arquebusiers, mainly from • helmet of tbe ...lIet alyle Germ,!-ny, fought in mOst of lhe European wars of the second halfofthe century. staffs deal with logistic problems up to the utilization of railways for war. The men were MOVEME T AND S PPLY obliged to arrive at the muster point by a certain The evidence available indicates that the 10gisLics date, equipped with lheir own weapons, armour of war were fully understood in medieval times and horses, and by and large medieval armies and were dealt with in much the same way as solved lhe provisions problem by living off the

18

land, although English armies invading France usually took a small amount of food with them to allow the army to become established across the Channel. In Italy and Spain wars tended to be very destructive as far as agriculture was concerned and this caused greater problems ofsupply than in other countries. Most armies employed vast numbers of foragers. Hght infantry usually drawn from the peasal\l lev)', to scour the countryside for food and horse fodder. The equipment of a medieval army was also comparatively simple and, although vast stocks of arrows or bolts were required, there was little of the paraphernalia of modem warfare, nor was there ever any concern about lines of communication except in the case of sieges. The speed at which an army could travel was greatly restricted by the accompanying wagons and the lack of roads. Frequently the breakdown of a single wagon could delay the entire anny. There were no accurate maps to assist in planning a campaign, and knowledge of the surrounding countryside, and of the enemy's movements, was supplied by scouts, local informers and deserters. It was not unusual for armies to fail to locate each other and this was one of the main reasons why commanders sometimes sent heralds to find the enemy and offer battle at a particular place on a set date. Freedom of movement was also restricted. by canles and walled towns containing large garrisons, which either had to be besieged, causing a long delay, or by-passed at the risk of an attack in the rear. Such places were also used. as a refuge by armies faced by a more numerous enemy, and once safcly within such fortifications they could await the arrival of reinforcements, thus often bringing to nothing the concentration of forces for a decisive battle by a more able general.

two methods may be combined to produce different effects, bUI in lhe fourteenth century the emphasis was very much on shock taclics by the heavy cavalry, with small bodiesof professional spearmen and crossbowmen in a supporting role only. Large scale battles were quite rare in this period and many of the actions fought were little more than skirmishes between bodies of knights, where the main objective was to unhorse your opponent and put him to ransom, but in the larger battles the cavalry was divided into Battles, thcn again into squadrons, and supported by bodies of infantry. Successive charges were made by these Battles or their individual squadrons against different parts of the enemy line, each Battle or squadron rallying behind the professional infantry, where the crossbowmen were interspersed with the spearman and both took shelter behind the large shield of the latter. From this formation

Cj?Ictics There arc rcally only two ways of defeating an enemy once battle has been joined-shock tactics. in which an attempt is made to break the enemy by the violence and moral effect of a charge; or the use of missiles to destroy an enemy before he can get to close quarters, or drive him from the field if he assumes a defensive position. These

-

Two kn;sh.. of about '-00 w_rtnS fuU ptate a.rmour, the one 0.. me riSht wearin" .Iso • S""",I bud..et; • visored ba.Sc::lnei w;th .dd;';o,..) pl.lea; 10 p lect Ihe neck. The polea.n held by tbe ....;Shl 0.. Ih., I.,re popular b)" midceut.. ry

19

on the forward slope of a hill overlooking the bridge but just beyond bowshot, and any attempt to force a crossing by cavalry or infantry would have enabled them to descend at any time to engage as much of the English force as they chose, with the remainder unable to advance in support. However, at dawn the next day the English infantry crossed the river upstream by an un· guarded ford and attacked the Welsh in the flank. The Welsh retired to make a stand on the hill· top. The cavalry was powerless against the hedge of spear points but the longbowmen were ordered forward and under a hail of arrows the Welsh ranks began to thin. nable to break ranks to advance or retreat because of the cavalry poised for a charge, the Welsh were broken by the arrowstorm and the survivors ridden down by the cavalry. It was a perfect example of the com· bination of shock and missile tactics. Hno..,. VI or EDslaJOd e. '4JO. The bOrN has • chaDfro.. or Edward took these tactics to Scotland and at plale 0" i .. llead,1.a snoeral ..se .iace the thine-oth ~t.. ry, Falkirk (12g8) defeated 10,000 Scottish infantry aod tile kUos: alrri" a .b.iekl dnipeel to defte
20

the rront with their fire. The Scottish spearmen attacked the men-nt-arms in three columns but, weakened by the hail or arrows rrorn the flanks, were halted by the thin line. Once halted the columns were almost useless and, becoming more and more crowded on the cenlre by the fire or the archers, were almost completcly wiped out, the English reserve cutting down those who attempted to break away rrom the rear. At Halidon Hill Edward used the same tactics but remounted. his cavalry to charge and break the ScOtS when their advance faltered in the face or the arrowstorm,

Realising it would be impossible 10 engage the rar lllore numerous French chivalry in conventional cavalry battles, Edward employed the same tactics in lhe Hundred Years War, always ensuring his flanks and rear were proteCled against cavalry charges by natural obstacles, The French had taken no nOlice or events in Scotland, the naval disaster at Sluys (t340) where English longbowmen also won the day, or the small skirmishes at :"'Iorlaix (1342) and in '345 when 500 men-at-arms and 2,000 archers helped the Gascons drive out invading Frenc.h forces. Thererare, at Crecy (1346) the French, who had 35,000

Crossbowmen ;., che employ of FrallC4', .tJ0-70. Koch are armed w;lh Ihe alHI "roaabow Ihe arbaleal _ whid> WIIa nOf. pop ar La lbe fi ..ld W1ti1 Ihe _ l i d half of doe C4'nlUry because IOllgbewm..n could fi ..... I......h·e a....... w .. ;., lh.. tim .. it look 10 Ioad aD arbalol. NOI mu"h a ..mour ia worn b..c.US" ofche rise ofarquebus;en. Not.. che infaDlry IwOrd.. and c.....,lry shield

21

s ... Jo.... ConowaU pon....y..... bol.w.S a F..-cb ba.a.ner cap._rflI a. ACu.c:o.. rt. His sq_;n: hold~ Sir Joha',. 0 ..... ba..o:o .. er. They an: wearinS tbe armo., ..rme .....os

men against 10,000 English-ofwhom only 1,'41 were men-at-arms, attacked in fifteen successive waves of cavalry against the thin line or dismounted men-at-annssupported by longbowmen. The 5,500 longbowmen drove off the 5,000 surprised Genocsc crossbowmell in the first minutes of the bailie then concentrated 011 the horses or the French chivalry, shooting hundreds orthe terrified animals, which trapped or injured many or their riders. Yet the longbowmen alone did not decide the battle, for some French did get through to engage the English men-at-arms in hand-la-hand fighting,though never in sufficient numbers 10 make any serious impression. Al nightrall lhe Fl"ench withdrew. having lost a third of their number. The French refused to accept that the longbow had influenced the outcome of the battlc and blamed their defeat on the fact that the English men-at-arms had rought dismounted. Therefore, when the two sides met again at Poi tiers (1356) the French dismounted their cavalry, thus abandoning the only advantage the attacking men-at-

22

arms had-shock. The English did not have enough longbowmen this time to prevent the French closing and the first line was mainly defeated by the men-at-arms. However, the second French line retired from the field with the defeated first line, and when the third line began a long advance march Edward seized the initiath-e, just as at Halidon Hill, and remounting his menat-arms charged the dismounted French. At the same time he sent a small cavalry force in a right hook to the French rear and after a fierce struggle the third line was also broken. Edward II I died in 1377 and under Bertrand du Guesclin the French began to recapture much of their lost territories. Ou Guesdin realised that to defeat the English he need only control the key castles and towns and using an almost exciusiveJy mercenary army he fought a war or harassment, ambushes and sieges, refusing to be drawn into open battle. Yet at Agincourt (1415) the French chivalry showed they had learnt nothing, attacking the English in a defensive position with three long lines of dismounted men-at-arms, virtually unsupported, and supported another disastrous defeat. The successes of the French in the 1430S were not due to new tactics but mainly to the injection orrresh hope byJoan ofAre, who also taught them to attack the English before they could take up their customary impregnable position on a hillside. During the uneasy truce of 1444--9 the French organized their nalional army and at Formigny (1450) lhe longbow at last met its match. The English army of abOUl 4,500 men was drawn lip on a slope in its usual battle line but the French, who had slightly more men, did 110t make their customary assault. Aftcr two hours of skirmishing the French brought forward two culverins to enfilade the archers' position and began to mow them down from beyond bowshot. Some of the archers broke ranks and charged the guns, overrunning them, but the French men-atarms were now able to charge home and at close quarters made shoTt work of the archers. No other country adopted the longbow, primarily because a longbowman necded constant practice to reach and maintain efficiency. This meant he had to havc his own bow and arrows, not wcapons drawn from an arsenal in times of

cnsls, and few European countries dared to permanently arm their peasants for fear of rebellion. However, English archers fought III many parts of Europe with the Free Companies. The first baule in which both sides possessed longbow men was Shrewsbury (14°3) where the rebel forces of the Percys mct Henry IV. The Percys' army of 10,000 men was drawn up on a hill with the archers in front and the battle began with the archers of Henry's 30,000 strong army advancing up the hill. The Percy's archers were more numerous and after a shatlering exchange offire the king's archers broke and ran down the hill, followed by the Percys' men-at-arms. The royal army was forced back but, because it was much larger, it overlapped the flanks of the rebels and was able to curl round one flank and attack them in the rear. Hotspur Percy was killed and the rebels broke and fled. It is important to note that the battle was decided by the men-at-arms, not the archers, and that when both sides had the longbow the main victims of the arrows were the archers themselves. During the Wars of the Roses the same rule applied and both sides were usuaJly compelled to close for a melee as soon as possible.

THE SWISS PIKE At the same time that the longbow was rising to prominence another infantry weapon was emerging which was to help bring about the downfall of the heavy cavalryman-the polearm. For two and a half centuries companies of spearmen had been used to SLipport the cavalry. In the thirteenth century companies ofBrabanters armed with a longer, twclve·foot spear were hiring themselves out to France, England and Italy. At Courtrai (1302) 20,000 men of the city militias of Flanders defeated a French army of 50,000 with the help of these long spears, bills and other polearms. At Bannockburn (1314) the English were defeated by the SeOUl-the majority of whom were armed with the twelve-foot spear. At Mortganen (1315) the forest cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden fought their first battle against their oppressors and used their halberds with devastating effect against the feudal cavalry of Duke Leopold I of Austria, Utlerly routing the Austrian chivalry. In all three of these battles the cavalry was

A knir;bt in t.be Cull plale armour oCt.be t+los. The Cauld was altered about 14)0, lhe low~ pan beinr; .epa.... ted inlo two plat..., the tassell. About tbe .ame date the Iboulder pieces, .now called pauldro..., became larger ....d had t.beir i.n.ner edr;etI tunoed up to protec1 the ..eck. TheH: tuno ups we.... called baule piec.... NOle the e.t.... plat... 0" the left ann to ....place tbe ahield

23

A knight of about 1445 in full plate annour and holdin~ the poleaxe, which was .now in general use by knights fighting on foot

Richard, Duke of York, who died at the Battle of Wakefield (1460). The globular breast plate returned to favour about this date a did the huge two-banded sword i1Justrated, particularly with the Landsknecbts and Swiss

seriously hampered by the terrain: marshes at Courtrai and Bannockburn ambushed in a narrow d fil at Mortgarten. On open ground, at Mon -et-Pev Ie (1304) and a I (1328), the Flemish infantry wer cut to piece by the French

24

chivalry, just as th English annihilat d th cotti h p armen at Falkirk. This was primarily because the spearmen of this date lacked speed and manoeuvrability: although th y wer trong on the defensive they could not change front or formation easily and because of these limitations they could rarely win a battl on th ir own. ftel' Mortgarten the forest can tons received support from the wiss of the lower alpin lands, who brought to the 'national army a 'n w' weapon-the pike. t this time th pik differed from the twelve-foot spear only in having a lighter head and it was used in the same manner a th p ar. Howev r, the Swi s were not ontent merely to assume a defensive attitude and as a result of int ns training and tight di cipline develop d th ability to manoeUVT so swiftly that they could take the offensive even against cavalry. They were helped in this by the lightness of their quipment, poverty preventing them from being slowed down by body-armour. The new arm wa fir t te ted at Laupen (1339) where it m t th Burgundian army in the open fi ld. The wi s formed three columns, th pikes on the right and in the centre the halberds of the fore t cantons on the left. The Burgundian infantry opposing the pike columns was soon trampled down and dliven from tile fi Id but the Burgundian chivalry attacked the for st cantons in successive wa es and infli ted heavy losses the halberds being too short to prevent the cavalry closing. The forest can tons fought back grimly and held the Burgundian cavalry until the two pike columns could turn and advance to their support. Finding themselves unable to pres hom a charg again t the advancing pike columns the Burgundian cavalry th n rode from the field. At Sempach (1385) Duke Leopold probably remembering the ineffectiv n S ofcavalry against pikes at Laupen, dismounted his Vaward Battle to engage the leading column of the Swis army. He kept hi other two Battle mounted believing one Battle uffici nt to defeat the wiss column, for the main body of the wiss was not y t within supporting distance. The Swiss were almost defeated but Leopold had not allowed for the rapidity of a wi s advanc and the main body now arrived and threw back his Vaward

(

,

Walter von Hohe kui . ght, early fo~ger. Germ eenth centuryan

GERALD EMBLETON

A

"

Guidoriccio da Foglia.na, Condottiere, ea.rly

fourteenth century

B

GERALD

MBLErO

JOlLD of Arc, 142

GERALD EMBLETO

30

C

Spearman, 2

1300-1400

PeaslUlt Levy,

13

3 Crossbowman,

o

1400

1300~14°O

GERALD EMBLETON

Hand-gunner, 1400-1500 :z

English billman, 14

3

English 10ngbowlIlaIl, 1350-1450

14.50

3

GERALD EMBLETON

E

Infantryman, 1400-1500 Gunner, 145

3

F

1500

French man-at-arms, 1450-t5OO

GERALD EMBLETON

:I

Swiss pikem.an, 1339-1500 Spanish infantryD1all, 1481-1500

3

English Archer of the Guard, 1485-1500

:I

3

-"

GERALD EMBLETON

G

9

10

and d escnption . 12 . Identili cation . of these 8a gs 15 on page 40

H

GERALD EMBLETON

Battle. Leopold hurriedly dismount d his Main veryrapidlyforov ramil with their pikes levelled Battle and led them forward but th y weI' di- and thi p d often enabled them to force an n my to fight where and when they chose. order d and befor they could arriv the Vaward Battl broke, the third line of ustrian rode from The Swi s columns did not suffer the fate of the the field, and Leopold and his Battle were Flemish and Scottish spearmen becaus of their manoeuvrability and because th y w re alway~ surrounded and slaughtered. preceded and supported by light troops who At Arb do (q.:.!2) th Italians also used di mounted men·at·arms, 6,000 in a single column formed from ten to twenty-five per cent of th against a Swiss phalanx of abou t 4,000 of whom army. At first these troops w rc armed with the two-thirds were armed with halberds only one- crossbow but as early as th battl of afels (1388) third with pikes and crossbows. The wi s were handguns wer bein 1I ed and these gradually on th verg of defeat when 600 of their foragers replaced th rossbowdurin the fifteenth century. Aft I' def, ating the Burgundians in th 1476-7 appeared in the rear of the Italians. Mistaking them for reinforcements, the Italians drew off campaign the Swiss began hiring them elves out and the wis took th opportunity to retire from as mercenari sand erved in most of the European th field. Mainly b cause of this expericnc th wiss now adopted the pike as their main weapon, but with a fifteen-foot haft. Halberdiers were retained to guard the cantonal banners and if a column was halted th s troop issued from th sides and r ar of the column to attack the enemy's flanks and break the deadlock. Their repu tation as the finest infantry in Europe was established at t]acob-en-Birs (1444) where less than 1,000 wiss pikemen attacked a French army outnumbering them by fifteen to one. The Swiss were all killed, but fought to the last man and took 2,000 of their enemies with them. From that date the Swiss remained superior to all other infantry and fully capable of withstanding the finest cavalry, and ven defeating it. The u ual order of battle employed by the wi was an advance in echelon of three columns the leading column making [or a fixed point in th en my line whil th entral column march d parallel and sligh~ly to the left or right rear. The third column was still further back and frequen ly halted when the first column struck to observ th result b fore becoming committed. Ther weI' a number of variations of this battle order. ometimes the centre column would lead and both flanks would be refused or the two flanks advanced and th ntrc r fus d. Th strength of the columns increased as more cantons supported the league bu sometimes the emphasis would b on th right 'and centr with only a A knight and sergeant-at-a.rms of about 1470. The knighl would have worn a saHet. The sergeant is wearing a sUnple mall column on th left or on occasions ther steel cap, breast plate and large poleyns only. The large hilt ofh.is sword suggests he is armed with a two-handed sword would be an normous right hand column and as well as the plain lance of the mediwn cavalry. (The head a smalilef and cen tre. he columns could advance should be l110re slender)

25

wars of the late fifteenth century, now using an eighteen-foot pike. Because they struck with a shock almost equal to that of heavy cavalry only another column of pikes could stand up to them but although many countries formed corps of pikemen none could withstand the Swiss during the fifteenth century. The only successful opponents of the pike in this century were the Spanish, who mixed a strong force of sword and buckler men with their pikemen. A Spanish column consisted of pikes in the front ranks with arquebusicrs at each flank, and sword and buckler men behind the pikemen ready to cut down the

enemy pikemen once they had been haILed. The Spanish infantry rose to a position of prominence towards the end of the century and were in great demand for the wars in Italy, but they did not encounter any Swiss pikemen until the battle of Barletta (1502) where the sword and buckler men gOi beneath the pikes and slaughtered the lightly armoured Swiss at close quarters.

THE HUSSITE WARS Another system oftacticsdevelopcd in the fifteenth century which proved capable ofdefeating feudal cavalry and levies was that devised by Jan Ziska,

••

Heary VO ofEaslaad in a damalic:eaeel armour wlt.ich fOUOW1i civilian faalt.io
26

An English rnan-at-anns of 141lJ in £ull armour. Such an equipment weighed about seventy pound but the weight was distributed over the whole body and the main disadvantage of the armour was Dot the weight but the stuffine inside it. Because such equipment was very expen!i'ive, in the second half of the century simple knights and the rank and file of a.rmie wore either partial plate with mail, as in the fourteenth century, or the fabric body arm ours of the same period

command I' of th Puritan Hus it army of Bohemia during the war with th Catholic HoI Roman mpire. The Czech nobility fa ed the sam probl m as that of England in 1337-the cavalry of th ir enemies outnumbered th m by several hundred to on . Th refore, again lik th EngJi h and indeed the wi s, th P opl had to be organized into an infantry force capable of standing up to feudal avalry even though virtually un upported by avalry. Ziska had seen th goLiaigorod (movin fortI' ) u ed b the Russians when attack d on the mar h' th drawing into a cir Ie of tb wagon accompan ing the army to form a barri I' against avalr. Ziska copi d (hi idea at first using an . cart and wagons h could obtain but later havin p cially reinforc d wagons constru ted which carried rna]] cannon and w r fitted with heavy chain to link them to ether. Wi thin th moving fortresses rus

peasants and burgh rs w I' sac' from th numerous cavalry of the Holy R man Empire and with a combination of polearrns and mi il weapon were quite capabl of dealing with the fI udal I vi or di mounted men-at-arm . In th early battle Ziska relied ntirelyon the d fen iv trengtb of IDs wagenberg but oon by discipline and extensi e training he was able to turn the wagenberg into an offi n i w apon just as the wis bad ad anced the u e of heir pike. . p cia! orp of \ agoner wa formed which ould mano uvr h wagon into a ir I qual' or Lriangle at a single word of command diengage th teams and chain th wagons together all und I' th no s of an army rend red low in manoeuvre by th di uniti s of the fI udal sy tern. From the very beginning Ziska at 0 mad u e of handgun . almo t on -third of the mi ile m n in th wagons had firearms' and the wagenberg was supported b a trong train of artillery which included annon capabl of throwing projectiles weighing up to 100 pound. The ba i order for a Hus ite arm on tb march was fi parall I columns' the cavalry and artillery in th entre Aanked on ach sid by two ill i ions of wagon with their complem nt of infamT . Tb two inner wagon Olumn were horter than the outer on and at a word of command could be rno ed rapidl into po ition at the head and rear of the arm to form a I' tangular d fen iv formation. The Holy Roman Empir I' pond d to its first defeats b raising an enlarger army instead of eking new ways of dealing with this n w weapon and inJanuary 1422 a great army und I' th· Emperor Sigismund was decisively d feat d at m cky Brod. igi mund wa defeat d a ain at bo id Kutna and Hora that year but the following year there was civil disension in Boh mia, the p opl dividing into the Taborit extremist under Zi ka and the moderate part in luding th nobilit known a the traqui ts. Ziska defeated tb traqui ts at Haric and trachov that year and aL kalic and Male ov in 1424 dying tat I' that year of th plague. priest caned Prokop took command of the Taborit arm and at u sig (1426) and Tachau (r 427) d fI at d the forces of the Holy Roman

27

Empire. The reputation of the Taborites was now such that the German levies often could not be made to aBack the wagenherg and, gaining experience and courage from their invincibility, the Taborites took to advancing from the wagrnherg to defeat armies numericaUy their superior. In 1429 Prokop invaded Saxony and bands of only a few thousand men laid waste to Bavaria, ~'Ieissen, Thuringia and Silesia. At Domazlice (1431) they defeated the papal forces ofCesarini and in 1433 a force under Jan Czapko raided the Teutonic Knights' Ordensland in retaliation for supporting Sigismund, sacking Dirschau and Oliva. The only real threat to thewagrnberg was cannon fire at the wagons themselves, but the Taborite artillery was always strong enough to silence the enemy's guns and it was not the Holy Roman Empire which finally defeated the wtlgtnhng but the Czechs themselves. At Lipan (1434) the Taborites led by Prokop again met the UtraquislS. The moderates attacked the U'tlgrnbng and were

Sir Joh.a Cb",aqo, .......dard ......... r to H",O>")' VU.t d.", Battl", of Bosworth (_
28

repulsed but the Taboritcs, forgetting they were no longer fighting the levies ofthe Emperor, rushed out to pursue the fleeing UtraquisLS, who then turned and began to fight back fiercely. The Utraquist cavalry reserve easily defeated the small Taborite force of cavalry and swiftly cut off the Taborites from their wagtnherg. The extremists were then cut to pieces on the open field by the cavalry, only a few thousand who had remained within the u:agenherg survi\'ing. They never recovered from this battle and their city of Tabor fell to the Utraquists in 1452. Lipan illustrates the basic weakness of the wagtnherg: unlike the longbow and pike it was a purely defensive weapon, successful only against the out-dated, unthinking tacties of a feudal host. Against steady troops commanded by an intelligent and experienced general it could be rendered ineffective. In the sixteenth century Hen!)' VI II of EngJand mounted some of his arquebusiers in armoured wagons but otherwise the Taborite tactics wen: not employed elsewhere in Europe. although the wagenbng was known. For example, when in 1429 Sir John Fastolf, rn roule to the besiegers' lines at Orleans with a train of provisions, was attacked by 8,000 men-at-arms, he drew the wagons into a circle and easily repulsed the French altacks with his small force of 2,000 archers and spearmen. THE CONDOTTIERI Because Italian armies of the fifleenth century were composed of cot/dollier;, fcudal tactics persisted in Italy unlil lhe end of the century. Most of the wars between the city states and republics were economic in motive and the captains of the mercenaries therefore tended to regard war as a business and their men as their capital. Since today's enemy might be tomorrow's comrade in arms, there was little point in fierce, bloody battles where friends mighl be killed and the captain's capital severely diminished, thus endangering the future of the company. Therefore, the cot/dot/ieri, who were mostly heavily armoured cavalry, usually fought only in the summer, away from the moumains and marshes which were so inconvenient for cavalry, and avoided pitched battles as much as possible. A great deal of time

Early rOllr1e..:ath c:nll....,. ..............rons wearial bdon orprc:vious c:oralllry. n .. hor.... arrnOllr ia orleath..r ...d sca1.. annour ror Hlht:n.. n, with a plat.. c:haarron. NOI .. th.. m...1a.I pia.... Oft th.. saddl.. a ..d Ih.. 1m"...

29

was spent burning crops and destroying vineyards and orchards, for the ability to wage war depended on mOllcy, which meant a thriving com· merce and agriculture: if you could destroy an enemy's crops and rcst.-ict trade by besieging his cities and ports, you crippled his ability to maintain a mercenary army in the field. Such methods were effective and mueh safer than pitched battles. When a pitched battle was unavoidable it oftcn rescmbled a leisurely game of chess, perhaps culminating in a cavalry melee and a bricf ex· change ofbaltcring blows on each other's armour, after which the out-manoeuvred commander conceded defeat and withdrew from the ficld. The emphasis was on the traditional dismounting of an opponent for ransom rathcr than the evolu· tion of new tactics. At the battlc of Zagonara (t423) only three mcn werc killed: at MolineUa (1427), which lasted all day, somc horses were killed and men taken prisoner, but no man died. This type of \\'arfare received a rude shock in 1439 when many Venetians were killed by arquebusiers in the employ of Bologna. So great was the outrage at this 'atrocity' that whcn the Venetians won the day they executed all those who had carried firearms. Towards the end of the eemuT)' Italy became the battle field for French, Spanish and Gcrman armies equipped with the pikc, longbow, crossbow, arqucbus, disciplined squadrons of mcn-at-arms and highly mobile artillery-all designed to kill the cncmy. By 1500 the condO/lieri were fast disappearing from the battlcfield before such ruthless warfare and with thcm wcnt the last vestiges of the old fcudal tactics and the belief that the heavily armoured cavalryman rulcd thc battlefield.

Pie'Plates Wolfer t'On IIQhenklinger, Grrm{/n knight, (orb' jourlun/h century von Hohenklinger is dressed for the tourney but at this date most feudal cavalry took the field dressed in a similar fashion. Thc flat-topped heaul1le was replaced by a more conkal version towards lhe end of thc 13th ccntury but it was not uncommon for man)' picces of a knight's 11

30

rm..

M .......I.. weariaJ fv.1J pl>lIe equipmenl of the .econd half of the fiftee.nth cenlury, ridinll a horse protecled by a luther .....d plale h ...·d. The 'b..-.I ptale' (peyttaJ) ..... d ned< piece (crine1) w .. re introduced dllriQIl Ihe four1ee.nth C....lllry

equipment to rcmain in use after the introduction of new fashions bccause of expense. Under the heaume was a mail coif, and under that an arming cap to prcventchafing and protcclthe head against heavy blows. Thc large crcst is typical of those worn by German knights. Crcsts were popular in Germany, England and the Low Countries, but rafe in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. The body is protected only by a mail hauberk and hose, although in olhcr countries plate reinforecments to the leg were common by this date. The wooden 'heater' shield was slightly curved, about 95 cm. long by 15 mill. thick. The sword is lypical of the Middle Ages up to t. 1320; 33-36 in. long, three to four pounds in weight, with a doublc-edged blade and thc wheel pommel which remained popular throughout the 1300-'500 period. Walter von HohenkJinger was killed at lhe ballle of Sempach in 1385.

B Guidoriccio tla Fogliww, COlldol/itre, first half fourteenlll cenlury In the early fourteenth century the condouieri were professiona Isoldiers, someli mes ofthe nobi Ii ty, but more often adventurers seeking a fortune, who hired themselves and their brigands to the highest bidder. The cont/ouieri of the late fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries were frequently princes who, between their own wars, hired their annies to other states and republics in order to keep the troops in full employment. The mail worn by Fogliana, reinforced b}' plate armour on the legs, is t)'pical of the first halfofthe fourteenth century; plate armour was rarely worn on the arms in fourteenth-century Italy. Textile horse-trappers were introduced in the twelfth century to protect the horse against the weapons of the infantry and

,

by the thirteenth century were often reinforced with platesofmetal or horn,orpadded and quilted, or made ofleather. The trapper was in two haJves, meeting at the saddle.

C Joan of Arc, 142!}-30 By 1410-20 the knight was wearing an armour made entirely of plate, although mail continued to be used in the fifteenth century by the lesser knights and rank and fileofarmics.1 tali an armours frequently had mail saba tons and a mail skin instead of the plate fauld. Plate armour began to replace the textile horse-trapper at the end of the fourteenth century and by c. 1430 the horse bard of all-plate had been introduced, although hardened leather (cuir bouilli), shaped to look like metal plates, was often used because of iu cheapness and light weight. (I) FiIt~.H.Io ce.. tury h.r.tmel ....d .Io~d­ ine. (a) LalefiIleenLh ce.. t..ryp-a.n: ....d . .baloa. (,) G-.... tJec of c.he secood Iaal1 of the fourt~.. th cealury. (4) FiIteeaLh ce.uury sa....c1el. (S) Go"1:et 10 p ....lect Ihe "Kit, often wora wiLh c.he early fcnu-. I~rtth «al.. ry kettle bat aad, by c. '4'0, wiLh Lhe ba.do",t. (6) All metal mace of the early fifl"""",Lh Ceulury. (7) Prid< .pur, '30G-30

EI

g-

,

6

•

31

6

8

(1 & 2) Concave 13 in.. dia.m.eter buckler of wood covered with leather and decorated with nails. The boss projects four inches.

(3 &.) Bum cbe bead and butt ferrule. (s & 6, 7 & 8) Late fifteenth century poleax.es and butt ferrule. Haft were from four to fiye feet long, giving an oyeralllengtb offiye to six feet

DJ

Spearman

130

1400

1 he professional spearman wore a hauberk and carried a targe, about two feet long or the longer pavise. The lirrht yet strong kettle hat was popular with infantry throughout the J 300-1500 period and was al 0 worn by knights, sometimes on top of the cervelliere or globular ba cin t. Th short pear was a major infantry weapon of th fourt en th cen tury, used like a bayonet ted riA for th charge or to form a hedge of points when on th defensive. It had a five foot haft and tw Iv inch broad bladed head. Tbe spear used by the Scots and Brabanter in the first quarter of the century was between ten and twelve feet long, with a mol' sl ndcr head. econdary weapon was u ually a long dagger.

D2

Peasant Levy

130

1400

Feudal armies such as the French ones of the Hundrcd Year War, frequently had up to fifty P I' cent of th ir strength in peasant levies who were used for camp duties, foraging and skirmishlug. In defeat they were at tbe mercy of the pursuing cavalry-as were the mercenaries-but if they got amongst the cavalry during a mete th y could be so deadly that trapper had to b used to protect the horses, and knights had to I'M"l'rt "~·",..,~TI

the fifleenth century. 2S inches' head

~Dgth

i. armcd with all 1 the s< mc manner waration i, !>a,T I III 'eli \'<11 manu-

a

d('sig-Ill,[! pllre!) tlte mid-filk nth
,e

33

prOlt,·t Lhems anJ pol arm.

I

IV

again:L l11 long kni,'c', ax S r the pea ·autry. th r weapon!' w,eo by the lC'\j s were clubs buw.', spear.., and agricultu ral Lonl...

DJ

hTS

CmJ.lbOIJ'mali.

'300 r 400

The best compani\>s of' rossb WI1lCll c< me ['rom Genoa. Ga cony and lhe Low COlll1lrie,. They lIsually wore a haul f'rgeon simple> :teel helmet and phtc l' 'inforcem I1lS 11 'Ibm s and knee:. The composite b .....V:lS II cd in th Ileld through011 t the J 3°< t500 period and had :In ac u rale range of . iXly yard.. four LO six longbow. harts roulcl b di:har,g d in lhe tim it to k 10 I ael a ("ro:sbow whi h also lacked Ih pellctrati\ e power of the lungbow. Se onelan \I'capon was a long knirf' nr a . m'dl axe.• he arbalesters of the c and hal f of lh . II ft 'nth (Tn tur\' wor . Ii tll· r 1]0 armour. >

AIl iron mace of the second half of Weigbt three pound nine ounce ; seven incbes. Tbe bandle is hollow

E,

Hrmd-glll/lll'l,' "CII , 5()(1

11<' hand-gunuel' illustrated all-iron gun. apparenth fin'd i as a mod L'l'1I bazooka. The i I on a figure in it siege .'it' nc in nip!. and L1w wea[lon ll1a~ ~ lor :iege work. C rta i 111) by century g nuine handguns. 1 being prudll({,c! \ ilh a \\'oodc helel against the she ulder. a 1)< ab ut one inch, and a sprir i:m for til ~I( \ male II. TIt(,y \' Heys at c10s range. ~,1a.·im hundred yards, ffpeti,'(' rang Ire>c1 yar I. , (1 11 ra t rangn 01 fire was beL ween eip;ht Hntl

or

a hook at the back and somelimes a spike at the top, was popular throughout the fifteenth century, especially in England, France and Italy. Secondary weapon was a sword or small axe. The spearman's shield was abandoned because both hands were needed for polearms. Billmen wore a variety of helmets ; a bascinet and avenlail as illustratedprobably picked up on the battlefieJd or handed on by a knight, a kettle hat, or in the second half of the century a sallet. Their bodies and limbs were protected by the haubergcon, sometimes with plate reinforcements on arms and legs. The illustrated figure bears the hound (talbot) of the Talbot family, Earls of Shrewsbury, on his tunic, which is in the livery colours of that family. The use of such badges was never so widespread or important in Europe as in England.

Velleliall poleue of aboUI '5J(l, ..ery .lmUar 10 tbe Iyp" Uled ill the IKolld half of the fiIl~nth eentury

£2 English billman, 1400-/45° The agricultural bill was used as an infanlry polearm in the fourleenth century but from the beginning of the fifteenth century it is noticeable that bodies of infantry fonnerly referred to as spearmen were now termed billmen. The bill, differenl from the agricultural tool only in having

34

E3 English longbowman, /350-145° The longbowman sometimes wore a haubergcon, or a quilted jacket, but frequently was protected by only a leather jerkin or wore no body armour at all. The cervelJjere and kettle hat were popular forms of helmet, though some archers wore only a feIt hat. Secondary weapon was usually a dagger or the maul, though in the fifteenth century some carried swords. The wooden buckler was heJd at arm's length for parrying blows in a mel~. The longbow was about six feet long and required a pull of eighty pounds. Flight arrows were about 37 in. long and were used for high trajectory,long range firing: the more sturdy sheaf arrows were about 27 inches long and were used at close range for piercing mail and occasionally plate-if a square hit could be obtained. Longbowmen usually protected their front against cavalry by digging pitfalls (Crecy) or erecting stakes (Agincourt). The archer illustrated wears the badge and livery of the de la Pole family, Earls of Suffolk. F/ Infantryman, /46Q-J500 Mosl infantry of the second half of the fifleenth century were armed wilh some form of polearm, in this case a partizan, a development of the spear which originated in Italy in the early part of the century. The partizan, with its thirty.inch, double-edged blade for cut·and·thrust, and lugs for breaking or entangling sword blades, soon

Left to right: early sixteenth century Germaa poleaxe similar in design to those of the fifteenth century; late fourteenth, early fifteenth century Swiss halherd of the type used at Sempach; German halberd ofahont 1500, typical of the kind carried by German and Swiss infantry at the end of the fifteenth centu.ry

35

Early fift""nlh c"ntury bombard of wrought iron with 15-in. <:IIlibre, firing,. ston" IIhot w"ighing about 160 pounds> Th" carriag" is mod"rn

sprcad throughout Europe, 'rhe illustration shows typical armour ror inrantl'y or the timc; a bri. gandine, similar to the jack but with smaller plates ror greater flexibility, and a long 'tailed' German sallet with pivoted visor. The Italian sallet had a short 'tail'. as did the German one arter aoout 14-80.

36

F2

Gllnnl', 1450-1500

Gunncrs usually carried only a dagger and wore the rallfic body armours or thc inrantry and poor knights; a canvas, leathcr or tcxtile jack or brigandine, rcinrorced by metal plates. The cannon iIIustratcd is a muzzle·loading, wroughtiron bombard or the 1330-1470 period, firing a

stone ball. By the mid-fifteenth century such cannon were used mainly for siege warlare, and the wooden stand is typical of this period. F3 Frtnth man-al-amlS, 1450-1500 The poleaxe was the favourite weapon of dismounted men-at-arms from t. 1450 but the twa. handed axe illustrated here was also popular throughout EUI-opc until the end of the century.

Despite its size the hend of such an axe ...vcighcd only aboUl three pounds. The man wears the simple globular bascinet which remained popular in France and I taly, a full equipment of plate, and on his tunic is the winged hart badge of the House of Bourbon, although Bourbon livery colours were white and green.

., A w ...."l:lu i....... br-eecla loadUll: pete....... of tbe time of Edward IV ('46'-113) complete wit..h powder chamber, which ha... lifti"l: handle aDd ve..1 bolO!!. N..te wedl!le for j.m.miol: the boule shaped chamber into thO!! breech

37

I

II

\ \\

.....'

.:::::"

,

,I 11i',-

.......-"...

"/

'I

III

\

~""''''''Il,A<'S

o o

5".... ,1';'

C/Wrtl.fl.'j

.1:I'lF~

'"

c;uNS

GRANDSON 1476 One of the three JDajor battle of the Burgundian campaign of 1476-77 against the Swiss. Here Charles the Bold atteJDpted the classic doable envelopJDent of Hannibal at Cannae, but the infantry on his flanks, eeing the rapid advance of two more Swiss colUD1ns and mi taking the withdrawal of the centre for a retreat, broke and Oed in panic. Prime cause of this panic was a lack of cohesion between the varioll wnlS of the Burgundian army; a CODlJDon failing in felldal armie

G1 wiss pikeman 1339-15°0 Becau of pover the wi pik man was originall prot cted only b a impl helmet and a leather jerkin and so Dw men had breastplate that only th front rank of a phalanx had any armour. Offi er were usually fully armoured and mounted, although they di mount d to fight. In th s cond half of the fifteenth cntury more men had breastplates and fully armoured men were placed in the fronl rank. allets were worn by t.hj date, and tunics and hose w r striped or parti- olour d but tigh tfitting· the sla h d loos clothing u ually as ociated with th' wi not b oming common until th ixteenth century. , hen on the defensive th first four ranks of a phalanx Ie elled their pikes whil those to the rear kept their pik s upright I' ad to I' plac a fallen comrad . Th first rank knelt with th pike h Id low, the butt on the ground behind them: th cond rank tooped with the burt und r th ir right foot: the third rank held the

38

pike at wai t I vel: and the fourth rank held it at h ad level. For the advance the pike were held horizontally at che tiel right arm ba k and left arm forward with the h ad ofch pik pointing slightly downward. The Landskn chts opi d this drill but pointed their pike head slightl upwards.

G2 /Janish irifantryman 1481-15°0 Spanish sword and buckler men wore a tall cabacete with a turned-down brim drawn up front and r ar with a bevor to prot t th lower half of the fac and a full equipm nt of plate armou r. hey were armed wi th a hort straigh t double-edged thrusting sword and a dag er. he wooden bu kler had a diameter of ten to twelve inches and was r inforced with nail and m tal. G3 English Archer qf the Guard 1485-[5° 0 The rch r of the Guard ere formed by Edward III (1327-n) and apparently per-

petuated by Henry VII, who in 1485 formed the Yeomen of the Guard, a bodyguard offifty archers und r a captain, in rcascd soon after to '200 m 'n and by 1490 to 600. Gr n and white (the Tudor colours) were worn from 1485 and no mention is made of the tradi ional red uniform until 1514. he gold garland and red rose were rep ated on

the back of the tunic. The Guard carried halberds but r main d train d archers. It is possible hat earli r guard' wore the liveries of their resp ctiv kings: Edward I and II white and red' dward III, mauve and red' Richard II white and green; Henry IV V and I, white and blue' Edward IV and Richard III mauv and blue.

~\\\ \

....

........

........

.... ....

EN<;LJ:5K

dlYClI..R'/

•

j

~

A~u{cRs

.:::

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N

FArJ-rR.j

'Fj:ll.l..~

CRECY [346 At Crecy Edward ill drew up his forces in what was to become the standard order of battle used by English armies throughout the [00 Years War

39

H.

Plags.

The pennon was a larger version of the pennoncelie, between two and three feet long. It was the personal flag of a knight bachelor and in the fifteenth century also had a badge form. If a knight was promoted to bannerel on the battlefield the tails were cut off his pennon to produce a banner. The banner was the flag of all ranks above knight hannerel. II was never displa)'oo unless the owner was present, and then only if battle was aboul to be joined. The banner of the fourteenth century was from two 10 three feet deep and twelve to eighteen inches wide, although a two- to Ihree feet-square version became predominant later. A badge form became popular in the late fifteenth century. The banner used by Henry V and Richard 1I incorporated the crms and martlets banner of Edward the Confessor, one of the five banners carried by English troops FLAGS until 1485. The Treasurer of the Teutonic Order The pcnnoncelle took three forms: pavon (Rey- led the mercenaries at the battle of Tannenberg nald), single tail (Clare), and swallow tail (Percy). ('4 10). The pavon shape was popular in the fourtc<:mh The standard was gran led to the nobiUty and century. These pcnnoncclles were carried at the knights banneret. It was not a pe11lOnai flag but lance head and were the pcrsonaillags of all men- was used (0 mark the position of commanders' at-arms from knight up. Length was twelve to troops within an army. It was never furled during eighteen inches, with the tails taking up half that a campaign, being used to mark the group's length. The pennoncelle bore the arms of its H.Q in camp, at the head of the force on the owner, but in the fifteenth century it bet::ame march, (0 lead attacks, and to provide a rallying customary to usc a badge on a livery colour (as point. It was from six to twelve fecl long, in Ihe Percy pennon celie) and this was known as depending on the rank of the owner. a badge pennoncellc. Bourbon standard :2 Standard of Edward II I 3 Standud of Joan of Arc 4 Pa\'on pcnnoncclle of Reynald, Lord of Agincourl .) Pennoncclle of the CIa res, Earls ofCloucester 6 Pcnnoncelle of the Percy family of Korthumbcrland 7 Pennon of the French Infantry, 1479 8 Banner of ri Canton 9 Banner of the Treasurer of the Teutonic Order 10 Banner of the Teutonic Order II Banner of Brabant 12 Banner of Burgundy 13 Banner of Richard II and Henry V of England

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