CHAP. IV.] 



FEUDAL CAVALRY. 



125 



copied from the Romans the use of armour, and had 

 gained many advantages over thoir opponents by so 

 doing. The Franks under Ch^vis had also adopted this 

 species of defence, and in the battle against the Visigoths 

 the king himself owed his life to his armour. 



The service in the cavalry was connected with the 

 possession of benefices or fiefs in the days of Charlemagne, 

 when that force formed a very important portion of the 

 ai'my. The horsemen were separately mentioned when 

 summoning the troops into the field.' As no regular 

 pay was given to the soldier, the fiefs were intended to 

 provide the funds for supplying a mounted knight with 

 the necessary attendants, horses, and equipment, the 

 cost of which was very heavy and beyond the means of 

 the ordinary freeman. 



The cavalry was consequently entirely composed of 

 nobles, who formed the chief force of the nation. To 

 such an extent was this the case," that the term unites, a 

 soldier, became limited in its meaning, and during the 

 eleventh century signified only a noble horseman, or 

 knight, and was never applied to any of the inferior 

 grades in the army. The terms chevalier, caballarius, 

 caballero, originally meaning a horseman, also came to be 

 considered as titles of nobility. 



In Spain every citizen who possessed a sufficient 

 amount of property was bound to serve the king in war 

 as a horseman (caballero), and in return for this service 

 he was entitled to the same rights and privileges as the 

 landed aristocracy.*^ 



The feudal system was carried into England by William 

 the Conqueror, and the greater portion of the country 

 parcelled out among his followers in large fiefs. The 

 privileges of the nobles were however much more re- 

 stricted than in other countries, while the masses of the 

 people were in the enjoyment of greater liberty. The 

 military system was based upon the same principle as 

 was in use in Europe, and the mounted knights who 

 served under the king were the highest class in the 

 state. 



^ Lowy, 13. 2 Ibid. 14. 3 Ibid. 21. 



