136 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. 



[I'EKIOO II. 



who for a while were victorious, and caused them to 

 suffer a thorough defeat. 



Their wandering armies of light cavalry spread over 

 Germany with great rapidity, a circuit of fifty miles 

 being sometimes ravaged in one single day. They were 

 seen at Bremen, Pavia was burned by them, they 

 penetrated even beyond the Pyrenees, and although the 

 churches of Italy added the pitiful appeal to the litany, 

 "0 save and deliver us from the arrows of the Hun- 

 garians," their victorious career was only stopped by the 

 waters of the Straits of Messina, and the lives of the 

 people only saved by the payment of a composition per 

 head. For thirty years the Germanic Empire or kingdom 

 was subject to tribute to these warlike horsemen. Such 

 was the speed and daring of these invaders, that light 

 troops of three or four hundred cavalry would make the 

 most daring raids, as far as the very gates of Thessalonica 

 or Constantinople.^ 



Such was the melancholy state of Europe at the 

 beginning of the tenth century, when all Christendom 

 was at the mercy of predatory bands of light horsemen, 

 whose tactics and morale had given them the ascendency. 

 It was at this crisis that there came upon the stage one 

 of those great military reformers, who by improvements 

 in the tactics, armament, or method of fighting of the 

 people, change the whole course of history, and build 

 up or destroy nationalities by a few successful battles. 



Henry L, surnamed the ** Fowler," a Saxon prince, who 

 was elected Emperor of Germany in 919, ^as destined 

 to check the progress of the Hungarians, and to deliver 

 the empire from their yoke. He saw that the sole 

 difficulty was the want of an efficient military organi- 

 sation, and that it would require time to complete it. 

 He therefore took the first opportunity to buy a peace 

 or truce for nine years, by the payment of a yearly 

 tribute, and then bestowed his attention to his military 

 preparations. 



He saw that one need was the fortification of the 

 cities, and the establishment of forts, to give protection 

 G ibbon, v. 17; Menzel, i. 307. 



