CHAP, v.] 



CHIVALRY. 



155 



n 

 le 





parties consisted of only the chief and two attendants, 

 while the " lance fournie " contained more followers. 

 The number varied in different countries and at different 

 times, and it became a more recognised institution in 

 the later periods of chivalry, and upon the formation 

 of mounted gendarmerie. At first the lance consisted 

 simply of the knight, his esquire, a coutillier who was 

 of nearly the same rank as the squire, a page, a valet, 

 and three archers all mounted.^ This little corps was 

 the unit for all purposes of administration, the knight 

 evidently maintaining and supplying with necessaries 

 his own immediate followers. The knights bannerets 

 commanded several of these lances, and in the old 

 chronicles the strength of an army was always recorded 

 in lances. Where we say now sixty or seventy squadrons 

 they would say 200 or 300 lances, always including the 

 attendants in the term " lance." 



According to Bardin, the capitul aires show an or- 

 ganisation of the lances in the feudal armies of some 

 countries by which ten " lances " containing some fifty 

 or sixty horsemen formed a bacdle, and that five of these 

 united together formed a species of regiment of fifty 

 lances, or about 300 cavalry, under the command of a 

 knight banneret.^ 



It is known also that armies were divided into three 

 portions, the van or centre and the two wings, which 

 were generally under the command of the leading 

 generals. The lance fournie varied in numbers from 

 three satellites to fourteen, but six or seven was the 

 ordinary strength. 



The knights fought in action in single line, and their 

 tactics consisted in charging, lance in rest, with the 

 object of unhorsing their opponents. After the shock, 

 the struggle generally merged into a close hand-to-hand 

 fight with swords, battle-axes, maces, and hammers. 

 The squires formed a second line, having the other 

 followers in their rear. They were not armed sufficiently 

 to charge in line of battle like the knights, although the 

 squire sometimes advanced and filled the place of his 

 1 Bardin, 3022, 3023. 2 xbid. 3022. 



