r^T" 



156 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY, 



fpERIOD II. 



master in case of his death. The real duty, however, 

 both of the squire and the other attendants, was to aid 

 and assist the knight in the combat, to raise him if 

 wounded or unhorsed, to remount him, and to supply 

 him with fresh weapons. The squire wore a corslet of 

 mail and a light helmet. His arms were the sword, the 

 battle-axe, and the poignard. 



The archers were young gentlemen who were aspiring 

 to the rank of squire, and who attached themselves to 

 some knight to fight in his suite. They were armed 

 lightly with a casque and gauntlets of mail.^ They some- 

 times dismounted to fight on foot, in which case the pages 

 held their horses. The archers-k-cheval formed the 

 light cavalry, and although Humbert says they used the 

 bow, yet Bardin distinctly states that the French archers 

 did not fight with the bow but with the crossbow, and 

 that, properly speaking, they should be designated 

 Arbal^triers-^-cheval. 



Their proper place was in rear of the squires, although 

 they often skirmished before the action in front of the 

 line of battle, and when driven in, or when they saw 

 signs of hesitation in their opponents, they retired around 

 the flanks and left the plain open for the charge of the 

 heavy armed knights. They sometimes also fought on 

 the flanks, and in case of victory they were used in 

 following up the pursuit. There was no system of tactical 

 formation by which bodies of troops manoeuvred together, 

 and mutually supported each other in masses. In fact, the 

 tactical art was almost unknown, and a battle was not 

 won by manoeuvres or by skill, but by mere brute force. 

 The field of battle was simply an aggregation of thousands 

 of single combats or duels. The only idea of tactics was 

 to get the advantage of the wind or sun, as having either 

 facing them exercised an important influence on com- 

 batants, who only saw through a narrow aperture with 

 difficulty, and whose vision the glare of the sun, or the 

 slightest dust, would materially impair. 



The great spread of chivalry, and its universal character, 

 caused this want of tactical ability to be unnoticed, for 



' Bardin, 223. 



