172 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. 



[period II, 



sity in war, of thorouorli organisation, strict discipline, 

 find undivided command. 



Chivalry had however so thoroughly taken possession 

 of the people of Europe, that the knights, wrapped up 

 in the pride of their connection with so distinguished an 

 order, never gave any thought to the infantry service, or 

 paid any attention to organise it, so as to make it of use 

 in its peculiar sphere. The result was an army of heavy 

 armed cavalry, unwieldy and cumbersome, composed of 

 highly trained and brave soldiers, followed or accompanied 

 by a confused mob, whose only use appears to have been 

 to eat up the provisions that were so difficult to obtain, 

 and to delay and embarrass the movements of the only 

 soldiers in the army. 



So thoroughly had the cavalry service usurped the 

 functions of all the others, and so useless were the so- 

 called infantry, that it became necessary for the knights 

 to take upon themselves the duty of attacking and 

 defending fortresses, of guiding and directing the works 

 necessary in a siege, of constructing engines and towers 

 for the purpose, and of working them when constructed. 



Instead of organising bodies of pikemen and archers, 

 instead of utilising the foot-soldiers, in forming them 

 into garrisons for the defence of the fortresses and cities 

 which they captured on their march, they weakened 

 their eflfective force in the field, by making detachments 

 of their heavy armed horsemen, and cooping them up to 

 guard walled towns. 



There is no service that requires less tactical skill, and 

 less training, than that of defending a fortification, par- 

 ticularly in the middle ages, when artillery was not so 

 perfected, or so scientific in its use, as at the present day, 

 and the fact of the knights performing the duties them- 

 selves, shows how completely the idea prevailed that the 

 cavalry alone were able or qualified to perform any 

 service whatever. 



At the siege of Nicea the whole Christian army camped 

 about it, and employed all the machines known to the 

 Romans ; the Greeks, who were with the crusaders, aiding 

 and assisting them in the work. We find here the 





