II 



188 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. [period ii. 



by the barbarians and destroyed, and this ancient place, 

 this illustrious capital, the mother of Russian cities, dis- 

 appeared for ever, and it was long ere a new city arose 

 upon the site.^ 



After the conquest of Russia, Bati led the multitude 

 of Mongols in victorious career towards Poland and 

 Germany, ravaging and destroying everything in the 

 line of his march. The horrors of the barbarian inva- 

 sions were again repeated upon the plains of central 

 Europe. The cities of Lublin, Warsaw, and Cracow were 

 destroyed, and from the Carpathian mountains to the 

 shores of the Baltic, the plains were cut up by the tramp 

 of the Tartar horsemen, while burnt villages and devas- 

 tated fields marked their passage.'' The Duke of Silesia, 

 the Polish Palatines, and the Grand Master of the Teu- 

 tonic order, united in vain to arrest the progress of the 

 destructive torrent. The great battle took place on the 

 plains of Lignitz, near Wahlstall, on the 9th April, 1241.^ 



The Polish army was composed principally of cavalry, 

 all heavily equipped, and partly clad in armour. They 

 seem to have been drilled to fight, as cavalry should 

 fight against cavalry, by the force of the charge. The 

 example and teachings of Henry the Fowler, and the 

 victories won by him and his son Otho, at Merseberg 

 and Augsburg, against an enemy who pursued the same 

 tactics as the Mongolians, could not have been forgotten 

 although 300 years had elapsed. Prince Henry the Good 

 and Mizeslav, Prince of Upper Silesia, commanded the 

 Polish army. They drew it up in five corps, very skil- 

 fully keeping some in reserve, for they seem on both 

 sides to have appreciated the value of the last reserves 

 in a cavalry action. 



The battle was opened by a vigorous attack upon the 

 left wing of the Mongols by the right wing of the 

 Christian army. This attack was at once successful ; the 

 lightly armed and lightly equipped Mongols, being no 

 match in the direct charge for the heavy armed Polish 

 horsemen.* The Tartars retreated for a while, and when 

 the force of the charge was spe-^t, rallied and drove back 



' Karamsin, iv. 13. 2 Michaud, ii. 323. ^ ibid. < Nolan, 13. 



