>l 



194 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. 



in 



[period II. 



century mixed armour of this kind was generally used, 

 the plate additions increasing from time to time, until 

 about the end of that century complete plate armour 

 came into use, the mail being generally given up, 

 although instances are recorded of its being used under 

 the heavy armour as late as the sixteenth century.^ 



From the time of the introduction of plate armour, 

 the means of defence were superior to the arts of destruc- 

 tion, until some time after the invention of gunpowder, 

 when fire-arms were sufficiently improved to render 

 defensive armour useless. During the early use of this 

 heavy armour, cavalry again became for a time the all- 

 important arm, and retained its high position for a 

 considerable period. 



Having touched upon the political and social causes 

 which affected the military systems abo> t the end of the 

 Crusades, it will be in place here to consider closely the 

 tactical and technical reasons, which also had their share 

 in the revival of the art of war, and the re-introduction 

 of the infantry as an important portion of armies. 



The knights and generals who had fought in the Holy 

 Land had it forced upon them, in campaign after cam- 

 paign, that there were many emergencies in war where a 

 well-organised and well-drilled force of infantry would 

 have been much more available than the armed knights, 

 and much less costly to maintain. Many of the knights 

 also lost their horses in the East, and were obliged to 

 fight on foot, and they must soon have learned that a 

 mounted force was of little use for defensive purposes. 

 The landing of the army of St. Louis at Damietta, where 

 the knights dismounted and received the charge of the 

 Moslem horse with firm array, and with levelled lances, 

 also proves the dawning of the idea of an infantry force 

 of pikemen. 



The military art was not studied, however, as a science, 

 and the prejudices of chivalry were so deeply rooted, 

 that men eager for distinction still fought in the 

 ranks of knighthood, and maintained the principles of 

 the order, and its method of fighting, far into the 



* Boutell, 113. 



