'1 1 



il 





i 



m 



mr 



[|i. 



^■tlii 



CHAPTER IX. 

 Use of Firearms by Cavalry. 



Nothing probably will give a better idea of the com- 

 position and equipment of tlie armies of the latter part of 

 the 15th century than the details, given by the historian 

 Paul Jove, of the entry of Charles VIII. King of France 

 into Eome, in 1494, with a fine army evidently well 

 organised and equipped, and superior to the armies of the 

 time. Machiavelli states that he conquered Italy with 

 "a piece of chalk" — a figurative expression, meaning 

 that he had only to mark out the cantonments and billets 

 for his troops as he marched onwards. 



Paul Jove begins by stating (as a fact worthy of 

 attention from its novelty) that the different bodies of 

 cavalry and infantry were perfectly distinct and separate.' 

 The first battalions were Swiss and German mercenary 

 infantry, who marched in cadenced step to the sound of 

 music, and the historian praises highly the f'.ne appearance 

 and incredible order with which they moved under their 

 flags. Their arms were short swords and pikes ten feet 

 in length, of wood pointed with iron. About a quarter 

 of the infantry carried halberds with heavy battle-axes 

 attached, while one hundred of them out of every thou- 

 sand were armed with escopettes, a species of arquebus. 



These details as to the infantry are interesting, as 

 showing the commencement of that system of mingling 

 pikemen and musketeers in the same regiments, which for 

 so many years was the regular method of fighting in 

 Europe. 



' Carrion, i. 452. 



