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CHAPTER X. 

 European Cavalry in the Sixteenth Century. 



SECTION I. — its organisation INTO DIFFERENT TYPES. 



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In the last chapter was shown the growing tendency 

 in the cavalry of relying mainly upon firearms as 

 weapons of offence, and this feeling was soon followed 

 by special organisations of cavalry based almost entirely 

 upon the idea of making use of the arquebus, pistol, 

 and carbine. 



For a long period the cavalry had been of different 

 types, the men-at-arms being the heavy, and the archers 

 the light troops ; but they were not separated in their 

 organisation for many years, the archers being simply 

 followers and auxiliaries of the gendarmes, in whose 

 lances they were included. In Charles the Eighth's entry 

 into Eome in 1494, we first see that portions of 

 these light horsemen were banded together for tactical 

 purposes. 



Argoulets. — Louis XII. is said to have instituted a 

 corps of light cavalry called Argoulets, who fought in 

 a loose skirmishing order. They were lightly armed 

 with a light cuirass, and cabasset to protect the head. 

 They had as offensive weapons the sword, the mace, and 

 the cross-bow, and afterwards the arquebus-^-rouet, 

 which they were the first to adopt. ^ It was carried in 

 a bucket, or boot of stiff hide, fastened to the saddle. 



Two thousand argoulets were introduced into the 

 French army in 1499. They were raised in imitation of 

 the light horse of the Venetian armies. The Albanian 



• Gay de Vernon, 12, 13. 



