CHAP. X.] CAVALRY IN THE IGth CENTURY. 



251 



of arrows, and penetrated to the hill, upon which Soli- 

 man and the janissaries, 30,000 strong, were waiting in 

 reserve. Then the batteries of cannon opened upon the 

 Hungarians in flank, and destroyed many of them. The 

 survivors, however, did not lose heart, but still rode 

 boldly onwards, mounted the eminence, and attacked 

 the Sultan himself. A group of pages and eunuchs gave 

 up their lives to save him ; already the knights were 

 near enough to strike his cuirass with their spears, when 

 a body of janissaries ran up, and, by violent exertions, 

 saved the monarch, and struck down his assailants. 

 The Hungarian army by its bold attack was in the midst 

 of an overpowering enemy, being entirely surrounded by 

 the two armies of Europe and Asia, the cannon of the 

 batteries, and the heavy masses of the janissaries. The 

 artillery cut them to pieces, the light horsemen struck 

 them down in attempting to get away, and those who 

 escaped the sword died in the marshes, where, fleeing for 

 safety, they and their horses were suffocated or drowned. 

 The unfortunate King Louis so lost his life, and his body 

 was never recovered.' The loss of the Hungarians was 

 enormous. 



v 



SECTION II. — SPANISH CAVALRY IN MEXICO AND PERU. 



We will now turn our attention from the East to the 

 West, and briefly refer to the operations of Cortez in 

 Mexico, where the presence of a mere handful of cavalry 

 exercised as important an influence as can well be 

 imagined. The circumstances of the conquest of Mexico, 

 particularly of the services rendered by the few horse- 

 men who accompanied Cortez, are of great interest from 

 the fact that the mounted men were there used, for the 

 first time on record, against organised armies of soldiers 

 who had never seen or heard of horses. 



The Mexicans were not altogether ignorant of the 

 military art. They had armies fairly organised and well 

 drilled, and appear to have had an institution somewhat 

 ' Lamartino's History of Turkey, ii. 315, 316. 



