heavy cavalry engaging heavy cavalry

[Sean Manning]

Definitions are a big problem. The division between "heavy" and "light" cavalry seems to be four or five hundred years old ... sixteenth-century writers use it, but as far as I know the Romans only divided infantry that way, and the Greeks divided cavalry by armament. I don't find this division useful for ancient and medieval cavalry.

There are a limited number of things that can happen when a formed body of cavalry charges another head on:

1) One side looses heart before contact and they turn back or to the flanks and flee.

2) Both sides are equally comitted and both slow down before contact, then approach each other at a walk or trot and a large melee ensues.

3) Both sides open their ranks somewhat during the charge - the horses can see gaps in the opposing ranks before contact and the two bodies of cavalry "thread" each other at speed.

The other possibility is that 4) individual cavalry units pass besides or along each other, shooting and hurling and slashing at close range. This does not have to reflect lack of courage, just a tactical decision to keep moving rather than stopping and fighting face to face “like infantry.” I think that most cavalry in Xenophon's day and Polybius' day preferred this way of fighting (Polybius 12.18, Xen. Hipparchos et de re equistri passim).