05-22-2009, 12:51 PM
Hi Alan,
True, but it's a also very basic description of arms carried by almost every European cavalryman from the later Bronze Age down to the Midle Ages. A bow, that would have ben surprising. Or a couched lance. But simply "lance, sword and shield" does not tell us whether the man was a heavy cavalryman or a mounted infantryman. Or a common cavalryman fighting with a spear from horseback.
Quote: "... but in a moment his procurator Guengarth, coming up on horseback with shield and sword and lance, hurled himself into the river..." (Saint Cadoc Records, Cottonian MS., Vesp. A. xiv, B.M.) This sounds pretty much like the same stuff used by the Roman cavalry.
True, but it's a also very basic description of arms carried by almost every European cavalryman from the later Bronze Age down to the Midle Ages. A bow, that would have ben surprising. Or a couched lance. But simply "lance, sword and shield" does not tell us whether the man was a heavy cavalryman or a mounted infantryman. Or a common cavalryman fighting with a spear from horseback.
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
