Reply To: Renaissance heavy cavalry with bows

[Tony Hughes]

NCS : Possibly you might like to check your own historical knowledge before criticising others. Byzantines used heavily armoured mounted bowmen shooting as a body before contact, so did Mongols (though in a different way) – not quite as laughable as you think !!!

If you are a lance armed horseman then you use your lance at contact, or just before, if thrown. Why would you carry a lance otherwise ? The Poles had a lot of different cavalry during that period and they evolved to a significant degree during it. Some were more mixed in their armaments but most were lance armed to begin with – except the early Hussars (refugees from Ottoman occupation) – and really did carry a lot of kit.

Plenty of Eastern European and other non-drilled soldiers were trained in the competent and effective use of their weapons and, usually, able to operate adequately as a body. Drill was a way of replacing the ‘warrior’ lifestyle to produce fighting bodies of men more quickly from a population that no longer, or never, had any martial traditions. It didn’t always produce more effective troops.

Using the bow outside the battlefield is certainly the most likely ‘other’ reason for carrying it but tradition probably paid a significant part too. You seem convinced that shooting was not done by any of the bow-armed heavy cavalry but fail to offer any evidence. I’m not saying I disagree but I’d much prefer to work with facts and not just assume my guesses are right.