Great Inventions that Changed the World by James Wei

Author:James Wei
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2012-06-28T16:00:00+00:00

White attributed the invention of the more primitive big-toe-stirrup to India in the second century BCE, and the invention of the foot stirrup to China that was first mentioned in 477. The use of the stirrup spread to Byzantium by 582 and to Western Europe at the time of Charles Martel, which led to the institution of knighthood. The early Franks mainly fought on foot. In the year 732, Charles Martel met the Saracens near Poitiers and the infantry line stood like a wall against the Saracen horses, but Martel's victorious infantry was unable to pursue the fleeing Saracen horses. The support of horses and heavy armory required more investment by a dedicated and professional army of a small elite group, which led to feudalism. With the acquiescence of Pope Zacharias on the grounds that it was necessary to fight the Saracens, Saxons, and Frisians, Martel confiscated church lands to distribute among his fiefs as an endowment to support horses and armor. Feudalism meant that these fiefs who accepted the land would swear an oath of allegiance that they would come with horses and armor when called by their lords. This was a small professional army that the more numerous yeoman with light armor on foot could not hope to compete with. The army of Charlemagne was dominated by cavalry.

The Norman conquest of England and the Battle of Hastings of 1066 could also be attributed to this change in technology. The Anglo-Saxons knew about stirrups, as Harold and his housecarls rode horses with stirrups, but they did not develop feudalism and did not have an elite corps of mounted cavalry. At Hastings, the Saxon lords dismounted to do battle on foot, in the old Germanic style of shield wall. The Saxons also had the advantage of a higher position on the hill of Senlac and they probably outnumbered the Normans. But Harold fought without cavalry and had few archers, and could only stand in line to resist this mobile striking power, without the ability to rapidly maneuver and counterattack. When William won his victory and the crown of England, he feudalized his new kingdom and created more mounted knights.

The period of the dominance of the cavalry lasted for several centuries till the arrival of the long bow. The Battle of Crecy took place in 1346, when 12,000 English foot soldiers decimated the French cavalry. The Age of Chivalry was over when common soldiers could stand up to their furious charges with long bows, and later with the much more lethal explosives and guns.

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