Osprey - General Military - Knight - The Warrior and ... - Brego-weard

In all cases the emphasis was on standing firm. Just as with the cavalry charge,
remaining ordinate was all important. Against a mounted enemy it was absolutely
essential. A gap in the ranks could allow a horseman in amongst the body leaving
a hole into which others could lollow. Advising his men as they waited lor the French
to attack at Courtrai in 1302 the Flemish leader Jan van Renesse told them, 'Do not
let the formation break ... slay both man and horse to the ground... Any man who
penetrates our ranks will be killed. Obviously the formation could not be too dense
because the men's weapons, particularly halted weapons such as the pollaxe, would
require some room to wield. For the same reason the battle lines cannot have been
more than five or six ranks deep; anyone further back would not be able to use his
weapons, and whilst having reserve lines would be uselul, pushing from behind in the
fashion of a rugby scrum would not.
Mutual support in combat was also important. The Italian commentator Filippo
Villani describes how the men-at-arms who travelled into Italy seeking employment
during the periods of truce in the Hundred Years War, the English condottieri, took the
field. He writes that:
... their mode of fighting in the field was
almost always afoot, as they assigned
their horses to their pages. Keeping
themselves in almost circular formation,
every two took a lance, carrying it in a
manner in which one waits for a boar
with a boar-spear. So bound and
compact, with lowered lances they
marched with slow steps towards the
enemy, making a terrible outcry — and
their ranks could hardly be pried apart.
A slow advance ensured that cohesion was
kept. The French chronicler Froissart
records that on finding the Scots during
the 1327 expedition the English
dismounted, lormed into battles and were
ordered by their commanders 'to advance
toward the enemy in slow time keeping
their ranks [tout bellenient, Le petit pas\.
Similarly, although around two centuries
TACTICS AND TRAINING -}=>•
Men-at-arms fighting on
foot, late 14th century.
For much of this period,
and contrary to the
popular view, knights and
men-at-arms dismounted
to fight. (© British Library)
79