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MEDIEVAL WARFARE
The Changing Military Scene: From Infantry to Cavalry
Heinrich Brunner: late 19th century German historian who wrote an article entitled “Cavalry and the Beginnings of Feudalism” (1887) that set forth what would become known as the "Brunner Thesis." Feudalism Debate: what caused the growth of the European feudal system which employed grants of land to support forces composed of heavy cavalry? Feudalism: System with social, political, economic, and military implications, that involved the upper classes of medieval society. One of its chief functions was to produce, warriors, equipped and trained to fight from horseback, who could be called up to fight in time of war and to both subsidize and reward their services. The majority of those in feudalism were members of the warrior class, though a significant minority were members of the upper clergy, high churchmen such as bishops, archbishops, and abbots. Charles Oman’s Distinction: German tribes living in the west (Teutons) inhabited a land of forests and marshes, not conducive to the growth of cavalry. This group, that fought largely on foot, included the Franks. By contrast, the Germans living in the east (Goths) had moved onto the plains north of the Danube and Black Sea, where horse cultures had existed for centuries. This group, that included the Visigoths, moved increasingly toward cavalry. It was the Visigothic cavalry that had won the battle of Adrianople (378). Like other western Germans, the Franks had been essentially an infantry force when entering the Roman Empire and had remained so until the first half of the 8th century. Principal Frankish weapons (both for use by infantry): 1. Francisca: throwing axe named for the Franks 2. Angon: barbed javelin. Brunia: Earliest metal armor used by the Franks, consisted primarily of metal rings or small metal scales sewn to a thick leather garment. Fyrd: Anglo-Saxon name for the typical militia force that composed a German army of the early medieval period. It consisted of all freemen in the kingdom, who could be called in time of war. Members of the fyrd were often haphazardly armed, since they had to provide their own weapons. While their leaders and elite troops had first line weapons, many ordinary freemen had to make do with much less. Major change in the Frankish military came about due to military reforms undertaken by Charlemagne’s grandfather, Charles Martel. Using land grants, he recruited a force of heavy cavalry which, over the next several generations, would take on increasing significance, eventually giving rise to the preponderant branch of medieval warfare. Charles Martel (roughly translated as Charles “the Hammer”): Mayor of the Palace and de facto ruler of the Franks who won a key victory over the Moslems at the Battle of Tours, fought just southeast of Paris in 732/733. (Which date one accepts depends upon where one comes down on a dating controversy.) Brunner Thesis: Brunner’s elegant argument that Martel undertook his reforms as a result of the 8th century invasion of western Europe by swift Moslem horsemen from North Africa, an event that had been traumatic for European society. Although Martel had defeated them at Tours, he became convinced that the traditional Frankish army was woefully deficient in cavalry. The Moslems could easily outmanoeuver or outrun the Franks. Martel hoped to build up a force of heavily armed, well-trained mounted warriors, who could fight more effectively, move around more rapidly, and therefore, better serve the needs of the vast Frankish state. To support such an expensive force, he would give a grant of land to individual fighting men. With the income they would be able to afford the equipment needed by a heavy cavalryman and spend their time in military training. Martel used not only his own lands, but those of the weak Merovingian monarchy and the church. Those who received grants were required to serve as mounted warriors. The Brunner Thesis became what we call the conventional wisdom, dominating the historical debate for decades. Then, around the mid-20th century, a new revisionist view came to the forefront. Lynn White, Jr.: American scholar who became the leading historian of medieval technology; author of Medieval Technology and Social Change(1962). White attacked Brunner’s central point: the idea that Charles Martel’s move to heavy cavalry had been inspired by the Moslem invasion. While not denying the significance of Martel’s military reforms, he argued that they could actually be traced to the introduction of the stirrup. First developed in India and China, this technological marvel had moved across Asia for centuries, only to arrive in the west at the beginning of the 8th century. The appearance of the stirrup for the first time made it possible to use horses as shock weapons, thus giving rise to the heavy cavalry of the Middle Ages. Its introduction led Charles Martel to make the shift-over to cavalry. Since the 1960's, White's "stirrup thesis" has increasingly replaced Brunner's view as the conventional wisdom Conventional Wisdom: the generally accepted position at any given point in time. Revisionism: a new position put forward to challenge the conventional wisdom; usually based either on new evidence or reinterpretation of old evidence or some combination of the two. Revisionist Historians: a group of historians following the First World War who wished to "revise" the so-called "Verdict of Versailles," i.e. the statement in the Treaty of Versailles (1919) placing the entire blame for the war on Germany and her allies. The term has come to refer to any historians "revising" the conventional wisdom. Revisionism characterizes all advances in human knowledge. Two of the greatest examples of the past few centuries come in science: 1. Heliocentrism (the Copernican Theory) replacing Geocentrism (the Ptolemaic System) 2. Evolutionary Thought replacing the concept of a single creation as depicted in Genesis The greatest example in medieval history is the Pirenne Thesis, growing out of the work of Belgian historian, Henri Pirenne. Revisionism is an on-going process. The Morillo article is a piece of revisionism aimed at "revising" White.
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