Big swords, shiny armor and bright colours clashing into one another in total chaos, the bigger army taking all is how medieval warfare is commonly viewed to most. But though my research I found that certain uses of their medieval technology had the most major impact on battle. The iconic knight on a horse, also known as a cavalier had the biggest impact on this time period. One cavalier would be able to take out tens of men in battle. The creation of a stirrup made horse riding in battle possible as a solid platform was necessary to create crucial blows as well as maintain balance. The stirrup and the horse was a revelation to warfare. The horse combined with a soldier’s weapon such as a lance was effective as the Rabbit of Caerbannog. With the horses pace a sword would slash through enemies with power 10-fold to wielding it on foot. Not only was the horse powerful but it could be argued to be evasive as well as the enemy may not have time to react to the oncoming danger.

Another piece of the puzzle that posed a significant difference in battle was the longbow. The longbow was mass developed for a reason. With about a hundred other skilled archers, arrows would rain down on enemies and cause a large dent in the opposing army especially if each archer could shoot several times. Although arrows would be very inaccurate when shot

Armour was also essential during this age. One type in particular was the chain-mail shirt. It grabbed my attention due to the effort that was put into making it. The chain mail shirt was made out of approximately 2500 small rings that would loop onto one and other creating a shirt. The time it took to make one shirt was 200 hours (for a professional craftsmen). All this work wasn’t for nothing though because soldiers that wore them were heavily protected. If one were to be stabbed the barrier of the rings would cause a stab from a sword to get stuck. The chain mail shirt didn’t last too long though because when the plate was created craftsmen were able to produce those much faster than a chain mail shirt.

Sources

Keen, Maurice Hugh. Medieval Warfare : A History. OUP Oxford, 1999. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=438679&site=eds-live&scope=site.

https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/bow-medieval-warfare

Weapons and equipment of the Cavalry