Dead horse, man-at-arms lost: cavalry and battle tactics in 15th century Castile

For a long time historiography has stood up for Late Medieval Castilian tactical backwardness with the insufficient research into Castilian military tactics contributing to the persistence of old paradigms. The aim of this paper is to refuse that vision by focusing on battle tactics showing the impo...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Etxeberria Gallastegi, Ekaitz
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2019
País:España
Institución:Universidad del País Vasco
Repositorio:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
OAI Identifier:oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/64129
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10810/64129
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Castile
fifteenth century
tactics
chronicles
Cavalry
Descripción
Sumario:For a long time historiography has stood up for Late Medieval Castilian tactical backwardness with the insufficient research into Castilian military tactics contributing to the persistence of old paradigms. The aim of this paper is to refuse that vision by focusing on battle tactics showing the importance of mounted combat in fifteenth-century Castile. I will analyse the battlefield function of both heavy and light cavalries, also examining the supporting role of the infantry. This Castilian preference for mounted combat could be due to not only military reasons, but also social ones. In Castile, as in almost every corner of Medieval Western Europe, nobility’s political and social leadership had its reflection on warfare.