Panzerreiter
The Frankish armored riders were specially trained, heavily armed and armored with metal armor. They are considered the forerunners of the medieval knights .
Historical development
The Germans had during the migration period used for the conquest of their territories still largely infantry. Every free man had a duty to do military service. When the peoples who had invaded the Western Roman Empire settled there, cavalry troops emerged, especially among Ostrogoths and Vandals, who further strengthened the power of their armies, especially against the attacks of the steppe nomads who were pushing after them. The forerunners of this process of broadening were the late antique cataphracts , which the Romans had erected after the model of the Parthians , Sarmatians and Persians . In the early Middle Ages , the Franks also used tank riders in their army. From the 7th to the 8th centuries, they pushed the borders of their empire into northern Spain. In the 8th and 9th centuries, in the course of Islamic expansion , Arab nomadic tribes and Berbers overran Visigoth Spain as well as Persia , Syria , Egypt and North Africa and incorporated them into their Islamic empire ( Al-Andalus ). The invaders eventually crossed the Pyrenees and invaded Aquitaine .
Although the decisive battle of Tours and Poitiers in 732 was decided in favor of the Christians, mainly by the strong Frankish foot troops, the most powerful ruler of Western Europe , the Frankish house master Karl Martell , began to build up a strong armored cavalry troop from that time. It is unclear whether Karl was impressed by the riders of the Arabs or whether he followed other motives. It is possible that the expansion of the stirrup made the development possible, since a rider sat much more firmly in the saddle with its help. Before the economic and military upheavals in the early Middle Ages, all freeborns in the empire were obliged to do military service. The high material expenditures for the maintenance of mounted warriors, which now became more and more important in the Frankish army, ultimately led to a social separation between cavalry and infantry.
After the army reform by Charlemagne, only those conscripts were drafted who could show substantial material possessions or a fief. Only a warrior with enough cultivated land was able to pay for the expensive equipment and still have enough time to practice his craft. As a result, the aristocratic and free vassals in the war system became more and more important, while those of the peasant landowners dwindled more and more. The process of splitting Frankish society into landlords and warriors on the one hand and unfree and dependent peasants on the other intensified in the 9th century. From the 10th century the equestrian formations consisted only of vassals. The feudal system that developed more and more clearly formed the legal and economic basis for the emergence of chivalry, whose warriors now saw themselves as professional soldiers ( milites ) and thus set themselves apart from the rest of the army. All these factors ultimately led to the final establishment of feudalism , which promoted the economic basis for a further increase and dominance of armored riding. The Saxons under I. King Henry took over later this type of warfare and defeated by the use of their armored cavalry in the battle of riade (15 March 933) already up to that time by means Germany had penetrated Magyars (Hungary) is crucial.
function
The expansion that the empire had reached in the heyday of the Carolingians limited the use of infantry immediately available to the Frankish rulers . A warrior ( Latin miles ) could march about 20 km a day under optimal conditions, while a rider could cover about 50 km in the same time. The most distinctive component of these riders was their metal armor and their tremendous penetrating power when attacking in close battle as shock cavalry. This made them superior to most infantry formations in combat. Especially in the later battles against Vikings and - as already mentioned - Hungarian cavalry bands, the mobile armored riders proved to be a powerful weapon. From the 8th century they also served as a "rapid reaction force" against the increasing attacks by the Vikings on the northern coasts of the Franconian Empire .
equipment
Carolingian winged lance , 8th century
Carolingian sword of the early 9th century
10th century sword
Carolingian warrior ( Vivian Bible , mid-9th century). The wide-brimmed crested helmet is also shown in other manuscripts of the period
The rider wore a doublet under his chain mail or scale armor (Lorica or Thorax) . Add a comb or came Spangenhelm , Greaves , a wooden sign , a wing lance and the Frankish longsword , the spathe . In contrast to the later medieval knight, who tucked his lance under his arm when attacking and thus formed a unit with the horse, the lance was carried either over the head or on the long arm. The greatest achievement, however, was the saddle with the stirrups , the latter probably came to Europe around 600 AD via the Avars and allowed the rider to sit freehand, but still firmly in the saddle and thus largely unhindered - even at full gallop - To be able to safely use a shield, lance, sword or bow in combat.
Because of their appearance, the Panzerreiter evidently spread great horror among their contemporaries. Notker Balbulus portrays in the Gesta Karoli impressively the arrival of Charlemagne during Langobardenfeldzuges before Pavia :
“ King Desiderius and the Frankish dux Autchar, who had fled to him, watched the arrival of the huge Frankish army from a high tower. They saw the supply train, the contingent of nations, the palace guards, bishops and abbots. Finally the "iron Karl" himself appeared, with armor, greaves, lance and sword. The iron filled the whole plain and threw back the shine of the sun. Everywhere you saw iron, and because of this iron the walls trembled and the courage of the young people, even the advice of the elderly passed away from all this iron . "
Here Notker has passed on an exaggerated, but essentially authentic description of Karl's Heerbann .
Levy and maintenance
The Franconian contingent gathered every spring for the army show, called "March field". King Pippin moved this date in 755 AD to the month of May, however, as the army was increasingly becoming a cavalry army. The reason for this was that there was still too little food for the horses in March. The newly recruited rider first had to undergo highly specialized training in riding and handling his weapons. After that, constant training was necessary in order not to lose the exercise.
The advantages of this troop in combat were offset by the enormous costs for equipping and maintaining an armored rider at the time. In the Lex Ripuaria the complete equipment is composed of helmet, breastplate (breastplate), sword and scabbard, spear, shield, pants and horse with 50 solidi in gold listed. A horse suitable for this alone cost about 12 solidi or the same number of cows. The cost of the well made up the price of four draft oxen or six cows (about 12 shillings). The armament was constructed much more simply than the specimens from later epochs, but the extraction and processing of the iron required for it was very complex and cost-intensive. Nevertheless, the Frankish warrior had to pay for his equipment personally. It was impossible for a simple farmer to raise the equivalent of so many cows for such equestrian armor. Therefore, mostly only rich and noble people could serve in this branch of arms.
The high expenditures caused Charlemagne to reform the army at the beginning of the 9th century. In the capitularies of 807/808 it was ordered to use even more warriors than before as armored horsemen. So it was determined that every free with 4 or more hooves of land had to take part in the campaigns. Farmers with fewer than 4 hooves had to join forces with other outdoors to form associations of 4 hooves. They should then choose one of their own, equip him as an unarmored cavalryman and also manage his court during his absence. Karl further ordered that free men with 12 or more hooves had to go into battle as armored horsemen. Once the Panzerreiter was in the field, after the expenses for the armament there were also the costs for a traveling horse, an ox cart, which had to transport the armor and weapons, as well as for servants, provisions, etc. In addition, he had to ensure his own livelihood and that of his family during this time.
Elite troops
A special force soon formed from the Panzerriders, the so-called Scharen, Latin for " scarae ". Used in small departments, they were used to carry out rapid commando operations and, if necessary, to storm fortifications. They played a particularly important role in the Saxon Wars . This troop probably goes back to the Merovingian period , their members either lived directly at the royal court or in the vicinity of the Palatinate.
literature
- Franz-Reiner Erkens: Militia and knighthood. A reflection on the origins of chivalry. In: Historical magazine. Volume 258, 1994, pp. 623-659.
- Dieter Hägermann : The Carolingian Empire. A result of technical war innovations? In: Journal for the history of technology. Vol. 59, 1992, pp. 305-317.
- David Nicolle : Carolingian Cavalryman AD 768-987. (Warrior 96). Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2005, ISBN 1-84176-645-3 .
- Riche Pierre: The Carolingians, one family forms Europe. Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-421-06375-3 , pp. 119-120.
- Hans K. Schulze: From the empire of the Franks to the land of the Germans. Siedler Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-442-90565-6 , p. 178.
- Claudia Märtel: The 101 most important questions, Middle Ages. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-54102-X , p. 19.
- Andreas Schlunk, Robert Giersch: The knights. History-culture-everyday life. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-8062-1791-2 , pp. 6-7.
Individual evidence
- ^ Josef Fleckenstein : Knighthood . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 7, LexMA-Verlag, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-7608-8907-7 , Sp. 872 f.
- ↑ Matthew Bennett (Ed.): Wars in the Middle Ages Battles - Tactics - Weapons. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2009.
- ↑ Claudia Märtel: The 101 most important questions. 2006, p. 19.
- ↑ Claudia Märtel: The 101 most important questions. 2006, p. 19.
- ↑ M. Prietzel: War in the Middle Ages. Darmstadt 2006, p. 33.
- ^ JF Verbruggen: The Art of Warfare in Western Europe. Woodbridge 1998, p. 23.
- ↑ A. Boretius (Ed.): Capitularia regnum francorum. MGH Capit. 1, Hannover 1983, p. 137 f .; W. Hartmann (Hrsg.): German history in sources and representation. Stuttgart 1995, pp. 70-72.
- ^ J. Fleckenstein: Nobility and Warriorism in the Carolingian Empire. In: Orders and Formative Forces of the Middle Ages. Göttingen 1989, p. 300.