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employed. Many fought with the companions they knew and trained with, thus a feeling of camaraderie and fellow-thinking could be utilised to reduce possible confusion. Moreover, feigned flights had been a part of cavalry tactics for centuries. Certainly the Bretons had been using them sińce the gth century and it is possible that the Normans were influenced by the latter. Norman knights are re-corded as using feigned flights to great effect at Arąues in 1053 and Cassel in 1071. They also used this tactic in Sicily, at Messina, in 1060.

Enemy arrows were a problem sińce the warhorse was unarmoured and his rider’s limbs and face were partly exposed. Here it was necessary to avoid a head-on confrontation and to try to take the enemy in the flank. When faced with eastern horse archers the heavier horses and the solid charge of the mailed knights could do little against enemies who refused to stand and, mounted on swift horses, harassed the westerners with arrows, particularly on the flanks. It meant that such enemies had to be forced into a position from which the charge could be launched, or ambushed to allow the knights to close ąuickly. Bohemond formed a reserve of mounted knights in an attempt to counter flank attacks on his charging knights. He also madę good use of his infantry to form a screen behind which the cavalry could wait for an opportune moment to deliver their charge. The armoured spearmen could in their tura cover the archers and crossbowmen who could keep their enemies at a distance. In this way each arm of the army complemented the others and provided an effective counter-measure.

It might be thought that Normans who broke through and pursued a defeated enemy would be difficult to rally. The fact that they could be halted, even when individuals used their lances in different ways rather than in a concerted charge, testifies to the discipline and order seen on the field.

TYPICAL

ENGAGEMENTS

The effectiveness of the Norman cayalry charge, with or without the couched lance, is demonstrated in a number of battles. Val-es-Dunes in 1047 was a struggle between Duke William of Normandy and a force of Norman rebels. There is little reference to the presence of infantry and it appears to have largely involved clashes of bodies of horsemen in which the stronger or morę skilful, under William and King Henry, won the day. Even against mixed forces the power of a Norman assault could be decisive. In 1081 at Durazzo an Italo-Norman charge broke the Byzantine linę which included horse archers. At Monte Maggiore in 1041, about 2,000 Normans in revolt against their Byzantine masters faced a larger

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