Weapons at the Knight's Saddle
The miles wields the lance and shield in hand, and the sword and dagger girt at the waist. However, his person is not the only place he can keep his arms, for he is a horseman first and foremost, and, therefore, has a saddle. Saddle weapons, particularly hand weapons at the saddle, is not the most common knowledge (I've even seen it argued that it wasn't done!), and it is rarely depicted; however, there are plenty of primary sources that explicitly prove that hand weapons were carried at the saddle, and across a broad period of time.
The focus on this article will be on the saddle weapons of the knight (and man at arms); though light horsemen likewise carried weapons at their saddles as well (especially in the 16th century), for the sake of brevity and my sanity, I will be limiting the scope of said article to the armed cavalryman.
The earliest source I've seen for saddle weapons in Western Europe is from the 13th century Norwegian treatise, the Specvlvm Regale/Konungs Skuggsjá; the King's Mirror, in English:
"He must have a brynknifr [dagger] and two swords, one girded on and another hanging from the pommel of the saddle."
- Anonymous, Specvlvm Regale, ~1250
Around the same time at the writing of the King's Mirror, Jean de Joinville in fact uses a saddle sword to save his own life during the Seventh Crusade (1248-1254)!
"His knight seeing this, left his lord and the horse, and, as I passed on, he pinned me down with his spear between the shoulder−blades, and stretched me along my horse's neck, and held me so tightly pressed down that I could not draw the sword round my waist; so I had to draw the sword that was hung to my horse, and when he saw that I had got my sword out, he drew back his spear, and left me."
The Fifteenth Century
"On the day of the tourney, after the ladies have climbed up into their scaffold, the knight (or squire) of honor ought to enter the lists with the judges, fully armed, with a helm with a crest on his head, and his horse covered with his arms, ready to fight, the mace and the sword hanging from the saddle, carrying the lance to which the veil is tied."
"They [the men at arms] shall also have a long, stiff estoc, and a light cutting knife [cousteau] hanging on the left side of the saddle, and a one-hand mace right side."
The earlier Burgundian ordinances lack the mace on the right side, but have the knife.
"ITEM, store of sure spere hedys; item, an axe or an halbert to walke wt in the felde; item, an armynge sword, a dager, and hit were well doon to have a mase at the sadell pommell; item, a sumpterhorse harnyshed and wt coffers or gardeinans for his harnoys."
- Anonymous, TH’ Apparell for the Feld, 1480-1510
That is to say, "... item, an arming sword, a dagger, and it were well done to have a mace at the saddle pommel..." This section is under "... apparell for the felde belonging to a Knight or a Esquire..."
The Sixteenth Century
"And you must hold your lance in your hand and placed in the pouch. And setting off at the gallop, placing your lance in the lance-rest, aim for the enemy’s belly, and once the lance is broken, you shall take hold of the estoc [estoque], which should be strapped onto the left-hand side of the front arçon, secured in place in such a way that when you draw it the scabbard does not come with it. And when fighting with these weapons, strike at the visor and the voids, that is, the belly and the armpits. After you have lost or broken the estoc, you shall take hold of the arming sword [espada de armas], which shall be girded on your left-hand side, and fighting until you have lost or broken it, you shall take hold of the hammer [martillo], which shall be attached to the right-hand side of the belt with its hook. Reaching down, you shall find it, and pulling upwards, the hook will release and, with hammer in hand, you shall do what you can with it until you lose it. And after it is lost, you shall reach behind you and draw the dagger from behind your back.
And you shall grapple with your enemy with all these weapons that you have at your disposal, striking and aiming at the voids, that is, the belly and the armpits, and at the visor, with the estoc or sword and with the hammer in hand, for by wounding the head and the hands he will inevitably surrender."
- Juan Quijada de Reayo, Doctrina del Arte de la Cauallería, 1548
Perhaps the most insightful source in this article. De Reayo recommends to use the mace after both the estoc at the saddle and the sword at the waist, though circumstances (like needing a short weapon immediately after breaking the lances) would perhaps override such an order of use.
"These Men at arms must have the arming Sword [Epsee d’armes] at their side, the Estoc at the Bow of the Saddle on one side, and a Mace on the other: their Lance will be large and very long..."
- Guillaume du Bellay, Instructions sur le Faict de la Guerre, 1548, Translation by Me
"Mace for the rider; knife [cortelacio] to carry at the saddle pommel; estoc for the man at arms"
- Filippo Orso, Frenos Ponit Eqvis Liber Hic, Sic Frena Malignis, 1554, Translation used with permission
And by ordinance in 1549, the French gens d'armes adopted a pistol at the saddle.
"…and if it seems good to him [the man at arms], he will have a pistol at the bow of the saddle."
- Ordonnance d’Henri II, 1549, Translation by Me
"The Man at Armes is armed complete, with his cuyrasses of proofe, his close helmet with a beuer, a gorget, strong pouldrons, vambraces, gauntlets & taisses; a strong Lance well headed with steele, an arming sword; and at his sadle bow, a mace, well mounted vpon a strong & couragious horse, hauing a deepe & strong sadle, with the two cuissets of Pistoll proofe, his horse barded with a sufficient Pectron, crinier & chieffront &c. a strong bridle, double rayned, wherof one to be of wyer were not amisse against the blow of a sword."
- Robert Barret, The Theorike and Practike of Moderne VVarres, 1598
"This club, or acuscula [little needle] in the vernacular, should, besides the three points, that is, one with a blunt point, another in the middle, and the third sharply pointed, also in the nail which joins the wood to the iron, should be a very strong hook or crook, and from this hook the mace is suspended, and when there is fighting it can take the adversary by the neck or other limb, and drawing strongly, especially by turning around, as should be done at the same time as the horse, and in this way it is easy to draw the adversary out of the saddle. And for us to remain safer, we should carry two clubs, so that if we lose one, the other remains..."
- Pietro Monte, Exercitiorum Atque Artis Militaris Collectanea, 1509
Here, Pietro Monte recommends having two maces, likely, in my opinion, to be put at the saddle.
"Howbeit I haue seene some both men at armes, and dimilaunces vse tocks very conueniently worne after the Hongarian & Turkie manner vnder their thighs; which Tocks are long narrow stiffe swords onlie for the thrust: And others I haue seene that in stead of Curtilaces & tocks haue worn single pistols..."
- John Smythe, Instructions, Observations, and Orders Militarie, 1594
Early Medieval Byzantium
Saddle weapons are not unique to Western Europe; in truth, the Near East and Eastern Europe likewise kept hand weapons at their saddles. This section will be dedicated to the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire, specifically of the kataphraktoi, the heavily armed horsemen.
"By all means, the cavalry soldier must have a double-sided axe, one side having the long form of a sword and the other the large and sharp form of the point of a spear. It should be hanging from the saddle in a leather case."
- Leo VI, Τῶν ἐν Πολέμοις Τακτικῶν Σύντομος Παράδοσις, Tón en Polémois Taktikón Súntomos Parádosis, "Taktika", ~900
"Double-edged swords, which are of approximately four spans excluding the hilt, should be hung from their shoulders. The smallest should be four spans including the hilt. The kataphraktoi should be girded with other, single-edged, swords which are of the same size as the double-edged ones, and are in fact called parameria. They should cover their arms with cheiropsella and their legs in turn with the so-called podopsella, which [are] either iron or wooden or even from processed ox hides.
In their saddles they should all have maces or iron maces, and in addition, two or three saddle-bags containing hardtack or flour, as we have said with more detail, in chapter 20. On their heads they should likewise have polished iron helmets that cover [the face] fully and which have plumes on top."
- Leo VI, Συλλογὴ Τακτικῶν, Syllogè Taktikón, "Sylloge Tacticorum", ~903
"The kataphraktoi should have the following weapons: iron maces or with all-iron heads - the heads must have sharp corners and be three-cornered, four-cornered, or six-cornered - or else other iron maces or sabers. All of them must have swords. They should hold their iron maces and sabers in their hands and have other iron maces on their belts or saddles."
- Nikephoros II Phokas, Στρατηγικὴ Ἔκθεσις Καὶ Σύνταξις Νικηφόρου Δεσπότου, Strategikè Ékthesis Kaì Syntaxis Nikephórou Despótou, "Praecepta Militaria", ~965
"The weapons of the kataphraktoi should be the following: maces, made completely of iron, with sharp corners on the heads so that they are three-, four-, or six-cornered, or other iron maces, or sabers. Everyone must have swords and all must have iron maces either on their belts or their saddles."
- Nikephoros Ouranos, "Taktika", early 11th century
Ouranos is repeating Phokas here.
In addition to these treatises, it is used in Anna Komnene's chronicle:
"Whereupon a certain Basileios, surnamed Curticius, an acquaintance and confidant of the Nicephorus Bryennius already mentioned in my history, and an indomitable fighter, ran forward from Comnenus’ battle-line and up to the hillock. Manuel drew his sword and at full gallop rushed at him furiously. Curticius, instead of using his sword, snatched at the club suspended from his saddle-cloth and hit him with it on the head, knocked him down from his horse and dragged him back to my father a prisoner as if he were part of the booty."
- Anna Komnene, Ἀλεξιάς, "Alexiad", 1148
Conclusions
With all of these texts, we can perhaps see a couple school of thoughts for the 15th and 16th centuries. An estoc tied to the saddle, effectively dedicating itself to mounted combat, with a shorter arming sword at the waist, and a mace opposite to the estoc. Or, a shorter sword and mace, both for melees, and both at the saddle, with the longer sword at the waist, to be used both on foot and on horse. And otherwise, only a mace or only a sword at the saddlebow.
So why are saddle weapons, particularly hand weapons, so rare in art? Despite the amount of images here, I really had to dig for them! Either the art is not representative, or the texts are over representative. In this case, it would be good to side with the texts (though it is likely not every man at arms had them at their saddle all the time), especially since maces worn at the belt don't seem to have been common or much a thing at all (in Western Europe), but as to why they are missing from art, I do not know. Perhaps the artists missed them, or they deemed it an unimportant detail.
Maces in Western Europe have a strong association with horsemen, even into the 17th century:
"A Mace is an ancient weapon for a Horseman, neither was it out of use long after the invention of Hand-guns for we read of them frequently used by most Nations an hundred years ago. And certainly in a Medley they may be more serviceable than Swords; for when they were guided by a strong arm, we find the party struck with them, was either fell'd from his horse, or having his Headpiece beat close to his head, was made reel in his Saddle, with his blood running plentifully out of his nose."
- James Turner, Pallas Armata, 1671
"The lances broken, at the encounter of whom fell to the earth on all sides, many men at arms, and many horses, each began to use with the same ferocity their iron maces, and estocs [stocchi], and other short arms, the horses fighting with kicks, with bites, and with shock, no less than the men..."
- Francesco Guicciardini, La Historia di Italia, 1561, Translation by Me
Not to mention the other quotes above (such as Orso's). Maces are hardly mentioned for the foot (at the very least by the 15th century), but I will leave the role of the mace for another article as this one's getting long enough.
Thanks Will! This is super insightful and helpful. I didn't know that many weapons were usually carried, like you said, it's hard to see in art.
ReplyDeleteAlso, this is a bit off-topic, but how many guns maximum would be carried by men-at-arms? I vaguely recall hearing someone say it could be as high as twelve.
Thank you! I'm glad that you thought it was interesting.
DeleteI'm unsure what the maximum was; one or two pistols seems to be what was normally done for the men at arms (and the lancers) in the texts and depictions I've seen. I think five pistols and a harquebus is the most I've seen out there for the horsemen.
Ah lovely, what source mentioned the six firearms? Would that be with a sword and lance as well as the guns?
DeleteIt was a German depiction of a horseman, without lance, iirc. It's been a while though.
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