Feudal Catalan, Medieval Crown of Aragon and Catalan Company
Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 10:11 am
After the lists had been send to the publisher, I found further information on Cavalls alforrats that would lead to changes in the lists where they appear (Feudal catalan and Early Crown of Aragon, Medieval Crown of Aragon and Catalan Company).
Grading:
There are two Ordinances that specify their equipment: Horsemen were clad in leather armour, a purpoint or a cuirass, and their horses could either be clad in quilted or padded heavy cloth or completely unarmoured. They were armed with a sword and either a lance or javelins.
In their heavier version they could fight mixed with the ranks of knights, but they could also act separately as heavy cavalry in a similar way to French sergeants (this is the current interpretation in the list and troop notes). But on top of that, their lighter version could be used as light horse for scouting and foraging or as medium cavalry to drive off Muslim light horsemen.
In this sense, Cavalls alforrats would be a kind of hybrid between French sergeants and Muslim light horse or Castilian jinetes, capable of fighting like the former or the latest depending on the situation.
This also explains why I hadn’t found any reference to jinetes in Catalan-Aragonese armies in original sources written in Catalan. Cavalls alforrats were the Catalan-Aragonese equivalent to Castilian jinetes; this is, the Christian response to Muslim light horse tactics, but their equipment and weaponry allowed wider tactical roles than Castillian jinetes, who were pure light horse. Texts written in Spanish call them jinetes when they are used in skirmish by assimilation to the Castilian word for troops playing this role, while texts written in Catalan call them Cavalls alforrats no matter in what role are they going to be used.
This would lead to following classification for Cavalls alforrats:
Cavalry ; armoured ; lancer ; swordsmen (current one)
or
Cavalry ; protected ; light spear ; swordsmen (new one)
or
Light horse ; unprotected or (after 1300) protected or (after 1350) armoured; javelin ; light spear (like current jinetes grading)
Numbers:
Moreover I found out that their numbers were bigger than originally assumed, especially from the end of the XIII century. From 1400 we see a clear decline in numbers, probably as a result of the combination of Italian influence through the Neapolitan possessions, and the lack of Muslim foes. This contrasts with the evolution in Castile, where jinetes increased their numbers through the XV century and especially during the final war against Granada.
In the Feudal Catalan and Early Crown of Aragon list we should allow 0-8 bases from 1200 to 1275 and 0-12 later, with maximum 6 of them as cavalry lancers available from 1275 only. We should also bring them up to the core troops section of the list.
In the Medieval Crown of Aragon list we should include them as well with 0-12 bases before 1400 and 0-8 later, again with a maximum of 4 cavalry lancers.
In the Catalan Company list the numbers are correct and in this case any of them can be graded as Cavalry lancers as they compensated the low numbers of real knights.
This would replace current entries for both Cavalls alforrats and Jinetes in those lists. We can actually call them “Cavalls alforrats and jinetes” in order to avoid confusions for people referring to sources written in Spanish.
Grading:
There are two Ordinances that specify their equipment: Horsemen were clad in leather armour, a purpoint or a cuirass, and their horses could either be clad in quilted or padded heavy cloth or completely unarmoured. They were armed with a sword and either a lance or javelins.
In their heavier version they could fight mixed with the ranks of knights, but they could also act separately as heavy cavalry in a similar way to French sergeants (this is the current interpretation in the list and troop notes). But on top of that, their lighter version could be used as light horse for scouting and foraging or as medium cavalry to drive off Muslim light horsemen.
In this sense, Cavalls alforrats would be a kind of hybrid between French sergeants and Muslim light horse or Castilian jinetes, capable of fighting like the former or the latest depending on the situation.
This also explains why I hadn’t found any reference to jinetes in Catalan-Aragonese armies in original sources written in Catalan. Cavalls alforrats were the Catalan-Aragonese equivalent to Castilian jinetes; this is, the Christian response to Muslim light horse tactics, but their equipment and weaponry allowed wider tactical roles than Castillian jinetes, who were pure light horse. Texts written in Spanish call them jinetes when they are used in skirmish by assimilation to the Castilian word for troops playing this role, while texts written in Catalan call them Cavalls alforrats no matter in what role are they going to be used.
This would lead to following classification for Cavalls alforrats:
Cavalry ; armoured ; lancer ; swordsmen (current one)
or
Cavalry ; protected ; light spear ; swordsmen (new one)
or
Light horse ; unprotected or (after 1300) protected or (after 1350) armoured; javelin ; light spear (like current jinetes grading)
Numbers:
Moreover I found out that their numbers were bigger than originally assumed, especially from the end of the XIII century. From 1400 we see a clear decline in numbers, probably as a result of the combination of Italian influence through the Neapolitan possessions, and the lack of Muslim foes. This contrasts with the evolution in Castile, where jinetes increased their numbers through the XV century and especially during the final war against Granada.
In the Feudal Catalan and Early Crown of Aragon list we should allow 0-8 bases from 1200 to 1275 and 0-12 later, with maximum 6 of them as cavalry lancers available from 1275 only. We should also bring them up to the core troops section of the list.
In the Medieval Crown of Aragon list we should include them as well with 0-12 bases before 1400 and 0-8 later, again with a maximum of 4 cavalry lancers.
In the Catalan Company list the numbers are correct and in this case any of them can be graded as Cavalry lancers as they compensated the low numbers of real knights.
This would replace current entries for both Cavalls alforrats and Jinetes in those lists. We can actually call them “Cavalls alforrats and jinetes” in order to avoid confusions for people referring to sources written in Spanish.
