. A history of the art of war, the middle ages from the fourth to the fourteenth century . thrownout in front of the line to skirmish with the Saracen foot-soldiery of Manfreds host. It will be noted that Charles had the enormous advantageof leading an army which was practically homogeneous; savethe few Italians, all were vassals of the French or Provencalcrowns, and fairly equal to each other in military worth. We aresomewhat surprised to see the smallness of the whole array :six thousand French horse had crossed the Alps, a thousandhad been at P^ome with Charles, and the Italian allies had s
. A history of the art of war, the middle ages from the fourth to the fourteenth century . thrownout in front of the line to skirmish with the Saracen foot-soldiery of Manfreds host. It will be noted that Charles had the enormous advantageof leading an army which was practically homogeneous; savethe few Italians, all were vassals of the French or Provencalcrowns, and fairly equal to each other in military worth. We aresomewhat surprised to see the smallness of the whole array :six thousand French horse had crossed the Alps, a thousandhad been at P^ome with Charles, and the Italian allies had senta contingent. Yet we only find three thousand men-at-arms inthe battle line: even remembering that garrisons had been leftbehind in the conquered places on the Garigliano, we must still^conclude that the army had suffered severely from the wintryweather in its march down Italy, and especially in the defiles^between San Germano and Benevento. ^ This order is arrived at by comparing Andreas Ungarus, Primatus, and RicordanoMalaspina, who does not quite agree with the others. PLATE 1266] BENEVENTO: THE GERMANS CHARGE 485 The battle opened with a futile infantry skirmish which hadno effect on the fortune of the day, and only serves to show thelow esteem in which both sides held their foot-soldiery. It ischaracteristic to find that only one of the chroniclers whodescribe the fight, Saba Malaspina, thinks it worth while tonarrate it. The Saracen archers, as he tells the tale, ran out in front ofManfreds army before the command had been given them,intending to harass the front line of French horse, and so toprepare the way for the charge of the Germans. Charles ofAnjou threw out against them his ribaulds^ the half-armedirregular infantry of his host, and also no doubt his Saracens had the best of the skirmish ; the PVench wereshot down by hundreds, and gave way. To save them,Mirepoix and De Montfort directed a body of sergeants fromthe first line of horse to cha
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade189, booksubjectmilitaryartandscience
