"Italian Cavalry in the army of Flanders" Topic

Guys, I've got a question to which I couldn't find the answer in the Foundry book covering the subject: Would all the companies of "italian light horse" in the army of Flanders be of lancers/caballos ligeros? Also, would their equipment and dress differ in any way from those of the native spanish lancer companies?

At what period?

1580? 1640?

I'm interested in the 1566-1609 period.

Tough call.

I would think that as light cavalry they would more likely be mounted arquebusiers wouldn't they?

If they were three quarter or half armoured lancers, then I suspect they would be indiscernible from their Spanish equivalents.

If a unit is refered to as "Light horse" in the original source then it is a unit of lancers.

Sir Roger Williams who had seen extensive service both in the Army of Flanders and against it wrote the following on the subject.

"These Launtiers are called light horsemen, notwithstanding that they are aswel mounted as the men at armes for one horse a peece, and aswell armed, sauing the barbd for their greues and maces: most carrie one pistoll, but al carrie a curtilace, I meane a good broad sword."
(…)
"…the Launtiers, called by the strangers Light Horsemen, by vs Demilances"

In those days "light" simply meant that a unit had lighter equipment than the "heavy" cavalry i.e men at arms.

According to Williams the Spanish refered to mounted arquebusiers as Harguleiters.

But to confuse matters both types were considered "light cavalry" in a wider sense of the word and when army of Flanders veteran Giorgio Basta wrote his manual on the use of "Light cavalry" he considers both mounted arquebusiers and demi-lancers to be part of the light cavalry. (For him So one really has to check the original documentation as the 16th C use of the word has cause a fair bit of errors in later histories.

The cavalry of the Army of Flanders is a bit of a neglected subject compared to to how the infantry has been studied, the imperfect impression I have is that native Spanish cavalry was fairly rare and that the cavalry was mostly supplied by Italians, Walloons, Burgundians and Germans. I don't think it is a coincidence that both senior Army of Flanders officers that wrote cavalry manuals were effectivly Italian. (Basta and Melzo though Basta had Albanian ancestry)

Military equipment would be very hard to tell apart as Italy was a major source of equipment for the troops that went to Flanders. And a lot of gear was imported into Spain as well. Once in Flanders both Spanish and Italian troopers would rely on local industries and merchants to replace any lost or damaged armour.

Daniel, would the only difference between the heavy armour of the men at arms and the armour of the caballos ligeros be only the lack of lower leg armour for the ligeros?
Also, thank you very much for your help!

The cavalry of the Army of Flanders is a bit of a neglected subject compared to to how the infantry has been studied, the imperfect impression I have is that native Spanish cavalry was fairly rare and that the cavalry was mostly supplied by Italians, Walloons, Burgundians and Germans.

Certainly true of the OoB's I've looked at for Nordlingen and Rocroi.

Guys, any clue on the differences between the armour of the "light horse" and the men at arms? I assume the burgundian men at arms of the spanish army in Flanders wouldn't have horse barding by that time.