"Did Western Europe ever have mounted archers?" Topic

Interesting question…

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Where there…?

Amicalement
Armand

The Alans were a Sarmatian tribe who originated in the steppe out of the Scythians. During the great migrations of the Germans et alia into the Roman Empire they ended up in Brittany (that's where the forename Alan came from). Many crossed with William the Conquerer into England. There is at least one illustration of 11th Century Alans in France carrying and firing bows on horseback.

Thanks!

Amicalement
Armand

Edward I hired a unit of 200 Italian mounted crossbows for his invasion of Scotland in 1296. Did n't do him much good.

As pointed out in the comments at reddit, there's a difference between a "mounted archer", who rides to battle but typically fights on foot, and a "horse archer" who normally fights from horseback. The former are quite common during the later Middle Ages, such as many English and French ordonnance archers, while the latter are rare west of Hungary.

The obvious example of the latter further west that comes to mind is Roman/Byzantine ones in Late Antiquity, think e.g. of Belisarius' in the reconquest of Italy.

Apparently, the Carolingians also had some horse archers, or so WRG army lists tell me.

Thanks also!.

Amicalement
Armand

What "The Last Conformist" said. Being mounted simply meant being successful enough to have a horse to ride. For gaming purpose this might translate into the mounted archers having better armor and morale, then their poorer "foot" comrades. Housecarls were also "mounted" but I don't know of any battles where they fought on horseback.