Heavy cavalry
Heavy cavalry was a class of cavalry intended to deliver a battlefield charge and also to act as a tactical reserve; they are also often termed shock cavalry. Although their equipment differed greatly depending on the region and historical period, heavy cavalry were generally mounted on large powerful warhorses, wore body armor, and armed with either lances, swords, maces, flails, battle axes, or war hammers; their mounts may also have been protected by barding. They were distinct from light cavalry, who were intended for raiding, reconnaissance, screening, skirmishing, patrolling, and tactical communications.
History
Persian Empires
Iranian tribes such as the Massagetae were believed to be the originator of the class of heavy cavalry known as cataphract. During the time of Achaemenid Persia cavalry was the elite arm of service, and many Persian horsemen such as the bodyguard unit of Cyrus the Younger were rather heavily armoured by the standards of the era. By the time of Alexander's invasion cataphract units with both men and beasts being fully encased in armour were already in use by the Persians.The Parthian Empire of Ancient Iran marks an early recorded utilization of armoured cavalry in warfare, and are specifically believed to have given rise to the tradition of very heavily armoured cataphract lancers. These had a distinct role from ordinary heavy cavalry and were primarily used as an elite assault force, to pummel infantry formations into submission, or even acted in a dual-purpose role as horse archers and cataphracts.
Ammianus Marcellinus, a Roman general and historian who served in the army of Constantius II in Gaul and Persia, fought against the Persians under Julian the Apostate and took part in the retreat of his successor, Jovian. He describes the Persian cataphract as:
Celts
The Celts of western and central Europe are among the first peoples in the region known to have made use of heavy cavalry. It is generally accepted that the Celts were the originators of mail armour, the earliest find being from a Celtic burial in Ciumesti in modern-day Romania. Mail and occasionally bronze armour were restricted generally to the nobility and chieftains of Celtic society, and the additional cost of maintaining a horse trained for the din and chaos of battle ensured that those men who could afford a full panoply of mail and a good quality warhorse were highly motivated, not merely by their status but by the emphasis that Celtic society placed on personal success and courage. At the Battle of Carrhae, Gallic auxiliary cavalry met with the completely armoured Parthian cataphracts. Despite being outmatched the Gauls fought fiercely and well before being annihilated in a protracted melee.The small size of Celtic horses meant that the Celtic heavy cavalry of north-western and central Europe appear to have been employed as heavy skirmisher cavalry, rather than the shock cavalry of the Middle East and North Africa, the heavy cavalry of Gaul and Celtiberia being widely regarded as some of the finest horsemen of the ancient world. The Gauls were known to be able to hurl their javelins while retreating, and to use a system whereby a cavalryman was supported by two other men with fresh horses who could resupply him with missiles. For close combat the main weapon was the spear, around in length with a leaf-bladed head, and a heavy wooden shield with an iron spindle-type boss. The most prestigious weapon was the sword, a blade ranging anywhere from in length. Celtic swords were typically of good quality, with some being of such quality that archeologists have classed them as being equal to modern, high-quality steel replicas.
The heavy cavalry of the Celtiberi, widely employed by the Carthaginians, included men who may have ridden on mail-armoured horses. Known to the Romans as "Lanciarii", they are represented in several Iberian carvings of the period. They may have carried the "soliferrum", the all-iron javelin unique to Iberia, in addition to a spear and shield and a Celtic-style longsword or an Iberian falcata. Together with the Gallic nobles, it was likely these horsemen who at the Battle of Cannae charged and then broke the Roman and Italian cavalry.
Greeks
The ancient Greeks called armoured cavalry Kataphraktos which translated means roughly "covered, protected" or "armoured". The term was later borrowed by the Romans and until the Middle Ages in Europe, continued to be used to designate armoured cavalry. However, as with other types of cavalry, heavy cavalry was not employed in any significant capacity in wars between the Greek city states until later, mainly due to the prevalence of hoplite warfare as well as the mountainous terrain of Central Greece. The lack of suitable grassland and excess grain supply necessary for the production of good cavalry mounts was also crippling to the establishment of an effective cavalry force, the noted Greek mercenary and writer Xenophon once saying that a horse farm was the most expensive type of establishment to keep running.The exception was in Northern Greece, where large flat areas of grassland made cavalry much more practical. Eventually, encounters with Persian cavalry led the Greeks to create their own cavalry arm, the Hippeis, composed mostly of upper-class citizens who could afford to maintain a horse. While cavalry played an increasingly greater part in Greek warfare, its roles were generally restricted to scouting, skirmishing and pursuit. However, by the end of the Peloponnesian War, heavy cavalry charges had started to play an increasingly important part in Ancient Greek warfare, with the Battle of Delium showing how their intervention could turn the tide of a battle. The city-state of Thebes was particularly famous for its cavalry, with the famed Theban commander Epaminondas using his heavy horse to great effect both at Leuctra as well as Mantineia to rout the Spartan cavalry, and in the process disrupting the legendary Spartan phalanx as well, helping his own hoplites win the battle.
The development of the saddle as well as increasingly larger horse breeds led to creation of the Macedonian Companion cavalry developed during the reign of Philip II of Macedon, likely based on the Theban model, as he had spent his youth in the house of Epaminondas as a hostage. This force was later used with great effect by his son, Alexander the Great. In both role and equipment, the Companions was the first cavalry force that was known to represent archetypal heavy cavalry. The Companion cavalry, or Hetairoi, were the elite arm of the Macedonian army, and have been regarded as the best cavalry in the ancient world.
In the aftermath of the Macedonian Empire, the Diadochi, successor states created by Alexander the Great's generals, continued the usage of heavy cavalry in their own forces. The Seleucids in particular introduced the use of cataphracts into Western warfare, having learned the practice of completely armouring both man and horse from Iranian tribes encountered during the wars of Alexander the Great.
Middle Ages
Advent of the stirrup
The stirrup, which gives greater stability to a rider, has been described as one of the most significant inventions in the history of warfare, prior to the use of gunpowder. As a tool allowing expanded use of horses in warfare, the stirrup is often called the third revolutionary step in equipment, after the chariot and the saddle. The basic tactics of mounted warfare were significantly altered by the stirrup. A rider supported by stirrups was less likely to fall off while fighting, and could deliver a blow with a weapon that more fully employed the weight and momentum of horse and rider. Among other advantages, stirrups provided greater balance and support to the rider, which allowed the knight to use a sword more efficiently without falling, especially against infantry adversaries.The metal stirrup was invented in 4th century China, and spread to Europe by the late 6th or early 7th century, primarily due to invaders from Central Asia, such as the Avars and Cumans. By the 8th century the stirrup was in widespread European use, and is later thought to have helped stimulate the creation of early knightly classes in the Carolingian empire. It has controversially been argued that the stirrup was responsible for the development of feudalism, though this is not fully accepted.
Cataphracts
cataphracts were a much feared force in their heyday. The army of Emperor Nicephorus II, the 'Pale Death of the Saracens' himself, relied on its cataphracts as its nucleus, coupling cataphract archers with cataphract lancers to create a self-perpetuating 'hammer blow' tactic where the cataphract lancers would charge again and again until the enemy broke, all the while supported by cataphract archers.Contemporary depictions however imply that they were not as completely armoured as earlier Roman and Sassanid types—horse armour is noticeably absent. Byzantine cataphracts of the 10th century were drawn from the ranks of the middle class landowners through the theme system, providing the Byzantine Empire with a motivated and professional force. An experimental type of cataphract was brought to the fore in the 10th and 11th centuries known as the klibanaphoros, "bearer of klibanion"—named after the clibanarius and a throwback to the very heavily armoured cavalry of earlier days. However, the traditional view is that after the loss of prestige, men and material and the horse-rearing plains of Anatolia after they lost the decisive Battle of Manzikert to lighter Turk cavalry, they slowly dropped out of use.
But according to J. Birkenmeier in "The development of the Komnenian army: 1081–1180", units of 'Kataphraktoi' were still being used during the 12th century. The Komnenian restoration of the Byzantine Empire during that century created a new kind of Byzantine army, which is known as the Komnenian army. Yet it seems that the cataphract was eventually superseded by other types of armoured cavalry. The emperor Manuel I Komnenos, for example, re-equipped his elite cavalry in the style of western knights.
It is difficult to determine when exactly the cataphract saw his final day in battle. After all, both cataphracts and knights fulfilled a similar role on the medieval battlefield, and the armoured knight survived well into the modern age. The Byzantines called all heavy shock cavalry kataphraktoi.
The Byzantine army maintained units of heavily armoured cavalrymen up to its last years, while neighbouring Bulgars, Serbs, Russian states, and other Eastern European peoples emulated Byzantine military training and equipment.