There was a very entertaining presentation about the charged of the Polish hussars at Siege of Vienna by an English re-enactor...
... followed by a display of remarkable horsemanship by a Polish group.
Apart from the skill of the riders at controlling their (locally supplied) horses, I was struck by the way they were able to aim so precisely with the three-metre long lances. At pretty much a full gallop, with laces crouched and leaning forward in the saddle they were able to keep the lance rock steady and with its point aimed exactly and human-head-sized targets from twenty or thirty yards out. Brilliant stuff and well worth the entry fee!
2 comments:
Did they talk about the function of the 'wings'? We were discussing it at our club the other week, and it was mentioned that they were supposed to have a psychological effect, producing a noise as the cavalry charged en masse. But we weren't sure about it. I notice that the re-enactors have smaller wings than some miniatures or illustrations tend to show.
They mentioned the idea of the wings producing an intimidating noise en masse. There was also a passing mention that the taller wings were a later, 18th century style.
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