Largest 15th Century Cavalry Charge 

As a 15th century war of the roses reenactor, it is for me a window in to Richard the thirds charge to try an end the Battle of Bosworth early. He charged with his own small group of knights. The armour is totally late 15th century.

And you can stab them with a pike!

riding in armor is not thaat hard but seeing where your buddy goes xD i didnt hit shit the first 50 to 80 lancecharges on the roland

they made me practice in full summerheat complete gear with helmet and visir down

@@mmckeating3800tak pewnie tylko Anglicy mieli takie zbroje w 15 c stad taki twój ograniczony komentarz 😂😂

What i want is Theosis.

@@ReplyToMeIfUrRetarded Amén! +IC XC NIKA

Ride in plate armor against the enemies? As the great King Conan once said: "To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women."? ;)

Trust me, it was! Being infantry there, we got a few chances to get charged by cavalry - definitely an experience to remember. Worth keeping up with the content to see when footage of cavalry on infantry content is released.

The only way to survive a cavalry charge Is hold position and don't run away ,if some run the other follow and they are all death because horses are Faster and if they take you from behind no chance to survive

"Protect me, pokey stick!"

@@eugenioderose6628you also need to be a bit lucky. Good cavalryman can charge home even if you hold your ground, especially if they have barding. And that’s if they hit you from the front.

If I have a pointy stick with me longer then theirs I got nothing to be afraid of. I bet my money on horsy will refuse to run at my pike and impale itself.

were there formation calls and such? would have been nice to hear those is you had then during

Yes there were and particularly during the battle (not shown here yet)

@@siekensou77 In the Polish/Lithuanian Winged Hussars outfits the participants had often been training since they were 7 years old or even less and had the best armour and weapons money could buy at the time. It is said the horsemanship was so good two hussars could gallop side by side and not drop a coin between the two riders so tight was the formation. What we see in recreations is poor in comparison to the real thing at the time as the horses were also a special breed and to sell one outside the Commonwealth resulted in the death penalty to anyone who did so. Horses today cannot recreate the scenes as they are not specially bred or trained for such combat like the horses of the era. Stand in any field and hear 10-20 horses at a full gallop coming towards you and it is easy to imagine the enemy of the day fleeing on the battlefield when more than 100+ Hussars are charging towards them. You cannot teach or practise the bravery needed to stand your ground against such forces when to do so meant certain death. Only when weaponry and tactics made direct charges into an infantry unit impossible did these glorious Hussars become obsolete. I heard somewhere that their armour was tested and proven to withstand the musket shots at the time. The rider would feel a small thud on the body but little else so could continue riding at a gallop toward a standing infantry line. Poor infantryman. And great job by the riders for giving a small look at how a formation would look like. Even experienced horsemen can not match those Hussars who were trained from childhood to ride in tight formation so great job by the horsemen in the clip.

It was a awe inspiring spectacle to behold in person

So far, this is largest and realest cavalry charge brought to reality by the 15th Century living history community. As you said, Hollywood take notes! Not only is it possible but the attention to detail gives the depth and feeling no amount of epic music can fabricate. Seeing it in person was an awe-inspiring experience. Come to the next Feldlarger and see it for yourself?

Nice seing celebraties in comments. love your contet (Both of you)

Is it famous Metatron from Italie/ US . Btw this IS reenacting of 1410 Tannenberg / Grunwald battle. Poland - Lithuanie (with Ruthenie) vs Chevaliers Teutoniques and their allies

1410 15th July

It would have been an honor to have you ride with us again Wolfgang!

that is high praise from you, my dear friend and riding master.

If only I was 40 years younger....

They aren't easily countered with spears. Pikes - yes, but pikes become popular only towards late middle ages, and they were in fact one of major factors why shock cavalry stopped being dominant force. As for spears - the thing is, for a spear formation to effectively stop cavalry charge in the suitable terrain it requires front rows to be pretty much suicidally disciplined. And we know it's not gonna happen. And while it's also dangerous for the riders to charge onto spears, its not nearly as dangerous, and they have far larger chance of survival than their enemies. So it's just easier for them.

Actually pikes can be fenced with and displaced by the knights with their lances. You can literally fish them up with a cavazione motion and deflect them upwards and sideways. And your buddies can do the same. You can get three or four pikes with a single lance, thus creating gaps you can ride into. Then the second and third line of cavalry can stab the infantry while the first line is busy riding forward and parrying away more incoming pikes. Let's not forget that pike bloks weren't usually that deep. Maybe three ranks at most. They were big squares yes, but they were hollow with other troops inside, like gunners, halbardiers or even cavalry.

Theh certainly are a intimidating sight! Even when you know they are not aiming on killing you they still strike awe and fear with the sheer movement of all those bodies and steel all at once

Think that a warhorse was much bigger and heavier than those in the film.

@@valeriobrayda3375 No, they are about the right size. Actually, some of the horses in the video are bigger than a medieval warhorse would have been.

@@AzathothTheGreat for me it is the fetish of bondage that holds me. The suiting up in a steel suit all fitted to one of those guys is very erotic .

I don't want to ruin your day but a lot of these guys are actually ladies in armour ;)

​@@peterspatling3151, "E le chiome dorate al vento sparse, giovane donna in mezzo il campo apparse" Lodovico Ariosto - "Gerusalemme Liberata".

You are homo?

Thanks man

Hmm 🤔you guys are the part of this show?

this was about 36 riders, most charges in the 15th century tend to be about 300-2000 riders. Later charges get MUCH larger, with up to 17000 riders in some extremely large attacks. So i suppose the countercharge on the lancastrian flanking maneuvre at Tewkesbury was only about 10 times as large as this, yet decided that battle to a very large degree.

I just don’t get all the positive feedback on this. There is no discernible battle formation at all

@@nm425 The very obvious two lines they form just went over your head huh? Have you ever considered breathing with your nose?

people are impressed this was possible at all, weapons, armor and horses arent exactly everywhere nowadays, combine that with training on the people and horses, the fact that this video exists is an achievement@@nm425

In real life it’s actually not very noisy. I’ve seen a number of re-enactor/ movie charges on horseback and it’s much quieter than you’d imagine. If two opponents actually came to contact things might be very different.

you haven't seen 800 persons on horses charging, so i am not buying your comment,@@sirrathersplendid4825

the bells... so many bells.... sounds a bit like a christmas sled convention. this is about a re-enforced squadron, squadrons in the 15th century tended to be 20-25 riders, sometimes re-enforced by another 25 'coustilliers'. Many battlefield charges were done with multiple squadrons put together to make a battlefield unit. we read of anywhere from 300 (battle of Tewkesbury, for instance) to 2000 riders in one unit. Nevertheless many raids and feudal wars had smaller units operating. Operating 1-2 squadrons is a known phenomena. Here we were aiming for a feudal ... well.. feud... and there having 36 riders is not that off. it is definately on the low side. But the ratio of 3-4 infantery per 1 cavalry is about as low as it gets in medieval europe. (roughly the equivalent of the Reichsaufgebot troops marching to Neuß) the burgundian army had 2/3s mounted and 1/3 meant to fight mounted... of the ordinance, anyway... the feudal levies were more cavalry than that and the city militias more infantry.

@@sirrathersplendid4825 That said, the Winged Hussars' wings were intentionally designed to make noise as they closed in at a gallop. It frightened the enemy and their horses.

@@bellgrand - I’m sorry to say that’s simply not true. There have been numerous reconstructions and experiments and the wings simply don’t make a noise. They are frightening to look at, especially for horses 🐴, which can get spooked by things they don’t understand.

Exactly, just a glimpse but a very good glimpse into what it must have been like

Right!

Maybe😂

Is there an issue because of that?

@@G_Flash84625 Only if you don't like pizza.

@@thetruth45678 I love pizza ^.^

@@G_Flash84625 But do you put pineapples on said pizza?

it is usually easier to do so, and especially at the end the engagement is easier. there is, of course, plenty of uphill charges in history, famously in Hastings a whole bunch, but perhaps more interesting for the sake of argument the uphill charges at the battle of Neuß that were the lion share of the fighting before the rout set in. Both sides charged uphill and the Burgundians were quite effective in taking the hillock overlooking the German camp.but there are many many more examples. Speed is not that much suffering, despite this being quite a substantial slope. The speed is primarily a factor in reducing the number of shots and being a tricker target to hit. In the impetous of the engagment of the enemy formation the formation desity matters, but also the commitment of the horse stride and the ability to use the forces of the horses. So sometimes slower is actually more forcefull. also in this area the only two choices were uphill or downhill... there was just no flat ground at all. the downhill charge is really more problematic with this amount of slope. Up until some degree you can gallop downhill but these slopes are really tricky. This is quite different in other parts of Europe where sometimes there is no slope around that steep for hundreds of miles (like Norhtern france or Belgium has large tracks with , at most, really shallow gradients.) A downhill charge on a more gradual slope is quite a different matter. all the cav vs cav charges were uphill vs downhill in this event, and without fail the uphill won. Better coordination, better impetous, better sight, better control over the enemies lance in the engagement, fencing with the weapons, better hitting (and harder), horses much better on the riders' aids, and so forth.

If only we could edit it copyright free... not on YT at least

He certainly was! In the front line too

@@IronCrownWorkshopWas he on the horse with the tan barding? And Is that Jason Kingsley with the long hair?

@@Jim58223 Toby is in the second line on a dun horse with black leather trappings. The rider with long hair is Dario Cattaneo. Jason was not there.

I was riding the horse with the leather barding. Toby was behind me i think.

@@LukeDelBinkey Awesome. Is this held every year? Can anyone come to view it? Thanks

That's correct, we did a rough estimate in the days after and the scene was somewhere around $3,000,000 everything all totalled not to mention the man hours unpaid for in passion and dedication to make, train and upkeep everything. It's all of these converging factors and that they were in the one place at the same time that makes this a miraculous event

But lots of those horses there are proper medieval warhorse size and build. You are perhaps thinking of huge draft breeds like a modern Frisian, which has nothing to do with XVth century warhorses.

these horses are mostly on the large side already, although pretty many were just touching the top of the range for 15th century horses. We were pretty happpy with ourselves having 3 of the horses in full barding. If you look closely you do see Murgese and Bolounais horses in there. So some drafts joined us. The most proper warhorses were explicitly see to be spanish, Neapolitan, barb... in the 15th century italian sources. The spanish (and lusitano) horses are a large part of this group. the build and size is , if anything, airing to the larger side.

Dr Capwell is riding in this group. Others were invited but were not able to attend. There were a few more Brits in the infantry formations.

It certainly was. Awe inspiring is an understatement

No interest in guys who commited genocite.

​@@DilophoMSshut up, red

i actually prefer to see another battles with much more cavalry , not just 16 lol that's some western style shit (y soy español asi que..)

Ale ja tam widzę chorągiew z orłem polskich Piastów... a zbroje z końca XVI wieku

i think we tried on one of the two takes, these shots are cut together so the actual chronological sequence might be a little misleading. i don't know how much you would be able to tell, though, as the terrain gradually became steeper and there is not that much reference in the shot We probably went from about 30km/h to about 35 km/h or so in this one. But that is a guess on how it felt, we might be able to tell you later what it was exactly. These two charges were about 200 meters long or so, this is still quite far for medieval standards, whereas later charge ranges increased to about 700 meters around 1900AD. A bow can low an arrow to aobut 180m, but just trotting at that range probably means the entire unit is out of the beating zone by the time the arrows land, from about 100 m we are seeing far more probability of hit and an increase of speed makes it much fewer impacts again in the approach. the actual interaction with the enemy formation being charged was more important to the men-at-arms at the time: cohesion and inertia of the whole formation was impportant, so loosening the formation for speed was less interesting, and a slightly slower charge with good coordination might be more succesfull, especially as the armour allows oyu to take a few arrow hits and probably simply shake them off due to the armour.

So would we!

Polish. No crusaders in the XVth century.

@@JosefGustovc Teutonic Order was still around. But yeah thx for the Info 👍

Actually it was a banner of Duchy of Mazovia - that’s why the eagle has no crown. BTW I carried it myself 😊

@@maxgried That is legit awesome. How did it feel, did you feel like a Knight? I'm sorry, it's just so cool😆

Where did you get these numbers from? Lol.

yes we were happy to have a full squadron together to begin with. A lot of charges in history are hundreds or tousands, indeed. (though smaller ones are known too) This event was representing a fuedal war, where this number of combattants is not unknown (about 120 foot soldiers and 36 riders). it is amazing how difficult it is to bring even 100 riders together (like we did at the hastings re-enactment in 2006) but also keep the equipment standards high... as well as the riding and horse training standards. There is remarkably few occasions in modern life that you even see hundreds of horses together, i think the largest bunch i have ever seen was 400... in the last 25 years. Let alone under armour, and so forth.

There are most certainly cavalry events with larger charges. The unique thing with this event is the numbers for a 15th century charge and the majority of riders in high quality full plate armour

Holy hell! 20 000.

I mean, the battle of Vienna has a charge of ~18 000 cavalrymen straight into the Ottomans army. The charge was led by 3000 Winged Hussars. Imagine 18000 horsemen charging at you with reckless abandon just to lift the ongoing siege on Vienna. And again, those 18000 horses were a single side of the battle here. Also, fun side note, but Tolkien apparently used that event as inspiration for the battle of the Pelenor fields(or the charge of the Rohirrims)

@@sarahdale9968 imagine the American civil war with twenty thousand horses called The Battle of Bradley station it happened in eighteen sixty-three and it's the largest u.s. Calvary battle ever.

@@Darth_Traitorous Yes, I am familiar with the battle, the American Civil War had some of my favourite military engagements. The battle of Brandy Station was the single largest cavalry battle on American soil, with some 11000 cavalrymen on the Union side vs some 9500 on the Confederate side. IIRC that battle was the one that firmly anchored the Union's cavalry dominance for the rest of the Civil War

polish contingent riding in the second line

@@airnt Its battle of Grunwald? Kingdom of Poland vs Teutonic Order??

He certainly is. He was in that charge

This is an excellent question for the cavalry experts who are lurking here

Yes, explicitly so. There are sources which talk about the second line reaching with their lances in front of the horses' heads in the line in front of them. There is another video with gopro footage of the combat we did, you see the wearer of the camera actually attack across a friendly horse and hit an enemy armoured rider in the armpit with his lance (primary target to bypass the armour historically)