ABSTRACT
THE art and practice of medireyal warfare does not come: directly within the limits of this work. But warfare was the principal occupation of the knight, whether for business or pleasure; the heyday of chivalry was the period during. which cavalry was in the ascendant, and its decline was· chiefly due to that development of the art of war which gave' the issue of battles to infantry and artillery rather than cavalry, and made the conduct of campaigns and sieges a matter of calculation rather than of personal prowess. It is
therefore necessary to give a short sketch of military history during the chivalric period, i.e. from the 10th to the 15th or 16th century. The cavalry period, however, dates from a time far anterior to chivalry.
