ABSTRACT
The classical English tactic was to stand on the defensive, for the archers to break up the enemy’s oncoming formation with their shot, and the billmen to charge home when it was halted and in disorder. Modern continental tactics employed two shock arms: the massed phalanx of pikemen, originally evolved by the Swiss to fight on its own, but now universally supported by the fire of arquebusiers, and the fully armoured medieval cavalry given a new lease of life by supporting artillery. In spite of this setback the consequences of the battle of Fenny bridges were important. The rebels had been encountered in the field. Exploiting the condition of privation, they began openly to blame it on the obstinacy of the handful of selfish, rich men who ran the city and who were prolonging the defence with callous indifference to the sufferings of ordinary folk.
