Editing Cavalry (section)

==Renaissance Europe==
{{more citations needed|section|date=August 2018}}
[[File:Retable de l'Agneau mystique (8).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Knightly cavalry and noblemen, painting by [[Jan van Eyck]] (c. 1390–1441)]]
Ironically, the rise of infantry in the early 16th century coincided with the "golden age" of heavy cavalry; a French or Spanish army at the beginning of the century could have up to half its numbers made up of various kinds of light and heavy cavalry, whereas in earlier medieval and later 17th-century armies the proportion of cavalry was seldom more than a quarter.

Knighthood largely lost its military functions and became more closely tied to social and economic prestige in an increasingly capitalistic Western society. With the rise of drilled and trained infantry, the mounted men-at-arms, now sometimes called ''[[gendarme (historical)|gendarmes]]'' and often part of the standing army themselves, adopted the same role as in the Hellenistic age, that of delivering a decisive blow once the battle was already engaged, either by charging the enemy in the flank or attacking their commander-in-chief.

<!--[[File:Husarz, Józef Brandt, 1890.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[Polish hussars|Husarz]]'' (Polish Hussar) by [[Józef Brandt]]]]-->
From the 1550s onwards, the use of [[Gunpowder warfare|gunpowder weapons]] solidified infantry's dominance of the battlefield and began to allow true mass armies to develop. This is closely related to the increase in the size of armies throughout the early modern period; heavily armored cavalrymen were expensive to raise and maintain and it took years to train a skilled horseman or a horse, while [[arquebusier]]s and later [[musketeer]]s could be trained and kept in the field at much lower cost, and were much easier to recruit.

[[File:Straz hetmanska.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Polish hussars|A Polish winged hussar]]]]
The Spanish [[tercio]] and later formations relegated cavalry to a supporting role. The [[pistol]] was specifically developed to try to bring cavalry back into the conflict, together with manoeuvres such as the [[caracole]]. The caracole was not particularly successful, however, and the charge (whether with lance, sword, or pistol) remained as the primary mode of employment for many types of European cavalry, although by this time it was delivered in much deeper formations and with greater discipline than before. The [[demi-lancer]]s and the heavily armored sword-and-pistol [[reiter]]s were among the types of cavalry whose heyday was in the 16th and 17th centuries. During this period the [[Polish Hussars|Polish Winged hussars]] were a dominating heavy cavalry force in Eastern Europe that initially achieved great success against [[Kalmar Union|Swedes]], [[Tsardom of Russia|Russians]], [[Ottoman Empire|Turks]] and other, until repeatably beaten by either combined arms tactics, increase in firepower or beaten in melee with the [[Drabant Corps of Charles XII|Drabant cavalry]] of the [[Swedish Empire]]. From their last engagement in 1702 (at the [[Battle of Kliszów]]) until 1776, the obsolete Winged hussars were demoted and largely assigned to ceremonial roles. The [[Polish Hussars|Polish Winged hussars]] military prowess peaked at the [[Battle of Vienna|Siege of Vienna]] in 1683, when hussar [[Banner (calvary)|banners]] participated in the largest cavalry charge in history and successfully repelled the Ottoman attack.