Editing Medieval warfare (section)

==Rise of infantry==
{{Main|Infantry in the Middle Ages}}[[File:Spinello-Battle of Punta San Salvatore-detail1.jpg|thumb|A battle between the Venetian and Holy Roman fleets. Detail of a fresco by [[Spinello Aretino]] 1407–1408.]]
In the medieval period, the mounted cavalry long held sway on the battlefield. Heavily armoured mounted knights represented a formidable foe for reluctant peasant draftees and lightly armoured freemen. To defeat mounted cavalry, infantry used swarms of missiles or a tightly packed phalanx of men, techniques honed in antiquity by the Greeks.

===Swiss pikemen===
The use of long pikes and densely packed foot troops was not uncommon in the Middle Ages. The [[Flemings|Flemish]] footmen at the [[Battle of the Golden Spurs]] met and overcame French knights in 1302, as the [[Lombard League|Lombards]] did in [[Battle of Legnano|Legnano]] in 1176 and the Scots held their own against heavily armoured English cavalry. During the St. Louis crusade, dismounted French knights formed a tight lance-and-shield phalanx to repel Egyptian cavalry.  The Swiss used pike tactics in the late medieval period. While pikemen usually grouped and awaited a mounted attack, the Swiss developed flexible formations and aggressive manoeuvring, forcing their opponents to respond. The Swiss won at [[Battle of Morgarten|Morgarten]], Laupen, [[Battle of Sempach|Sempach]], [[Battle of Grandson|Grandson]] and [[Battle of Morat|Murten]], and between 1450 and 1550 every leading prince in Europe (except the English and Scottish) hired Swiss pikemen, or emulated their tactics and weapons (e.g., the [[Landsknechte|German Landsknechte]]).[[File:Arc long anglais.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|A modern replica of an English longbow.]]
===Welsh and English longbowmen===
{{Main|English longbow}}

The Welsh and English longbowmen used a single-piece longbow (but some bows later developed a composite design) to deliver arrows that could penetrate contemporary [[Mail (armour)|mail]] and damage/dent [[plate armour]]. The longbow was a difficult weapon to master, requiring long years of use and constant practice. A skilled longbowman could shoot about 12 shots per minute.  This rate of fire was far superior to competing weapons like the [[crossbow]] or early gunpowder weapons. The nearest competitor to the longbow was the much more expensive crossbow, used often by urban militias and [[mercenary]] forces. The crossbow had greater penetrating power and did not require the extended years of training. However, it lacked the rate of fire of the longbow.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thebeckoning.com/medieval/crossbow/cross_l_v_c.html|title=The Crossbow vs the Longbow in the Medieval Period – on 'The Beckoning'|website=www.thebeckoning.com|access-date=2020-01-30}}</ref>

At [[Battle of Crécy|Crécy]] and [[Battle of Agincourt|Agincourt]] bowmen unleashed clouds of arrows into the ranks of knights. At Crécy, even 5,000 Genoese crossbowmen could not dislodge them from their hill. At Agincourt, thousands of French knights were brought down by armour-piercing [[bodkin point]] arrows and horse-maiming [[Arrowhead#Variants|broadheads]]. Longbowmen decimated an entire generation of the French nobility.