Transition. In 1350 European warfare was beginning the transition from the medieval style, in which the knight or heavily armored cavalryman dominated the battlefield, to early modern warfare, in which infantrymen reigned supreme. Shortly before 1350 there had occurred two major battles in which foot soldiers had been victorious over cavalrymen—Laupen (1339), where Swiss infantrymen wielded pikes and halberds, and Crecy (1346), where English longbowmen were supported by dismounted knights. The English longbow archers' successes in the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) are far better known, but the Swiss use of the pike and halberd had the greater impact, since it remained a powerful factor in warfare until well into the sixteenth century.

Knights. A knight's proper opponent was another knight, not the poorly armed and untrained infantrymen who accompanied medieval armies. Knightly disdain for fighting dismounted peasant levies was a major reason for the...