Roman Heavy Cavalry Fighting Techniques

[Kai]

Heavy cavalry without shields would be covered in armour so that a shield would not be necessary. I a melee against shield-bearing cavalry that could be a disadvantage, but since I expect that shield-bearing lighter cavalry would therefore be more vulnerable, that might have been a lesser problem.

In my humble opinion, the shield is not the deciding factor in such a combat. When reviewing super heavy cavalry (however called, cataphracti, clibanarii etc.) the poor performance vs lighter troops was quite appalling to me, be it early on (Magnesia) or later on (Strasbourg). When they lost speed and did not hit the enemy head-on, the heavies had problems, big problems.
In such a situation the lack of stirrups is crucial. I know it does not matter when charging - I have read Junkelmann, don't worry - but Junkelmann also notes the lateral stability provided by the stirrups is useful in melee; and it is all the more useful when you are encumbered by 25kg of armour or more.



@ Jeff: when using the lance with two hands, you can put it across the horse's neck or beside the horse's flanks - Iranian monuments show both, iirvc. Hubertus von Gall: Das Reiterkampfbild in der iranischen und iranisch beeinflußten Kunst parthischer und sasanidischer Zeit is a good entry into this subject.

regards