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Hobelars were a type of light cavalry, or mounted infantry, used in Western Europe during the Middle Ages for skirmishing. They originated in 13th century Ireland, and generally rode Irish Hobby, a type of light and agile horse.
were highly mobile, and excelled in scouting, reconnaissance and patrols ... eminently suited to the terrain in which military operations had to be conducted in Ireland. However superior the Norman people knight might be upon the field of battle, the bogs and woods of Ireland gave little opportunity for the mail-clad charge. Thus there evolved in Ireland, as a habitual part of every Anglo-Normans force, a type of light horseman, which came to be known as the hobelar. It was only a matter of time until this phenomenon found its way ... into other Anglo-Norman armies across the Irish Sea.Lydon (1954)
More recently, however, this view has been challenged by Robert Jones, who believes that the ancestor of the hobelar was a form of second class cavalryman called a muntator. These soldiers originated in the Anglo-Welsh armies which invaded Ireland in the 12th century. Jones accepts, however, that the hobelar diverged from the Anglo-Welsh muntator during the 13th century, with the hobelar becoming lighter armed, perhaps for economic reasons. The hobelar is thus still seen as a response to military conditions in Ireland, rather than elsewhere.Jones (2008)
The first reference to hobelars dates to 1296 in Ireland, when 260 accompanied a contingent of Irish troops to Scotland under John Wogan, as part of Edward I's army. Not until after 1300 were there any references of English hobelars. Edward mustered fourteen at Carlisle in June 1301. The following year he had three hundred and ninety included in an Irish force of two thousand three hundred. This rose to a total of four hundred and ninety-nine (out of an army of three thousand, four hundred) in 1303, all indicative of their value as light cavalry.Lydon (1954)
It is clear from their rapid adoption into English armies operating in Scotland that the hobelar met a perceived tactical need and, in the early years of the 14th century, hobelars were to be found in all the major border garrisons.Morris (1914) It is also clear that these hobelars are increasingly Englishmen, rather than Irish. Of the 845 hobelars at the siege of Berwick in 1319, 500 were from Cumberland and Westmorland, 36 from Barnard Castle, 24 from Norham Castle and 45 from Tynedale.Morris (1914), p. 85 376 English, 10 Welsh and 139 Irish hobelars were mustered at Newcastle in 1322.Morris (1914), p. 89 The hobelar became a standard feature in English forces throughout the country in the 1320s and 1330s. Muster records for 1326 show hobelars being recruited in Norfolk, Suffolk and Oxfordshire.Morris (1914), p. 91
In the 1330s, however, a new type of mounted infantryman begins to be recorded; the mounted archer.Strickland and hardy (2005), p. 202 In the period 1335 to 1350, the mounted archer gradually surpassed the hobelar as the predominant mounted auxiliary, especially for foreign service. For example, of the troops summoned to serve at the siege of Calais in 1346–47, 600 were hobelars as against 5000 mounted archers.Morris (1914), p. 97. At the same time, however, the hobelar's place within the structure of English military obligation crystallised. The arms of a hobelar were first formally defined in 1335.Powicke (1962), p. 192 In 1346, it was defined that a man with £10 of goods was to be armed as a hobelarPowicke (1962), p. 196
The hobelar remained a named constituent of local forces through the rest of the 14th century but was less commonly mentioned in the 15th century.Powicke (1962) The final reference to hobelars appears to be a commission of array in Norfolk and Suffolk in 1485.Goodman (1981), p. 235, n. 139
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