| Dan Howard wrote: | ||
The preferred armour in the Western and Eastern Roman Empire was mail. Their idealized stereotyped classical armour was musculata. |
I'm just going off Dawson's Armour Never Wearies. I haven't been able to dig up images of the manuscripts he references, so I'm not going to push the idea beyond what I've said.
| Pedro Paulo Gaião wrote: |
| But it was acceptable in Carolingian Military statutes for unarmoured horsemen like the later normans? |
So far as I can tell, yes. The only capitulary that specifically requires armour sets the minimum wealth at twelve manses, while several others set the minimum wealth to perform service at 5 or 6 manses. To me, this strongly suggests that large numbers of minor landowners served without armour, while the core of the army consisted of the professional warriors serving the higher nobility and ecclesiastical lords.