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Part 2 Types

Part 3 Materials and production

Part 4 Technical specifications

Part 5 Analitical Index and Conclusions

Part 6 Bibliography

PART 1
ORIGIN, ADVANTAGES AND SPREAD OF STIRRUPS

- ORIGIN -

Why stirrups regained? Because their origin is hidden in the mists of time.
The invention of stirrups has been attributed to many different peoples. The truth is that they were adopted by many ingenious horsemen who appreciated their enormous advantages. Other researches were pursued on a wide scale to the extent that their results spread rapidly. Many breakthroughs and inventions could not but surface at the peak of a technical evolution. Take printing, for example. Gutemberg was actually studying a feasible way to compose mobile characters, a technique many others were looking into. Once this problem was solved, printing developed rapidly.
However, we must give due merit to the man who first adopted them widely for his army, although documentary evidence is short. Perhaps, one day, as archaeologists dig up battle fields, proof will be found. Unless processed to make it similar to steel, therefore more resistant to external agents since it has higher Carbon content, buried iron can hardly resist oxidation and will dissolve in the ground.
Attila (406-453 A.D.) noticed that during the wars of conquest, some tribes using stirrups arrived ahead of others, looking fresher and ready to plunder and loot, and above all, causing some trouble by taking away the surprise element.
After the defeat of Châlons-sur-Marne (452 A.D.), he re-organised the Calvary and, by adopting the stirrup, came to be considered its inventor. Stirrups came from far back!
Some Mongolian tribes used them from 300 A.D. onward. The Huns are a very ancient people, and are a "race" similarly to the Hittites, Iranians, and Chinese. The Huns divided up lands with them as far back as 2,000 B.C.
Where they came from and where they disappeared to in certain periods of history is certainly no mystery! The disappear when they go back home, or settle down as id the Turks. They all come from the steppes of central Asia, north of China.
The Chinese who, before 2,000 B.C. had already found them to be rather troublesome neighbours, spoke of them at length and built the Great wall of China, which separates the Beijing region from the unwelcome, cold lands of Mongolia. The biggest construction in history, the only one visible from a satellite, is actually the Great wall, built through hundreds of years of inhuman sacrifice to ward off the Mongols.
It was the very harshness of their lands that made the Huns prosper (as well as Tartars, Mongolians and other related peoples), forcing them to live a hard selective life, always on the road – they still live in those lands to this day.
When history says they "disappeared", it is because they disappeared from the lands they had conquered, as in Pannonia, but not their land of provenance, from where they periodically left on their rampages.
When it look as though they are not doing anything, it is because they are scattered about, only a few remaining in enormous inhospitable lands, which only they manage to live in, thanks to their customs dating back thousands of years – they have leant to survive!
When the climate benefits pastures, horses feel fine, and so do wives and children, and Mongols themselves, who multiply and grow stronger – maybe through internecine wars. And if the Mongols find new places to emigrate to, off they go….they’ve been doing it for ever!!
The have left no traces in their homeland, as they are always on the move, and it’s impossible to lay siege to their places – that has been their weakness and their salvation.
They had three golden periods: the first in the middle of the 5^th century - Attila’s period - the rule of Ghengis-Khan in the 13^th century and, finally, Tamerlane in the following century.
At the beginning of 300 A.D., due to a rise in average temperatures that improved living conditions, they began to move eastward to Manchuria and Korea, at first avoiding the great wall of China.
They then felled the great wall, which the Chinese had built with enormous toil. and broke up the Chinese empire into sixteen states (304). Lastly, toward the end of that century, in 375 A.D., they ventured westward where they met in battle with the Ostrogoths in the north, and the Sassanids (Persians) in the south.
Some tribes moved to Pannonia (present day Hungary) and found the same type of countryside they had forsaken – clearings and abundant pastures for their horses.
The military successes in this period could also be due to the fact that some of them used stirrup as a wartime find.
They helped to spread stirrups to China, Korea, and then to Northern Europe and the Middle East, almost simultaneously, and rapidly.
The "Sarmites" vanquished the Romans by using heavy cavalry armed with military cassocks with iron links, as well as heavy lances, and possibly already using stirrups.

- ADVANTAGES -

Galen and Hypocrates spoke of a sickness that struck the legs of horsemen who were forced to ride with their legs dangling.
As one can see in Roman statues, without the benefit of stirrups, old time horsemen leant backwards with their legs half stretched forward and dangling. So this mount apparently causes some pain….around the kidneys. With the advent of stirrups, horsemen were better able to balance their weight, by shifting it forward, toward the withers.
Sometimes novice riders, and even experienced ones, are made to go through a terrible exercise….ten minutes of stirrupless riding…..just think how they suffer!
The arrival of stirrups turned riding technique on its end, and horse, saddles and bits also changed. This was such a big revolution, that the leap forward in horse riding can be compared to the adoption of the bit and, in the military field, the metamorphosis was even more significant.
If you want to fire with a bow and arrow from horseback, as the Huns did so masterfully, you need fixed reference points without following the movements of the horse at gallop. With the stirrups on, at a relaxed mount while standing upright with the legs almost fully stretched, the rider is at a constant distance off the ground and, consequently, the arrow is taut too.
The Hun was able to harmonise the horse’s movements, keeping his arrow point steady on the target…and maybe he could turn in all directions, but….only with the help of the trusty stirrup – it’s all so smooth, just try it if you’re not convinced!
Another big advantage is the horseman’s increased resistance. By covering enormous distances, he could take the enemy by surprise, and maybe he could even manage to sleep on horseback, by tying a fork shaped stick upside down on the saddle bow. There are no barriers in the steppes, and if you point a horse in a direction, he carries on by himself – the only possible obstacles were the rivers and, if the worst came to the worst, the rider would suddenly wake up in icy water.
In addition to the bow and arrow, the lance was also easier to use….it could be pointed and thrust with force.
The stirrup protects the feet from the cold if well padded and reinforced. This is what the postillions used to do, because, if they had to ride the leading horse of the stage coach, their feet could freeze. People riding a horse do not move their feet much, and their toes are pressed tightly in the boots….we suggest putting on a larger size of boot with a comfy pair of knee-length socks, or a padded stirrup.
In the Middle ages, a "cage" type stirrup was used to protect the toes against cutting and thrusting weapons. Apparently, the ferocious Ezzelino da Romano did not wear this type of stirrup, and so, an infantryman managed to stick a lance in his foot and unsaddle him. He was captured, and died from this injury at Soncino in the castle dungeons, because no one wanted to heal him.
A further big advantage is that mounting the horse is made easy. To begin with, the horse is higher than the rider and often tends to avoid being mounted by turning around.
In a war, mounting a horse is a highly dangerous moment, much more so than dismounting. It is a delicate time, whereby a rider without stirrups has to grip the saddle and perform almost like an acrobat.
But with the stirrup, perhaps lengthened on purpose, the rider puts his left foot in the left stirrups and, while holding the reins in his left hand, he can mount the horse with the help of his right hand.
The Chinese did not seem to believe this problem could be solved because, in common with all wealthy peoples, they had selected increasingly large and strong horses. Plentiful harvests made it possible to keep bigger and bigger horses, and thus increase their "weapons of war". The Chinese could afford big valley horses, in addition to war horses! But the horse advantages transport too, and stirrups facilitate mounting.
So let’s sum up the advantages of stirrups: improved balance, greater resistance, both for rider and horse, facilitates use of arms (bow and arrow, lance, sword and armour), makes mounting easier, protects against cold, against weapons and …..against poles.
Colombian cattle breeders found even a new use of it: as a tool to open and close the corral gates without having to dismount.

- SPREAD -

The Romans did not know about stirrups simply because they did not enthuse about cavalry just as they had no liking for the navy and their efforts in these directions were limited.
They did not adopt stirrups after the defeats at the hands of the Huns because, as they were at the height of their period of decadence, they were no longer able to learn from defeats as young and expanding peoples do.
Neither did the Germans have stirrups, since they would have handed them over to the Roman cavalry which used the Germans to supplement their own shortcomings in terms of horsemanship.
These were the weaknesses! But the Romans’ civil force lay in the discovery of the vaulted architecture, whereas their military force lay in the wombs of Italian women – Hannibal realised that. Whenever he won a battle, Rome, with only four centuries (i.e. 100 foot soldiers) left, replenished the legions which, we should point out, consisted of infantry.
It doesn’t take much to make a foot soldier: you just need a mother to bear him, a little spelt, honey, a shield, a heavy lance and armour. In a short time, the surviving century multiplies and clones itself. Hannibal did not destroy Rome, not just because he feared losing warriors in a risky venture, but because lying before him was just a badly defended city, and destroying it would have advantaged his enemy who drew his strength from the opulent countryside of sunny Italy. Hannibal had understood this, but others didn’t!
Attila had understood it too, but as fate would have it, when he was close to the imperial city where, as a child, he was held hostage, a prisoner of the corrupt and hated enemy, he did not want to take any risks. We are not referring to the wrath of god through his spokesman Pope Leon, but the wrath of the little anopheline mosquitoes, then swarming in Rome and worse than a barbaric invader. The sickness was running havoc in Rome and Attila did not want to fight the city, but rather the corrupt, debauched Latins it was full of. The risk was too much – a cavalryman cannot fight malaria, it was best to return to the grasslands in the north and face worthy, heroic, incorruptible men like general Ezio. Roman history is reluctant to remember this man as he was the very opposite of that sick body he was uselessly trying to cure.
It is interesting to note how many highly evolved civilisations, having developed the bit and arms in general, did not manage to discover stirrups.
The Etruscans, for example, used a very complicated multiple blade-like bit made of cast bronze…….maybe the stirrups were of poor quality iron and have been lost by rusting underground.
This also applied to the Egyptians, similarly to other peoples who went through an almost inevitable evolutionary pattern that followed certain lines of development common to the system: "man, stars, seasons, harvests, pyramids, king, God".
The Khmers did no invent stirrups and yet they knew how to make good use of horse, just like the Hindus!
The story was rather different as concerns the Americans, because the horse had disappeared with the Inca and Maya civilisations, but was involuntarily re-introduced by the Spanish conquerors. Red Indians were very gifted horsemen, real acrobats on horseback. Above all, the horse was a recent discovery for them. Red Indians knew about the rug, had a simple bit, but had no stirrups or horseshoes.
Red Indians were destined to lose – if the ground was uneven when the American cavalry arrived, their horses became lame. However, the Red Indians achieved miracles, perhaps due to the tiny bit of Mongol blood running in their veins.
America had been colonised by peoples from northern Asia that chased their prey through the Behring straight then dried up by glaciation.
When the Huns moved south-westwards, they encountered semi-nomadic warlike peoples, such as Avars, Germans and Goths, whom they defeated and, after consolidating their bases in Hungary, they prepared to invade Rome. This was an old ambition nurtured by Attila, who had not forgiven the Romans the three arms they used: corruption, shrewdness, and hypocrisy – the element making them all gel was violence.
For the Huns, adopting stirrups was like going into fifth gear, but their historical destiny was to win battles (apart from Châlons) but not wars. They did not have the birth rate essential for stable turnover and for replacing downtrodden peoples.
These types of conquerors mix with the vanquished and, far from their home country, lose their traditions in very few generations.
The Germanic peoples adopted stirrups after their humiliating defeats on home soil at the hands of the Huns, and spread their use throughout the Mediterranean basin when the Roman Empire fell.
The first document on stirrups was left to use by the Byzantines, written (602 A.D.) under emperor Maurice.
The Franks and Vikings too have left some significant evidence of stirrups.
The Carolingians considered stirrups very important indeed, so much so that Charlemagne ordered that he be buried with a horse stirrup. Their high regard for stirrups was because they helped them to defeat powerful enemies such as the Muslims in the West and the Longobards in the East.
The Indians came very close to adopting stirrups and certainly used a toe-ring for "rest".
The Japanese "re-invented" it, fashioning it into an extravagant shape with a hook, so far removed from the technique used by all others, and almost certainly making theirs an original concept. Any peoples conjuring up a ring-shaped stirrup with the foot going through it, adopt it immediately, without thinking up any other gismos.
The Chinese soon exploited it after the steppe dwellers rampaged through their lands to plunder, covering incredible distances.
Today, the stirrups of Mongols and Tibetans, who adopted them for their entire arsenal, are technically very advanced. Moreover, their stirrups of a few hundred years ago are surprisingly modern, efficient, elegant and strong.

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