162 Caxton, William
revenues to equip, arm, and horse these soldiers,
whether they dismounted to fight or not.
From the 10th century, the stirrup and the high sad-
dle made possible the use of heavy cavalry in a mass for-
mation to break the opposing line by a frontal charge.
This allowed OTTOI the Great to win the decisive vic-
tory of the LECHFELDover the Hungarians in August
955, and assisted WILLIAMI the Conqueror to win at
HASTINGSin 1066.
RETURN TO INFANTRYHowever, combat on horseback in a massed charge as a
military option often backfired on medieval war leaders.
The use of the impetuous charge favored by the French
was more often defeated, in the 12th and 13th centuries,
by infantry combined with defensive formations of
massed pikemen and archers with arrows able to pierce
armor. In the 14th century the role of the heavy cavalry
declined further. The massacres of the French nobility
by the infantry of the Flemish communes in the Battle
of COURTRAIin 1302, and by the English longbow men of
CRÉCYin 1346, led to combat on foot. Cavalry reverted
to being used only for outflanking maneuvers, recon-
naissance, and pursuit. In the late 15th century the
duke of Burgundy, CHARLES THE BOLD, advocated a
new system in which the force of the heavy cavalry was
combined with the use of gunpowder and artillery. This
tactic failed against mobile Swiss infantry and pikemen.
The massed mounted charge was used only sporadically
thereafter.
See alsoADRIANOPLE;BOUVINES,BATTLE OF;HUNDRED
YEARS’WAR; WEAPONS AND WEAPONRY.
Further reading: George T. Dennis, trans., Three
Byzantine Military Treatises(Washington, D.C.: Dumbar-
ton Oaks, Research Library and Collection, 1985); Lynn
White, Jr., Medieval Technology and Social Change
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1962); David Nicolle,
Medieval Warfare Source Book,2d ed. (London: Brock-
hampton Press, 1999); G. Rex Smith, Medieval Muslim
Horsemanship: A Fourteenth-Century Arabic Cavalry Man-
ual(London: British Library, 1979).
Caxton, William(ca. 1422–1492)successful merchant,
first English printer
William Caxton said that he was born (probably about
1422) in Kent in southeastern England, but his exact
birthplace is unknown. He may have been married to a
Maude Caxton (d. 1490). In 1438 he became an appren-
tice to a prominent LONDONmercer and mayor in 1439,
Robert Large. Shortly after Large’s death in 1441, Caxton
moved to BRUGES, where he worked as a MERCHANTfor
30 years. His success won him wealth and an important
place in the Merchant Adventures Company. He became
governor of the English Nation of Merchant Adventurers,
a company of English merchants, at Bruges.
In 1469 Caxton entered the service of Margaret
(1446–1503), duchess of Burgundy and sister of King
EDWARD IV of England. Margaret asked him to
complete an English translation of Raoul le Fevre’s
History of Troy.Caxton finished his translation during
1471–72 at COLOGNE, where he also learned the trade
of PRINTING.WORK AS A PRINTER
When Caxton returned to Bruges, he and Colard
Mansion set up a printing press. The first book printed in
English was Caxton’s translation of Le Fevre,called The
Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye.During his two years
with Mansion, Caxton also printed his translation of the
work of Jacobus de Cessolis, The Game and Playe of the
Chesse,a moral treatise on government that he dedicated
to the duke of Clarence George (1449–78). In 1476 Cax-
ton returned to London, where he set up a printer’s shop.
Wynkyn de Worde became his foreman and, on Caxton’s
death in 1491 or 1492, his successor.
Among Caxton’s early books was an edition of
CHAUCER’SCanterbury Tales.He also printed Chaucer’s
translation of BOETHIUSin 1479. Dissatisfied with his
text of the Canterbury Tales,he issued a second edition
about 1484 and one of Troilus and Criseyde.About theWilliam Caxton (Courtesy Library of Congress)