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fast is the side which shall win.’ Crossbowmen pro\^rcd though that they could break the static ranks of infantry, as demonstrated by the Ghibelline leader Guido Novello near Faenza in June 1275. Later 13di- and 14th-century Tuscan infantry also often adopted a concave formation to restrict the rooni available to the enemy for launching a cavalry attack.

Battle scene at Avio castle. A crossbowman is seen shooting from behind spear-armed men, who could be scuderi. {In situ, Avio castle; author’s photograph)

Sonie of the major infantry battles fought in Italy serve as examplarv models. Montaperti in 1260 has been described as typifying the transi-tional phase between static Lombard militia tactics and fully developed Tuscan ones. Certainly the Florentine infantry remained on the defensive with only 300 pavesań protecting 1,000 crossbowmen, only to be defeated later when abandoned by their own cavalry. Florences vi etery over Arezzo at Campaldino in 1289 involved a larger proportion of cavalry than at Montaperti while the infantry were morę carefully selected. Both armies faced each other in a valley, the Florentines having their best cavalry in the centre with infantry behind and on each flank plus crossbowmen ahead of the linę. To the rear the Florentine baggage train established a semi-fortified position protected by additional cavalry and unreliable allies from Lucca and Pistoia. The anny of Arezzo was morę innovative, though ultimately unsuccessful, through having the light infantry and cavalry charge the Florentine linę together. Tlie light infantry wrought havoc amongst the Florentine cavalry, but the Florentine reserves held off the assault and ensured a successful counter-attack. Pisa’s defeat of Lucca at Montecattini in 1315 was an example of hea\y infantry pcwesari resisting an initial cavalry charge, then being broken up by Pisań crossbowmen, before finally succumbing to a further cavalry attack. Ten years later the Florentine militia were defeated by Castruccio Castracani of Lucca at the Battle of Altopascio, where a somewhat desperate levee en masse from the city and contado consisted of spearmen with inadeąuate numbers of crossbowmen. This composite force was crushed, in the last major battle where the Florentine militia played a dominant role.

As infantry tactics de-yeloped, so did the use of weapons. Certain charac-teristics of the crossbow affected the way in which it was used: most obviouslv, the fact that the weapon had to be held laterally meant that crossbowmen could not form such close ranks as ordinary archers. The crossbow’s relatively slow ratę of fire and the fact that it was shot horizontally also meant that it was morę suited to shooting from a concealed position. Ranks could shoot concentrated yolleys but then had to simultaneously