Quote Originally Posted by Rolling Thunder View Post
I'm afraid that again I find myself disagreeing with you. A trained warhorse will, with enough goading, charge itself onto infantry arrayed in good order. The Battle of Crecy attests to that, as do the numerous battles of the Napoleonic Wars and the campaigns of Megas Alexandros.
When in the Battle of Cercy did any knights charge a full gallop into organised infantry? From what I've read the charges repeatedly failed because most had their horses shot out from under them and the ones remaining couldn't penetrate the english lines. In the Napoleonic wars the whole concept of infantry squares worked on the principle that horses won't charge into them.

I'm not saying that cavalry couldn't attack a dense mass of troops, just that they wouldn't run at full speed into it.


Also, the Kontos is a lance, and it was definitely used underarm (and quite possible couched), as using to unwieldy a weapon overarm is just plain impractical and counterintuitive.
This doesn't mean it was couched, it was used in a 2 handed underarm fashion. Couching is a one handed technique invented (or at least first attested to) during the medieval period.