Hobelar

Hobelars were a type of light cavalry, or mounted infantry, used in Western Europe during the Middle Ages for skirmishing.

He further states that hobelars were highly mobile, and excelled in scouting, reconnaissance and patrols ... eminently suited to the terrain in which military operations had to be conducted in Ireland.

However superior the Norman knight might be upon the field of battle, the bogs and woods of Ireland gave little opportunity for the mail-clad charge.

[1] More recently, however, this view has been challenged by Robert Jones, who believes that the ancestor of the hobelar was a form of second class cavalryman called a muntator.

[2] Hobelars were used successfully by both sides during the Wars of Scottish Independence, with Edward I of England trying to gain advantage by preventing Irish exports of hobbies to Scotland.

Robert Bruce employed the hobby for his guerilla warfare and mounted raids, covering 60 to 70 miles (100 to 110 km) a day.

The first reference to hobelars dates to 1296 in Ireland, when 260 accompanied a contingent of Irish troops to Scotland under John Wogan, as part of Edward I's army.

In the 1335 description mentioned above, the English hobelar equipment is listed as horse, aketon or plates, basinet or palet, gorget, iron gauntlets, sword, knife, and lance.