Stirrup in Europe
Estribo en Europa
- Date
- c. 700 · confidence medium
- Place
- Frankish kingdom (Rhine valley), via the Avars of Pannonia
- Credited to
- Avars and Franks; Chinese origin
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A pair of metal stirrups giving the rider firm support to couch a lance and fight on horseback without falling. It reached Europe from China via the steppes.
White's thesis (stirrup leads to feudalism) is heavily debated; stirrups appear in 7th-century Avar graves and in western Europe in the 8th century.
What it led to
- heavy shock cavalry charging with a couched lance
- feudalism as a system for maintaining the knight (Lynn White's thesis)
- tournaments, chivalry as a social class, and heavy armour
Built on
- Nailed iron horseshoec. 450 CE
- Chinese Jin dynasty stirrup (4th century)
- saddle
Made possible
- Couched lance and heavy cavalry chargec. century XI
- Full plate armourc. 1400
- High-heeled shoec. 1600
- Full plate armour
- high-cantle saddle