Note 420 — BOOK THE EIGHTH.

The Swiss mercenaries were the finest infantry of that age, and, by their defeat of the Burgundian chivalry at Granson and Morat, had fully demonstrated the superiority of infantry in battle. Their organisation is thus described by Mr. Prescott: “The Swiss were formed into battalions, varying from 3000 to 8000 men each. They wore little defensive armour, and their principal weapon was the pike, eighteen feet long. Formed into these solid battalions, which, bristling with spears all around, received the technical appellation of the hedgehog, they presented an invulnerable front on every quarter. In the level field, with free scope allowed for action, they bore down all opposition, and received unshaken the most desperate charges of the steel-clad cavalry on their terrible array of pikes. They were too unwieldy, however, for rapid or complicated manœuvres; and they were easily disconcerted by any unforeseen impediment or irregularity of the ground.”—History of Ferdinand and Isabella, vol. ii. p. 258.