The rival armies that met outside Cardigan were quite different in character, but not in numbers. Both sides had managed to muster around 10,000 men for this final and greatest effort of the campaigning season.
Stephen the Constable could have sheltered behind the walls of Cardigan, but instead he chose to march out to face the enemy. He must have had confidence in his chances of victory to do so and he did have good reason to anticipate success. A few months earlier an English army had sallied out from Kidwelly Castle and driven off an attacking Welsh force with ease.
Stephen’s army was made up of around 2,000 heavily armoured cavalry, some thousand or so Flemish mercenaries and a large number of English infantry. There can be no doubt that he believed the heavy cavalry to be his main battle-winning force and he was to choose the battlesite for their benefit. Each man was mounted on a large horse, using a high saddle and long stirrups to ensure he had a firm seat from which to fight. Most knights were armed with lance and sword. The lance was used in the charge for shock impact, while the sword was more use in the confused scrum of a disorganised melee. The men were protected by a helmet of solid iron and a coat made of interlinked rings of iron, a material known as mail. Most carried a large shield which had a long pointed base, though a few would have been equipped with the more modern short shield.
When a force of these knights formed in a solid mass four riders deep and were able to charge across an open field they were virtually invincible. Cohesion and momentum were everything. In more than one battle a force of knights simply rolled over the opposition without needing to draw sword.
The Flemish mercenaries were a highly respected force of professional soldiers. Thousands of Flemings served in armies right across Europe at this time. Each man was equipped with a triangular shield and armoured with a short mail jacket and simple helmet. With this defensive armour the Flemings could form a solid bastion of infantry on the battlefield that was proof against everything except a well co-ordinated charge of knights. the men were armed with stout spears around 12 feet long and with short swords or daggers. They tended to be used to defend tactically important positions, such as fords or hill crests, while the cavalry charged and other infantry manoeuvred.
The bulk of Stephen’s army was made up of English infantry. At this time the majority of such infantry were semi-professionals. They may have been raised as a feudal levy from ordinary farmers, but most underwent basic training and those serving in Wales tended to do so for cash payments. They were equipped with round or kite-shaped shields together with a helmet of iron or hardened leather. Some wore coats sewn with metal scales, but none would wear the more effective, but more expensive, mail. These men were the cannon fodder of a medieval battle. They were useful for attack or defence, but lacked the striking power of knights or the steadiness of heavily armoured mercenaries.
Owain’s army was made up of around 6,000 trained men of the army of Gwynedd and 4,000 local men. Like the bulk of the English, the men of Gwynedd were semi-professionals. They were younger sons and ambitious farmers who went to war for cash and loot. Most were equipped with shield and spear and the majority had helmet and short sword. They would form up in solid masses to push forward or fall back as a unified whole. The army of Gwynedd fielded around 2,000 cavalry. Although some wore mail armour, these men were not as heavily armed as the English knights, largely because they rode Welsh ponies rather than large chargers. They lacked the impact power of the heavy knights, but had the ability to manoeuvre swiftly, darting here and there across a battlefield with lightning speed.
The local men from South Wales served under their chiefs: Hywell ap Maredudd, Madog ap Idnerth and Gruffydd ap Rhys. These men were lightly armoured and few, if any, had a helmet as well as a shield. Many had neither. The better equipped men on both sides must have looked askance at these farmers and herdsmen who had joined up out of sheer enthusiasm. But these men were those who came with the peasant’s weapon of the longbow.
Cardigan was the first time that longbows were seen on a battlefield in any numbers. They were, essentially, a hunter’s weapon well suited to the long open moorlands of central and southern Wales where range and hitting power were essential. The English used shorter and less powerful bows better suited to hunting in woodland. Exactly how many men came armed with longbows in unclear, but it seems to have been about half the local volunteers - around 2,000 men in all.
Most of the English infantry were equipped with helmet, shield and sword but lacked much in the way of body armour. They were trained to form up in a dense "shieldwall" formation with their shields overlapping and their spears jabbing at the enemy over the shields. Most of these men carried a sidearm such as a short sword, axe or mace for use if the spear broke. The more professional Welsh infantry would have been similarly equipped.
A longbow archer at this date was entirely unarmoured, but he didhave a sword for close fighting. He had his spare arrows tucked into his belt, which was usual at this time. Because every archer had to provide his own arrows, and as each arrow could cost more than a day's wages, they tended not to have very many arrows on the battlefield.
Most Anglo-Norman knights in Wales at the time wore a style of armour that was becoming old fashioned. The conical helmet was made from several pieces of hammered iron and could be vulnerable along the joints. The mail shirt reached to the knees and elbows and the long shield protected the left side of the body to the feet. The lance was fairly light by later standards and could be used overarm for jabbing as well as underarm for charging. All such men carried a sword for use at close quarters. The horses were trained to remain calm amid the noise of battle, even when blood could be scented.
A more modern style of mounted warrior had armour that would have been considered the latest thing at the time of the battle. The mail shirt is augmented by mail leggings and armoured boots. The helmet is made of one piece of metal, making it stronger than earlier models though its flat top makes it vulnerable to an overhead blow. The shield is now smaller, enabling the man to use it on either side of the horse which was useful in a confused melee. He would have carried a lance as well as a sword.
Photo By Cered, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9145882
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