[BigandScary]

First of all, I don't mean that there were no professional soldiers during the middle ages, but the rising trend in professionalism was the thing that defeated chivalry and the knight. If a band of twenty knights was to flank one of those giant pike block the peasantry would run like frightened rabbits. Thats why many of the soldiers used in those formations, and many of the other elements of battle at the time, were professional mercenaries. The best example of this are the Landsknechts, German mercenaries that fought in almost every pre 17th century conflict. These companies, sometimes as large as 25,000 men, dominated the battlefields, easily defeating the peasant armies of Bavaria and many other countries. Also, the most devestating soldiers on any pike driven battlefield were the doppelsoldners, elite professionals who were payed double the wages of other soldiers because they would wade into enemy pike formations and break them up, letting their own forces push through.

Also, while the stirrup was a major innovation, its main strength in the cavalry charge was to allow the effective use of a lance, and to allow greater reach in combat. The early cavalry forces could still charge with some effectiveness, but cavalry vs. cavalry combat was mighty strange.