Some time ago I was reading a book and it have some refferences to byzantine tactical instructions and it speaks about the frankish knights and how terrible effective their charge is, but that the franks don't deal well with ambushes and can be out manouvered.
I didn't think that much of it before earlier today. I know that knights would be supperior to a common peasent because of his equipment, training and diet, but the byzantine have cataphracts which have more or less the same equipment and what would seem to be a pretty good military training and they are fighting muslims who also have acces to heavy armored cavalery with good training. So what is it that makes the frankish charge so effective?
That's a good question. I did some research and couldn't find much but I have some theories. From a military stand point it makes a lot of sense being cautious of a strong adversary, even if your forces are equally powerful. The goal is to kill, without being killed and a head on assault would result in heavy casualties on both sides. Also if an army doesn't have the necessary troops like spear-men or pike-men, a cavalry charge is a much higher threat.
Another theory is that if the Frankish Knights were more disciplined in battle, they would have a huge advantage in combat. A cavalry charge is most effective when done in a single body, mostly likely a line or in a wedge formation, for maximum impact. What would often happen in a cavalry charge is the single body would break up into smaller bodies and wedges. Staying in formation can be a difficult task with so many variables. Some men being braver than others, some horse being naturally faster or men unable to control the passion of their horse. If the previous body met the latter, the results would be devastating.