Project Hungarian Update: Archers
These Hungarian archers are used as irregular Bw(I) in dbmm. Their main purpose is to disturb enemy line or as a lure. They are expendable units and are luck if they can kill something.
Archers
Up until the time of the Hunyadi's the mainstay of the infantry were foot archers. These foot archers almost certainly represented the poorer elements of the various levies of Hungary. The tradition of mounted archery in Hungary and surrounding Nations makes in almost inevitable that a massed levy would produce significant numbers of foot archers as well. Theoretically the Generalis Exercitus was an entirely mounted levy however Italian sources and drawings of the Italian campaigns of Louis the Great show a significant number of foot soldiers present. These foot soldiers are described and drawn carrying composite bows and many have sabres. The drawings of these foot soldiers tally closely to that of mounted figures representing Hungarian light horse. It seems likely that at least some of these infantry were those of the militia too impoverished to afford to fight mounted or those whose mounted skills had declined to such an extent that it was no longer possible for them to serve in their expected role. Transylvanian and Szekely foot archers also appear in the sources, especially those dealing with Janos Hunyadi. The Transylvanian Great levy could have raised large numbers of peasant bowmen. Transylvania's borders were more exposed that that of Hungary itself and it suffered frequent Ottoman raids. The end result appears to have been a highly effective local militia. This militia probably did not see service outside of Transylvania except with one notable exception at the siege of Belgrade in 1456.
