Origins
According to James Lydon, "There can be little doubt that the hobelar as a type of soldier originated in Ireland ... between the fully armoured knight on the 'equus coopertus' and the lightly armoured archer on the 'equus discoopertus' there was an intermediate stage. This intermediary ... was provided by the hobelar." He further states that:
(hobelars) "... were highly mobile, and excelled in scouting, reconnaissance and patrols ... eminently suited to the terrain in which military operations had to be conducted in Ireland. However superior the Norman knight might be upon the field of battle, the bogs and woods of Ireland gave little opportunity for the mail-clad charge. Thus there evolved in Ireland, as a habitual part of every Anglo-Norman force, a type of light horseman, which came to known as the hobelar. It was only a matter of time until this phenomenon found its way ... into other Anglo-Norman armies across the Irish Sea"
More recently, however, this view has been challenged by Robert Jones, who believes that the ancestor of the hobelar was a form of second class cavalryman called a muntator. These soldiers originated in the Anglo-Welsh armies which invaded Ireland in the 12th century. Jones accepts, however, that the hobelar diverged from the Anglo-Welsh muntator during the 13th century, with the hobelar becoming lighter armed, perhaps for economic reasons. The hobelar is thus still seen as a response to military conditions in Ireland, rather than elsewhere.
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