The Development Of Stirrups

In the Han Dynasty tomb in Xi 'an, there are images of horses equipped with stirrups when aristocrats were hunting. The earliest hard metal stirrups appeared in China in the Northern Wei Dynasty. The complete set of harness (mainly saddle and stirrup) formed in China at the beginning of the 4th century had a great influence on the Haidong states.
The stirrups unearthed at Xiaomin Tun West Jin Dynasty in Anyang and Yuantaizi Jin Dynasty in Chaoyang provide physical evidence. The stirrups of these two places are made of wood core copper sheet, the stirrup handle is long, and the stirrup body is nearly oblate. From the 4th to 5th centuries AD, Silla relics in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula can be seen to be clearly influenced by the stirrups of the Central Plains. For example, in the late fifth century tomb "Cheonma mound" excavated in Hwangnam-dong, Gyeongju City, North Korea, the stirrups unearthed are oblate, long-handled wooden core copper and iron stirrups. The same influence also came to ancient Japan. The stirrups excavated from tombs in the middle of the Japanese Kotomin Period (about the middle of the 5th century) are flat circular stirrups with wooden cores and iron sheets, showing the same characteristics as those unearthed from the Jin tomb in Xiaomin Tun, showing the origin relationship. This may be the Korean Peninsula as a springboard to the introduction of Fuso, especially the contact and conflict between the Japanese and Goguryeo, promoting the introduction of a large number of Japanese horse harness; On the other hand, the Japanese king also carried out diplomatic activities against the Southern Dynasty of China, and since the horses used in the south and the North of China at that time had the same characteristics, it is not ruled out that the Japanese people directly imported horses from the south of China.
Anyone who has read ancient history knows that around the middle of the 6th century, after the defeat of the Rouran by the Northern Wei, the Avars settled from east to west across southern Russia, eventually reaching the area between the Danube and Tisza rivers, and by 560 posed a serious threat to the mighty Byzantine Empire. However, few people may know that the reason why it is sharp is because of the use of cast-iron stirrups unique at the time. In order to eliminate this threat, the Byzantine king Tiberius II reorganized the cavalry and trained it himself in 580 AD, emphasizing the use of iron stirrups. This is the first mention of stirrups in European literature.
The general use of stirrups in Europe came much later, almost until the early Middle Ages when the conventional armies of European countries began to use them.
In medieval European armies, with stirrups firmly attached to the saddle, the rider on the horse sat more stable, and could raise the sword to strike down, resist the spear, and move and dodge in the saddle. Stirrups undoubtedly played an important role in the evolution of the main arms from infantry to cavalry in the Middle Ages. This contributed to the formation of the feudal knight class and had a profound impact on the history of the Middle Ages in Europe.