The Stirrup and its Effect on Chinese Military History

Abstract

Lynn white, in his medieval technology and social change, offers the interesting hypothesis that the feudal class of the European Middle Ages derived ultimately from the stirrup. The stirrups are generally oval in shape with a long, flat, rectangular handle at the top, to which a strap would be connected through a horizontal slot. The stirrups depicted in various contemporary Korean ceramic figures and murals are consistent with the shape that emerges from the Koguryo and Silla tombs. In China, the appearance of the stirrup also led to significant changes especially in the method of warfare and in military organization. The conjunction of stirrups and bardings is probably not fortuitous, and it may well have been the increasing use of armored cavalry that provided the incentive and favorable environment for the development and widespread use of the stirrup.

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