''Jinete'' () is Spanish for "

horseman Horseman or The Horsemen or ''variation'', may refer to: People *Horseman, a person who practices equestrianism Occupations *Wrangler (profession), in the United States *Stockman (Australia), who works with horses rather than with cattle or shee ...

", especially in the context of

light cavalry Light cavalry comprised lightly armed and armored cavalry troops mounted on fast horses, as opposed to heavy cavalry, where the mounted riders (and sometimes the warhorses) were heavily armored. The purpose of light cavalry was primarily rai ...

Etymology

The word Jinete (of Berber ''

zenata The Zenata (Berber language: Iznaten) are a group of Amazigh (Berber) tribes, historically one of the largest Berber confederations along with the Sanhaja and Masmuda. Their lifestyle was either nomadic or semi-nomadic. Etymology ''Iznaten (ⵉ ...

'') designates, in Castilian and the

Provençal dialect Provençal (, , ; french: provençal , ; oc, provençau or ) is a Romance language, either considered as a variety of Occitan or a separate language, spoken by people in Provence and parts of Drôme. Historically, the term Provençal has been ...

Occitan language Occitan (; oc, occitan, link=no ), also known as ''lenga d'òc'' (; french: langue d'oc) by its native speakers, and sometimes also referred to as ''Provençal'', is a Romance languages, Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Ital ...

, those who show great skill and riding especially if this relates to their work. In Portuguese, it is spelled ''ginete''. The term '' jennet'' for a small Spanish horse has the same source.

Medieval Hispanic light cavalry

As a military term, ''jinete'' (also spelled ''ginete'' or ''genitour'') means a Spanish

light horseman Light cavalry comprised lightly armed and armored cavalry troops mounted on fast horses, as opposed to heavy cavalry, where the mounted riders (and sometimes the warhorses) were heavily armored. The purpose of light cavalry was primarily rai ...

that wore leather armor and were armed with

javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with th ...

s, a

spear A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fasten ...

, a

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

, and a

shield A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of a ...

. They were a type of mounted troop developed in the early

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

in response to the massed light cavalry of the

Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...

. Often fielded in significant numbers by the Spanish, and at times the most numerous of the Spanish mounted troops, they played an important role in Spanish mounted warfare throughout the ''

Reconquista The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...

'' until the sixteenth century. They were to serve successfully in the

Italian Wars The Italian Wars, also known as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts covering the period 1494 to 1559, fought mostly in the Italian peninsula, but later expanding into Flanders, the Rhineland and the Mediterranean Sea. The pr ...

under

Gonzalo de Córdoba Gonzalo may refer to: * Gonzalo (name) * Gonzalo, Dominican Republic, a small town * Isla Gonzalo, a subantarctic island operated by the Chilean Navy * Hurricane Gonzalo, 2014 See also

* Gonzalez (disambiguation) * Gonzales (disambiguatio ...

and Ramón de Cardona.

Sir Charles Oman Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman, (12 January 1860 – 23 June 1946) was a British military historian. His reconstructions of medieval battles from the fragmentary and distorted accounts left by chroniclers were pioneering. Occasionally his ...

describes their tactics thus: In addition,

Philippe Contamine Philippe Contamine (7 May 1932 – 26 January 2022) was a French historian of the Middle Ages who specialised in military history and the history of the nobility. Contamine was a president of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, t ...

records they used the tactic of feigned flight (''tourna-fuye''). Jinetes existed in considerable numbers. During the period 1485-9, Castilian armies mustered between 11-13,000 jinetes. Some of these were provided by the Military Orders. The Master of Santiago provided 300, while the Master of Calatrava was responsible for a further 450. In May 1493, a number of standing companies were established in Castile called the ''guardas viejas'' (veteran guard). These included five captaincies of 100 jinetes. In 1496, the ''guardas reales'' (royal guard) of Castile included 130 jinetes. Out of 600 cavalry in the Spanish expeditionary force to Italy in 1495, 500 were jinetes.Oman (1987), p. 52

Contemporary usage

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, ''jinete'' means " rodeo rider", hence "cowboy". In Castilian, it is used adjectivally of a rider who knows how to ride a horse, especially those who are fluent or champions at equestrian practices, such as the gaucho, the

huaso A huaso () is a Chilean countryman and skilled horseman, similar to the United States, American cowboy, the Mexico, Mexican charro (and its northern equivalent, the vaquero), the gaucho of Argentina, Uruguay and Rio Grande Do Sul, and the Austr ...

of the plains, the

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...

Vaquero The ''vaquero'' (; pt, vaqueiro, , ) is a horse-mounted livestock herder of a tradition that has its roots in the Iberian Peninsula and extensively developed in Mexico from a methodology brought to Latin America from Spain. The vaquero became t ...

, or charro among others. It is also used in the Spanish Army to designate personnel belonging to the cavalry arm. In its original Spanish title " The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez is "Los Cuatro Jinetes del Apocalipsis". ''Canción de jinete'' is a poem by Federico García Lorca.César García Alvarez (1977)
Canción de jinete
(in Spanish). ''

Revista Chilena de Literatura ''Revista Chilena de Literatura'' is an academic journal about literature published by the University of Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 1 ...

'' (9/10 ): 171-178. The novel ''El jinete polaco'' by

Antonio Muñoz Molina Antonio Muñoz Molina (born 10 January 1956) is a Spanish writer and, since 8 June 1995, a full member of the Royal Spanish Academy. He received the 1991 Premio Planeta, the 2013 Jerusalem Prize, and the 2013 Prince of Asturias Award for lit ...

was published in 1991.Elizabeth Amann (Autumn 1998)
Genres in Dialogue: Antonio Muñoz Molina's El jinete polaco
(in Spanish). ''Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos'' 23 (1): 1-21.

References

External links

Lanza Gineta: Spanish Light Cavalry of the Early Italian Wars
{{Authority control Equestrianism Military units and formations of the Italian Wars Military units and formations of the Middle Ages Military units and formations of Spain