INFANTRY

The general name for soldiers who serve on foot. The term is in all probability derived from the Italian word fanie, signifying a child or young person; and was originally conferred on the young Italian peasantry, who served in the wars on foot, the nobles being usually mounted. There are, however, various other accounts of the origin of the term. Among the ancient Greeks and Romans, the infantry constituted the chief strength of an army; and, with the exception of that period in European history during which the institutions of chivalry prevailed, when the tournament with its gay appendages engaged the attention of all the powerful nobles and otherwise distinguislied persons, who thus imparted to the cavalry a factitious importance, it has generally been regarded as the principal military arm. Since the institution of standing armies this has been peculiarly the case. From the ncriod of the Conquest down to the reign of Henry VIII., the infantry oi Qq3 ' [s. 610]