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BERBER TRIBESMAN
An extract from Armies of the Dark Ages 600-1066by Ian Heath
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105. BERBER TRIBESMAN
The Berbers were North African tribesmen. They were generally treated as second-class by the Arabs but bore the brunt of military duties in the early North African campaigns and Spain.
They were at first mostly infantry, with a few light cavalry who were much the same as the earlier Moors (still employed by the Byzantines throughout the 6th and into the early-7th century). Later they became primarily cavalry and much more Arabised in both dress and weapons, though many continued to resemble Moors or dressed as here, with the simple addition in both cases of a turban.
At the time of the conquest of Spain in 711 the Berbers fought either naked or in a loincloth, armed primarily with javelins, spears, bows and slings.
