The Combatants. Louis Colas tells us, commenting on Carolingian texts, that the Frankish soldiers wore the brogne or broign, a heavy leather garment on which were sewn metal plates, a large plume, a lance, and an iron helmet resting on a thick leather hood which, placed over the head, covered the forehead, cheeks, and chin, leaving only the eyes and mouth uncovered. Their adversaries, the Basques, on the other hand, were lightly armed. They wore neither helmet nor breastplate. Their clothing included a short, round cape, a long-sleeved tunic, and loose breeches. They wore boots with spurs. Their favorite weapons were javelins (aukonas), which they threw with great skill. In short, children of the country where their people had lived since ancient times, they possessed proverbial agility. (L. Colas, La Voie romaine de Bordeaux Astorga. Biarritz, 1913, pp. 35-37). The Basque dress is known from a piece of information in Aimonio, Book 5, Chapter 2, when he tells us how Ludovico, obeying his father exactly in everything, appeared before his father dressed in the Basque style... like all young men of his age, that is to say, in a short suit, with his shirt sleeves undone, spurs sewn onto his shoes, and carrying his archer's spear in his hands. This was what his father Karolo Magno had intended according to his father's taste. The detail of the spurs is noteworthy, confirming the importance of cavalry among the Basque militias of the time.