45

The war between the Awans and the Waroux has always been viewed as a prototype of an aristocratic family war in the country around Liège. In fact, with the exception of a few contingents of foot soldiers, cavalry played a dominant role throughout the conflict. The art of war was beginning to involve a much broader range of weapons, and the people of Hesbaye refused to change their style of combat, or their life style, which were expressions of their status. This attachment to tradition and to the old ways was also found in the mechanisms of lineage solidarity affected by this conflict, which, based on a series of very simple ties (between brothers, cousins, uncles and nephews, and brothers-in-law), structured the Hesbaye nobility. Finally, the conflict did not do away, either quantitively or qualitatively, with the nobility in the country of Liège, as many writers have claimed.