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MILITARY MEN-AT-ARMS SERIES 50

MEDIEVAL EUROPEAN
ARMIES

TERENCE WISE GERALD EMBLETON

 EDITOR: MARTIN WINDROW

mImI
MIUTAll.Y MEN-AT-ARMS SERIES 50
MEDIEVAL EUROPEAN
ARMIES
Text by
TERENCE WISE
Colour plates by
GERALD EMBLETON
First published in Great Britain in 197,; by
Osprey Publishing, Elms Court, Chapel \\'a)',
Bodey, Oxford OXz 9L1~ United Kingdom.
Email: info@ospreypublishing.com

Cl 1975 Osprey Publishing LId.

Repl'imcd 1979, Ig81, 1982, 1983, 198'1' 1985, 1986, Ig87.
Ig88 (twice), Ig8g, 1990, Ig92 (lwice), Ig96, Igg8, 1999, 2000

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Most of the black and wrute illustrations have been

laken from A en/ua! Enquiry into Ancient ArmtNr in
Euro/Jt, vols_ I and 2, by Sir Samud Meyrid: (,824)
and II Trtaliu on Anamt Armour and Wtapons by
Francis Grose (1786). The photographs are repro-
duced by courtesy of the Keeper, the Library of the
Victoria and Albert Museum. (Photographer, Fmt A CATAI.OGUE or AI.L ROOKS
Berkhamsted Photographic, Bcrkhamsted, Hertford- PURl.lSIU:1) In' OSPREY MILITARY

shire.) Sir Samuel Meyrick was Ihe father of the study ,\Nll AVIATION I'LEASE WRITE TO:
of armour in England, and the firSl eollc<:.tor on an
extensive scale: much of his collection is 11010'1' in the The 1\'larketing t\I,lIlagc,",
Wallace Collection" The paintings in his book were Osprey Direct USA,
PO Box '30. Sierling Heights,
based on actual weapons and armour. or the evidence
MI 48311-0130, USA"
supplied by tomb effigies, monuments and illuminated
Email: inro@osprerdin..clll.~a.colll
manuseriplS. The author and publisher wish to thank
the Royal Artillcl)' Institution and the Wallace Thc t\larkcling l\fanager,
Collection ror supplying the remainder of the Osprer Direct UK.
photographs. PO Box 140. Wcllingbomugh.
Nonhants. NN8 'IZA.
United Kingdom.
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FWllsct in Great Britain

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 <0'rCedieval european rJlrmies

the e m n being known as hou hold knight.

Introduction
Almo t continual warfare raged in Europe during
the period 13°0-15°0: the Hundred Year ar
between France and England· lh cotti h wars
and War of the Roses ip England itself· the
struggl for political and religious freedom from
feudal overlords in Switzerland, Boh mia and
Flanders' to stem th advan of th Turks in
Hungary; b tw en the city states republics and
papal territories of! taly; civil war and th fighl
against the Moors in Spain· and th invasions of
Italybyth Fr ncb at the ndofth 15lhcentury.
The e war w re the furnaces in which many of
the modern European nations were forged.
Parallel with thi emerg nee of th nation cam
the d v lopm nt of national armie to protect the
newly-won borders and independence et
throughout thi period the old feudal m thad of
raising an army persisted.
Each ub-t nant I t th farm on hi manor to
opyhold I' on condition th provid d h m-
selve with the appropriate arm and must red
under his banner when called upon for military
ervi e. Therefor each manor uppli d a troop
f oldi I' known as a retinu : th small farm rs
and the knight personal retainers fighting on
foot, clad in leather jerkins and armed wi th spear
or bow, wi th p rhaps two or chI'· of his more
important copyhold r in padd d and quilted
body-armour and eel helmets; his younger
brothers or son as men-at-arms and quires on
hal' back with lane word and shi ld and in
armour alma t campI t a hi own; and th
knight him elf full armoured arm d with
lance sword and shield, and mounted on a heav
charger. (In th mid-fourteenth century the

~singa geudalufrmy
Und r th fI udal sy tem all land wi thin a king-
dom wa owned by the king. He retained large
e rates to provide himself with per onal followers
and royal r v nu ,but th gr ater part of the
kingdom was let in large lordships to his principal
noble on condition they maintain d a certain
number of men for the d fI DC of th kingdom.
These chi f t nants of the Crown retained a
portion of th ir land and sub-let the remainder
in estates on condition that each nobl or knight
who held an tat upplied a proportion of the
armed force required of the chief tenant by the
king. few of the chief tenants, particularly
churchmen and German baron, preferI' d to
maintain per onal control over all their lands, A knight of the fir t baH of the fourteenth century wearing
orne Corm of padded garment, po ibly leath.er, over his
upplying their quota of knights by hiring them, hauberk and his mail hose reinforced by poleyns

3

/ 60 quire and 82 archers' that ofJohn d Vere,
SpearDlan with round shield and kettle bat and wearing
scale armour, which was ligbter and more 8exible tban Dlail
and reDlained in service amongst inIantryDlen until c. 1325'
Man-at-arDls c. 1300 wearing hauberk (a.rtists used a number
of sucb methods to represent mail), mail bose and iron
poleyns to protect his knees. Slinger of the early fourteenth
century, completely unarDloured and carrying a staff ling
for large Dlissiles. Tbe ordinary sling had a range of about
275 yards.
LongbowDlan in hauberk, hardened leather breastplate
reinforced by four iron c:l.iscs, and sitnple cerveUiere helmet
of the early fourteenth century. Note he is holding an arrow
beaded with a phial of quickl.inle. E"'treDle range was 300
yards, effective range about 200 yard. CrossbowDlan
wearing helDlet with na al bar, also early fourteenth century,
and ca.rrying a short sword or possibly long dagger. Ranges
were about the same as the longbow but the crossbow was
Dluc.h slower to load and lacked the penetrative power of the
longbow
4
retinue of Richard Lord Talbo was '4 knights,
Earl of Oxford 23 knights 44 squires and 63
archers.) Such retinues combined to make up the
force which he chief tenant was bound to furnish
the king, and the forces of all the chief tenants
made up the army of the kingdom.
ub-tenants holding less than a knight's manor
were known as sergeants i.e. mounted soldiers
below the rank of knight. Sergeancy did not
ex.ist in England but on the Contin nt th s men
were requir d to provide a numb r of infantry in
r turn for their land, or 1 ad th local forces, or
carry tbelord' banner theirobligationdepending
on the iz of their estat . They weI' equipped
in the same manner a a knight but usually wore
less armour and rod alighter unarmoured horse.
These sergean ts should not be confused wi th
sergeants-at-arms, who were members of a royal
bodyguard originally formed by Philip Augustus
of France but soon copied by other European
monarchs. Sergeants-at-arms were u d to an
ord rs or to s that orders were carried out, and
together with the hou ehold knights of the king,
formed an elite body of fighting men round the
king's person. ntil the emergence of standing
armies they provided the nucleus for all armi s
raised by the king.
Th kings of most countries also bad the right
to call out en masse all able-bodied men to rYe
as foot oldjers in emergencie . In England this
was called the Posse Comitatus the force of the
county or shire, under th command of th·
. heriff. In the Holy Roman Empire the force
was known as the Heerhan' in France as the
Arriere-han. Th m n were usually required to
arm thems Iv in ac ordanc with their wealth,
either as light infantry with bow or spear or as
medium infantry with a mail haubergeon or
paddd jack t a teeI helmet and a spear and
shield.
The length of servi e in th field owed by these
forces varied lightly from country to country
but on average was limited to forty day. Servi e
could be extended by paying the troops although
many were reluctant to tay away from their
lands for long periods and this ma,de i t exc dingl y
difficult to keep an army in the fi.eld for any length
of time. The peasant 1 vy was under no obligation
to serve outside their own country and frequently
up to two-thirds of lhe knights ignored the call
to arms, preferring to pay fines or sclltage tax,
which allowed kings to hire a smaller number of
professional soldiers in their place.
England, France, Sicily and southern Italy, the
Scandinavian countries and the various duchies
and counties of the Holy Roman Empire all
followed this feudal system but because feudalism
was based on a rural society it did not develop
along the same lines in northern Italy and in
Flanders, where the wealth and influence of the
cities was often far greater than that of the lords.
In fact many nobles abandoned their estates to
take up trade in the rich cities, thus giving those
cities control of the surrounding countryside.
Florence, Venice and Genoa were such cities in
Italy; Ypres, Ghent and Bruges in Flanders.

~bf inCa..fry....... ohhe pellsanllevy .rmPel ooly wiLh. bucl<Jer .ad oaci.., Or pido:j .ad. kai&hl dad in mail hau~k, coif
IIDd bose, Jon! lJurcollt .Dd .rmPel wiLh Ibe simple lauce or Ihe early rOllrleeaLh eeoillry. A sre.1 helm, or beaume, was
wara oyer Lhe coif ror baltle

5

Robert Rouse, Baron ofWatre in Yorkshire, c. 1300. His mail
is covered by a surcoat and reinforced by poleyns. The huge
axe is the Eastern European bardische. It is unlikely to have
been used by IIlen-at-arms until c. T450, though i,t was used
by some infantry in the fourteenth century
These Clues and many oth I' great cItIes in
Europe, raised a third type of fighting man-th
city militia. nJjke the feudallevy the city militia
was a regular force, for its du ties included policing
the city garrisoning the ci ty's castles which
protected the trade routes and ports and guarding
the borders of the state or republic. There may
have b en some form of conscription, or the
militia may hav be 'n on a purely voluntary
ba is but eith r way the m n w r b tt l'
equipped and trained than the peasant Ie ie and
appear to have been rated the equal ofprofessional
mercenary infan try.
In Spain both the paniards and the Moors
fought a war of lightning raids with plunder as
th ir main obj ctive and th pam h knights
therefor tended to wear light r quipm nt than
in th rest of Europ and to ride rab horse'.
Ca aIry below the rank of knight was armed only
with a Ian e javelins or darts, and a knife. The
infantry consisted of pearmen linger and
arch rs. Thi gu rilia warfare drove th popu-
lation from the la~d and in many ways pain came
to resemble northern Italy, with a number of
more or less independent citi s but-unlike Italy
-remaining under royal sov '1' 'ignty. Because of
6
thi feudalism .was n v l' a trong in pain as
in England, France and Germany, although the
number of knights available was considerabl
increased by the numerous Spanish and Portu-
guese mili tary orders.
During the fourteenth and much of the fift enth
centuri s Castile and Aragon wer torn by civil
wars and the ci ties raised mili tia forces for their
own protection. These were known as the
He1mandades in Castile Comunidades in Aragon.
This creat d a situation in which four diff< rent
forces could be rai cd: those of the king the
barons, the military orders and th citi . The
for fough teach oth l' in various combination..
C]JieU'rCercenaries
In theory the f, udal ystem enabled a king to call
on large bodies of infantry and cavalry but in
practi e neither force could be relied on. Apart
from the failure to answer the call to arm and
th difficulty of maintaining them in the field for
more than forty days thos who did an weI' the
ummons often quarrell d amongst themsel e ,
making it impossible to control the army as a
unified body. The pea ant I vy was poorly
equipped untrained and in an age when
nationalism was still unknown usually had no
enthusiasm for war. As early as th end of the
eleventh century military leaders recognised that
no efficient army could be raised entirely by the
feudal system and began to mploy bands of
mere naries who were more fRci nt, b tter
equipped and more willing to fight than the I vi s.
The e troops were mainly Braban on pearmen
and Gascon crossbowmen equipped with mail
hauberks, helmets and shields. By the middle of
th twelfth entury the infantry of most armies
wa ·tiff, ned by a ub tantial body of these
mercenaries and by the end of the thirteenth
century the payment of soldiers whether they
were mercenaries or levies, had become standard
practice in order to maintain an army in the
fi ld for prolong d campaign .
By the end of the birt enth century the city
states of nortJlern Italy had exhausted themselves
fighting each other for supremacy and re-
linquished their independence to local signori
such a th Este of Ferrara, Visconti of Milan
and Medici of FloI' nc . Th s signori soon found
the city militias inadequate for the larger wars
they now wished to wage to increase their terri-
torial posse. ion, while th la k of an exten iv
f; udal system meant there were comparatively
few heavily armour d cavalry available. There-
fore in the fir t quarter of the fourteenth century
the signori began to recruit bands of foreign
mercenarie , mostly from Germany. These bands,
known a compagnie di ventura (compani of
fortune) consisted of between fifty and a hundred
poorly armed men who reverted to their mar
u ual occupation of brigandage at th nd of their
employment.
The fir t large well equipped and disciplined
force of m rc narie wa the Gr at Gompany of
6,000 Germans and Swiss led. by Werner von
rslingen. This company fought for variou
factions in Italy until 1351. An even larger but
slightly later company was th Grand Company
of Fra Morial (he had been expelled from the
Order of t John) which had 7,000 mounted
men-at-arms and 2 000 crossbowmen. This m-
pha is on the heavy cavalry, supported by inferior
number of crossbowmen and spearmen, is typical
ofmost companies offortune d uri ng the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries and reflects the es entially
feudal character of Italian armie of thi period.
In the second half of the century the Italians
began forming their own companies the most
notable being the Company of t George led by
Alberico, Count of Barbiano, and by the end of
the century whole armies of such mercenaries
were being raised. These mercenary armies
endured in Italy until the end of the fifteenth
century.
The captains of mercenalY companie were
highly skilled fighting men, often members of
th signori families or their rival for power. 1'h
size oftheir company d p nded on thein putation
and the ability to raise money against that reputa-
tion. Employment wa al 0 gov rned by their
reputation and the quality of the equipment of
their meo. The captain guarante d their men
pay even when the company was unemployed
and this arran ement was known as condolta,
from which came the name condottieri for the
captain.
In th same period that the condoua y tern was
becoming establish d in Italy, th thr Edwards
of ngland were taking the first steps towards
developing a purely mercenary army. Edward I
(1272-1307) had attempted to increas the
number of his cavalry by making all landowners
with estat worth mar than [,2 a y ar rend I'
the s· rvice of a knigh t, but this move had been
resisted. Edward III (1327-77)- tried to raise a
well equipped fore of infantry by making
communities pay th ir ontingents of the shire
levy, but this was also resisted by the people.
M rc nari weI' therefore mploy d on an
increasing scale for. the Welsh and cottish wars
of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth
centuries. By the tim of the Hundred Years War
(1337-1453) English armie' in Fran e were com-
posed almost entirely of paid men. However
the Magna Carta forbade the extensive u e of
foreign troops b a king of England and therefore
these mercenaries were for the most part English-
men-in effect a small but pro~ ssional army of
paid volunteers. Th longbowmen were selected
at village archery contests the men competing
for the honour ofb ing chosen, a form ofselectiv
service unknown els wher in Europe.
In 1341 Edward III instituted a system of
.' .
A knight of the de Vere family, Earls of Oxford. (Q.uarterly,
red and gold, the gold star indicating thi is the heir of the
ea.rL) He is armed in the style CODLDlon during the first
quarter of the fourteenth century
7

A kn;Slu of lhe early fourtHnth cennory armed wilh sword,
mace and dagger. The padded prmellt appearing below the
hauberk I. the .kelon, • •hirt.like prmenl of buckram.
sluffed with conon, wo .... beneaw lhe hauberk to suppan
the mail and pre"'enl brokenlin"s being dri",en into a wound.
written indentured contracts between the Crown
and prominent captains, a method of raising a
professional army which soon spread to most of
nonhern and weSlern Europe, becoming standard
practice by lhe late fourteenth century and
remaining in usc until the emergence of standing
armies. Under this system Ihe captains contracted
with the king to provide a certain number of men
at a place of assembly by a set date. The contract
set down precisely how long the men would have
to serve, traditionally a minimum of forty days
and a maximum of a year, their rates of pay,
obligaLions and privileges. These companies
usually contained men-ai-arms, moullled and
foot archers, and spcannen. The firsl instalment
of their wages was normally paid by the captain
8
of the company, the king gIving secunlles to
repay lhe money at the mustering point or as
soon after that date as possible.
In lhe founeelllh century neither France nor
England had the financial resources to engage in
prolonged warfare, yet the use of mercenaries for
the campaigns of the Hundred Years War did
creale large armies, attracting Illen from all over
Europe. Because these mercenaries had no means
of earning a living except by war, lhey were
extremely difficult to disband at the end of a
campaign and the men who hired them were
often forced to find lhem employment elsewhere
in order to prevent their counlries being overrun
by brigands. After the French defeat at Poiliers
(1356), resulting in the capture of the French
king and the collapse of law and order, many of
these bands, known as Free Companies, did resort
to brigandage, having observed thal the spoils of
war were sufficienl to make them rich without
hiring lhemselvcs oul to nobles and kings. Thcse
brigands usually established themselves in a
stronghold and terrorized the surrounding
countryside into paying tribule, capturing for
ransom any wealthy travellers who passed through
their area and sometimes uniting with other
companies lO sack a poorly defended town.
In an altempl to gel these brigands out of
France the Marquis of Montferrato hired many
French, English and German companies in 1361
and attempted to seize the duchy of Milan. A
large band known as the Guglers was taken to
Switzerland by Enguerrand de Coucy, where it
was almost annihilated by the men of Bern. Sir
John Hawkwood took his White Company of
2,500 men-at·arms and 2,000 longbow men into
Italy, where he fought for Pisa, Milan and
Florence until his death in 1394. The Great
Company went to Avignon and forced the Pope
to pay them large sums of money before Berlrand
du Guesclin, later Constable of France, led them
across the Pyrenees in 1364 to suppan Henry of
Castile against Pedro the Cruel. The Black Prince
hired olher Free Companies and marched into
Castile in 1367 lO support Pedro and in lhe wars
which followed the companies on both sides were
practically exterminated.
These actions curbed the chaos in France but
encouraged the spreading of Free Companies to
 other parts of Europe, whe"e they often had a tongues yet capable of welding themselves into
direct influcnce on subsequent events. Bands one nation. In the first half of the founeenth
continued to plunder Briuany and Normandy century this new nation forged a national army
and fight over the borders of Languedoc where, of peasant foot soldiers which was to prove capable
until the end of the Hundred Years War in '453, of defeating in the open field time after time the
:English' companies could always be found to chivalry of the Holy Roman Empire. After their
fight the troops of the king of France. decisive defeat of the Burgundians in the 1476-7
At the end of the Hundred Years War England campaign the Swiss began hiring this infanU)' to
was in chaos, the people rebelling against heavy other European countries and it soon became
taxes, the nobles seuling their quarrels with recognised as the elite infantry of Europe, superior
private wars, and the rivalry between the Houses to all other infantry and most cavalry until the
of York and Lancaster leading inexorably to the sixteenth century.
Wars of the Roses (1455-85). Many soldiers No other national army emerged in Europe
returning from France found employment in the until '4'9, when the Hussite Wars began betwccn
private armies of the nobles. The king, lacking a the people of Bohemia and the Holy Roman
standing army, was able to control disloyal
nobles only by using the armies of those who
remained loyal and this weakness in the royal
authority led to corruption in the courts of law
for, whenever the interests of a landowner were
involved in a legal case, rival bodies of armed
men would ride into the county town and
intimidate \",itncsscs,judge and jury.
Because justice was no longer obtainable for
the small landowner, many of the yeoman
farmers and lesser gentry turned to the great
nobles for protection, entering into a contract
known as Livery and Maintenance whereby they
undertook to wear the noble's livery and badge
and fight for him in times of need, and in return
they would receive his protection whenever they
needed il. These large private armies, and the
contract troops raised by the Crown, formed the
bulk of the fighting men for the Wars of the
Roses, the royal or feudal levy being called out
only at moments of great crisis.

Cjlie:First ~OlltIl uirmies

In 1291 the three forest cantons of Uri, Schw}'z
and Unterwalden in Switzerland formed a league
against domination by the Houses of Habsburg
and Savoy and in the fourteenth century Ihe
wars of emancipation from the Holy Roman
Empire began which were to last until 1499.
After the early victories Lucerne and Zurich
joined the league to begin the formation of a
confederation of peoples, speaking different
Infantryman .ltd knlsht of tbe fint half of the fourteeltth
«atury. The iltfantryma... q we.rl..S. haubtork O;:Oyued by
• prman m.d.. up of multi-e:oloured leatb..r flaps and SOme
form of padded hose. Th.. knisbt wea... an early form of
visored bas<:lnet, bit; ..Ibo_ ..... suarded by iron coute""
and ltis bands by pUlltlets ....infon:ed with lrolt plates and
<....

9
Empire, a ain for reli iou and political fr d m.
The Bohemian chivalr wa outnumbered by
several hundreds to one, the peasants and burghers
w re poorly armed and undisciplined. The task
of creatin a national army from thi unlik Iy
material was given toJan Ziska, wh had acquired
military experience fighting for the Poles against
th Teutonic Order and more recently for the
Engli b at Agincourt (1415)' nd r his rigid
discipline the entire adult male population of
Bohemia was conscripted for militar service
enabling large armies to be fi. lded by a com-
paratively small state. While half this army
fought, the other half cultivated the land, roles
being reversed ·periodically. his army won
more than fifty battles and minor action in its
fir t fourteen year, but its moral fibre was
gradually weaken d by th loss s it suffered
casualties of neces ity being replaced by mer-
cenane .
The Fr nch vic tori ov r th English in the
1430 inspired by Joan of rc led to a truce
which la ted from 1444 to 1449 and Charles VII
used these quiet years to reorganise his forces.
In 1439 under the Ordonnance sur la Gendarmerie
A knight of c. 1330, howing how the plate arlDour was fixed
on the arlDS. Beneath the short (ronl of the surcoat may be
seen the coat of plates and the hauberk, which was now cut
away at the sides
10
he had made the first step towards a national
army led by royal offic rs and financ d by a
royal tax, and at th sam time forbidd n hi
noble to rai e roop without a royal licenc .
This provoked a lising amongst the nobles, which
was crushed leaving the king in a position of
power and the way clear for France to become
the first Europ an natioo to have a royal tanding
army as opposed to the people's armies' of
witzerland and Bohemia.
Charles' aim was to raise a police fore to
suppress the Fre Companies and to provid a
nuel u for an army with which to defeat any
further En. lish invasions. Amn sties were granted
to the less villainous ree Companie and under
the Constable d Richemont and the Comt d
Dunois fifteen Compagnie d' Ordonnance du Roi wer
formed by 1445, each commanded by a noble
chosen for his loyalty and military skill the
company being known by th name of its com-
mander. These companies later increased to
twenty formed the royal cavalry. They were
Lodged in strategic towns and cities and in peace
time were paid by the provin es.
In 1448 another ordinan e wa pass d which
Earl of Pembroke (died 1323) wearing the mixed lDail and
plate arntour typical of the first half of the fourteenth
century. The lower leg is now fully protected by a larger
poleyn, greaves and sabatoo (iron shoes): the shoulder
reinforcement is a besague. The shield waS suspended
acroSS the chest by the guige until the lance was broken,
when the rein hand was transferred to other straps on the
back of the bield
created an infantry militia-the Frallc·archiers.
Every group oUifty homes had to provide, equip
and pay an archer or crossbow man, and by this
ordinance Charles created a permanent, well
armed and trained force of c. 8,000 infantry.
During the same period the Royal Artillery was
organised and trained by Gasper andJcan Bureau,
who gave France the most technically advanced
and effective artillery in Europe.
In the last campaigns of the Hundred Years
War the infantry, cavalry and artillery of the
Royal Army of France were victorious time after
time, defeating the English in the field and
recapturing castles and towns in rapid succession.
At the close of the war France had a regular army
of at least 12,000 mcn-at-arms and crossbowmen.
For the invasion of Italy in 1494 this army was
supplemented by Gascon crossbowmen and Ger-
man and Swiss pikemen and halberdiers.
A different form of 'national' army was raised
in Hungary in the second half of the fifteenth
century. Hungary was ruled from 1309'"""82 by
two Angevin kings, Robert and Louis, who
strengthened the kingdom's military resources by
in trod ueing the feud al sys tcm, es lablishing mi Ii tary
orders and raising a large bodyguard. These forces
were the equal of the feudal cavalry of the
Ottoman Turks until the early fifteenth century,
by which date the Turks were using large numbers
of infantry-the famous Janizaries, armed with
the crossbow. (Suleiman the Magnificent, sultan
from 15'20-66, had about 12,000 Janizaries.)
Since the Hungarians had no native infantry
apart from the peasalll levy, they began hiring
mercenaries, mainly pikemen and arquebusiers,
Mauhias Corvin us, who dreamed of uniting
central Europe under his I'ule, inherited thjs
army when he became king in 1458 and from 1468
used it to make a series of conquest's which
gained him control of Bohemia, Moravia, SiJesia
and Austria. To help him conquer Austria, and
hold on to what he had already gained, he organ-
ised a standing army of mercenaries, drawn mainly
A "nJSht of 13"'5""30 wnrmll: a d _...ted bascinet with •
from Silesia and Moravia, known as the Black 'nth_ aV~lail to protect his neck., beupes, coute.... and
Army. This was financed by a lax which even studded punde.. ofle>rlile. lid arm.. are now protected by
pu",...shaped plale.., ........ b ...ce on the fornrrft, rereb ... ~
the nobles, whose retinues formed the feudal army on the "'pper ........ toe! the shouldcn by overl.ppinll: plates
called spaudlers. NOle the aketon IIhowins: at the wrist.
of the kingdom, were forced to pay. Under the "horte.eeI .urc_t m.y be 5«D • coat of plates,.
in Spain Granada was retaken from the Moors prmnu of Iro. pl.tes held between two I.ye of cloth or
leather by .tuds, wOrn OVer the hauberk as ext protection
by the RLconquista of 1481-91. The Spanish armies .~t the tonshow.

II
Engli b IDOunted and foot archer and cro bOWIDan of about 1330 40. Men as well equipped a the e would have been
lDercenaries hired for the Scottish wars of Edward m. The mounted arcbers used a longbow, not the bort how illustrated,
and did not fire froID hor ehack

12
of this period contained large numbers of feudal
levie back d up by wiss pikemen, German and
Italian artillery specialists, English archers and
billmen, French men-at-arms and German arque-
busiers. The militias of the cities were now united
under the command of a royal offi r t form he
anla He1'1lzandad, the beginning ofa national army
paid for by a tax not only on the burgh rs but
also on the clergy and nobilit..
The hiring of wiss pikemen I d th Spaniards
to form their own companies of pik m nand
these companies stiffened b swordsmen, rose to
u h prominen e that in the last decade of the
century Spanish infantr were in gr at demand
for the wars in Jtaly.
One other national army to emerge in the late
fifteenth century was that organized by Maxi-
milianI,kingofG rmany 1486-1519. aximilian
u ed as a basi for his army the mercenaries
known as Landsknechts who had formed bands
of pikemen in imitation of the wiss. When he
came to the throne Maximilian issued com-
missions ro his aptains authorizing them to rai e
'regim nts' from the more respectable Land-
knecht companies and during his reign he
form d these mer nari. into an organized well
disciplined national army ncouraging hi knight·
to serve in their ranks and nobles to I ad them.
When Maximilian wa made Emperor of the
Holy Roman Empire in 14.93 he attempted to
raise a standing Imperial army but the prin es
of the Empire refused to serve with the army or
pay a ax to support it. Th Landsknecbts reverted
to mercenaries and brigands after Maximilian
death in 1519.
(9rgtlflisation
Medi val armi s were normally eli ided into
tbre divi ions on the battlefield the award (or
Vanguard), Main and Rearward Bartles, \ ith
the light troops occasionally operating separately
und r their own commander. he Battles always
marched in that order and normally deployed
for battle wi th the Main Battl in th ntr, th
Vaward on the right and tb R arward on the
left. (The Rearward Battle hould not be con-
fll cd with a rearguard which was a force specially
'Earl of Cornwall (died 1329) £rOD> the effigy in Westminster
Abbey. He is wearing a surcoat shortened in front, reveaJing
the skirts of the various layers of body armour, while his
lintbs ar protected by plate armour
elected to prote t the rear of a r treating arm .)
Wber' tb re was in ufficieot roorn for such de-
ploym ot the Battles might be placed with two
in the front lin and one in res rve or in thr e
succe sive lines. malleI' units operating within
each Battle are describ d below.
THE CAVALRY
Th smail st unit within the cavalry wa the
'lance not to be onfuseel with a retinue, which
also contained foot soldi rs and was normally
split up at the ass mbly p int in ord r to group
tb troop into more c nv ni n t bodies ofdifferen t
arms. The English lance consisted tbeoreticall
of a knigh , a man-at-arms arid two mount d
arch rs: Ohaucr writingc.1360 m ntion only
a knight, a qui.re and one mounted archer. The
French lance of 1450 contained a man-at-arms,
a squire, and three moun ted archers or two
mounted archer and a hobiJar (light avalry-
man). In Italy th' arli . t unit m ntion d for th
companie of forrune is a barbuta of a mounted
serg ant and a man-at-arms. This was changed in
th 1350S to a lane r a man-at-arm , a quire
and a boy or page.
In Italy five lances made a posta and five poste
a bandiera (flag) i.e. a unit of twenty-five cavalry.
13
According 10 a royal ordinance of 135 t the French
cavalry was grouped in 'squadrons' (rollles) of a
fixed number, but lhe number is 110t mentioned.
In England such squadrons varied from twenty-
five to eight)' in number, giving an average of
about fifty, and wcre commanded by a knight
flying a pcnnoncelle on his lance. In the Byzaminc
army the term for this commander was Vinltnor;es,
suggesting finy was the original number for a
squadron. Byzantine military methods wcre
studied in western Europe, both by reading
extant Roman military writings and practical
experience gained on crusade. and the rank of
l'intl'1laryis mentioned quite often in contemporary
English documents.
Several such squadrons, perhaps making a
total of from twO to three hundred men, formed
the equivalent of a modern cavalry regiment. At
Bannockburn (1314) the 3,000 English cavalry
were divided into ten 'baules', each of 300 men.
These battles were then formed into the usual
Vaward, ).Iain and Rearward Battles, theC3valry
in each case in three ranks, with the tenth haule
acting as an advanced guard. The l.'quivalent
Byzantine formation was the bandon of 450 men:
the Compagnie aOrdonnance du Roi of the mid-
fifteelllh century contained 500 men: 100 lances
offive. A 'regiment' was led by a knight bachelor,
entitled to fly a pennon.
Two or three of these 'regiments' were usually
united under the commander of a Baule, as at
Bannockburn. Such a commander might be a
king, prince or noble, all of whom could fly their
personal banner and a standard for their troops
to rally on. From the 1350S the command of a
Baule was also ~iven to knights below the rank
ofnoblc who had valuablc military experience or
could bring to the field of battle a largc force of
mCll. These cOlllmanders were known as knights
banncret and were also permitted to fiy a banner
and standard.
The cavalry therefore consisted of nobles,
knights. sergeants, squires, men-at-arms, hobilars
and mounted archers, and some explanation is
needed to clarify exactly what each of these terms
means. The nobles and knights were of various
ranks by which they may be positively identified:
barons, counts, carls, dukes and princes in the
nobility; and knights banneret, knights bachelor
14
and simple knights. These men wcre the officers
ofthe anny, with the household knights and poorer
knights fighting in thc ranks. They and their horses
were heavily armoured. The sergeants were. all
those below the rank of knight who had the
equipment of a knight, or a lighter form of it.
Their horses wcre smaller than those of the
knights and were unarmoured.
Squires were apprentice knights, equipped in
the same st)'le as sergeants. The senior squire
was known as Lhe squire of the body and always
accompanied his lord in baule, although two or
three squires might go on campaign wiLh each
knight. Originally the squire's responsibilities
were numerous: 10 assist his lord don his armour;
hand him new weapons to rcplace broken or lost
ones; supply a fresh horse if the lord was dis-
mounted; take charge of any prisoners captured
by the lord; rescue the lord if he was captured;
carry him from the field if wounded; lend him
assistance if he was attacked by several men at
once; and act as subaltern to the retinue. How-
cvcr, there is evidence to suggest that after the
middle of the fourteenth ccntury most of these
duties had become merely token ones, and
squires were relied on to provide a forceofmedium
cavaJry with the sergcants.
The term man-at-arms ae!Ually applies to aJl
mounted fighting men who wore armour, but
although a knight might therefore be called a
man-at-arms, a man-at-arms was not neccs.~arily
a knight, being possibly a sergeant or a squire.
Thus the sergeants and squires, who normally
fought in the ranks behind the first line of nobles
and knights, formed the bulk-the rank and file-
of thc cavalry.
The light cavalry was represcllled by the
hobilars, a term applied to unarmourcd spearmcn
or archers mounled on small, light horses. They
were used as despatch riders and scouts and
normally played no part in the cavalry fighting.
They were nOt cavalry in the true sense, being
more akin to mounted infantry, using their horses
only to get Ihcm to the scene of action. although
they were sometimes used as light cavalry in
pursuit of a defeated enemy.
Edward III created a mounted archer corps
in '334 in order to obtain greater mobility in the
Scottish border wars. The tactical use of large
A. kuisbt of Co 1:).40 we-rial blat;k armour 0 .. his limbs. ne
eervemert ba. dewelope'CI mto tM mort poialeel basc:iJlet,
with mailawe.tail aludled, aod Lhe be-wne at his fed ......
DOW U.l'eeI oDly for touraameDc.s. Note llte rowd "pun;,
wh.leh replaeeellM prick .p...., ,bown m preeedin! ill...tn..
Ii....... bou, IJJO. l.n haly Lhe baKmd wa. £requftldy wono
witho"t .a .veauil
Earl or W.rwid< (died 1370) we-rins • ,bo"ftIed ba"berlt
(baube. ._aJ; j"poa lUHI plate .nno..... iJld"dial" ~ _
0" the thiSh" whieh wert eommOft Lhrousho"t E"rope by
this dale. He was M.nlbaI .t Poitienl.ad do shown ca..-ryiJll"
Lhe.raft' of offiee

numbers of archers supported by men·at-anns crossbowmen, spearmen, and the city militias;
during the Hundred Years War made it essential and the light infantry of archers, unarmoured
that the twO arms should be able to travel at the spear or javelin men, slingers, and the rabble of
same speed and therefore during the fourteenth the levy armed with a variety of crude weapons,
century an increasing number of English archers often nothing more than an agricultural tool
were mounted. By the second half of the century mounted on a long haft.
~me French infantry were also mounted so that The levy was mustered al various points in
they might engage the highly mobile 'flying 'companies' but in battle these companies seem
columns' of lhe English raiders. lO have been merged to form a mass of light troops
There were three dislinct lypes of horse in usc with liltle or no ability lO manoeuvre in formation.
at this time: the tall and heavy deslrier, used only Since they were normally kept 10 the rear they
for tournaments; a poor breed of horse called a did not usually playa decisive pan in a baltle
rounsey, which was ridden by all troops on and were eilher massacred by the triumphant
campaign; and lhe courser, which slood aboul cavalry of the enemy or assistcd in the pursuit
fifteen hands high and resembled a large show- and despatch of defeated infantry. If thcy could
jumper. The last was lhe war horse of the knighl join in a cavalry melee lhey were quite deadly,
and was led by lhe squire (possibly the page boy, hacking off men's legs with their polearms and
in fact) until battle became imminent, when the a.xes, hamstringing the horses wilh their long
knight changed mOll illS. knives or galling them with their spears. Before a
battle commenced, bowmen, slinger'S and javelin
THE INFANTRY men from the levy served in loose formation as
There were several distinct types of infantry: skirmishers before the main battle line. The Swiss
heavy infantry in the form of fully armoured, in particular placed great importance on skir-
dismounted men-aI-arms; the medium infantry mishers and frequently employed up to a quarter
of professional soldiers in half armour, such as of their army in that role.
15

A knil!;bt of abo.. t 1,80 dnlllled for !.be jo.... t. The bn.1IIDe is:
deco.... ted with cn~', wreath aad scarf. la battle a visored
ba""loet would have been won> aod !.be l.aoce would have
had a .harp polot
16
Thc militia and mcrcenaries, who formed the
hard core of the infantry, had a definite system of
companies. The professional infantry of the
French armies in the founcelllh century consisted
of spearmen and crossbowmen, organized in
companies of about thiny men, each company
commanded bya constable who flew a pennoncclle
on his lance. In English armies the infantry was
aJso commanded by constables on occasions and
at the end of the twelfth century a constabulary of
Welsh infantr), numbered 500 men, and this
seems to have been a uniform size for infantry
units of that time. (When the English aml)'
crossed the Somme prior to Agincourt the ad-
\<lnced guard consisted of 500 dismounted men-
at-arms.
EngLish longbowmen were organized in com-
panies drawn from the parish areas under the
command ofa Master Bowman and the companies
allocated to each of the three Battles were placed
under the overall command ofa Imight or sergeant.
During the reign of Edward III a corps of 120
archers called the Archers of the King's Guard
was formed from the best bowmen in the kingdom,
operating in conjunction with the sergeants-in-
arms and the household knights. The French
copied this idea in the second halfofthe century,
raising a corps known as the Scottish Archers of
the Guard.
The Swiss phalanx of pikemen was also formed
of disciplined companies made up of men from
each canton. a small division of territory similar
to the Engli!;h parish. The companies werc
grouped in three columns, the number ofmcn in
each varying according to the strcngth of the
army; in the cady days perhaps JOO men, later
five or six thousand. Each canton elected its own
captain and thc commander of each column was
clected by those captains.
The Hussitc armies were organized with thc
wagon as the basic unit, each wagon and its
driver being accompanied by tcn pike and Aail
men lO guard the gaps between the wagons, and
ten archers, handgunners or crossbowmen posi-
tioned in lhe wagons themselves. The Land-
sknechts w.ere organized in 'companies' of about
400 and lhese companies were grouped into three
phalanxes likc the Swiss. The Spanish infantry
of the late fifteenth century was divided into
colon 1 ie of 1,000 men, clivid d into four
companies of 250 men on· armed \ ith sword and
bu kl r n with th pik n with th arqu bus
and th fl urth a light ca aIry, or gilleles.
THE R TILLER Y
!thou b artillery did not be am I' all ffi ti e
un' th fift euth ntu it w u ed in battles
and i g as arly a th 132 and from lh
beginning t ok tw di tin t form . si g gun and
anti.per anne! weapons, The siege uns of the
fourt nth ntury and man of tho of th
fifteenth century were manufactured by wIding
iron bars together round a wooden core and
uring th m by hrinking n iron hoop after
which the wooden 'Core was burnt out. On end
of the tube thus formed was closed by an iron
chamb r holding a powd r harg h ld in plac
b a wedge between it and a barri r erected at
th r ar of th gu n, These cham b· rs were bott! -
shap d, with an op rung whi h lin d up with th
bre h and a t u h hole for firing th harg,
Many guns had several chamber so that a faid
high rale of fIre could be achieved, B 1430 su h
gun w r bing manufactur d with alibres of
25 in, apabl f firing ton ball w i hin up
to 400 pounds. any of thes lar er
muzzl -load r th breech nd blo k d bam Lal
plu ,Th mall r gun w r la h d t I d for
firing and transportation but th lar er guns were
fired I ing on the ground held in po ilion b a
fram work f wo d n b am od w r tran, -
ported on carriages with iron-shod wh els. The
wer lift d n and ofT'the arriag by ran.
mailer muzzl -Ioadin uns wer a t in
brass and in the 1320S are illustrated firing metal
arrow', Another ady form of anti.p rsonn I
cannon was th ribauldequin, a s ri of mall
A knight of c. 1395 armed for battle. The
chains on the breastplate were attached
to sword and dagger hilt and first ap-
peared in the 1360s. They were replaced
soon after this date by the sword knot
17
cannon mountcd on a wheeled carriage so that
they could be dischuged togcther by a sweep of a
slowmatch. All these guns used agunpowder which
was mixed on the spot to prevent explosion or
segregation of the ingredients during transporta-
tion. Loading a charge of this powder was a
skilled task, for if rammed too tightly it would
not ignite instantaneously, yet if packed too
loosely it might fizzle OUl.
In the '450S gunpowder was granulated to
make it more stable but only the cast guns could
withstand the greater force of this new explosive.
Bronze guns were being produced throughout
Europe by the I440S and therefore during the
second halfof the century many long guns ofsmall
caHbrc were cast in bronze which fired a metal
ball and rdied on their high muzzle velocity for
effect against fortifications. About 1470 these
lighter, more mobile guns began to be cast with
trunnions on each side which enabled the gun to
be mounted on a wheeled carriage and acted as
piVOLS to allow the gun to be elcvatcd or depressed.
The first rcally mobile field artillery accompanied
Charles VII I on his invasion of Italy in 1494
and fomova (1495) was probably the first battle
where field artillery played a really decisive part,
although it had been effective in the field since
mid-century.
A derivative of the ribauldcquin was the hand-
gun, a small cannon fixed to a wooden stock,
which came inlo general usc about 1385. The
early handguns were inaecurale and slow to load
but in the early fifteenth century the gun was
made much smaller, the slock shaped so lhal it
could be held against the chest, and a trigger
introduced for applying the slowmatch. This
handgun was effective in volleys at close range but A knight of about '.lIS. Arm and leg armour baR changed
it was not until the introduction of lhc malch- Titde hut the earlier body armoura were replaced by. com-
binatioo of mail and plate during the '34~ period. By the
lock in mid-century that lhe arquebus, as it was nrl)' 14- the aolid bre••l pla.e _tid ra.dd(akin) we .." m.ad"
now called, became a really effective weapon and of overlapping hoopll (lam...) to liv" I!reooter f1,,:rihility.
It.li... fa .. ld. were oft"n of mail only. TI,';. knigbt c:arriu a
provided an answer to the longbow and pike war hammer, which beeame popul... about '150, and wears
column. Companies of arquebusiers, mainly from • helmet of tbe ...lIet alyle
Germ,!-ny, fought in mOst of lhe European wars
of the second halfofthe century. staffs deal with logistic problems up to the
utilization of railways for war. The men were
MOVEME T AND S PPLY obliged to arrive at the muster point by a certain
The evidence available indicates that the 10gisLics date, equipped with lheir own weapons, armour
of war were fully understood in medieval times and horses, and by and large medieval armies
and were dealt with in much the same way as solved lhe provisions problem by living off the
18
land, although English armies invading France two methods may be combined to produce
usually took a small amount of food with them to different effects, bUI in lhe fourteenth century
allow the army to become established across the the emphasis was very much on shock taclics by
Channel. In Italy and Spain wars tended to be the heavy cavalry, with small bodiesof professional
very destructive as far as agriculture was con- spearmen and crossbowmen in a supporting role
cerned and this caused greater problems ofsupply only.
than in other countries. Most armies employed Large scale battles were quite rare in this
vast numbers of foragers. Hght infantry usually period and many of the actions fought were little
drawn from the peasal\l lev)', to scour the more than skirmishes between bodies of knights,
countryside for food and horse fodder. The equip- where the main objective was to unhorse your
ment of a medieval army was also comparatively opponent and put him to ransom, but in the larger
simple and, although vast stocks of arrows or battles the cavalry was divided into Battles, thcn
bolts were required, there was little of the again into squadrons, and supported by bodies of
paraphernalia of modem warfare, nor was there infantry. Successive charges were made by these
ever any concern about lines of communication Battles or their individual squadrons against
except in the case of sieges. different parts of the enemy line, each Battle or
The speed at which an army could travel was squadron rallying behind the professional in-
greatly restricted by the accompanying wagons fantry, where the crossbowmen were interspersed
and the lack of roads. Frequently the breakdown with the spearman and both took shelter behind
of a single wagon could delay the entire anny. the large shield of the latter. From this formation
There were no accurate maps to assist in planning
a campaign, and knowledge of the surrounding
countryside, and of the enemy's movements, was
supplied by scouts, local informers and deserters.
It was not unusual for armies to fail to locate each
other and this was one of the main reasons why
commanders sometimes sent heralds to find the
enemy and offer battle at a particular place on a
set date. Freedom of movement was also restricted.
by canles and walled towns containing large
garrisons, which either had to be besieged, causing
a long delay, or by-passed at the risk of an attack
in the rear. Such places were also used. as a refuge
by armies faced by a more numerous enemy, and
once safcly within such fortifications they could
await the arrival of reinforcements, thus often
bringing to nothing the concentration of forces
for a decisive battle by a more able general.

Cj?Ictics
There arc rcally only two ways of defeating an
enemy once battle has been joined-shock tactics.
in which an attempt is made to break the enemy
by the violence and moral effect of a charge; or
the use of missiles to destroy an enemy before he
Two kn;sh.. of about '-00 w_rtnS fuU ptate a.rmour, the
-
one 0.. me riSht wearin" .Iso • S""",I bud..et; • visored
can get to close quarters, or drive him from the ba.Sc::lnei w;th .dd;';o,..) pl.lea; 10 p lect Ihe neck. The
polea.n held by tbe ....;Shl 0.. Ih., I.,re popular b)" mid-
field if he assumes a defensive position. These ceut.. ry

19
 on the forward slope of a hill overlooking the
bridge but just beyond bowshot, and any attempt
to force a crossing by cavalry or infantry would
have enabled them to descend at any time to
engage as much of the English force as they chose,
with the remainder unable to advance in support.
However, at dawn the next day the English in-
fantry crossed the river upstream by an un·
guarded ford and attacked the Welsh in the flank.
The Welsh retired to make a stand on the hill·
top. The cavalry was powerless against the hedge
of spear points but the longbowmen were ordered
forward and under a hail of arrows the Welsh
ranks began to thin. nable to break ranks to
advance or retreat because of the cavalry poised
for a charge, the Welsh were broken by the arrow-
storm and the survivors ridden down by the
cavalry. It was a perfect example of the com·
bination of shock and missile tactics.
Hno..,. VI or EDslaJOd e. '4JO. The bOrN has • chaDfro.. or Edward took these tactics to Scotland and at
plale 0" i .. llead,1.a snoeral ..se .iace the thine-oth ~t.. ry,
aod tile kUos: alrri" a .b.iekl dnipeel to defte<t la..ces r....... Falkirk (12g8) defeated 10,000 Scottish infantry
llead aJMIsrol.a. M,er '450 the .meld W1Is ram)' ...eeI ..... cepe and 200 knights with 12,500 infantry and 20500
ror touraamnol.
knights. The Scots took position on the forward
the crossbowmcn could fire on the enemy without slope of a hill, their front covered by a marsh,
fear of a cavalry attack, for the hedge of points and formed four greal hedgehogs of spearmen,
presented by the spearmen effectively prevented with perhaps 2,000 archers in the intervals and
any charge unless the tighlncss of the formation the knights al the rear. It was impossible to cross
could be first loosened by missile fire. the marsh and Edward's flank Battles therefore
These tactics were in general use in the first went round the ends, the Main Battle under
half of the fourteenth century, and continued to Edward following to the right. The Scottish.
be used in many parts of Europe until quite late knights fied the field without striking a blow,
in the second halfofthe fifteenth century, but the enabling the English cavalry to ride down mOSlof
introduction of the English longbow into Con. lhe archers, although lhey were repulsed by the
tinental warfare in 1346 and the emergence of spearmen wilh heavy losses. Edward lhen arrived
the Swiss pikeman in the early fifteellth century on the scene and ordered forward the longbow.
caused drastic changes in tactics. men. Itwas Orewin Bridge all over again and
few of the spearmen survived lhe baltle. The
THE ENGLISH LONGBOW disasler at Bannockburn (1314), when 10,000
The longbow had been in usc in South Wales and Scots defeated 23,000 English under Edward II,
parts of England since at least the twelfth century was the direct result of the cavalry atlempting to
but Edward I was the first to realise the full fight the battle on their own.
potential of the weapon during his conquest of These tactics were perfected during lhe early
North Wales. In 1282 he had 850 hired cross· years of Edward Ill's reign at Dupplin (1332)
bowmen in his army but over the next decade and Halidon Hill (1333). Al Dupplin 500 knights
this number dwindled to a mere seventy, while a and 2,000 longbowmen faced a Scottish army of
large corps oflongbowmen was trained to replace about 10,000. The English took position on a hill
them. In 1292 at the Battle of Orewin Bridge his with the knights dismounted in the centre, excepl
faith in this 'new' weapon was "indicated. The for a small mounted reserve, and the arehers on
Welsh, mainly spearmen, had taken up a position the flanks, slightly forward so they could sweep
20
the rront with their fire. The Scottish spearmen
attacked the men-nt-arms in three columns but,
weakened by the hail or arrows rrorn the flanks,
were halted by the thin line. Once halted the
columns were almost useless and, becoming more
and more crowded on the cenlre by the fire or
the archers, were almost completcly wiped out,
the English reserve cutting down those who
attempted to break away rrom the rear. At Halidon
Hill Edward used the same tactics but remounted.
his cavalry to charge and break the ScOtS when
their advance faltered in the face or the arrow-
storm,
Realising it would be impossible 10 engage the
rar lllore numerous French chivalry in conven-
tional cavalry battles, Edward employed the same
tactics in lhe Hundred Years War, always en-
suring his flanks and rear were proteCled against
cavalry charges by natural obstacles, The French
had taken no nOlice or events in Scotland, the
naval disaster at Sluys (t340) where English
longbowmen also won the day, or the small
skirmishes at :"'Iorlaix (1342) and in '345 when
500 men-at-arms and 2,000 archers helped the
Gascons drive out invading Frenc.h forces. There-
rare, at Crecy (1346) the French, who had 35,000

Crossbowmen ;., che employ of FrallC4', .tJ0-70. Koch are armed w;lh Ihe alHI "roaabow Ihe arbaleal _ whid> WIIa nOf.
pop ar La lbe fi ..ld W1ti1 Ihe _ l i d half of doe C4'nlUry because IOllgbewm..n could fi ..... I......h·e a....... w .. ;., lh.. tim .. it look
10 Ioad aD arbalol. NOI mu"h a ..mour ia worn b..c.US" ofche rise ofarquebus;en. Not.. che infaDlry IwOrd.. and c.....,lry
shield

21

s ... Jo.... ConowaU pon....y..... bol.w.S a F..-cb ba.a.ner
cap._rflI a. ACu.c:o.. rt. His sq_;n: hold~ Sir Joha',. 0 .....
ba..o:o .. er. They an: wearinS tbe armo., ..rme .....os
men against 10,000 English-ofwhom only 1,'41
were men-at-arms, attacked in fifteen successive
waves of cavalry against the thin line or dis-
mounted men-at-annssupported by longbowmen.
The 5,500 longbowmen drove off the 5,000
surprised Genocsc crossbowmell in the first
minutes of the bailie then concentrated 011 the
horses or the French chivalry, shooting hundreds
orthe terrified animals, which trapped or injured
many or their riders. Yet the longbowmen alone
did not decide the battle, for some French did
get through to engage the English men-at-arms
in hand-la-hand fighting,though never in sufficient
numbers 10 make any serious impression. Al
nightrall lhe Fl"ench withdrew. having lost a
third of their number.
The French refused to accept that the longbow
had influenced the outcome of the battlc and
blamed their defeat on the fact that the English
men-at-arms had rought dismounted. Therefore,
when the two sides met again at Poi tiers (1356)
the French dismounted their cavalry, thus aban-
doning the only advantage the attacking men-at-
22
arms had-shock. The English did not have
enough longbowmen this time to prevent the
French closing and the first line was mainly
defeated by the men-at-arms. However, the
second French line retired from the field with the
defeated first line, and when the third line began a
long advance march Edward seized the initiath-e,
just as at Halidon Hill, and remounting his men-
at-arms charged the dismounted French. At the
same time he sent a small cavalry force in a right
hook to the French rear and after a fierce
struggle the third line was also broken.
Edward II I died in 1377 and under Bertrand
du Guesclin the French began to recapture much
of their lost territories. Ou Guesdin realised that
to defeat the English he need only control the key
castles and towns and using an almost exciusiveJy
mercenary army he fought a war or harassment,
ambushes and sieges, refusing to be drawn into
open battle. Yet at Agincourt (1415) the French
chivalry showed they had learnt nothing, attack-
ing the English in a defensive position with three
long lines of dismounted men-at-arms, virtually
unsupported, and supported another disastrous
defeat.
The successes of the French in the 1430S were
not due to new tactics but mainly to the injection
orrresh hope byJoan ofAre, who also taught them
to attack the English before they could take up
their customary impregnable position on a hill-
side. During the uneasy truce of 1444--9 the
French organized their nalional army and at
Formigny (1450) lhe longbow at last met its
match. The English army of abOUl 4,500 men
was drawn lip on a slope in its usual battle line
but the French, who had slightly more men, did
110t make their customary assault. Aftcr two hours
of skirmishing the French brought forward two
culverins to enfilade the archers' position and
began to mow them down from beyond bowshot.
Some of the archers broke ranks and charged the
guns, overrunning them, but the French men-at-
arms were now able to charge home and at close
quarters made shoTt work of the archers.
No other country adopted the longbow, pri-
marily because a longbowman necded constant
practice to reach and maintain efficiency. This
meant he had to havc his own bow and arrows,
not wcapons drawn from an arsenal in times of
cnsls, and few European countries dared to
permanently arm their peasants for fear of
rebellion. However, English archers fought III
many parts of Europe with the Free Companies.
The first baule in which both sides possessed
longbow men was Shrewsbury (14°3) where the
rebel forces of the Percys mct Henry IV. The
Percys' army of 10,000 men was drawn up on a
hill with the archers in front and the battle began
with the archers of Henry's 30,000 strong army
advancing up the hill. The Percy's archers were
more numerous and after a shatlering exchange
offire the king's archers broke and ran down the
hill, followed by the Percys' men-at-arms. The
royal army was forced back but, because it was
much larger, it overlapped the flanks of the rebels
and was able to curl round one flank and attack
them in the rear. Hotspur Percy was killed and
the rebels broke and fled. It is important to note
that the battle was decided by the men-at-arms,
not the archers, and that when both sides had the
longbow the main victims of the arrows were the
archers themselves. During the Wars of the Roses
the same rule applied and both sides were usuaJly
compelled to close for a melee as soon as possible.

THE SWISS PIKE

At the same time that the longbow was rising to
prominence another infantry weapon was
emerging which was to help bring about the
downfall of the heavy cavalryman-the polearm.
For two and a half centuries companies of spear-
men had been used to SLipport the cavalry. In the
thirteenth century companies ofBrabanters armed
with a longer, twclve·foot spear were hiring them-
selves out to France, England and Italy. At
Courtrai (1302) 20,000 men of the city militias
of Flanders defeated a French army of 50,000
with the help of these long spears, bills and other
polearms. At Bannockburn (1314) the English
were defeated by the SeOUl-the majority of
whom were armed with the twelve-foot spear. At
Mortganen (1315) the forest cantons of Uri,
Schwyz and Unterwalden fought their first battle
against their oppressors and used their halberds A knir;bt in t.be Cull plale armour oCt.be t+los. The Cauld was
with devastating effect against the feudal cavalry altered about 14)0, lhe low~ pan beinr; .epa.... ted inlo two
plat..., the tassell. About tbe .ame date the Iboulder pieces,
of Duke Leopold I of Austria, Utlerly routing .now called pauldro..., became larger ....d had t.beir i.n.ner
the Austrian chivalry. edr;etI tunoed up to protec1 the ..eck. TheH: tuno ups we....
called baule piec.... NOle the e.t.... plat... 0" the left ann to
In all three of these battles the cavalry was ....place tbe ahield

23

A knight of about 1445 in full plate annour and holdin~ the
poleaxe, which was .now in general use by knights fighting
on foot
Richard, Duke of York, who died at the Battle of Wakefield
(1460). The globular breast plate returned to favour about
this date a did the huge two-banded sword i1Justrated,
particularly with the Landsknecbts and Swiss
seriously hampered by the terrain: marshes at
Courtrai and Bannockburn ambushed in a
narrow d fil at Mortgarten. On open ground, at
Mon -et-Pev Ie (1304) and a I (1328), the
Flemish infantry wer cut to piece by the French
24
chivalry, just as th English annihilat d th
cotti h p armen at Falkirk. This was primarily
because the spearmen of this date lacked speed
and manoeuvrability: although th y wer trong
on the defensive they could not change front or
formation easily and because of these limitations
they could rarely win a battl on th ir own.
ftel' Mortgarten the forest can tons received
support from the wiss of the lower alpin lands,
who brought to the 'national army a 'n w'
weapon-the pike. t this time th pik differed
from the twelve-foot spear only in having a
lighter head and it was used in the same manner
a th p ar. Howev r, the Swi s were not ontent
merely to assume a defensive attitude and as a
result of int ns training and tight di cipline
develop d th ability to manoeUVT so swiftly
that they could take the offensive even against
cavalry. They were helped in this by the lightness
of their quipment, poverty preventing them from
being slowed down by body-armour.
The new arm wa fir t te ted at Laupen (1339)
where it m t th Burgundian army in the open
fi ld. The wi s formed three columns, th pikes
on the right and in the centre the halberds of the
fore t cantons on the left. The Burgundian
infantry opposing the pike columns was soon
trampled down and dliven from tile fi Id but the
Burgundian chivalry attacked the for st cantons
in successive wa es and infli ted heavy losses
the halberds being too short to prevent the cavalry
closing. The forest can tons fought back grimly
and held the Burgundian cavalry until the two
pike columns could turn and advance to their
support. Finding themselves unable to pres
hom a charg again t the advancing pike
columns the Burgundian cavalry th n rode from
the field.
At Sempach (1385) Duke Leopold probably
remembering the ineffectiv n S ofcavalry against
pikes at Laupen, dismounted his Vaward Battle
to engage the leading column of the Swis army.
He kept hi other two Battle mounted believing
one Battle uffici nt to defeat the wiss column,
for the main body of the wiss was not y t within
supporting distance. The Swiss were almost
defeated but Leopold had not allowed for the
rapidity of a wi s advanc and the main
body now arrived and threw back his Vaward
 ,
(

ght, early fo~ger.

kui
Walter von Hohe .
Germ
eenth centuryan

GERALD EMBLETON
A
 "

Guidoriccio da Foglia.na, Condottiere, ea.rly

fourteenth century

GERALD MBLErO
B
 JOlLD of Arc, 142 30

GERALD EMBLETO C
 Spearman, 1300-1400

2 PeaslUlt Levy, 13 1400

3 Crossbowman, 1300~14°O

o GERALD EMBLETON
 Hand-gunner, 1400-1500
:z English billman, 14 14.50
3 English 10ngbowlIlaIl, 1350-1450

GERALD EMBLETON
E
 Infantryman, 1400-1500
Gunner, 145 1500
3 French man-at-arms, 1450-t5OO

GERALD EMBLETON
F
 Swiss pikem.an, 1339-1500
:I Spanish infantryD1all, 1481-1500
3 English Archer of the Guard, 1485-1500

:I

-"

GERALD EMBLETON
G
 9 10

Identili cation
. and d escnption
. 12 .
of these 8a gs 15 on page 40

H GERALD EMBLETON
Battle. Leopold hurriedly dismount d his Main veryrapidlyforov ramil with their pikes levelled
Battle and led them forward but th y weI' di- and thi p d often enabled them to force an
order d and befor they could arriv the Vaward n my to fight where and when they chose.
Battl broke, the third line of ustrian rode from The Swi s columns did not suffer the fate of the
the field, and Leopold and his Battle were Flemish and Scottish spearmen becaus of their
surrounded and slaughtered. manoeuvrability and because th y w re alway~
At Arb do (q.:.!2) th Italians also used di - preceded and supported by light troops who
mounted men·at·arms, 6,000 in a single column formed from ten to twenty-five per cent of th
against a Swiss phalanx of abou t 4,000 of whom army. At first these troops w rc armed with the
two-thirds were armed with halberds only one- crossbow but as early as th battl of afels (1388)
third with pikes and crossbows. The wi s were handguns wer bein 1I ed and these gradually
on th verg of defeat when 600 of their foragers replaced th rossbowdurin the fifteenth century.
appeared in the rear of the Italians. Mistaking Aft I' def, ating the Burgundians in th 1476-7
them for reinforcements, the Italians drew off campaign the Swiss began hiring them elves out
and the wis took th opportunity to retire from as mercenari sand erved in most of the European
th field. Mainly b cause of this expericnc th
wiss now adopted the pike as their main weapon,
but with a fifteen-foot haft. Halberdiers were
retained to guard the cantonal banners and if a
column was halted th s troop issued from th
sides and r ar of the column to attack the enemy's
flanks and break the deadlock. Their repu tation
as the finest infantry in Europe was established
at t]acob-en-Birs (1444) where less than 1,000
wiss pikemen attacked a French army out-
numbering them by fifteen to one. The Swiss
were all killed, but fought to the last man and
took 2,000 of their enemies with them. From that
date the Swiss remained superior to all other
infantry and fully capable of withstanding the
finest cavalry, and ven defeating it.
The u ual order of battle employed by the
wi was an advance in echelon of three columns
the leading column making [or a fixed point in
th en my line whil th entral column march d
parallel and sligh~ly to the left or right rear. The
third column was still further back and frequen ly
halted when the first column struck to observ
th result b fore becoming committed. Ther
weI' a number of variations of this battle order.
ometimes the centre column would lead and
both flanks would be refused or the two flanks
advanced and th ntrc r fus d. Th strength
of the columns increased as more cantons sup-
ported the league bu sometimes the emphasis
would b on th right 'and centr with only a A knight and sergeant-at-a.rms of about 1470. The knighl
would have worn a saHet. The sergeant is wearing a sUnple
mall column on th left or on occasions ther steel cap, breast plate and large poleyns only. The large hilt
would be an normous right hand column and as ofh.is sword suggests he is armed with a two-handed sword
well as the plain lance of the mediwn cavalry. (The head
a smalilef and cen tre. he columns could advance should be l110re slender)
25
wars of the late fifteenth century, now using an
eighteen-foot pike. Because they struck with a
shock almost equal to that of heavy cavalry only
another column of pikes could stand up to them
but although many countries formed corps of
pikemen none could withstand the Swiss during
the fifteenth century. The only successful op-
ponents of the pike in this century were the
Spanish, who mixed a strong force of sword and
buckler men with their pikemen. A Spanish
column consisted of pikes in the front ranks with
arquebusicrs at each flank, and sword and buckler
men behind the pikemen ready to cut down the
enemy pikemen once they had been haILed. The
Spanish infantry rose to a position of prominence
towards the end of the century and were in great
demand for the wars in Italy, but they did not
encounter any Swiss pikemen until the battle of
Barletta (1502) where the sword and buckler
men gOi beneath the pikes and slaughtered the
lightly armoured Swiss at close quarters.
THE HUSSITE WARS
Another system oftacticsdevelopcd in the fifteenth
century which proved capable ofdefeating feudal
cavalry and levies was that devised by Jan Ziska,

••

Heary VO ofEaslaad in a damalic:eaeel armour wlt.ich fOUOW1i civilian faalt.io<ls. The horse armOur is in the To~rofLoadOD
announes. The iaf..,trym.., is wearin! a bnradlne reinforc:ed by metal platea, held ia place by the studs, ..,d carries a
lihon liwonl.nd Iypicat f'flenld. cen.ury hill. He wn. ..... a sallet, which -as very popular ia Eastand

26

An English rnan-at-anns of 141lJ in £ull armour. Such an
equipment weighed about seventy pound but the weight was
distributed over the whole body and the main disadvantage
of the armour was Dot the weight but the stuffine inside
it. Because such equipment was very expen!i'ive, in the second
half of the century simple knights and the rank and file of
a.rmie wore either partial plate with mail, as in the four-
teenth century, or the fabric body arm ours of the same
period
command I' of th Puritan Hus it army of
Bohemia during the war with th Catholic HoI
Roman mpire. The Czech nobility fa ed the
sam probl m as that of England in 1337-the
cavalry of th ir enemies outnumbered th m by
several hundred to on . Th refore, again lik th
EngJi h and indeed the wi s, th P opl had to
be organized into an infantry force capable of
standing up to feudal avalry even though
virtually un upported by avalry. Ziska had seen
th goLiaigorod (movin fortI' ) u ed b the
Russians when attack d on the mar h' th drawing
into a cir Ie of tb wagon accompan ing the
army to form a barri I' against avalr. Ziska
copi d (hi idea at first using an . cart and wagons
h could obtain but later havin p cially re-
inforc d wagons constru ted which carried rna]]
cannon and w r fitted with heavy chain to link
them to ether. Wi thin th moving fortresses rus
peasants and burgh rs w I' sac' from th
numerous cavalry of the Holy R man Empire
and with a combination of polearrns and mi il
weapon were quite capabl of dealing with the
fI udal I vi or di mounted men-at-arm .
In th early battle Ziska relied ntirelyon the
d fen iv trengtb of IDs wagenberg but oon by
discipline and extensi e training he was able to
turn the wagenberg into an offi n i w apon just
as the wis bad ad anced the u e of heir pike.
. p cia! orp of \ agoner wa formed which
ould mano uvr h wagon into a ir I qual'
or Lriangle at a single word of command di-
engage th teams and chain th wagons together
all und I' th no s of an army rend red low in
manoeuvre by th di uniti s of the fI udal sy tern.
From the very beginning Ziska at 0 mad u e
of handgun . almo t on -third of the mi ile
m n in th wagons had firearms' and the wagen-
berg was supported b a trong train of artillery
which included annon capabl of throwing
projectiles weighing up to 100 pound.
The ba i order for a Hus ite arm on tb march
was fi parall I columns' the cavalry and artillery
in th entre Aanked on ach sid by two
ill i ions of wagon with their complem nt of
infamT . Tb two inner wagon Olumn were
horter than the outer on and at a word of
command could be rno ed rapidl into po ition
at the head and rear of the arm to form a
I' tangular d fen iv formation.
The Holy Roman Empir I' pond d to its
first defeats b raising an enlarger army
instead of eking new ways of dealing with this
n w weapon and inJanuary 1422 a great army
und I' th· Emperor Sigismund was decisively
d feat d at m cky Brod. igi mund wa
defeat d a ain at bo id Kutna and Hora that
year but the following year there was civil dis-
ension in Boh mia, the p opl dividing into the
Taborit extremist under Zi ka and the moderate
part in luding th nobilit known a the
traqui ts. Ziska defeated tb traqui ts at
Haric and trachov that year and aL kalic and
Male ov in 1424 dying tat I' that year of th
plague.
priest caned Prokop took command of the
Taborit arm and at u sig (1426) and Tachau
(r 427) d fI at d the forces of the Holy Roman
27
Empire. The reputation of the Taborites was now
such that the German levies often could not be
made to aBack the wagenherg and, gaining ex-
perience and courage from their invincibility,
the Taborites took to advancing from the
wagrnherg to defeat armies numericaUy their
superior. In 1429 Prokop invaded Saxony and
bands of only a few thousand men laid waste to
Bavaria, ~'Ieissen, Thuringia and Silesia. At
Domazlice (1431) they defeated the papal forces
ofCesarini and in 1433 a force under Jan Czapko
raided the Teutonic Knights' Ordensland in
retaliation for supporting Sigismund, sacking
Dirschau and Oliva.
The only real threat to thewagrnberg was cannon
fire at the wagons themselves, but the Taborite
artillery was always strong enough to silence the
enemy's guns and it was not the Holy Roman
Empire which finally defeated the wtlgtnhng
but the Czechs themselves. At Lipan (1434) the
Taborites led by Prokop again met the UtraquislS.
The moderates attacked the U'tlgrnbng and were
Sir Joh.a Cb",aqo, .......dard ......... r to H",O>")' VU.t d.", Battl",
of Bosworth (_<liaS), the last bIItd", of Lh.. W." ofth.. Roses.
He ClIIrnlK Heary's Ir~ ..-d whit.. b....a ..r chartm with •
«d d ...!oa
28
repulsed but the Taboritcs, forgetting they were
no longer fighting the levies ofthe Emperor, rushed
out to pursue the fleeing UtraquisLS, who then
turned and began to fight back fiercely. The
Utraquist cavalry reserve easily defeated the
small Taborite force of cavalry and swiftly cut
off the Taborites from their wagtnherg. The
extremists were then cut to pieces on the open
field by the cavalry, only a few thousand who had
remained within the u:agenherg survi\'ing. They
never recovered from this battle and their city
of Tabor fell to the Utraquists in 1452.
Lipan illustrates the basic weakness of the
wagtnherg: unlike the longbow and pike it was a
purely defensive weapon, successful only against
the out-dated, unthinking tacties of a feudal host.
Against steady troops commanded by an intelli-
gent and experienced general it could be
rendered ineffective.
In the sixteenth century Hen!)' VI II of EngJand
mounted some of his arquebusiers in armoured
wagons but otherwise the Taborite tactics wen:
not employed elsewhere in Europe. although the
wagenbng was known. For example, when in 1429
Sir John Fastolf, rn roule to the besiegers' lines at
Orleans with a train of provisions, was attacked
by 8,000 men-at-arms, he drew the wagons into
a circle and easily repulsed the French altacks
with his small force of 2,000 archers and spear-
men.
THE CONDOTTIERI
Because Italian armies of the fifleenth century
were composed of cot/dollier;, fcudal tactics per-
sisted in Italy unlil lhe end of the century. Most
of the wars between the city states and republics
were economic in motive and the captains of the
mercenaries therefore tended to regard war as a
business and their men as their capital. Since
today's enemy might be tomorrow's comrade in
arms, there was little point in fierce, bloody
battles where friends mighl be killed and the
captain's capital severely diminished, thus en-
dangering the future of the company. Therefore,
the cot/dot/ieri, who were mostly heavily armoured
cavalry, usually fought only in the summer, away
from the moumains and marshes which were so
inconvenient for cavalry, and avoided pitched
battles as much as possible. A great deal of time
Early rOllr1e..:ath c:nll....,. ..............rons wearial bdon orprc:vious c:oralllry. n .. hor.... arrnOllr ia orleath..r ...d sca1.. annour
ror Hlht:n.. n, with a plat.. c:haarron. NOI .. th.. m...1a.I pia.... Oft th.. saddl.. a ..d Ih.. 1m"...

29
 was spent burning crops and destroying vineyards
and orchards, for the ability to wage war de-
pended on mOllcy, which meant a thriving com·
merce and agriculture: if you could destroy an
enemy's crops and rcst.-ict trade by besieging his
cities and ports, you crippled his ability to main-
tain a mercenary army in the field. Such methods
were effective and mueh safer than pitched
battles.
When a pitched battle was unavoidable it
oftcn rescmbled a leisurely game of chess, perhaps
culminating in a cavalry melee and a bricf ex·
change ofbaltcring blows on each other's armour,
after which the out-manoeuvred commander
conceded defeat and withdrew from the ficld.
The emphasis was on the traditional dismounting
of an opponent for ransom rathcr than the evolu·
tion of new tactics. At the battlc of Zagonara
(t423) only three mcn werc killed: at MolineUa
(1427), which lasted all day, somc horses were
killed and men taken prisoner, but no man died.
This type of \\'arfare received a rude shock in
1439 when many Venetians were killed by arque-
busiers in the employ of Bologna. So great was
the outrage at this 'atrocity' that whcn the
Venetians won the day they executed all those
who had carried firearms. Towards the end of the rm..
M .......I.. weariaJ fv.1J pl>lIe equipmenl of the .econd
half of the fiftee.nth cenlury, ridinll a horse protecled by
eemuT)' Italy became the battle field for French,
a luther .....d plale h ...·d. The 'b..-.I ptale' (peyttaJ) ..... d
Spanish and Gcrman armies equipped with the ned< piece (crine1) w .. re introduced dllriQIl Ihe four1ee.nth
C....lllry
pikc, longbow, crossbow, arqucbus, disciplined
squadrons of mcn-at-arms and highly mobile equipment to rcmain in use after the introduction
artillery-all designed to kill the cncmy. By 1500 of new fashions bccause of expense. Under the
the condO/lieri were fast disappearing from the heaume was a mail coif, and under that an arming
battlcfield before such ruthless warfare and with cap to prcventchafing and protcclthe head against
thcm wcnt the last vestiges of the old fcudal heavy blows. Thc large crcst is typical of those
tactics and the belief that the heavily armoured worn by German knights. Crcsts were popular
cavalryman rulcd thc battlefield. in Germany, England and the Low Countries,
but rafe in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal.
The body is protected only by a mail hauberk
Pie'Plates and hose, although in olhcr countries plate re-
inforecments to the leg were common by this date.
11 Wolfer t'On IIQhenklinger, Grrm{/n knight, (orb' The wooden 'heater' shield was slightly curved,
jourlun/h century about 95 cm. long by 15 mill. thick. The sword is
von Hohenklinger is dressed for the tourney but lypical of the Middle Ages up to t. 1320; 33-36 in.
at this date most feudal cavalry took the field long, three to four pounds in weight, with a
dressed in a similar fashion. Thc flat-topped doublc-edged blade and thc wheel pommel which
heaul1le was replaced by a more conkal version remained popular throughout the 1300-'500
towards lhe end of thc 13th ccntury but it was period. Walter von HohenkJinger was killed at
not uncommon for man)' picces of a knight's lhe ballle of Sempach in 1385.
30
B Guidoriccio tla Fogliww, COlldol/itre, first half
fourteenlll cenlury
In the early fourteenth century the condouieri
were professiona Isoldiers, someli mes ofthe nobi Ii ty,
but more often adventurers seeking a fortune, who
hired themselves and their brigands to the highest
bidder. The cont/ouieri of the late fourteenth and
the fifteenth centuries were frequently princes
who, between their own wars, hired their annies
to other states and republics in order to keep the
troops in full employment. The mail worn by
Fogliana, reinforced b}' plate armour on the legs,
is t)'pical of the first halfofthe fourteenth century;
plate armour was rarely worn on the arms in
fourteenth-century Italy. Textile horse-trappers
were introduced in the twelfth century to protect
the horse against the weapons of the infantry and
, EI
g-
6
by the thirteenth century were often reinforced
with platesofmetal or horn,orpadded and quilted,
or made ofleather. The trapper was in two haJves,
meeting at the saddle.
C Joan of Arc, 142!}-30
By 1410-20 the knight was wearing an armour
made entirely of plate, although mail continued
to be used in the fifteenth century by the lesser
knights and rank and fileofarmics.1 tali an armours
frequently had mail saba tons and a mail skin
instead of the plate fauld. Plate armour began to
replace the textile horse-trapper at the end of the
fourteenth century and by c. 1430 the horse bard
of all-plate had been introduced, although
hardened leather (cuir bouilli), shaped to look like
metal plates, was often used because of iu
cheapness and light weight.
(I) FiIt~.H.Io ce.. tury h.r.tmel ....d .Io~d­
ine. (a) LalefiIleenLh ce.. t..ryp-a.n: ....d
. .baloa. (,) G-.... tJec of c.he secood Iaal1
of the fourt~.. th cealury. (4) FiIteeaLh
ce.uury sa....c1el. (S) Go"1:et 10 p ....lect
Ihe "Kit, often wora wiLh c.he early fcnu-.
I~rtth «al.. ry kettle bat aad, by c. '4'0,
wiLh Lhe ba.do",t. (6) All metal mace
of the early fifl"""",Lh Ceulury. (7) Prid<
.pur, '30G-30
•
31
 6

(1 & 2) Concave 13 in.. dia.m.eter buckler of wood covered with leather and decorated with nails. The boss projects four inches.
(3 &.) Bum cbe bead and butt ferrule. (s & 6, 7 & 8) Late fifteenth century poleax.es and butt ferrule. Haft were from
four to fiye feet long, giving an oyeralllengtb offiye to six feet
 DJ Spearman 130 1400
1 he professional spearman wore a hauberk and
carried a targe, about two feet long or the longer
pavise. The lirrht yet strong kettle hat was
popular with infantry throughout the J 300-1500
period and was al 0 worn by knights, sometimes
on top of the cervelliere or globular ba cin t.
Th short pear was a major infantry weapon
of th fourt en th cen tury, used like a bayonet ted
riA for th charge or to form a hedge of points
when on th defensive. It had a five foot haft and
tw Iv inch broad bladed head. Tbe spear used
by the Scots and Brabanter in the first quarter of
the century was between ten and twelve feet long,
with a mol' sl ndcr head. econdary weapon was
u ually a long dagger.

D2 Peasant Levy 130 1400

Feudal armies such as the French ones of the
Hundrcd Year War, frequently had up to fifty
P I' cent of th ir strength in peasant levies who
were used for camp duties, foraging and skirmish-
lug. In defeat they were at tbe mercy of the
pursuing cavalry-as were the mercenaries-but
if they got amongst the cavalry during a mete
th y could be so deadly that trapper had to b
used to protect the horses, and knights had to
I'M"l'rt "~·",..,~TI I IV

the fifleenth century. prOlt,·t Lhems hTS again:L l11 long kni,'c', ax S AIl iron mace of the second half of
~Dgth 2S inches' head anJ pol arm. r the pea ·autry. th r weapon!' Weigbt three pound nine ounce ;
seven incbes. Tbe bandle is hollow
w,eo by the lC'\j s were clubs buw.', spear.., and
agricultu ral Lonl... E, Hrmd-glll/lll'l,' "CII , 5()(1
i. armcd with all 11<' hand-gunuel' illustrated
1 the s< mc manner DJ CmJ.lbOIJ'mali. '300 r 400 all-iron gun. apparenth fin'd i
waration i, !>a,T I The best compani\>s of' rossb WI1lCll c< me ['rom as a mod L'l'1I bazooka. The i I
aIII 'eli \'<11 manu- Genoa. Ga cony and lhe Low COlll1lrie,. They on a figure in it siege .'it' nc in
,e d('sig-Ill,[! pllre!) lIsually wore a haul f'rgeon simple> :teel helmet nip!. and L1w wea[lon ll1a~ ~
tlte mid-filk nth and phtc l' 'inforcem I1lS 11 'Ibm s and knee:. lor :iege work. C rta i 111) by
<lrq u b usc .. were The composite b .....V:lS II cd in th Ileld through- century g nuine handguns. 1
'1 stock which \\,a, 011 t the J 3°< t500 period and had :In ac u rale being prudll({,c! \ ilh a \\'oodc
1'1',,1 \ ith a calibre range of . iXly yard.. four LO six longbow. harts helel against the she ulder. a 1)<
go-luaded mech.u1- roulcl b di:har,g d in lhe tim it to k 10 I ael a or ab ut one inch, and a sprir
were effecrive in ("ro:sbow whi h also lacked Ih pellctrati\ e i:m for til ~I( \ male II. TIt(,y
1m range lI'a lour power of the lungbow. Se onelan \I'capon was a \' Heys at c10s range. ~,1a.·im
e al It two hun- long knirf' nr a . m'dl axe.• he arbalesters of the hundred yards, ffpeti,'(' rang
;iclerablv I ·S~. Ra te c and hal f of lh . II ft 'nth (Tn tur\' wor . Ii tll· r
> Ire>c1 yar I. , (1 11 ra t rang- n
len. hots an h ur. 1]0 armour. 01 fire was beL ween eip;ht Hntl

33

Velleliall poleue of aboUI '5J(l, ..ery .lmUar 10 tbe Iyp"
Uled ill the IKolld half of the fiIl~nth eentury
£2 English billman, 1400-/45°
The agricultural bill was used as an infanlry
polearm in the fourleenth century but from the
beginning of the fifteenth century it is noticeable
that bodies of infantry fonnerly referred to as
spearmen were now termed billmen. The bill,
differenl from the agricultural tool only in having
34
a hook at the back and somelimes a spike at the
top, was popular throughout the fifteenth century,
especially in England, France and Italy. Second-
ary weapon was a sword or small axe. The spear-
man's shield was abandoned because both hands
were needed for polearms. Billmen wore a variety
of helmets ; a bascinet and avenlail as illustrated-
probably picked up on the battlefieJd or handed
on by a knight, a kettle hat, or in the second half
of the century a sallet. Their bodies and limbs
were protected by the haubergcon, sometimes
with plate reinforcements on arms and legs. The
illustrated figure bears the hound (talbot) of the
Talbot family, Earls of Shrewsbury, on his tunic,
which is in the livery colours of that family. The
use of such badges was never so widespread or
important in Europe as in England.
E3 English longbowman, /350-145°
The longbowman sometimes wore a haubergcon,
or a quilted jacket, but frequently was protected
by only a leather jerkin or wore no body armour
at all. The cervelJjere and kettle hat were popular
forms of helmet, though some archers wore only
a feIt hat. Secondary weapon was usually a dagger
or the maul, though in the fifteenth century some
carried swords. The wooden buckler was heJd at
arm's length for parrying blows in a mel~. The
longbow was about six feet long and required a
pull of eighty pounds. Flight arrows were about
37 in. long and were used for high trajectory,long
range firing: the more sturdy sheaf arrows were
about 27 inches long and were used at close range
for piercing mail and occasionally plate-if a
square hit could be obtained. Longbowmen
usually protected their front against cavalry by
digging pitfalls (Crecy) or erecting stakes
(Agincourt). The archer illustrated wears the
badge and livery of the de la Pole family, Earls
of Suffolk.
F/ Infantryman, /46Q-J500
Mosl infantry of the second half of the fifleenth
century were armed wilh some form of polearm,
in this case a partizan, a development of the spear
which originated in Italy in the early part of the
century. The partizan, with its thirty.inch,
double-edged blade for cut·and·thrust, and lugs
for breaking or entangling sword blades, soon
Left to right: early sixteenth century Germaa poleaxe similar in design to those of the fifteenth century; late fourteenth,
early fifteenth century Swiss halherd of the type used at Sempach; German halberd ofahont 1500, typical of the kind carried
by German and Swiss infantry at the end of the fifteenth centu.ry

35
Early fift""nlh c"ntury bombard of wrought iron with 15-in. <:IIlibre, firing,. ston" IIhot w"ighing about 160 pounds> Th"
carriag" is mod"rn
sprcad throughout Europe, 'rhe illustration shows
typical armour ror inrantl'y or the timc; a bri.
gandine, similar to the jack but with smaller
plates ror greater flexibility, and a long 'tailed'
German sallet with pivoted visor. The Italian
sallet had a short 'tail'. as did the German one
arter aoout 14-80.
36
F2 Gllnnl', 1450-1500
Gunncrs usually carried only a dagger and wore
the rallfic body armours or thc inrantry and poor
knights; a canvas, leathcr or tcxtile jack or
brigandine, rcinrorced by metal plates. The
cannon iIIustratcd is a muzzle·loading, wrought-
iron bombard or the 1330-1470 period, firing a
stone ball. By the mid-fifteenth century such
cannon were used mainly for siege warlare, and
the wooden stand is typical of this period.
F3 Frtnth man-al-amlS, 1450-1500
The poleaxe was the favourite weapon of dis-
mounted men-at-arms from t. 1450 but the twa.
handed axe illustrated here was also popular
throughout EUI-opc until the end of the century.
Despite its size the hend of such an axe ...vcighcd
only aboUl three pounds. The man wears the
simple globular bascinet which remained popular
in France and I taly, a full equipment of plate,
and on his tunic is the winged hart badge of the
House of Bourbon, although Bourbon livery
colours were white and green.

.,
A w ...."l:lu i....... br-eecla loadUll: pete....... of tbe time of Edward IV ('46'-113) complete wit..h powder chamber, which ha...
lifti"l: handle aDd ve..1 bolO!!. N..te wedl!le for j.m.miol: the boule shaped chamber into thO!! breech

37
 .:::::"
I .....'
II \ \\

, ,I 11i',-
..-
..-
...-
-"...
"/
'I III
\

~""''''''Il,A<'S 5".... ,1';'

o C/Wrtl.fl.'j

o .1:I'lF~

'" c;uNS
GRANDSON 1476 One of the three JDajor battle of the Burgundian campaign of 1476-77 against the Swiss. Here Charles
the Bold atteJDpted the classic doable envelopJDent of Hannibal at Cannae, but the infantry on his flanks, eeing the rapid
advance of two more Swiss colUD1ns and mi taking the withdrawal of the centre for a retreat, broke and Oed in panic.
Prime cause of this panic was a lack of cohesion between the varioll wnlS of the Burgundian army; a CODlJDon failing in
felldal armie

G1 wiss pikeman 1339-15°0
Becau of pover the wi pik man was
originall prot cted only b a impl helmet and
a leather jerkin and so Dw men had breastplate
that only th front rank of a phalanx had any
armour. Offi er were usually fully armoured
and mounted, although they di mount d to fight.
In th s cond half of the fifteenth cntury more
men had breastplates and fully armoured men
were placed in the fronl rank. allets were worn
by t.hj date, and tunics and hose w r striped or
parti- olour d but tigh tfitting· the sla h d loos
clothing u ually as ociated with th' wi not
b oming common until th ixteenth century.
, hen on the defensive th first four ranks of a
phalanx Ie elled their pikes whil those to the
rear kept their pik s upright I' ad to I' plac a
fallen comrad . Th first rank knelt with th
pike h Id low, the butt on the ground behind
them: th cond rank tooped with the burt
und r th ir right foot: the third rank held the
38
pike at wai t I vel: and the fourth rank held it at
h ad level. For the advance the pike were held
horizontally at che tiel right arm ba k and
left arm forward with the h ad ofch pik pointing
slightly downward. The Landskn chts opi d
this drill but pointed their pike head slightl
upwards.
G2 /Janish irifantryman 1481-15°0
Spanish sword and buckler men wore a tall
cabacete with a turned-down brim drawn up
front and r ar with a bevor to prot t th lower
half of the fac and a full equipm nt of plate
armou r. hey were armed wi th a hort straigh t
double-edged thrusting sword and a dag er. he
wooden bu kler had a diameter of ten to twelve
inches and was r inforced with nail and m tal.
G3 English Archer qf the Guard 1485-[5° 0
The rch r of the Guard ere formed by
Edward III (1327-n) and apparently per-
petuated by Henry VII, who in 1485 formed the
Yeomen of the Guard, a bodyguard offifty archers
und r a captain, in rcascd soon after to '200 m 'n
and by 1490 to 600. Gr n and white (the Tudor
colours) were worn from 1485 and no mention is
made of the tradi ional red uniform until 1514.
he gold garland and red rose were rep ated on
the back of the tunic. The Guard carried halberds
but r main d train d archers. It is possible hat
earli r guard' wore the liveries of their resp ctiv
kings: Edward I and II white and red' dward
III, mauve and red' Richard II white and green;
Henry IV V and I, white and blue' Edward
IV and Richard III mauv and blue.

~\\\ \
....
........
........
....
....

EN<;LJ:5K
dlYClI..R'/

• j N FArJ-rR.j

~ A~u{cRs

.::: P,-r 'Fj:ll.l..~

CRECY [346 At Crecy Edward ill drew up his forces in what was to become the standard order of battle used by English
armies throughout the [00 Years War

39
H. Plags. The pennon was a larger version of the pennon-
Bourbon standard celie, between two and three feet long. It was the
:2 Standard of Edward II I personal flag of a knight bachelor and in the
3 Standud of Joan of Arc fifteenth century also had a badge form. If a
4 Pa\'on pcnnoncclle of Reynald, Lord of knight was promoted to bannerel on the battle-
Agincourl field the tails were cut off his pennon to produce
.) Pennoncclle of the CIa res, Earls ofCloucester a banner.
6 Pcnnoncelle of the Percy family of The banner was the flag of all ranks above
Korthumbcrland knight hannerel. II was never displa)'oo unless
7 Pennon of the French Infantry, 1479 the owner was present, and then only if battle
8 Banner of ri Canton was aboul to be joined. The banner of the four-
9 Banner of the Treasurer of the Teutonic teenth century was from two 10 three feet deep
Order and twelve to eighteen inches wide, although a
10 Banner of the Teutonic Order two- to Ihree feet-square version became pre-
II Banner of Brabant dominant later. A badge form became popular in
12 Banner of Burgundy the late fifteenth century. The banner used by
13 Banner of Richard II and Henry V of Henry V and Richard 1I incorporated the crms
England and martlets banner of Edward the Confessor,
one of the five banners carried by English troops
FLAGS until 1485. The Treasurer of the Teutonic Order
The pcnnoncelle took three forms: pavon (Rey- led the mercenaries at the battle of Tannenberg
nald), single tail (Clare), and swallow tail (Percy). ('4 10).
The pavon shape was popular in the fourtc<:mh The standard was gran led to the nobiUty and
century. These pcnnoncclles were carried at the knights banneret. It was not a pe11lOnai flag but
lance head and were the pcrsonaillags of all men- was used (0 mark the position of commanders'
at-arms from knight up. Length was twelve to troops within an army. It was never furled during
eighteen inches, with the tails taking up half that a campaign, being used to mark the group's
length. The pennoncelle bore the arms of its H.Q in camp, at the head of the force on the
owner, but in the fifteenth century it bet::ame march, (0 lead attacks, and to provide a rallying
customary to usc a badge on a livery colour (as point. It was from six to twelve fecl long,
in Ihe Percy pennon celie) and this was known as depending on the rank of the owner.
a badge pennoncellc.
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