Philippe Contamine identifies three basic infantry formations in the Middle Ages the wall, the circle or crescent and the deep solid formation, either rectangular or triangular. Various accounts show that it was the role of commanders to make sure their men knew their position in the formation, knew which banners they fought under and who stood around them. Swiss muster rolls show officers and standard bearers being appointed, and men being assigned to particular positions in the formation. Militia forces were often organised by guilds or districts, with their officers and banners. Thus it is important to keep the formation in ranks and tight and joined together like a wall can follow from a disordered formation: one is that enemies can easily break into it the other is that the formations may be so compressed that they cannot fight. The importance of good order was well understood in medieval warfare: Organisation and deployment Organization This represented a major change in approaches to recruitment, organization, and above all pay. Thus as early as the late 13th century, we can observe Edward I campaigning at the head of armies incorporating tens of thousands of paid archers and spearmen. The rising importance of foot troops, thus, brought not only the opportunity but also the need to expand armies substantially. As Clifford Rogers, historian of medieval warfare notes: To obtain the best fighting men, elites had to make provision for their regular payment and supply. As more kings and lords turned to infantry, their opponents had to keep pace, leading to additional increases in foot troops. All this added up to make the early days of peasant levies unsustainable. Siege warfare, in particular, required large bodies of troops in the field, for extended periods, including numerous specialists. These were cheaper to recruit and maintain than knights with all their trappings. The expanded campaigns, castle-building and sieges of the era also saw greater use of household troops, often bodyguards of the elite, with a variety of useful skills. The Swiss pikeman, the German Landsknecht, and the Italian Condottiere are three of the best known examples of this new class of fighting man. The later Medieval period also saw the expansion of mercenary forces, unbound to any medieval lord. Peasants were also used for the role of archers and skirmishers, providing missile cover for the heavy infantry and cavalry. Recruitment īy the 11th century, much of the infantry fighting was conducted by high-ranking nobles, middle-class freemen and peasants, who were expected to have a certain standard of equipment, often including helmet, spear, shield and secondary weapons in the form of an axe, long knife or sword. The relative inexpensiveness of the infantryman, combined with a shortage of manpower, provided incentives for expanding their use. Such expeditions were part of the growing number of sieges, disputes and campaigns throughout the 13th and 14th centuries that greatly increased the cost of warfare for medieval regimes. The Crusade era also saw a rise in the importance of infantry and required large numbers of men and material to be organized for distant battlefields. This encouraged more economical use of available manpower, and the infantryman was much cheaper to outfit and maintain than the aristocratic knight. The Black Death in the 14th century swept through Europe, devastating the population and resulting in serious manpower shortages. As the period progressed, however, the dominance of the cavalry elite began to slowly break down. Since only the noble classes could afford the expense of knightly warfare, the supremacy of the mounted cavalryman was associated with the hierarchical structure of medieval times, particularly feudalism. Typically heavily armoured, well-motivated and mounted on powerful, specially bred horses, the mounted knight represented a formidable force, which was used to effect against more lightly armoured troops. In the medieval period, the mounted warrior held sway for an extended time. From the 14th century onwards, there was a rise in the prominence of infantry forces, sometimes referred to as an " infantry revolution".Ĭost and recruitment: the growth of infantry Catalan infantry of the 13th. Overview about the infantry in the Middle Ages Infantrymen at the Battle of Aljubarrota, 1385ĭespite the rise of knightly cavalry in the 11th century, infantry played an important role throughout the Middle Ages on both the battlefield and in sieges.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |