In 1277 the recently crowned king of England, Edward I, invaded Wales; his army, large for the time, was none the less modest by his later standards. Most of his countrymen had not been on active service outside the realm for twenty years and more, if at all, yet over the course of the following four decades, up to the battle of Bannockburn in 1314, they would be called upon to fight in four different theatres of war: in Wales, Gascony, Flanders and Scotland.
Although the identities of many of the men who fought in these wars, particularly those of the thousands of peasant foot soldiers, will never be known, the names of a large proportion of the men-at-arms can be located in the records of central government. This book utilises these sources - pay-rolls, horse inventories, wardrobe books and others - to examine the military careers and activities of these men-at-arms, focusing on five main themes: mobilisation; military command; service patterns among the gentry; retinues and their composition; and 'feudal' service.
Author(s): David Simpkin
Series: Warfare in History, 26
Publisher: The Boydell Press
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: XVI+230
City: Woodbridge
List of Tables vi
General Editor’s Preface vii
Preface and Acknowledgements xi
Abbreviations xiii
Introduction 1
1. Mobilisation 7
2. Captains, Retinue Leaders and Command 32
Rank and Title in Edwardian Armies 32
High Command: Powers and Responsibilities 39
Retinue Leaders 55
3. The Military Community 68
Men-at-Arms and the Fortunes of War 69
The Mounted Armoured Warrior at Falkirk 78
4. Recruitment Networks 112
Lords, Retainers and Followers 112
Tapping the Gentry Pool 119
Loyal Service, Shifting Allegiances 141
5. Feudal Service and the Pre-contract Army 151
Who was the 'Feudal' Soldier? 155
Structure and Organisation: An Intricate Fusion of Elements 165
The End of an Era 183
Conclusion 186
Appendix 191
Bibliography 193
Index 209
