Medieval warfare C125-C1400

• What was the army made up of?

  infantry and cavalry
• what were the infantry?

  peasants who fought on foot. Low in social hierarchy and treated poorly. Untrained, used weapons such as swords, maces, axes, pikes. Wore skull caps and leather jackets - no protection
• what were the cavalry?

  mounted knights.noblemen - high in social hierarchy superior to others fought on horsebackarmed with swords and protected with chainmail called hauberks (looks more important)
• What was the role of the cavalry

  seen as the most powerful force on the battlefield- mounted charge = charging through enemy lines to kill enemy commander- rout and chase = scatter enemy infantry and attack
• what was the role of the infantry

  to hold the enemy + then defeat opposition infantry- mêlée - hand to hand combat with swords, pikes and daggers- Archers were apart of the infantry and used weapons like longbow
• What was the feudal system?

  a social hierarchy in the middle ages - developed under William the Conquerororganised society in groups depending on their roles. Land was granted in turn from service of the king.it was a way of persuading people to fight for the countrynoblemen would get titles. / leadership roles (this is why quality of leadership varied)
• swords


  - mostly used by knights- wide and flat (not sharp) better to bash people TOWARDS THE END- swords became thinner and sharper- to penetrate gaps in plate armour
• spear

  - spear designed to be thrown and penetrate
• long bow

  introduced in 1290's- 15 arrows a minute - increased power meant arrows could pierce through a knight's chainmail- had an effective range of 200 metres- came in waves of lots of arrows at once to better penetrate
• Advantages and disadvantages of gunpowder and cannons?


  ADVANTAGES = Used in sieges to destroy castle walls. Improvements made in range + aim (raise height of battles). Specialist cannon were developed that could launch cannonballs over higher walls BETTER AIM (these were trunnions). Metal was used for cannon barrels and balls, rather than stone which made cannons more effective. DISADVANTAGES = Expensive (heavy and cumbersome). Inaccurate. Short range ( had to be close to their targets so trained personnel needed).
• hand cannons


  development of a gunfirearm = arquebusfirst primitive gun in 1400'slater end of the period
• crossbows


  - shatter plate armour- slow rate of fire so was rarely used because they were not as effective as longbows
• why were wars avoided

  - expensive and soldiers were hard to recruit so wars were short and quick
• why were wars diffiuclt

  there was lots of factors to take into consideration such as weather (only in spring and summer)securing bases (castles for shelter and food ) sieges, battlefield location and food needed to be harvested - farmers needed to get back in order to do this
• what was the assize of arms


  A tax on wealth, requiring all men with land to provide a number of fully equipped knights.
• How were armies raised

  under the feudal system unreliable because people didn't always want to fight - no time as battle was during harvest period
• what was a commissioner or Array

  mustered men for Army (recruiting officers)underneath the Assize of Arms which was extended in 1285 and appointed men to serve as troops for 40 days (campaign) men would be paid if campaign was abroad. (although, still not enough soldiers)
• what were indentures?

  in the 1400's kings increasingly made a contract with individual knights exchanging fixed periods of service for payment. more reliable. (then became the main method of recruitment)
• who else was paid?

  jobs requiring skills such as longbowmen were seen as better paying prospects. and could sign to be apart of a knights retinue (this was something that helped the kights)
• what was the training like?

  for infantrymen little training occurred, however as growing demand of longbowmen was required Edward III made it a law that archery was to be practice on every sunday/holiday horsemanship was learned in communities and jousting tournaments
• Scutage


  a shield payment to get out of going to war
• Why did taxes increase?

  because warfare meant that the population suffered fianancial penalites, increasing because of mercenaries and indentures
• what was purveyance

  the compulsory purchase of food and supplies for a supposed and fair price.Payment was made in the form of IOU's in wooden tallies and it was a form of legalised theft (could take years for them to be processed)
• "live off the land"


  armies marched through towns expecting food and shelter, would be forced and wood burn and kill with no remorse.raids would effect ci ilads as they would be kidnapped and held hostage
• what was patis

  protection money, they would be safe from raids
• seiges


  carried out to give armies shelter and food
• pike acted as a schillton to keep people away (offensive)NO real change because they worked
• mercenaries = private army