Hi, my name is Kevin Hicks welcome to my YouTube channel The History Squad.
Now some time ago I made a video about the feudal system and the,
the rank structure of an English army during the medieval period, so what I thought I'd do,
it’s about time that I made a film about how they raised an English army during the Middle Ages.
So raising a medieval army in England. It's quite a complex subject so I've tried to break it down,
simplify it if you like, for me. First of all they didn't have a standing army right, in the medieval
times, so you had to rely first of all on the old feudal system, but in 1285 there was the Statute
you had commissioners of array. These arrayers had a royal authority or a royal warranty if you like,
and they laid down certain things like, if you held land or rent from between two pound and
five pound you had to serve as an archer. And there was other things as well. If you
were selected to march with the army they had to supply you with your horse, your clothing,
your pay to go to the muster point, or you were held until they had enough men to march
you away. And there's further complications. If you lived north of the River Trent, which part
of my family did in North Staffordshire, then they didn't serve abroad they stayed in England, ready,
just in case when our King went across to fight in France the Scots invaded,
right. They also had a reserve and I think it was within six leagues of the coast, the south
coast of England, they were the guard de la mer, the guard of the sea. So men had to stay there in
readiness. And there were also uh little quirky ones about how many men went to serve in Wales,
because there was always a bit of a something going on between the English and Welsh,
so it's complicated. And then there's a further complication and I love this. You might end up
in a garrison, in a castle somewhere and there are extra laws laid down for this which I'm going to
cover in a little bit. We'll just get back down to the commissioners of array. The arrayers.
So the array system, the commissioners of array as I call it. So the king. I've got a little
bit of an extra model here, the King, Henry V, he's decided or he's been persuaded that
he has a just cause, it's gonna be a campaign in France. He's going to assert his authority,
so the first thing he needs is an army. So he will have his arrayers, and they're just over
there. These are men of authority so they would have an armed escort, they've got the king's
warrant all of that kind of thing, don't mess with them. Now what they will do is they will
go to various places around the counties for instance and uh then these places are known,
messengers will go out and nobleman, the chiefs of noblemen, will have already been notified by
the king's messengers and they will have their own retinues ready to be inspected. So here's a
nobleman, he's got a couple of knights and then all in his livery he has his own household unit
if you like. You might have a nobleman will turn up, he's there in all his armour and he's got his
horse and this guy here has got one two three archers, four archers and four men at arms,
but that's what he is indentured. We'll, we'll cover that in a minute uh. There's another uh
nobleman that's turned up here he's got um just one man at arms actually and then two,
four, six, eight, ten bowmen. But if you're an important nobleman like the Earl of Warwick you,
you will have hundreds if not thousands of troops ready to go. But the way the array system works
is it covers everybody, every aspect. If you look at let's say the county of Yorkshire,
it has to give you X amount of soldiers, but that doesn't include York itself
right, and they could negotiate with the arrayers how many troops they're going to give,
and if the arrayers are saying we want 120 bowmen but you've only got 110, you can negotiate.
So all over the country these arrayers will be going, they'll be raising the different troops,
the different sections. Now if I've done an extra model, so before we go any further
because it does become complicated let's cover the different kinds of troops, not
in what they carry or fight with, but there are different categories. So first of all volunteers,
you might be a forester or a game keeper or something. You're fed up and you want a bit
of adventure and away you go. You, you go and volunteer. You find out where the arrayers are,
the commissions of array, and you simply turn up as a volunteer. You'll then be attached
to a household or there might be a gang of you volunteers. You may have fought before,
you might be professional soldiers so you're going to re-enlist, you're a volunteer. Then your
indentured soldier. Now this is quite interesting because you could have a full doublet, coat and
everything the colors of your master yeah, the Duke of Gloucester here um or you could simply
be a household member who's indentured for life to his master. So you could work at Warwick Castle,
do your work in the, in the kitchens maybe but your other job is you're actually a billman
so you would wear these colors. Well not these you'd wear perhaps this one in me hat
somewhere I've got the old ragged staff and that of Warwick and what it just shows is an indentured
man at arms, an indentured bowman he belongs to that Lord or Master. He is the guy who is
paid he's paid a good wage, might have a house good clothing, a bonus every year, you've got to
keep these guys uh really sweet. Well the king could outdo that because the king could cherry
pick from all of the households and he describes these guys as being fair guys, good humoured,
but the best bowmen. So your household retinues, they are indentured. They sign on the dotted line
and those indentures are fantastic because I used to have one for my old house where they
cut the parchment and it's, a it's a double copy so you take your part but the boss keeps his and
then when it comes to being paid or there's a problem the contracts are put together so they
can be read. So you have your volunteer, then you have your indentured retinue, your soldier who is
lifelong or he is temporarily employed but he wears the colors and the badge
of his master. Now interestingly if you needed some more soldiers and you couldn't get enough
the king could pardon criminals, which is quite interesting because there's a certain
conflict going on in Ukraine at the moment and apparently there are criminals being released
by a certain person in Russia, so hey the wheels of history turn don't they. So your retainers,
your domestic workers, all of these people are actually indentured. Your hired guy who
comes along, he might have been in service for years but he's still hired and he's,
he's retained. We've got your Yeoman, your king's top of the line guys. The whole system works and
what I've done with me model here is um, it's the one I used for the camp recently, and I've cleared
it to be the center for array where you've got to go your muster point. So I've got the
arrayers, the commissioners of array. They are all there with their little camp set up and I've got
a nobleman coming in. He's, he's not very well off and he's bringing in one, two, three, four,
five men at arms and a couple of bowmen, and then over here we have somebody who is actually testing
any bowmen that have turned up, because it's not a case of turn up, ‘oh I'm a bowman’. No you've
got to be proven, and I've I remember years ago reading that it was 10 arrows a minute. You've
got to be able to shoot 10 arrows per minute accurately and under power and I've trawled
me books and I've trawled the web and it keeps coming up eight or ten arrows, 10 arrows, 10
arrows or 12 arrows, but I can't find the original little worm that tells me where this comes from,
but it's lodged in here. So if you've got any idea when they proved the bowmen beforehand,
how many arrows did he have to shoot per minute. Now 10 is pretty good because these guys,
if they can do it quite easily then they'll be able to sustain their shot during combat. So it
wasn't a case that you just turned up. If you were no good you were turned away. And there's
also another little dodge/. If you weren't feeling up to it, if you had a great excuse,
your wife, daughter and your daughter's daughter's daughter are all pregnant and
all about to have a baby you could pay a fine instead. You could try and bribe the arrayers,
but from what I gather that didn't work you could find yourself in trouble. But I think
this is a great system because it makes sure that you get the best. And I got recently asked
what happened if you fell ill when you're on campaign? Well the wagon train, they will have
wagons for the sick and the wounded and also if it there is a fight, a battle as at Agincourt,
the not so fit bowmen and the sick. What we used to call in the army, the sick, lame and lazy. They
would be in a baggage guard, so there would be a place for them if they could still stand. So
the system from the King to his arrayers, to his chief nobleman, to their lesser nobleman, all the
way down to your bowmen, they all had a place. The way they were recruited was set down in law.
The household archers, these retained archers were regarded as the elite, and it was the
Earl of Warwick uh the, the Kingmaker who actually said that one of his household bowmen, one of his
retained bowmen, was worth two of anybody else's, even English ones he states. But there's a piece
here and I’m going to read it. Uh it was the top of the class of bowmen, were the King’s
bowmen, the Yeoman of the Kings, and it was recorded in his household account,
the black book. And he says, Edward IV, that his, his bowmen were to be most seemly persons,
cleanly and strongest archers and these had to be chosen and tried out of every
lord's house in England and the way he spells England here I love this it's
Y-n-g-l-o-n-d England that's fantastic. So just to wind this up, I can't remember if
I mentioned about the levied men. The county levy and the city levies. If you're a levied
man you've been conscripted right, and there were strict rules and regulations about this.
For instance you couldn't serve abroad, but you could serve on what they regarded as homeland
territory. So you could go to Scotland to fight or into Wales and the Isle of Wight that kind
of thing. But then they extended it, because uh Calais was England and parts of Normandy
were regarded as England even though you as a levy have been conscripted let say Nottingham,
you could find yourself in France in an area which is regarded as England. And likewise if
you were a resident of Calais you might be French born, you might be a resident, you're in there,
you could suddenly find yourself in the levy from Calais and you could be serving down in
Normandy. So there are these little twists and turn, as I said at the beginning this is
quite a complicated subject. So your levied Soldier, your conscripted, your household,
your volunteer yeah they are all part and parcel of raising a medieval army in England.
Well I hope you enjoyed our little video there if you did please like, share and subscribe,
and don't forget to turn on the all notifications button because we have so many different subjects
coming up on the on the history game. Finally I have a shout out for some of my Patreon members,
Damien Witham, Declan Barney and Jeremiah thanks a million guys because of you I can do this.