152. FEUDAL WARFARE
FEUDALISM AS A SYSTEM OF LOCAL DEFENSE
Feudalism, once more, was a system of local defense. The knight must guard his small estate, the baron his barony, the count his county, the duke his duchy. At the lord's bidding the vassal had to follow him to war, either alone or with a certain number of men, according to the size of the fief. But this assistance was limited. A vassal served only for a definite period (varying from one month to three in the year), and then only within a reasonable distance from the lands for which he did homage. These restrictions made it difficult to conduct a lengthy campaign, or one far removed from the vassal's fief, unless mercenary soldiers were employed.
THE FEUDAL ARMY
The feudal army, as a rule, consisted entirely of cavalry. Such swiftly moving assailants as the Northmen and the Magyars could best be dealt with by mounted men who could bring them to bay, compel them to fight, and overwhelm them by the shock of the charge. In this way the foot soldiers of Charlemagne's time came to be replaced by the mailed horsemen who for four centuries or more dominated European battlefields.
[Illustration: MOUNTED KNIGHT Seal of Robert Fitzwalter, showing a mounted knight in complete mail armor; date about 1265 A.D.]
ARMS AND ARMOR
The armor used in the Middle Ages was gradually perfected, until at length the knight became a living fortress. [9] In the early feudal period he wore a cloth or leather tunic covered with iron rings or scales, and an iron cap with a nose guard. About the beginning of the twelfth century he adopted chain mail, with a hood of the same material for the head. During the fourteenth century the knight began to wear heavy plate armor, weighing fifty pounds or more, and a helmet with a visor which could be raised or lowered. Thus completely incased in metal, provided with shield, lance, straight sword or battle-ax, and mounted on a powerful horse, the knight could ride down almost any number of poorly armed peasants. Not till the development of missile weapons—the longbow, and later the musket—did the foot soldier resume his importance in warfare. The feudal age by this time was drawing to a close.
PREVALENCE OF PRIVATE WAR
The nobles regarded the right of waging war on one another as their most cherished privilege. Fighting became almost a form of business enterprise, which enriched the lords and their retainers through the sack of castles, the plunder of villages, and the ransom of prisoners. Every hill became a stronghold and every plain a battlefield. Such neighborhood warfare, though rarely very bloody, spread terrible havoc throughout the land.
THE PEACE AND TRUCE OF GOD
The Church, to its great honor, lifted a protesting voice against this evil. It proclaimed a "Peace of God" and forbade attacks on all defenseless people, including priests, monks, pilgrims, merchants, peasants, and women. But it was found impossible to prevent the feudal lords from warring with each other, even though they were threatened with the eternal torments of Hell; and so the Church tried to restrict what it could not altogether abolish. A "Truce of God" was established. All men were to cease fighting from Wednesday evening to Monday morning of each week, during Lent, and on various holy days. The truce would have given Christendom peace for about two hundred and forty days each year; but it seems never to have been strictly observed except in limited areas.
ABOLITION OF PRIVATE WARFARE
As the power of the kings increased in western Europe, they naturally sought to put an end to the constant fighting between their subjects. The Norman rulers of Normandy, England, and Sicily restrained their turbulent nobles with a strong hand. Peace came later in most parts of the Continent; in Germany, "fist right" (the rule of the strongest) prevailed until the end of the fifteenth century. The abolition of private war was the first step in Europe toward universal peace. The second step—the abolition of public war between nations—is yet to be taken.