Early representations of bards are very rare; they probably originated in the twelfth century, when they were most likely of fortified leather. They did not become general in England until towards the close of the thirteenth century. Wace says that the horse of William Fitz-Osbert was housed in chain-mail at the battle of Hastings, but this is incredible.
As already mentioned, German men-at-arms appear with barded horses in the second half of the thirteenth century, but it was towards its close, or at the beginning of the fourteenth, that they became common. The earliest English official mention occurs in the statute of 27 Edward I., when bards were of chain-mail, leather, or quilted material. In the inventory of the armour of Louis X. occurs, “item, a chanfrein.” Nothing like a full equipment in steel plate for horses was attained before the second quarter of the fifteenth century, when, according to a picture in the imperial arsenal at Vienna, “Der Ritter sitzt auf seinem, bis auf die Hufe, verdeckten Hengst.” The material differs very much in the fifteenth century, being of full plate, fortified mail, quilted cloth, or cuir-bouilli.
Bards comprised the chamfron or chanfrein, for the face, worn sometimes with a crest; picière, breast; flanchière, flanks; croupière, hinder parts; estivals, legs. The crinet, neck, appears first in England on the seal of Henry V. The horses were gaily caparisoned. The emblazoned housings were often made of costly material, such as satin embroidered with gold or silver. Examples are given in Figs. 3 and 24.
The horsemen of late in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries consisted of men-at-arms or heavy cavalry,[15] hobilers and armati, or common horse troops. The infantry consisted of spear and billmen,—that is, men armed with long-handled weapons,—crossbowmen and archers. Hobilers were light cavalry taken from the better class of yeomen. The “hobby” horse was a much lighter steed than that used by a knight or man-at-arms, clad in his armour of proof. Part of the light cavalry consisted of bowmen. The gynours had charge of the catapultæ, ballistæ, and other siege engines.
Grose, in his Military Antiquities, vol. i., p. 278, cites an old Latin MS., giving the numbers of the army of King Edward III. in Normandy and before Calais, in the twentieth year of his reign, with their several stipends, as follows, viz.:—
| At per Diem. | ||||
| £ | s. | d. | ||
| My Lord the Prince | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bishop of Durham | 0 | 6 | 8 | |
| 13 | Earls, each | 0 | 6 | 8 |
| 44 | Barons and bannerets | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 1046 | Knights | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 4022 | Esquires, constables, centenary, and leaders | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 5104 | Vintenars and archers on horseback | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 335 | Paunceners | —— | ||
| 500 | Hoblers | —— | ||
| 15,480 | Foot Archers | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 314 | Masons, carpenters, smiths, engineers, some at 12d., 10d., tent-makers, miners, armourers, gunners, and artillery men, 6d. and 3d. per diem | |||
| 4474 | Welch foot, of whom 200 vintenars at | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| the rest at | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 700 | Masters, constables, mariners, and pages | —— | ||
| 900 | Ships, barges, balingers, and victuallers | |||
| Sum total of the aforesaid men, besides Lords | 31,000—294 | |||
| Of whom some men from Germany and France, each receive for their wages 15 florins a month. | ||||
It would appear from this “establishment” that King Edward’s main force consisted of foot archers, and that the predominance of this item largely accounts for the English victories of the time, against greatly superior numbers on the side of the French. It will be observed that gunners and artillerymen are mentioned in this MS., but they were probably for serving siege-guns before Calais.
The institution of feudalism, which was in direct opposition to the Roman system, exercised an immense influence on the form and constitution of the armies of Northern and Central Europe during the “middle ages” and later. The inauguration of the movement proceeded mainly from the division of lands by Clovis among his followers; but it was the policy of Charlemagne that gave it form and substance in the direct creation of a martial and a sacerdotal aristocracy. Europe then became dotted over with seigniories and strong places, erected originally with a view to save the countries from being overrun and enslaved by barbarous hordes; and by these means the invaders were compelled to confine their depredations mainly to the sea-coast regions, which they ravaged without mercy. Each vassal swore fealty to his liege-lord in the ceremonial “homage-lige.” The vassal was bound to fight under the banner of his liege-lord for a continuous term of from twenty to sixty days when called upon, and to assist him in many other ways; and as long as his duties were faithfully and diligently performed he remained master of his fief, and was also permitted to infeudate or sub-feudalise it. The seignior on his part extended his protection to his vassals, and was bound to render them full justice; and in cases of default an appeal to the suzerain of the seignior was provided for. This was the theory, but the practice too often meant an organised system for the oppression of the weaker classes, and so on down to the lowest rung of the feudal ladder. The church itself united in exercising a feudal as well as a spiritual jurisdiction, and bishops wielded this double power over the seigniory in their bishoprics.
The rise of the third estate, and especially that of communal government, brought about modifications of the system as time moved on. These causes, with their influence on military matters, will be lightly touched upon in these pages as they arise; but it must be borne in mind that though feudalism was the same in principle everywhere, it differed in its application in the various countries it dominated, according to the characteristics and circumstances of the peoples.
The principle of the ban or feudal levy was that those holding land should contribute to the king’s army in war time a certain fixed proportion of retainers, according to the acreage of their holding; but in cases of great national peril the levy, the arrière-ban, was much larger, and there was often an arrangement under which actual service might be compounded by a money payment called “scutage.” The arrière-ban or the ban-fieffé dates from the sixth century. It summoned the vassals, which the suzerain alone had a right to command. The increasing number of mercenary troops employed steadily diminished the importance of the ban, and “scutage” became more general.