how big were medieval armies

Below is a list of 7 medieval weapons used during siege warfare. In each case, the singular army can draw upon the ressources of an area similar to let's say France. Historically, however, no preindustrial culture managed to put more than 7% of the population under arms for an entire campaign season (90 days or so) without causing famine at home. Given a productive agricultural region (like most of northern Europe), the manors are typically spread across the countryside about 2 or 3 miles apart. As a result, the paper armies were huge, but a large percentage of these soldiers would have no training at all. The armies were bigger than M2TW size maxes which is around 1500, but I would think they were around anywhere from 10,000 to 50,000. The Hollywood image of Medieval infantry as a rabble of peasants armed with farm implements is also a myth. Many were small raids, a warlord with a few ships, but others involved 200+ ships. The two armies met in Marathon, some 26 miles north of the city of Athens. To some extent the issue might be decided by settling the issue of how large early medieval armies were. However, almost all high medieval armies in Europe were composed of a great deal of paid core troops, and there was a large mercenary market in Europe from at least the early 12th century. Even the battle of Hastings was only between 12000 and 25000 men, total. Where large armies did exist, they were likely followed by a larger number of noncombatants than there were combatants. As a result, besieging medieval armies turned to a series of siege engines to give them an advantage. I seem to remember reading that as little as 5000 citicens was already considered quite a city in the epoch you have in mind. There was an exception to the 'no bigger than 100,000' rule and it is the one you have cited - where clear waterborne lines of supply were available. Some were responsible for moving the clumsy structure into place; others stood poised with containers of water to keep fires at bay. (I do not know how big a "large ship" would have been.) German Medieval Armies 1300-1500 Intmduction This work is concerned with the organisation and employment of armies within the Holy Roman Empire. Medieval armies were more than just men wearing hundreds of pounds of armor riding in on horses. 2 Kevin Vacit Pink Bug. Because of the large area of territory covered and numerous peoples involved, a book of this size can, of necessity, present only a broad outline. Thus there were probably only a few medieval field armies - even in Asia - with more than 100,000 warriors marching together on a single campaign. The Norwegians at Stamford bridge had only around 9000; and these were considered huge armies for … The Medieval Military Revolution: State, Society and Military Change in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. As in, if a state sent "300 chariots to the battle", how big a force was that actually? Througout medieval history, the size of armies in general increased with the power of leaders and their causes, from my interpretation. Hundred Years War: Predicted requirement: 20-60 for the English. the First Crusade). Do we know how big these armies actually were? But this is also difficult to resolve. So how come the Romans and Greeks could maintain standing armies easily, yet the same land could not bear them 1000 years later? They were used to improve stock elsewhere on the continent. Depends on the size and terrain. Indeed in many cases things had improved (ploughs, for example). Medieval warfare largely predated the use of supply trains, which meant that armies had to acquire food supplies from the territory they were passing through. Members of the nobility were given large sums for military service: a duke received 13s 4d per day, an earl 6s 8d, a baron 4s. I am not saying that medieval armies could only live off the land – merely that they lacked the logistics to move very large armies (c. 40k+), a capacity which had existed in Antiquity and also existed in the Early Modern Period, but only very sporadically in the Middle Ages (exceptions exist of course, e.g. One of the most important military endeavors of the time was called the Crusades, which was a campaign of Christian attempts to take Jerusalem from the Muslims, who occupied it at the time. So, how many villages in a kingdom? 'I 'he Swiss Confederacy and the early Each man assigned to a siege engine had a particular role to play. Andrew Ayton and J.L. Therefore, less men; There were also foot soldiers and a line of archers. It may be noted that throughout history most armies contained large proportions of more or less noncombatant more or less civilian persons, often including many women and children. This is one loophole for fantasy armies: just make all the wars religious wars, and many of the economic barriers to gathering a large short-term army disappear! In 1346, King Edward III of England commanded every man-at-arms in the country to join the army or to send a substitute. Windy weather posed problems, and the large, slow-moving belfry was vulnerable to fire from castle siege engines, as well as archers and crossbowmen. Anglo-Saxon military organization is difficult to analyze because there are many conflicting records and opinions as to the precise occurrences and procedures.Anglo-Saxon England was known for its tumultuous nature, and the constant presence of outside threats and dangers made it necessary for a solid military to be constantly in place. In the case of migratory armies like arrivals from the steppe or … In the 14th century, there were large crossbows that did not use bent wood, but rather had two separate arms with torsion springs. Physicians/surgeons were hired for the municipal militias according to municipal ordinances and account books. When reading about warfare records in ancient China, I see a lot of references to "# of chariots" instead of "#k soldiers" or something like that. Anything bigger was a historically significant battle, and outside the norm. Ancient warfare is war that was conducted from the beginning of recorded history to the end of the ancient period.In Europe and the Near East, the end of antiquity is often equated with the Fall of Rome in 476 AD, the wars of the Eastern Roman Empire on its Southwestern Asian and North African borders, and the beginnings of the Muslim conquests in the 7th century. An 100000 men army would be considered monstrous, almost unimaginably large for the age and yet it'd be shattered by a WWII division like a piece of meat dropped from an airplane. Some estimates of the giant ancient armies are over 1 million men. I believe that up until the 100-years war, armies of around 5000 would have been exceptionally large for any ruler, as soldiers came mostly from levied troops, and mercenaries. Sure there were cavalrymen, most of whom had to bring their armor and horses. Wages were determined by social status.It was for this reason that peers, knights and men-at-arms were paid different rates of pay based on their rank. Contrary to popular belief, Medieval armies were substantially infantry-based, with cavalry, including the elite knightly heavy cavalry, forming a sizeable minority. They are standard-sized medieval armies (10,000-20,000 men), peppering a continent way larger than Europe. In the medieval Spanish navy, every large ship was to have its own surgeon. Standing armies were very rare in the middle ages. Horses Had Their Own Ships Trade-cogs were the main transport vessels of … The great Medieval wars were asking for special military organization, such as a compulsory mass enlisting. The risks were high, but so was the pay: while most Air Force pilots received a salary of around $260 a month, Chennault’s mercenaries earned between $600 and $750, along with a … I've noticed the Mongols (and sometimes the Aztecs) don't suffer attrition penalties in counties that can't support a large number of troops. The Greek General Miltiades ordered the troops to form a line equal to that of the Persian invaders and to charge into the fight, maintaining the line, at a full run. This allowed larger Persian armies to invade Greece & probably allowed larger Chinese armies to move around parts of the interior & … Viking ships of the time are estimated to have carried between 30 and 40 men (though some ships may have been larger) so we can arrive at some tentative estimates for the sizes of raiding parties and armies when we know how many ships were involved. While there were some really big cities at the time, I've just looked up Aachen (Germany), which had a population of 15'000 in the year 1500 A.D. Usually no but there's no medieval armies that were large enough to threaten a WWII division. Dec 12, 2014 #41 The size of ancient armies tends to be exaggerated, particularly in older literature; Medieval armies were fielded by significantly smaller polities. Medieval Europe was a time of war and conflict between different peoples. The same farming techniques were available to the medieval farmer in Italy as were available to his imperial Roman counterpart. Medieval armies were very small compared to the size of ancient armies like the Romans or of modern warfare like Napoleon's conquests. To be conservative, let's say an army of 500,000 men have to eat 3 times a day, and a soldier eats a few eggs and bread for breakfast, a half a chicken for lunch, and a portion of beef for dinner. Spanish horses were generally light and more agile than those bred elsewhere in Europe, but larger and heavier than Arabic horses. Spread over several hundred years, many bloody battles were fought over the holy city. Ans) The medieval archers were quite accurate, considering that they were able to kill their enemies at incredible ranges. I also noted that these large AI armies (100,000+) usually break off into multiple stacks of 20,000 - 25,000 to siege multiple neighboring counties. According to examination records and military manuals, Asian archers consistently struck their man-sized targets with both their right and left hands from a range of up to 70 meters from the saddle – and twice that on foot. These armies are almost* never in one place. Land was the big-ticket currency of the medieval world.) Almost all high medieval armies in Europe were composed of a great deal of paid core troops, and there was a large mercenary market in Europe from the early twelfth century. Price. Turkish medieval sources picture a device similar to the Roman one, called a manjaniq, used by Muslim armies. The Military Revolution from a Medieval Perspective. The Greeks were unprepared for the invasion, and were only able to rally a force of 10,000 hoplite warriors. ... Counterweight trebuchets were typically large, measuring from around 10-30 meters in height.

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