Medieval Life

This page currently serves as a dump for information no longer relevant to various settings of Medieval Inspiration. I mean to sort through it later and figure out if I still need any of it.

Medieval Life
Life in the medieval was generally very set in stone. Most people lived to around 50 years, most died of illness or malnourishment, others fell in combat or as victims of a raid or an ambush or died to harsh weather conditions or from animal attacks. While we still have a serious problem with the distribution of power in our world, and more importantly inequality and disproportionate wealth, in the medieval, people who weren't born to the right parents had no choice but to be peasants and workers. There was nothing else for them. The peasants couldn't read or write, and there wasn't really much TO read or write either.

The church was the only institution of learning, and they hampered any development because they didn't want to lose significance and power. They went on witch hunts to retain their monopoly on knowledge, killing people in the most inhumane ways possible, to set an example, and keep the people afraid and god-fearing.

Not much made sense in the medieval. It can even be difficult to understand what countries existed back then. Within a few hundred years, what is today Germany, was made up of several dozens of different realms that would swallow up each other and split up again into new regions in what back then seemed like an endless circle.

Health
It was a simple time, when there generally wasn't much you could do when people entered a critical condition. In many ways, it was similar to a third world country, like many of the regions in Africa where people die every day from diseases we've had the means to cure for centuries or even better, prevent entirely through hygiene and basic schooling. The difference between the Medieval and Africa, is that, in the Medieval, there weren't any redcross or any other help organizations that would potentially try to go out of their ways to save your life. In the Medieval, you were very much just left to your own fate.

There were times in the medieval, when they genuinely thought, that the best way to treat an open wound was to apply a layer of animal dung directly to the open wound. They believed the best way to treat illness was through bloodletting. None of this was true. It only made things worse, and yet they kept doing it, because the flow of information was so slow. With no phones and no internet, the time it took for someone who found out something was a good or bad idea, to tell the rest of the world was so long that the original discoverer was typically dead by the time people in other countries knew.

Protection
Most people in feudal Europe were peasants, they lived on farms and a farm could easily consist of several smaller buildings. These farms popped up ever where where the land was farmable, and the inhabitants tended to bulk together in small villages for protection and relative safety in numbers. The castles that were build, were usually places in strategic positions, but some castles were also simply build because there was a big farming community nearby.

These small farming towns and villages rarely had city walls, the farmers lived outside the castle, but close enough that they could flee to the castle with their life stock and their harvest if an invasion force was to approach, and if smaller bandit gangs were to think of attacking the village, the castle troops would easily catch and kill them, but there was no additional protection for most peasants.

As castles became more and more common, some people started forming villages and cities where the houses were close together and surrounded by farming land instead, which allowed people to build walls to protect the cities also, and this started becoming popular, but it was far from the case with everyone, and once the walls were built, anyone who moved to the town or village later would simply have to suffice with living outside the safety of the walls.

Outposts
Any Lord who held land would also have outposts. An outpost could be anything from a well-entrenched and established, often used camp-site to a cabin or something as good as a stone tower or maybe an old ruin. Outposts were placed along the most common approaches to the core of the Lord's territory, and he would place soldiers with horses in these locations that were often at least a days travel on foot away, so that warning would come in good time if someone was to approach the territory with an armed force.

Outposts would ideally be placed so they could signal home in entirely different ways, such as by bonfire/pyres, by use of bells (in such a case, the outpost would rely on someone nearby to "re-transmit" the signal) or if a very clear line of sight was held, maybe even by flag signals. Failing all else, the outpost would abandon their position and ride in forced march back and deliver the news themselves.

It was rather difficult "sneaking" into a territory of a Lord, because neighboring Lords were allies normally, and would warn each other, but that also meant that if someone was to invade, they usually came prepared to fight the combined might of a county, Outpost riders would often have specific orders to follow, sending them to warn different people and so forth.

Guards
Upholding the law was the responsibility of who ever claimed ownership of a town. People living outside of a Lords protection were not above the law, but they also accepted that they would not have anyone there to enforce the law, other than themselves. To settlements that paid taxes for protection were also in the position to demand the presence of city guards. Guard duty was a duty that fell upon the soldiers in the Lord's retinue. They would be stationed in the settlement, guarding the official buildings and would be especially watchful during markets and such, to ensure safety. It wasn't entirely uncommon for a Lord to hire specific personnel to guard a settlement as their only duty, if that settlement was very important.

It's often displayed in movies and pictures how Lords had guards standing at attention at pretty much every doorway of their castle. This was of course only the case when there were important visitors or a banquet or such occasion where showing off military might was important. Normally, only a paranoid Lord would have guards around his house. Normally, it's not easy getting into a castle or even the upper layers of a city, and a Lord would always know exactly who had access to this area, so it was entirely unnecessary to have any guards by his personal estate. The fewer guards kept on duty, the more soldiers could train and prepare themselves for the eventuality of war. The other upside was that guard duty was very tiring and boring for the guards, and having less need for it tended to give soldiers more regular working hours and more time off as well, hightening morale, keeping soldiers loyal.

Law, order and justice
In the medieval, you could easily say there were two laws, one that applied to the commoners, and one that applied to the "important people", a so called "high-man's law and low-man's law". Commoners were commonly flogged, whipped and otherwise punished for simple matters, just to keep them in line. There wasn't necessarily any law they had broken, it was simply decided by someone with authority to punish them for what ever annoyance they had caused.

Actual laws mostly revolved around taxes, soldiers and support for the crown and the church as well as the sanctity of that which is written and sealed.

Typically, even written laws had different punishments for commoners and noblemen, and members of the church were not normally punished by anyone who wasn't of the church.

Warfare
In the medieval, warfare wasn't a simple affair, and it never has been. Today, troops will rarely have to march for more than 20-40 kilometers at worst with a full kit. If going on patrol in modern warfare, soldiers kit up differently, specifically for long patrols, but back then there were no cars and there weren't carts enough that people could have their personal equipment transported, so soldiers marched for kilometers on end with all their gear, meaning armies were slow moving things, losing many people on the road to injuries and strain, which is why clever lords decided to base their castle near the thing they wanted to protect, so long marches weren't necessary.

Sieges
Because castles were common in the medieval, as well as other fortifications, it became very hard to wage war on each other, and typically a siege would being. The attacking army, which was by principality greater than the defending army, would surround the enemy castle and effectively cut off their supply lines and starve the enemy to defeat. Castles stockpiled food and often had their own water sources, so they could last for months if not years, and this wasn't uncommon. The soldiers on the outside sometimes had to give up due to harsh weather conditions or lacking food themselves before the castles gave in.

Siege engines
Because of the many risks involved in laying siege, many commanders preferred to attack the castle, this required the usage of siege engines, such as siege towers, rolling wooden towers with a ladder hidden inside that would roll up to the wall and allow the enemy army to enter the castle, or storm ladders which were just very long ladders with hooks that attacked to the wall so they were hard to throw down. Other siege engines such as the ram on wheels was designed to be rolled up to the gate, and then slowly break it down through powerful knocks. The trebuchet was the most feared siege engine and rained death on the inhabitants of the castle, potentially destroying walls and buildings on the inside, killing life stock and setting fire to things if the right ammunition was used. Many other siege engines existed as well.

Camp followers
Camp followers were craftsmen, cooks, prostitutes, medics and scavengers who followed armies around, acting as auxiliary, often fulfilling the support role of an army on the move. These civilians were often former mercenaries or former soldiers themselves, or had been in the business of following armies for long enough to have become hardened individuals. Most of them actively participated in defending the camps, for their own sake too, and often the families of soldiers would be among the followers. These people profited on the moving armies, but were no more expensive for the armies to use, than if they had to hire their own people, which is why it's been an accepted praxis since the Roman legions and probably before that.

Camps
Armies in warfare tend form big camps at strategic positions that are entrenched in the same way Roman legionaries did in the Roman times, only usually smaller. Typically such camps consisted of equal part noblemen retinues and mercenaries alike. The soldiers would move in and out of these camps on attacks and raids on enemy forces. Seeing as armies relied on roads to move along, placing a camp by a road (and roads weren't many in feudal Europe), was a good way to prevent an enemy from moving in a certain direction, as attacking an enemy camp was very dangerous due to the entrenchments.

Open war
Armies often met each other in the field of battle, lining up their infantry and attempting to hide their archers and cavalry for element of surprise. Scouts would report enemy movements and the armies would march in those directions until they met each other. Clever commanders would lure enemies into positions where their own forces had the advantage, possibly forcing the enemy to attack over a stream or having woods to retreat into on their side, ect., and such open warfare was the common way to wage battle. The two armies would carefully line up outside of archery range, and one side would have to attack, charging the other. A good commander could force his enemy to make the first move, and take out troops with archers, before skirmishing with cavalry for shock and awe, before sending in the infantry to bring the enemy infantry to a hold.

Technology
The technological level of feudal Europe was very diverse, but generally speaking, the closer the nation was to the Holy Roman Empire, the higher the technological level, meaning Francia, Burgundy, Brittany, Frisia, Lombardy, all of the small duchies that became Germany many hundreds of years later were very highly advanced compared to areas like the future Baltic States, Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, Norway, Finland and the future Eastern European nations.

Of course, as time progressed and the Holy Roman Empire became a distant memory, the technological high gardens of Europe shifted away from these nations and towards other regions, such as Spain and Poland, all of Great Britain and so forth, but Central Europe was where technology would always "meet" from all corners of Europe.

To say anything defining about the technology of feudal Europe, without writing a series of novellas, is slightly difficult. Houses were typically built of stone in more advanced regions, wood in less advanced regions. It took people a long time to stop making their roofs out of straw, and they never truly stopped doing this until it was no longer the medieval, but it wasn't the only way they knew of to make a roof, other means were just expensive. People had the means to produce various kinds of medicine, but they had no real idea WHY this medicine worked.

Weapons, armor and farming implements were probably some of the things that saw the greatest advancements in the medieval but masons also developed architecture and structural engineering a lot, to the point where they could build the incredibly impressive cathedrals and castles we still see all over Europe today.

Making tools and other things out of metal has been a practice humans have carried out since before written history, so it shouldn't come as a shock that forging was a very common trade in the medieval, and also one of the most sought after professions.

Many inventions were originally developed in the Roman era or even earlier, but were temporarily lost due to the spread of barbarism and tribal culture through Europe after the fall of Rome.

Armor
Wikipedia features an excellent article on armor and it's development through the ages. To summarize, no types of armor were at any point invented in the medieval that hadn't, in theory, already been invented in the Roman Era, but forging techniques were perfected and the spread of technology made certain types of armor popular through out the entirety of the "civilized world" at the time.

Chainmail was a very popular kind of armor initially used a lot by the Romans who however favored the lamellar armors that they came to be known for. Scale armor was the favored kind of armor among the Byzantine Empire's soldiers. Roman Lamellar armor was abandoned and not really seen again after the fall of Rome, as the armor wasn't very effective due to serious limitations in forging techniques. Only later, when these limitations were overcome, did armor akin to the old Roman style armors reappear, and during this long period, Chainmail dominated the armor marked as the favorite.

While plate armor was invented very early on, limitations in forging technique, the time and cost of forging such armor and many other factors made this an ineffective and undesired type of armor until later in the medieval when the advancement in warfare tactics and techniques made it absolutely vital to have this kind of armor.

As far back as the second crusade (and probably earlier), there have been examples of Knights supplementing their chainmail with small units of plate armor, typically to protect the joints and lower limbs such as their forearms and lower legs (because Knights typically rode into combat). This was apparently not uncommon as it was places where soldiers often sustained injuries in combat.

The clever reader might ask himself how or why helmets were made of metal back then. The answer is that the head is the most vital part of the body, and it was a priority to protect the head. The truth is, the most effective helmet designs didn't show up until the plate armors did. Granted, the great helmet of the Crusaders was had an excellent design, but the helmet was rather thin, and many Knights wore both a chain coif AND a small inner-helmet for extra protection when wearing it.

The gambeson was the most common armor in the medieval, and was often the primary part of a soldiers uniform. The gambeson was an armor made of layered cloth and/or leather, and while gambeson pants existed, they weren't common. A typical soldier would have a gambeson, a chain coif and a helmet of steel for equipment. Lucky soldiers had gambeson made of leather, or at least with an outer layer of leather, that didn't soak rain in the same way. A gambeson was surprisingly good protection, but it paled in comparison to most metal armor but was cheap and affordable. Many people wore light short sleeved leather gambesons over chainmail for extra protection. An extra thin version of the gambeson was typically worn under chainmail. Early on, the benefit of riveting small metal plates into the outer layer of the gambeson was discovered, but back in this time, the metal plates weren't as effective as the later popularized brigantine armors of the late medieval.

Leg armor wasn't commonly used by infantry as such was primarily reserved for cavalry units who had a much higher risk of sustaining leg injuries in combat, but it wasn't much later than the 12th century that it started getting popular among infantry units for a short while, only to subside again when pikes became the most popular weapons.

Weapons
Of all medieval weapons, many have interesting histories, but none is more interesting than the sword. The sword is, perhaps untruthfully, known as the only weapon used in warfare that isn't based on a hunting implement or a tool. Most medieval weapons developed from tools and regular hunting weapons, such as throwing spears, axes and clubs. The first Swords sprung from the knives that eventually were made of metal, and some genius got the idea to make longer swords.

Again, forging limitations and lacking full optimization of cavalry units back in the Roman era, meant that by then, Swords were still usually little more than very long daggers. When cavalry units started gaining serious importance in warfare due to the spread of new saddle-techniques including the stir-up, it was necessary to invent longer swords.

Eventually, the arming sword and the knightly hand-and-a-half sword were invented, and later on many other kinds of swords.

Other interesting weapons that were originally invented by antique warriors of old but didn't see widespread use until the medieval includes the crossbow. The Romans simply trained archers, it was simple because they had the state authority to outright conscript people into the military. When Rome fell and different countries needed to make their own soldiers, the crossbow became invaluable as training archers was a long and complicated process, but training crossbowmen wasn't.

The final interesting weapon of the medieval that I'll want to note here, is the pike. Charlemagne who formed the Holy Roman Empire in year 800 and something, put Europe under his armored boot through the clever use of cavalry, which gave new meaning to the Knight culture. It also started making pikes more significant. By the late medieval, pike men were pretty much the only infantry forces who weren't wielding crossbows or rifles that one would see on the battlefield, short of Great sword wielding soldiers intended to break said pike formations. The pike soldiers were anti-cavalry measures and the pike was a brilliant and cheap weapon that any soldier could be outfitted with.

Other weapons, such as the warhammer and the battle axe were very common among more tribal societies that predate the official medieval, but were also often used by Knights who had the time and money to specialize in broader arsenals, as well as by soldiers who could easily be equipped with these weapons that were relatively cheap to produce, and were good to use in certain situations, such as when facing more heavily armored enemies, or in the case of the axe, especially useful to defend with in sieges. Many of these weapons had a spike on the back-side offering extra armor piercing qualities. Such weapons were commonly seen among mercenaries and owned by peasants and citizens especially in militias, used for personal protection and such. They were very simple to make for most blacksmiths, as they resembled ordinary tools, and in many places they were barely considered weapons, but on the other hand, they were also only marginally better in combat than their counterparts from the toolshed.

Crusades
While feudal Europe was generally always at war in one way or another, one thing that truly united the Europeans was the Crusades. By the 11th Century, most of Europe was Catholic, at least in an official capacity, but back in this day and age, there was a surprising tolerance towards pagans and heathens maintaining their private religions, as long as they didn't interfere with the official state religion or prevent the spread of Catholicism.

The rulers of Europe were smart people though, and they used Catholicism in the same way the Romans had intended to use it, namely to control the population. When the northern Rulers realized they could control the trade in the North-East by controlling the Baltic Sea, they immediately filed for a Crusade against the future Baltic States, to convert the pagans and heathens of that region to the one and true faith.

Before and meanwhile, the Lords of Europe had figured out that they could control the silk and spice roads if they took the "Holy Lands" back from the Muslims, so they in turn launched a several crusades that would turn Venice and the rest of Italy rich.

Of course, the Muslim rulers were no better, and frequently used their religion in the same way as Mohammad had used it, to gather many tribes under one banner. In time, the Muslim nations had grown slightly more civilized by European standard.

A thing that was common for both sides, was the added side effect of xenophobia between the people, but the nobility's tendency to tolerate different religions in their territory as long as the infidels paid taxes, which went to prove that the conflicts truly were about money.

The layers of society
There were several different layers of society, the biggest group being the peasants, and the smallest being the nobility.

Peasants
If you were a peasant in feudal Europe, there were very little you could really do for yourself. Society protected the "right of inheritance", meaning it was considered shameful to aim above your station. Prideful and spotting of the others of your "caste" (yes, you can almost compare it to an unofficial caste system). The oldest son would inherit the farm, that was the way. The other sons would just have to become soldiers or farmhands or what ever else was possible to become. Many people in this layer of society had various talents, but none of these were mastered to an extent where they could make a living off of these talents.

For a peasant, ever becoming anything but a peasant was almost unthinkable. There were no "educations" or means to apply for a "transfer" or anything of the like. Of course, a peasant could just leave, but that would be almost certain death.

Burghers
Burghers, or the city folk, were those who could either afford to pay for a house inside the safety of castle walls, or to live in the better quarters of a walled up city. Typically merchants, craftsmen and artisans and the relatives of noblemen and of course the business owners. These people were MUCH more important to society than farmers whom there were enough of (in the medieval, anyone could farm - only few people could brew beer and forge steel). Of course, some of the people who rightfully belonged in the burgher class lived outside of the cities, in towns and villages, especially people like blacksmiths who were necessary for the farming communities to function, but the Burghers enjoyed the extreme safety and luxury of living in cities, castles and so forth. The burgher class also contained a number of clerks and accountants and many other semi-academical positions, necessary to run a society.

The Clergy
Priests, Monks and other ordained servants of the church lived lives that were very different from the rest of society. These people were separated from the peasants by the written barrier. All members of the clergy were learned and literate, and they used this to gain power and influence over the general populace. Religion was very important in the medieval, because science hadn't come very far, and people didn't understand how the world worked back then, so they turned to the aid of religion to acquire a peace of mind, but in return became incredibly superstitious, and dependent on spiritual guides, namely the clergy.

Monks often differed a bit from the majority of the clergy as they functioned independently of the church taxes in many cases, and dedicated much of their life to furthering several sciences, but there were also monastic orders that were less noble.

The Military
The soldiers life in the medieval typically meant either serving in a nobleman's retinue or as a mercenary.

Mercenary
Free companies (mercenaries) were extremely common in the medieval. If a Baron wanted to fight another Baron, both Barons would typically have close to the same amount of troops and knights, so to gain the upper hand, they would either need to call in allies who wouldn't have as much of a stake in the conflict, or to hire mercenaries. The general rule of thumb in combat, is that if you want to win, you will want numbers on your side, it's especially true if attacking someone who probably owns a castle, because any defensive position will require at least three times as many attackers as there are defenders, and in the medieval, that number was probably even greater due to limited weapon technology.

Life in the military was pretty rough, as a soldier, having a family wasn't unlikely but they would either travel with the unit as camp followers, or would live somewhere and rarely see their family member, probably relying on an older brother of the soldier in question, who inherited the farm or family business, to put a roof over their head in return for labor. As a mercenary, arms and armor wasn't provided by anyone. You usually brought your own gear, and gear was expensive back then. Typically, the free company would loan the mercenary the money, and he would then work for free in a period (food granted of course). This was typically also the period in which that soldier would find himself most vulnerable due to being green, and the company could then sell his equipment to a new recruit in the same kind of deal.

Mercenaries often upgraded their equipment by supplying with pieces from the fallen, both friends and foes alike. The term "spoils of war" comes to mind.

A mercenary would travel very far and live out of tents and backpacks for years on end, living in camps similar to roman legion camps in those times, but usually smaller, staying entrenched in such a position for a long time, often camping close to an unprotected farming community so they had means of acquiring food. From such camps, the mercenaries would then delegate their work, with some mercenaries coming and going while on assignments.

Retinue
Life in a retinue was slightly better, the equipment belonged to the nobleman, but of course, many soldiers ended up using some of their own equipment for various reasons, and while most lords probably preferred their soldiers to be uniform, they couldn't always afford to be picky, so if they defeated a bunch of mercenaries turned bandits and could loot some armor and arms from them, that equipment would nicely fall into use with the retinue.

Life as a soldier in a retinue meant serving more as a guard and a police officer, than as an actual soldier, most of the time, but retinue soldiers often went on extensive military drills to hone their skills in case of sudden warfare.

Soldiers in a retinue were trained by knights and were professional and disciplined, unlike mercenaries, but were rarely as experienced or as expendable.

Nobility
Life as a nobleman wasn't that different than life of a peasant, except it was held to a much higher standard. The first born son would still inherit, and thus anyone who had nothing to inherit was forced to find their own way, not as soldiers, but as Knights. Not as farmhands but as courtiers. Not as laborers but as business owners, merchants and landowners.

Noblemen were commonly literate, well learned when it came to affairs of state and had rights and privileges that did not befall the lowborn. They could duel each other for practically any offense, but could rarely punish each other for any crimes as the juridical system was very complicated, and typically, the law demanded that if the accused side agreed to a settlement, often involving "stopping" what ever they were allegedly doing wrong, or paying some money to the "wronged" party, everything would be forgotten.

Noblemen usually had money and wealth and were rarely falling on hard times like peasants would, but they had responsibilities peasants couldn't dream of, or for that matter fulfill, which could on occasion bankrupt them or cause a landfall.

Retinue
The benefit of being a landed nobleman with a title, is that one is allowed a personal retinue. These are often referred to as men-at-arms. A retinue is the sheer source of one's power as a noble. The soldiers who will uphold the law you decree is to be. The men who will punish, apprehend and execute those you point out, and fight your battles. The men who protect the peasants who pay taxes.

Infantry
The most basic units are the infantry, and also the most important. Because private armies are normally infinately smaller than the might of the Legions of the Roman era, they tend to lack the Auxillery category (support troops), and usually light infantry serve these roles. Infantry is normally cross-trained to use at least 4 weapons. Their primary weapon tends to be an arming sword, and while displaying no extraordinary skill with such an elegant weapon, they are trained to use it well in combination with a shield. Crossbow training is important to light infantry, as the crossbow is the all-round best weapon for castle defense. Usually the warhammer is a good third choice, as it works well against medium armor (chainmail for instance, which is hard to cut or stab through, but doesn't protect against blunt attacks very well), and tends to come with a spike, doubling as a military pick making it very effective against heavy armor too. Finally they are trained with polearms. Infantry forces tend to keep an arsenal, and switch weapons depending on the current assignment. While there's usually not enough crossbows in a Baron's army that everyone has one, some tend to be designated marksmen in the field, or they are passed along between upong getting guard duty when defending. Polearms are also generally used in warfare when facing cavalry, or when defending a keep, but also during guard duty.

Infantry are the most versitile forces around, not in skill but in expectations. They are charged with many things they are often not fully proficient in when they first enlist, but most grow with the job. Infantry can easily expect to be asked to ride, in combat or when escorting someone, as well as they might suddenly find themselves taking on support roles, cooking or guarding, even policing a city during a declaration of martial law. They might find themselves builders or clerks in times of need also, but such jobs mostly befall the light infantry who are truly the "grunts" of the military system when it comes to private armies. Infantry forces are commonly also trained to use any siege engines that their liege might reside over.

Light infantry
Light Infantry are the most common men-at-arms. Usually equipped with a gambeson suit, a metal helmet, a pair of armored gloves and possibly jack-chains and knee-pads, as well as a weapon of some sort, typically an arming sword and a shield. Light infantry are usually inexperienced soldiers, recruited recently, but many never advance to more prestigious divisions, as their lord lacks the funds to outfit them as befitting such a division. Barons tend to employ large forces of light infantry. Counts and dukes rarely maintain forces of light infantry at all, as they tend to be able to afford to outfit their troops, and there's no advantage to light infantry.

Recent conscripts from a sudden draft are often light infantry, and the majority of any fighting force is is made out of light infantry in earlier periods though this transitions away later.

Medium Infantry
Used to be there was no medium infantry, but the advancement of forging techniques and the near industrialization of the metal working business, has caused a revolution militarily speaking, as some lords can now afford plate armor parts for their soldiers, a notion that was preposterous up until the high medieval, but in the high medieval, medium infantry was known as heavy infantry. Medium infantry are commonly outfitted with chainmail, but otherwise differ little from their light counterparts. Wealthy barons might be able to afford to outfit a lot of their troops as medium infantry, and it's even seen sometimes that a lord has a smaller amount of light infantry than medium. Counts tend to favor medium infantry as their primary forces. Medium infantry tend to be all-round experienced soldiers, with several campaigns under their belt, but in some cases, they are as inexperienced as their light counterpart.

Heavy infantry
Heavy infantry was a dream that could never come true in the early medieval. Now, many higher ranking noblemen flaunt their wealth by outfitting their already experienced veteran soldiers with plate armor. It shames many Knights of lower standing to find themselves outfitted worse than a common soldier. Heavy infantry are generally tough soldiers, mostly employed as personal house-hold guards by a duke, or as an elite fighting unit by a count. Some barons can afford heavy infantry, but most barons are lucky if they can afford plate armor for themselves. The heavy armor used by heavy infantry tends to be brigandine/plate coats, along with some relatively "crude" leg guards, spoulders and a gorget. Sometimes a breast plate or a partial breastplate is thrown into the mix. It's extremely rare to find common soldiers equipped in actual full plate. This kind of plate armor is commonly referred to as fieldplate, as it's basically a combination of various plate parts, not size specific.

Heavy infantry is replaced by medium infantry in earlier periods than late medieval.

Cavalry
Referred to as Gendarms for the most part, cavalry in private armies as well as official ones are considered elite. They may very well be the reason many lords cannot afford better outfitting for their infantry, because horses are expensive to keep and train and their riders must be well trained to keep being effective. For obvious reasons, cavalry are also trained as infantry, as new horses don't grow on trees, and if they lose one they will have to do without until they can find a suitable replacement. Horses must be wartrained to be of any use to cavalry forces, and not simply any horse will do, though a trained rider can possibly force his horse into combat even if it isn't combat trained, but most would refrain form this. While the terms heavy, medium and light also applies to cavalry, this tends to be more in regard to the size and type of the horse and the armament of said horse, rather than the armor of the cavalry, because as a rule of thumb, cavalry are too valuable to send into combat lightly armored. For more information on horse breeds used in my games, follow the link.

Light cavalry
Light cavalry units are typically as well armored the best armored troops in their employers retinue. They ride horses called a "rouncy". Such horses are usually light and not terribly muscular, but they are fast and agile, with tempers and endurance allowing them to move faster than other troops, and in more difficult terrain.

These troops are usually used for skirmish attacks, often trained to use crossbows from horseback, and sometimes they fall under the mounted archer category rather, but sometimes they use lances or other weapons and simply skirmish using those.

Light horses cannot carry as much as their heavier counterparts, and will struggle if donning too much armor as well as carrying an armored rider and having to carry their own supplies, and a compromise has to be reached. Usually light cavalry features lightly armored horses, heavily armored troops and can then carry their own supplies.

They are not used for charge attacks through ranks of enemies, as a light horse like these would not be able to pull off such maneuvers in most cases. Light cavalry is by far the most practical for most Lords to employ because they make excellent patrols and against unorganized enemies, they are still as effective as any cavalry unit. Light horses are also easy to replace, as their breeds are fairly common and most breeds can substitute them.

Because of their lightness they can survive and remain endurant on nothing but grass for weeks on end where bigger horses will start to grow fatigued if not fed properly because their large amount of muscle requires more energy and more proteins to be sustained, so in other words, the rouncy is ideal for light patrol missions and outriding, which is typically what a Lord needs, namely fast moving troops who can protect him as he journeys and can quickly move out and deal with a threat.

Medium Cavalry
Medium Cavalry ride horses known as Coursers. Very few lords employ higher tiers of cavalry than medium cavalry as, Knights tend to fill the role of the last tier when need be. They can charge through enemy lines, but not through shield walls very well, and they are best used as a "second wave" following up right behind heavy cavalry, picking off the confused scattered soldiers who's line has just been broken.

The courser is more muscular than the rouncy, and could be called a high quality rouncy, this means it can carry slightly more armor and still remain fully effective. The courser is in every way simply put a better horse than the rouncy, it's just outright superior, but it also eats more, and cannot be sustained on grass alone for as long, before it starts to lose it's edge. This makes the courser ideal for medium cavalry, which are rarely used on outriding and patrols anyway.

Heavy Cavalry
This role is mostly filled by Knights, but some lords maintain heavy cavalry, because they can. The destrier is used by heavy cavalry, a specific classification of horse that people to this day and age still debate how might have looked. Breeding destriers is expensive and difficult, but these horses are generally as tall as coursers and as muscular as strong as draft horses (though not necessarily as bulky), though this means they have to eat oat and grain often, because they cannot sustain their muscle mass on grass alone. Destriers are mighty and majestic looking horses that can charge through almost anything. They tend to be fearless and are trained for war, the horse sometimes killing as many people as the rider, as they bite throats and kick wildly when spurred into combat, and the horses are also fiercely loyal, and will probably not allow someone they haven't seen before to to drag them off like a normal domesticated horse would. These horses were bred to be armored, and can even carry special horse chain-armors (though these are rarely produced). These very strong horses serve a function mainly in warfare, but because they are so expensive, many heavy cavalry units must suffice with bigger and stronger coursers rather than true destrier, but Knights will not do without. It's also the best horse for jousting.

Archery
Archers are a funny size compared to cavalry and infantry, as their categories are divided differently. Archers are technically also infantry, but in the medieval, they were a category for themselves, due to most people fighting with melee weapons.

Arbalists
A crossbow shooter who is primarily a crossbow shooter is called an arbalist. they tend to be lightly armored, usually looking similar to light infantry, but usually more poorly armed in the melee department. Arbalists are considerably cheaper to hire than marksmen, because they require much less training, although they are not nearly as effective, and more and more they are becoming a common sight. Becoming a arbalist is a step up from light infantry, and most arbalists are previous infantry forces who show skill with the crossbow, or just deserve a reward for their services. Some years ago, the crossbow was still an uncommon weapon in human hands and archers were generally small fighting forces highly valued. They still are, but with the addition of arbalists, the archery troops have grown in numbers. Seeing as arbalists are trained infantry, they can easily be outfitted for both jobs, and it's not uncommon to find crossbowmen lugging a shield on their back and a sword by their side, but just as common to find them with nothing but an old hatchet or a warhammer apart from their crossbow.

Marksmen
The true archers, the bow wielding soldiers, are rare and difficult to train. Most don't have a background as infantry forces, and are recruited specifically into the legion due to being experienced with hunting or otherwise have reason to know the bow and arrow. Marksmen are paid better than most other soldiers, tend to be stronger, more endurant and more skilled in various ways (with most actually having a trade, that's a step up from being a farmers boy). The best of them are used as scouts, and all of them are crosstrained to function as infantry and typically also cavalry if need be. Archers are valued, and are equipped to show it, many have better armor and weapons than their infantry counter-parts despite not needing it. Marksman can fire longer, harder, more precise and faster than their arbalist counterparts, and further more they can hunt and forage adding to their combat value. While an arbalist is not a bad shot at all, when firing on longer distances, they tend to fire more or less blindly into crowds, while a marksman can pick a specific target at great distance. Most private armies do have a few marksmen, but they are rare compared to other troops.

Normally a marksman is outfitted with a longbow, but the term "longbowman" refers to a soldier trained for a short duration of time primarily to use his bow for volley attacks, and is as such not a marksman. Longbowmen are rare these days as the arbalists have taken their place.

A single marksman rarely has more than 20 arrows with him at any time as it's hard to squeeze more into a quiver, but usually stays close to a munitions wagon. Because of their low amount of ammunition, they are at highest effectivity when "bombarding" an area with arrows, as this usually kills or disables most people in that given area costing each marksman no more than 1 arrow.