Re: Fw: Mercs for Hire! (fwd)

[clevin@ripco.com (Craig Levin)]

Poster: clevin@ripco.com (Craig Levin)

Badouin:

> Unfortunately, I cant put my hands on the citations right this moment,
> but in Gothic England (hold the vampire jokes, please, until you look
> that word up in the dictionary) the King was entitled to 30 days
> military service in defense of the Realm.  Any service over that time
> was paid for by the Crown (usually late, if at all- "desertion", ie
> leaving due to failure to be paid was not uncommon for the highest
> nobility).  Foreign Adventures,( such as Pennsic, or Gulf Wars would be)
> were arranged by special contract, where the shares of loot and "per
> diem" were again, paid by the Crown.

Sounds distinctly thirteenth century. By and large, by the reign
of Edward III, the kings made monetary contracts with captains,
some of them hardly to the manor born (ie, the Archpriest,
Knollys, etc.), who in turn hired soldiers. Granted, the
_majority_ of the captains were peers of the realm, but they went
to war in this case as hirelings, not as a part of feudal
obligation. I believe that Edward I was the last English king to
consider calling out the levy in any major fashion.

> 	Further more, the standing forces of any given noble usually fell far
> below the feudal obligation of the noble, and they hired troops
> otherwise unafilliated with them legally in order to meet their
> obligations.

Unless, of course, one looks at the fact the a knight's fee was
often split up into fractions. What does a guy who holds a
quarter of a knight's fee do? Snag a helm and a spear and get on
his plough horse?  How useful is he going to be? 

Edward I realized that he could get better results by collecting
scutage and other taxes and hiring people who were full-time
thugs. His grandson and descendants did the same, by and large.

> 	So, hire Mercs with a clear conscience, but Caveat Emptor!
> 	Now, would you all like to talk about multiple fealty in period, where
> nobles would swear fealty to rival (or at least non related) Royalty for
> lands and rights elsewhere than "home"?  This transcends the Gothic
> period.

Whoo-boy. It also makes for fascinating tidbits, like why Andorra
is still an independent country. Ans.: It's jointly held by two
different lords, in period the seigneur de Foix and the bishop of
Urgell, and today, the seigneur de Foix's place has been taken by
the president of France.

Pedro
-- 
http://pages.ripco.com:8080/~clevin/index.html 
clevin@ripco.com
Craig Levin
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