Option 12: c1250–c1500: Medieval warfare and English society - 2 The experience of war — Edexcel GCSE History
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Option 12: c1250–c1500: Medieval warfare and English society - 2 The experience of war explained
Recruitment in the medieval feudal army relied heavily on the feudal levy, where tenants-in-chief provided a quota of knights to the king in exchange for land, typically serving for 40 days.
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The Assize of Arms also required freemen to bear arms appropriate to their wealth. Over time, this shifted towards paid troops using indentures, where captains were contracted to provide specific numbers of men. Training varied significantly by class. Knights trained from childhood in horsemanship and weapon handling through tournaments and hunting. Conversely, infantry and archers received little formal military training from the state; instead, skills like archery were developed through mandatory practice on village greens on Sundays, ensuring a baseline of competence.
The impact of war on civilians, including the impact of feudal duties and army plunder on civilian lives.
Warfare had a profound and often devastating impact on medieval civilians. Feudal duties required commoners to leave their farms to fight or provide logistical support, disrupting agriculture and leading to food shortages. Taxation, such as purveyance (the forced sale of goods to the crown at low prices), heavily burdened the civilian population to fund campaigns. Furthermore, armies frequently resorted to plunder and pillage to sustain themselves, deliberately destroying enemy territory to undermine morale and economic stability. This practice, known as chevauchée, resulted in the burning of crops, theft of livestock, and widespread violence against non-combatants, leaving communities impoverished and traumatised long after the armies had moved on.
Your focus
- Describe the mechanisms of the feudal levy and the Assize of Arms in recruiting combatants.
- Explain the shift from feudal recruitment to the use of paid troops via indentures.
- Compare the training experiences of the mounted knight with those of the common infantryman and archer.
Show all 6 objectives
- Explain how feudal duties and the demand for manpower disrupted civilian agricultural life.
- Describe the financial mechanisms, such as purveyance, used to fund wars and their impact on civilians.
- Evaluate the physical and economic devastation caused by army plunder and raiding tactics on civilian populations.
Option 12: c1250–c1500: Medieval warfare and English society - 2 The experience of war exam tips
Marking Points
- Describe the feudal levy and the obligation of landholders to provide military service for 40 days.
- Explain the transition from feudal obligations to paid service through the indenture system.
- Contrast the lifelong, specialised training of knights with the informal training of infantry.
- Identify the role of the Assize of Arms and mandatory archery practice in preparing commoners for war.
- Explain how feudal military duties disrupted civilian life and agricultural production.
- Describe the financial burden of war on civilians, including taxation and purveyance.
- Analyse the devastating effects of army plunder and the tactic of chevauchée on local populations.
- Evaluate the long-term economic and social consequences of warfare on civilian communities.
Examiner Tips
- 💡Clearly distinguish between the recruitment methods for knights, such as feudal duty, and commoners, such as the Assize of Arms.
- 💡Use the term 'indenture' correctly to describe the contract between the king and a captain for paid troops.
- 💡Discuss how the 40-day limit on feudal service drove the need for paid, contracted armies for longer campaigns.
- 💡Use the term 'chevauchée' to demonstrate specific knowledge of destructive raiding tactics used during the Hundred Years' War.
- 💡Link the absence of male workers due to feudal duties directly to the risk of famine and economic hardship.
- 💡Consider both the direct impacts, such as plunder and violence, and indirect impacts, such as taxation and purveyance, of war on civilians.
Common Mistakes
- Error: Assuming all soldiers were highly trained professionals. Correction: Emphasise that most infantry were ordinary civilians with minimal formal military training.
- Error: Confusing the feudal levy with a modern conscript army. Correction: Explain that the levy was based on land tenure and specific obligations, not universal national conscription.
- Error: Stating that the Assize of Arms required 40 days of service. Correction: Clarify that the 40-day limit applied to the feudal levy for knights, whereas the Assize of Arms dictated the weapons freemen had to own.
- Error: Believing civilians were largely unaffected by battles fought away from their homes. Correction: Explain that taxation, purveyance, and the loss of manpower affected civilians even if the fighting was distant.
- Error: Assuming armies always carried enough supplies. Correction: Highlight that armies relied heavily on plundering local resources to survive, devastating civilian food supplies.
- Error: Confusing purveyance with regular taxation. Correction: Define purveyance specifically as the crown's right to buy goods at a fixed, often unfair, price for the army.