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Author Topic:   Guards!Guards!
Maria
Moderator
posted 07-13-2005 12:41 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Maria   Click Here to Email Maria     Edit/Delete Message
Hey, where did they come from? Suppose I was a little child, mummmy, when I grow up I want to be a castle-guard? Sure, dear, we'll just sign you up for the Castle Guard's Academy...
Nah. Joke over, where did the senior find the guards? Where did the King find guards? Who trained them? Was there a future in this?
Were guards connected with the army?

Peter
Member
posted 07-13-2005 03:35 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Peter   Click Here to Email Peter     Edit/Delete Message
Not checked it out, but it would all be part of the chain.
ie;
a Lord/Knight would owe service to the King.
So many days a year. In turn lesser Knights would owe their immediate master a number of days service, down to the serfs who could be called upon.
hence a certain number of those might say;
' Hey! This is better than working 16+ hours a day in the fields. Okay, so I might get killed. But that's life'.
Some of course would want to get back to their land and families. But other single men with no, or very little chance of gaining land. Would opt for full service in the pay of their Lord.
Peter
Just too add that it was not until the midish 1600's that England had it's first so called 'Army', The new Model Army as it was called, and this only due to the English Civil War.

[This message has been edited by Peter (edited 07-13-2005).]

Maria
Moderator
posted 07-14-2005 04:45 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Maria   Click Here to Email Maria     Edit/Delete Message
Were guards trained? Or was it just, this is sword, this is spear, keep foes out and friends in?

Peter
Member
posted 07-14-2005 03:49 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Peter   Click Here to Email Peter     Edit/Delete Message
No, there would have to be a basic training. It could be the weapons cost more than the man. And a Lord etc. wanted to win those skirmish's or battles.
So much in early medieval times relied on the charge by mounted knights. The foot-soldier only moving in behind to finish off the fallen, and remove those expensive suits of armour for future use.
It was when that foot-soldier (along with the long-bow) becan to be trained that the demise of the mounted knight became apparent. In Europe it was the Swiss with their use of the long pike that shattered mounted knights.
Was it the Swiss first Merlin?
Peter

Steve-O-Gerst
Senior Member
posted 12-06-2005 12:01 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Steve-O-Gerst   Click Here to Email Steve-O-Gerst     Edit/Delete Message
Swiss with pikes... I've heard that.

Not soon after though, I'm pretty sure the English with the Long bow really got it good. Took a lot of training to make that work though. The English had all sorts of laws about long bows.

Glaive
Member
posted 12-17-2005 05:08 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Glaive     Edit/Delete Message
under classical feudalism(aka the barter economy) they were essentially hereditary members of a warrior class and inherited their jobs just like their lords and kings.Under bastard feudalism they were still members of a hereditary class;but that class was gradually invaded by those merely with skill who woul;d fight for pay.

Who trained them is complicated.They likely were trained at the courts of their lords under classic feudalism;but that court was constantly moving from place to place to consumed food from their estates and they were not the only ones allowed to carry arms even in the most restrictive feudal societies,merchants and craftmen usually moved from place to place too and were allowed to go armed.Jugglers initially were also fencing masters and likely trained chapmen and craftsmen,as true cites developed masters of defense split off entirely from jugglers and other gleemen by the 14th century fencing masters were not only common but they had also developed the four classic ranks(scholar,free scholar,provost and master) that are still used today.Their fencing students if commoners were called ruffians or swashbucklers and were generally looked down upon-the same goes for any skilled fighter who was not a liveryman of a noble.The simple answer is that fencing master trained warriors from the 13th century on both at courts and at their own academies and they as a profession had originated from common entertainers.

All times are PT (US)

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