othr 说:
This really is an excellent list Mooncabbage, thank you.
And to think, I haven't even gotten to sie Germans yet!
Crossbowmen are causing me headaches, since that bastard King of France decided to pay his mercenary foot crossbowmen, who I think would be considered sergeants, twice the wage of a standard foot sergeant, and mounted crossbowmen 25-66% more than a mounted sergeant!
And I can't find any other references to crossbowmen wages :/ I presume they are paid roughly the same as archers, except that crossbowmen come in the Sergeant variety and archers don't.
Bah, character limits! Here's the second half of the other post:
The Horses
From
Osprey Men At Arms 50 - Medieval European Armies:
There were three distinct types of horse in use at this time; the tall and heavy destrier, used only for tournaments; a poor breed of horse called a rounsey, which was ridden by all troops on campaign; and the courser, which stood about fifteen hands high and resembled a large show-jumper. The last was the war horse of the knight and was led by the squire (possibly the page boy, in fact) until battle became imminent, when the knight changed mounts.
From
Osprey Men At Arms 231 - French Medieval Armies 1000-1300:
Another area in which France, like the rest of Western Europe, gained much from contact with the Muslim world was that of horse-breeding. A lot of nonsense surrounds the medieval knight's war-horse or
destrier; in fact horses need physical weight to pull weight, not to carry it, for which they merely need strength. The medieval European war-horse was not a cold-blooded 'heavy horse', but what would be considered a
Cob, a rare breed that now survives most obviously in the Suffolk
Cob and the
Punch. Only towards the later Middle Ages and Renaissance, with the adoption of massive plate armour, might war-horses have taken on some of the characteristics of the modern
Percheron and
Ardennes breeds.
Destries had been known since the late 10th century. Information from a few centuries later indicates that they were trained to walk but not trot, which would have been painful for an armoured rider in the medieval
'peaked' saddle, and only at the last moment would they increase speed, charging at a slow canter rather than a gallop.
While these
destriers were then, and would now be, regarded as 'cold blooded', the whole question of 'hot' and 'cold' blood is still widely misunderstood. There is no genetic basis for the distinction, which reflects temperament and the regions in which various breeds originated. Cob-like horses were abundant throughout medieval Europe in areas of good grass and clover. In earlier times Roman cavalry horses had more in common with those of the nomadic
Scythian peoples of southern Russia, these having the appearance of a larger form of Arabian horse. Meanwhile the ancient riding horse of the Middle East seems to have been the ancestor of the modern
Barb. The quality of Western European war-horses clearly declined following the fall of the Roman Empire, and most horses available to Charlemagne and his successors were not very impressive, failing against the invading Magyars on their tough steppe ponies. Nevertheless the old breeds survived in the south where, in the early medieval period, they seem to have been similar to those of the Arabs on the southern side of the Mediterranean.
Until the 13th of 14th centuries the Middle Eastern or Arab-Islamic riding tradition (as distinct from Turco-Islamic Central Asian tradition) was basically the same as that of the Romans, though with the addition of stirrups and more developed saddles. Like the medieval knights whome they influenced, Arab warriors only mounted their war-horses immediately before a battle, otherwise travelling on mules, donkeys or camels as the medieval knight travelled on his palfrey. In fact the medieval Western riding tradition developed out of both the ancient roman and the more recent Arab-Islamic fashions. The Western war-saddle, though it eventually differed from the lighter versions of the Middle East, also developed from a padded, wood-framed saddle supported on felt pads which had been brought to Europe by the Arabs during the early Middle Ages. The same was true of elaborate forms of curb bit which, though known to the Romans, had died out in most of Europe.
Where the breeding of war-horses was concerned the medieval French had almost everything to learn from the Muslims - and here the Arabs contributed a new attitude instead of reviving something lost since Roman times. Unlike their predecessors, the Arabs had, since pre-Islamic times, bred for quality rather than quantity. The first recorded Arab veterinary manual dated from AD 785 while the artificial ensemination of mares was known by atleast 1286. Arabian horses were imported via Spain as early as the 9th century and, perhaps as a result of the first Crusades, more powerful horses of Byzantine or Persian type reappeared during the 12th century. This, of course, was a time when the largely French Crusaders were supposedly 'bowling over the Saracens on their smaller ponies'. Arab influence can also be found in the terminology of medieval French horse breeding, where the word
bardot (the mixed offspring of a stallion and a she-ass) defived from the Arabic
birdhawn meaning draught or pack horse.
The most immediate source of influence upon French horse breeding was Muslim Spain, where a famous stud had been established at Cordoba as early as the 8th century. It was in southern Spain that the famous
Andalusian breed was developed. Basically descended from the North African Barb, which was also a foundation strain for the
Arabian horse, the Andalusian was the first 'oriental' breed to be appreciated in Western Europe. William of Normandy had two at the battle of Hastings, and such so called 'hot-blooded' horses were imported in large numbers from the late 11th century. Inevitably they had an impact not only on the character of the finest French war-horses but also, it seems, on the places where
destriers were raised. The Perche region of southern Normandy later gave its name to the Percheron breed, but during the first half of the 12th century Count Rotrou III of Perche fought in the Spanish Reconquista, taking part in the capture of Saragossa and Tudela. Could Count Rotrou have brought back the horses which made Perche an important breeding centre and which ultimately sired the Percherons?
By the late 12th century, when a
Chanson de Geste called the
Couronnement de Lous was written, the ideal knight had quite a train of animals in tow. According to the
Couronnement these consisted of his
destrier, a
roncin pack horse, a
palfrey was also a specially trained animal: it was a 'pacer', a type of horse now mostly seen at dressage events. It's gait of 'pacing' was much more comfortable for it's ride than trotting, particularly over long distances, but it was unnatural and had to be taught.
Currency
Interesting note on currency, it seems in France, England and Italy atleast, a system of currency standardized by Charlemagne was used. The coins had different names but were roughly analogous.
In England, 1 Pound = 20 Shillings, 1 Shilling = 12 Pence, hence 1 Pound = 240 pence.
In France, 1 Livre = 20 Sous, 1 Sou = 12 Denier, hence 1 Livre = 240 Denier.
In Italy, 1 Lira = 20 Soldi, 1 Soldo = 12 Denari, hence 1 Lira = 240 Denari.
It's interesting to note that although the names are different, the symbols are similar, eg £ for Pound, s for Shilling, and d for Pence. In Italy, ₤ for Lira, s for Soldi, and d for Denari.
The Spanish had a similar system but during this time period it was severely debased, and eventually replaced with the Real. It was based on the Maravedi de oro for gold coins (later debased to silver), Sueldo for silver, and Dinero for "billon" coins, an alloy of precious metal (usually silver) with a majority base metal content (usually copper).
In the German states, the Pfennig was used in the 13th century and was theoretically equivalent to a Denier.
Wages
Officially, a feudal lord had no obligation to pay his troops, however often it was necessary, either to pad the army with efficient mercenaries, or to encourage vassals and their men to stay past the official 40 days a year required of them. Often militias could not be raised to fight outside their area, and so wages were used here too.
According to
Osprey Men At Arms 231 "French Medieval Armies 1000-1300 AD", mercenary knights were paid 7 sous per day, mercenary mounted sergeants 3-4 sous per day, and foot sergeants 9 deniers per day, although pay was often far in arrears, and often less than it officially should have been.
This works out to 84 deniers a day for a mercenary knight, or 588 a week. That's 9 and 1/3rd times a mercenary foot sergeant, who earns only 63 deniers a week. A mercenary mounted sergeant would recieve from 252 to 336 deniers a week, about half a full knight.
According to
this site, archers earn about 3d a day, or 21 denier a week, which is functional for our purposes but the rest of the site doesn't EXACTLY line up with what we already know, so I'd call this a soft number.
A "Welsh Infantryman", which we can take to mean freeman infantry, who could afford light gambeson type armour, are afforded 2d a day, or 14d a week.
"Mounted Archers" (who fought on foot, like dragoons), "Armoured Infantry", "Hobilars" (Light cavalry), and "Vintenars" are paid 6d a day, or 42 a week. We can add mounted crossbowmen, who were popular in France in this period, to the above group. I wouldn't include professional sergeants, but higher quality peasant infantry who can afford decent armour would qualify.
A "Centenar", a Catalan term refering to a company of 100 men, is afforded 1s a day by this site, which is 84d a week or 0.84d per man. I assume this to be the absolute lowest quality of troops on par with scythe wielding peasants, or else a typo.
Income & Wages
A fief holder was expected to maintain a retinue of 50 men for his lord, so let's go ahead and assume a village can cover the costs of 50 men. That's not unreasonable, as the game I started last night allowed me to support 48 men at the start, so we'll go with that number because it divides better. I'll base it on a 13th century northern French army.
We'll say that that army will be 33% professional "Men-At-Arms", thus 16 men. We'll say that only 1/3rd of these men are mounted soldiers, which is 5 + 1/3rd, we'll round it up to 6 for the sake of argument. 1/3rd of these troops will be full knights, with remainder made up of Squires, representing the Knight's younger brothers and sons, as well as a couple of Mounted Sergeants, richer copyholders, represented by Men-At-Arms in the mod. We'll assume a 50/50 split here. The remaining 2/3ds are poorer foot sergeants. Thusly it looks:
- 2 Knights
- 2 Squires
- 2 Men-At-Arms
- 10 Foot Sergeants
- 32 "Levy"
Levy troops would be supplied by the Lord of the manor himself, as well as buy some of his richer sub-tenants. We'll break the levy troops down further, and assume 16 archers and 16 "freemen". We'll say 1/2 of the freemen are "armoured" with miniature hauberk "haubergeon", and 1/2 are equipped with gambesons. Further, 1/4th of the archers will be "mounted crossbowmen", fighting as dragoons, with no horse archery skill and low quality horses, and 3/4ths on foot. Thusly we have:
- 2 Knights
- 2 Squires
- 2 Men-At-Arms
- 10 Foot Sergeants
- 8 Armoured Footmen (Roughly analogous to veterans)
- 8 Footmen (roughly analogous to spearmen/swordsmen/billmen)
- 4 Mounted Crossbowmen
- 12 Crossbowmen
With the wages from above we have:
- 2 Knights @ 588d ea per week
- 2 Squires @ 336d ea per week (upper end of mounted sergeant pay)
- 2 Men-At-Arms @ 252d ea per week (lower end of mounted sergeant pay)
- 10 Foot Sergeants @ 63d ea per week
- 8 Armoured Footmen @ 42d ea per week
- 8 Footmen @ 21d ea per week
- 4 Mounted Crossbowmen @ 42d ea per week
- 12 Crossbowmen @ 21d ea per week
Which breaks the costings down to:
- 2 Knights @ 1176d per week
- 2 Squires @ 672d per week
- 2 Men-At-Arms @ 504d per week
- 10 Foot Sergeants @ 630d per week
- 8 Armoured Footmen @ 336d per week
- 8 Footmen @ 168d per week
- 4 Mounted Crossbowmen @ 168d per week
- 12 Crossbowmen @ 252d per week
For a grand total of 3906d in wages per week. Just for fun, that's £16 5s 6d.
This DOESN'T factor in that the player is PROBABLY one of those two knights, due to multiple estates, so I've assumed the player can pay his own wage and keep it as pocket money. I also haven't adjusted the prices of the crossbowmen, which seem to be 60d a day or 420d a week for mounted crossbowmen, and 18d a day or 126d for foot crossbowmen, because these wages seem excessive.
Now, we know that village rents tend to pay out somewhere between 40% and 60% of the maximum. We'll average it out and say 50%, which means the maximum is double what we need.
Maximum rents from a village would then be 2 * 3906d = 7812d, or £32 11s, just for fun ^^.
This means that the income for one village should fall between 3124 denars and 4687 denars each week.
Ofcourse, all of this would need to be scaled based on the value of items in game as compared to reality. In the 12th century, a suit of mail cost very approximately 100s, which is 1200d. That's ABOUT what it costs to buy in game (from memory anyway), so these incomes and wages aren't way off.
Heraldric Tinctures
- Metals:
- Or - Gold (Yellow)
- Argent - Silver (White)
- Colours:
- Azure - Blue
- Gules - Red
- Sable - Black
- Vert - Green
- Purpure - Purple
- Later Stains & Tinctures:
- Tenne - Orange-Brown
- Murrey - Mulberry, Somewhere between Gules and Purpure
- Sanguine - Dark Red
- Russet - Red-Brown
- Bleu Celest (Ciel, Celeste) - Light Blue
- Carnation - Cream, Flesh Tone
- Cendree - Grey, colour of Steel & Walls
- Orange - Rarely used as a Tincture, roughly the colour of Orange
[br]
Divisions of the Field:
- Party per Pale (halved vertically)
- Parted (or Party) per Fess (halved horizontally)
- Party per Bend (diagonally from upper left to lower right)
- Party per Bend Sinister (diagonally from upper right to lower left)
- Party per Chevron (after the manner of a chevron)
- Party per Saltire (diagonally both ways)
- Party per Cross or Quarterly (divided into four quarters)
- Party per Pall (divided into three parts in a Y shape)
[br]
Variations of the Field:
- Barry - Field divided by Horizontal Lines
- Paly - Field divided by Vertical Lines
- Bendy - Field divided by Diagonal Lines, from upper left to lower right
- Bendy Sinister - Field divided by Diagonal Lines, from lower left to upper right
- Lozengy - Divided by bendwise and bendwise-sinister lines, creating a field of diamonds.
- Chequy - Field divided by horizontal and vertical lines, creating a chequerboard pattern.
- Chevronny - Field divided by a series of Chevrons.
- Gyronny - Field divided per saltire and quarterly, creating a field of 8 triangles.
- Semé or Semy - Field depicted as being strewn over with many copies of a charge.
[br]
Heraldic Ordinaries
Ordinaries (sometimes called "honourable ordinaries") are almost like partitions, but are handled like objects. Though there is some debate as to exactly which geometrical charges - with straight edges and running from edge to edge of the shield - constitute ordinaries, certain ones are agreed on by everyone. Except for the chief they are central to the shield.
- Cross - Vertical/Horizontal Cross
- Pale - Vertical Stripe down the middle of the field
- Fess - Horizontal Stripe down the middle of the field
- Bar - Horizontal Stripe, thinner than a Fess
- Bend - Diagonal band from the upper left to the lower right
- Bend Sinister - Diagonal band from the upper right to the lower left
- Chevron - Chevron band
- Saltire - Diagonal Cross
- Chief - Horizontal Band across the top of the field
- Bordure - Band around the boundary of the field.
- Pile - Downward pointing triangle, with it's top edge at the top of the shield, and it's bottom vertex touching the bottom of the field.
- Pall or Pairle - a Y shaped band
[br]
Heraldic Sub-Ordinates
- Quarter - Square one quarter of the field, top left corner
- Canton - as Quarter, but 1/3rd of the field.
- Orle - A narrow band occupying the inner half of a Bordure
- Tressle - A narrower Orle, normally seen in pairs, on inset inside the other.
