The Common Soldier
| Introduction | Archer and Crossbowman | Foot Soldier |

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Domed helmet of the type worn by a foot soldier or archer

Knights were by far not the only soldiers in the medieval army, nor were they the most important. The foot soldier and the archers were often more numerous. They were made up of men from the peasant class, where the knights were from the upper medieval class of lords. There were many reasons to become a soldier. The biggest one was loot and plunder. Any conquering army was free to pillage the conquered area. This meant that soldiers could get rich quick by taking valuables from castles and villages nearby.


Archer and Crossbowman

The archers and crossbowmen were an integral part of a medieval army, especially in England. Crossbowmen were generally more important in sieges, while archers were very important in open battles. The reason for this was the difference in the rate of fire. The crossbow was very hard to reload and required some time. This was because of the way it worked. It was shot with the power of tension and was essentially a large rubberband mounted on a wooden or steel frame. The crossbowman would wind the rope up, and then a trigger would release the stored energy causing a bolt (small arrow) to fire. The speed and power behind the bolt was enormous. It could penetrate a knight's full armor. It was useful in siege warfare because this type of warfare did not rely on lightning quick attacks. Sieges often lasted for months. Also, while reloading, a crossbowman could hide behind a merlon or a movable shields. Archers were better suited for an all out battle. They could fire as many as fifteen arrows a minute. Their arrows could penetrate weak spots in a knight's armor. The shots were not as powerful as the the crossbow and thus couldn't penetrate any part of a knight's armor. However, the speed of fire made up for this. Half of an English army was often made up of archers, they were so dangerous. In fact, the English bred archers. At one time a law was passed requiring EVERY common Englishman practice archery at least once a week. The bows were made from the yew tree, so there was also a restriction against the non-official felling of it. Besides their bows, archers and crossbowmen also carried a small dagger for hand to hand combat. However, this was not very effective against a knight's sword and armor! Both the archers and the crossbowmen wore minimal amounts of armor. They usually had leather jerkins and occasionally wore chain mail. Metal helmets were also common. Shield were not generally used.


Foot Soldier

The other type of common soldier was the foot soldier. He usually carried a long spear called a pike. Additionally, he often had a sword and a dagger. He usually wore some type of metal armor, generally chain mail but sometimes plate armor. He also wore a metal helmet. His job was to protect the archers who could not defend themselves well. He did this through his pike. Any armored cavalry (made up of knights) attack was met with a wall of pointed spears. This type of defense sometimes worked, however, a knight could often run straight over a pike-carrying soldier! Additionally, a knight sometimes dismounted to fight hand to hand with foot soldiers. The knight usually won because he had the greater armor and strength.

A typical spear from the middle ages.

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