But we are not therefore justified5 in opening the history of the army with the birth of the New Model. The very name indicates the existence of an earlier model, and throws us back to the outbreak of the Civil War. There then confronts us the difficulty of conceiving how an organised body of trained fighting men could have been formed without the superintendence of experienced officers. We are forced to ask whence came those officers, and where did they learn their profession. The answer leads us to the Thirty Years' War and the long struggle for Dutch Independence, to the English and Scots, numbered by tens, nay6, hundreds of thousands, who fought under Gustavus Adolphus and Maurice of Nassau. Two noble regiments7[4] still abide8 with us as representatives of these two schools, a standing record of our army's 'prentice years.
But though we go back two generations before the Civil War to find the foundation of the New Model Army, it is impossible to pause there. In the early years of Queen Elizabeth's reign9 we are brought face to face with an important period in our military history, with a break in old traditions, an unwilling10 conformity11 with foreign standards, in a word, with the renascence in England of the art of war. For there were memories to which the English clung with pathetic tenacity12, not in Elizabeth's day only but even to the midst of the Civil War, the memories of King Harry13 the Fifth, of the Black Prince, of Edward the Third, and of the unconquerable infantry14 that had won the day at Agincourt, Poitiers, and Cre?y. The passion of English sentiment over the change is mirrored to us for all time in the pages of Shakespeare; for no nation loves military reform so little as our own, and we shrink from the thought that if military glory is not to pass from a possession into a legend, it must be eternally renewed with strange weapons and by unfamiliar15 methods. This was the trouble which afflicted16 England under the Tudors, and she comforted herself with the immortal17 prejudice that is still her mainstay in all times of doubt,
"I tell thee herald18,
I thought upon one pair of English legs
Did march three Frenchmen."
The origin of the new departures in warfare19 must therefore be briefly20 traced through the Spaniards, the Landsknechts, and the Swiss, and the old English practice must be followed to its source. Cre?y gives us no resting-place, for Edward the Third's also was a time of military reform; the next steps are to the Battle of Falkirk, the Statute21 of Winchester, and the Assize of Arms; and still the English traditions recede22 before us, till at last at the Conquest we can seize a[5] great English principle which forced itself upon the conquering Normans, and ultimately upon all Europe.
This then is the task that is first attempted in this book: to follow, however briefly and imperfectly, the growth of the English as a military power to the time of its first manifestation23 at Cre?y, and onward24 to the supreme25 day of Agincourt; then through the decay under the blight26 of the Wars of the Roses to the revival27 under the Tudors, and to the training in foreign schools which prepared the way for the New Model and the Standing Army. The period is long, and the conditions of warfare vary constantly from stage to stage, but we shall find the Englishman, through all the changes of the art of war unchangeable, a splendid fighting man.
The primitive28 national army of the English, as of other Teutonic nations, consisted of the mass of free landowners between the ages of sixteen and sixty; it was called in the Karolingian legislation by the still existing name of landwehr, and known in England as the fyrd. Its term of service was fixed29 by custom at two months in the year. The force was reorganised by King Alfred or by his son through the division of the country into military districts, every five hides of land being required to provide an armed man at the king's summons, and to provide him with victuals30 and with pay. Further, all owners of five hides of land and upwards31 were required to do thane's service, that is to say, to appear in the field as heavily-armed men at their own charge, and to serve for the entire campaign. The organisation32 of the thanes was by shires. With the conquest of England by Canute a new military element was introduced by the establishment of the royal body-guard, a picked force of from three to six thousand Danish troops, which were retained by him after the rest of the army had been sent back to Denmark, and were known as the house-carles.
It was with an army framed on this model—the[6] raw levies33 of the fyrd and the better trained men of the body-guard—that King Harold, flushed with the victory of Stamford Bridge, marched down to meet the invasion of William of Normandy. The heavily-armed troops wore a shirt of ringed or chain-mail, and a conical helmet with a bar protecting the nose; their legs were swathed in bandages not wholly unlike the "putties" of the present day, and their arms were left free to swing the Danish axe34. They carried also a sword, five missile darts35, and a shield, but the axe was the weapon that they loved, for the Teutonic races, unlike the Latin, have ever preferred to cut rather than to thrust. The light-armed men, who could not afford defensive36 armour37, came into the field with spear and shield only. Yet the force was homogeneous in virtue38 of a single custom, wherein lies the secret of the rise of England's prowess as a military nation. Though the wealthy thanes might ride horses on the march, they dismounted one and all for action, and fought, even to the king himself, on their own feet.[2]
The force was divided into large bands or battalions39, of which the normal formation for battle was a wedge broadening out from a front of two men to a base of uncertain number; the officers and the better armed men forming the point, backed by a dense41 column of inferior troops. It was with a single line of such wedges, apparently42 from five-and-twenty to thirty of them, that Harold took up his position to bar the advance of the Norman army. Having no cavalry43, he had resolved to stand on the defensive, and had chosen his ground with no little skill. His line occupied the crest44 of a hill, his flanks were protected by ravines, and he had dug across the plain on his front a trench45 which was sufficient to check a rapid advance of cavalry. Moreover, he had caused each battalion40 to ring itself about[7] with sharp stakes, planted into the ground at intervals46 with the points slanting47 outwards48, as a further protection against the attack of horse.[3] The reader should take note of these stakes, for he will find them constantly reappearing up to the seventeenth century. There then the English waited in close compact masses, a wall of shields within a hedge of stakes, the men of nine-and-twenty shires under a victorious49 leader. There is no need to enter into details of the battle. The English, as has been well said,[4] were subjected to the same trial as the famous squares at Waterloo, alternate rain of missiles and charges of cavalry, and as yet they were unequal to it. Harold's orders had been that not a man should move, but when the Normans, after many fruitless attacks, at last under William's direction simulated flight, the order was forgotten and one wing broke its ranks in headlong pursuit of the fugitives50. Possibly, if Harold had been equal to the occasion, a general advance might have saved the day, but he made no such effort, and he was in the presence of a man who overlooked no blunder. The pursuing wing was enveloped51 by the Normans and annihilated52; and then William turned the whole of his force against the fragment of the line that remained upon the hill. The English stood rooted to the ground enduring attack after attack, until at last, worn out with fatigue53 and choked with dead and wounded, they were broken and cut down, fighting desperately54 to the end. Indiscipline had brought ruin to the nation; and England now passed, to her great good fortune, under the sway of a race that could teach her to obey.
But the English had still one more lesson to learn. Many of the nobles, chafing55 against the rule of a foreigner, forsook56 their country and, taking service with the Byzantine emperors, joined the famous Varangian [8]Guard of the Emperor Alexius Comnenus. At Durazzo they for the second time met the Normans, under the command of Robert Guiscard. True to their custom, they dismounted and fought on foot, a magnificent corps, the choicest of the whole army. As at Hastings, the Normans attacked and were repulsed57, and as at Hastings, the undisciplined English broke their ranks in pursuit. Robert Guiscard saw his opportunity, hurled58 his cavalry on to their flank, and then surrounding them on all sides cut them down, in spite of a furious resistance, to the very last man. So perished these untameable, unteachable spirits, the last of the unconquered English.
The Conquest was immediately followed by the institution of knight59-service. But this system, as introduced into England, differed in many material respects from that which reigned60 on the continent of Europe. It was less distinctly military in character, and far less perfect as an organisation for national defence. The distribution of England into knight's fees, however clearly it might be mapped out on paper, was a work of time and not to be accomplished61 in a day. Moreover, there was disloyalty to be reckoned with; for the English were a stiff-necked people, and were not readily reconciled to the yoke62 of their new masters. We find, therefore, that in very early days the practice of accepting money in lieu of personal service crept in, and enabled the Norman kings to fight their battles with hired mercenaries. For this reason England has been called the cradle of the soldier; the soldier being the man who fights for pay, solde, solidus, or, as we may say by literal translation of the Latin, the man who fights for a shilling.
The sole military interest therefore of the reigns63 of the Norman kings is to follow the breakdown64 of the feudal65 system for military purposes, and the rapid reversion to the Saxon methods and organisation. William Rufus was the first to appeal to the English to arm in his cause, and he did so twice with success. But[9] in the seventh year of his reign he played them a trick which lost him their confidence for ever. The fyrd had furnished twenty thousand men for service against the Norman rebels in France, and had provided every man, at the cost of his shire, with ten shillings for the expenses of his journey or, to use a later expression, for his conduct-money. William met them at the rendezvous66, took their two hundred thousand shillings from them to hire mercenaries withal, and dismissed them to their homes. This Rufus has been selected by an historian of repute as the earliest example of an officer and a gentleman; he should also be remembered as the first officer who set the fashion, soon to become sadly prevalent, of misappropriating the pay of his men. The reader should note in passing this early instance of conduct-money, for we shall find in it the germ of the Queen's shilling.
1106.
1116.
1125, 25th March.
The reign of Henry the First is interesting in that it shows us English knights67 serving in the field against Robert of Normandy under the walls of Tenchbrai. We find that the old order of battle, the single line of Hastings,[5] has disappeared and has given place to the three lines of the Byzantine school, but that, strange to say, the Saxons have forced their peculiar68 principle upon the Normans. Henry caused his English and Norman knights to dismount, formed them into a solid battalion and placed himself at their head, keeping but one small body still on their horses. The enemy's cavalry attacked Henry's mounted men and dispersed69 them; but the phalanx of the dismounted remained unbroken, pressed on against the rabble70 of hostile infantry, broke it down and almost annihilated it. The victory was hailed by the English as atonement for the defeat at Hastings, so bitter even then was the rivalry71 between ourselves and our gallant72 neighbours across the channel. Ten years later the English were again in France, fighting not only[10] against rebellious73 Norman barons74 but against their ally, the French King Louis the Sixth. A long and desultory75 war was closed by the action of Brenville. Again Henry dismounted four hundred out of five hundred of his knights and following the tactics of Tenchbrai won, though not without hard fighting, a second victory. A third engagement, known as the battle of Beaumont, saw the old English practice repeated for the third time with signal success; but here must be noticed the entry of a new force, a company of archers76, which contributed not a little to the fortunate issue of the day. For as the Norman cavalry came thundering down on the English battalion, the archers moved off to their left flank and poured in such a shower of arrows that the horsemen were utterly77 overthrown78. These archers must not be confounded with the famous English bowmen of a later time, for most probably they were merely copied, like the order of battle, from the Byzantine model; but they taught the English the second of two useful lessons. Henry had already discovered that dismounted knights could hold their own against the impetuous cavalry of France; he now learned that the attack of horse could be weakened almost to annihilation by the volley of archers. This, at a time when cavalry held absolute supremacy80 in war, was a secret of vital importance, a secret indeed which laid the foundation of our military power. Henry, evidently alive to it, encouraged the practice of archery by ordaining81 that, if any man should by accident slay82 another at the butts83, the misadventure should not be reckoned to him as a crime.
1141.
The miserable84 reign of Stephen, so unsatisfactory to the general historian, possesses through the continued development of English tactical methods a distinct military interest. The year 1138 is memorable85 for the Battle of the Standard, the first of many actions fought against the Scots, and typical of many a victory to come. The English knights as usual fought on foot, and aided by archers made havoc86 of the enemy. Here is already the germ of the later infantry; we shall find[11] lances and bows give way to pikes and muskets87, but for five whole centuries we shall see the foot compounded of two elements, offensive and defensive, until the invention of the bayonet slowly welds them into one. At the battle of Lincoln, on the other hand, we find the defensive element acting88 alone and suffering defeat, though not disgrace; for the dismounted knights who stood round Stephen fought with all the old obstinacy89 and yielded only to overwhelming numbers. Thus, though two generations had passed since the Conquest, the English methods of fighting were still in full vigour90, and the future of English infantry bade fair to be assured.
Nor was the cavalry neglected; for amid all the earnest of this turbulent reign there was introduced the mimic91 warfare known as the tournament. This was an invention of the hot-blooded, combative92 French, and had been originally so close an imitation of genuine battle, that the Popes had intervened to prohibit the employment therein of any but blunt weapons. The tournament being not a duel93 of man against man, but a contest of troop against troop, was a training not only for individual gallantry, but for tactics, drill, discipline, and leadership; victory turning mainly on skilful94 handling and on the preservation95 of compact order. Thus by the blending of English foot and Norman horse was laid, earlier than in any other country of Europe, the foundation of an army wherein both branches took an equal share of work in the day of action.
1181.
The next in succession of our kings was a great soldier and a great administrator96, yet the work that he did for the army was curiously97 mixed. Engaged as he was incessantly99 in war, he felt more than others the imperfection of the feudal as a military system. The number of knights that could be summoned to his standard was very small, and was diminished still further by constant evasion100 of obligations. He therefore regulated the commutation of personal military service for payment in money, and formed it, under the old name[12] of scutage, into a permanent institution. Advantage was generally taken of the system, and with the money thus obtained he took Braban?on mercenaries, the prototypes of the landsknechts of a later time, permanently101 into his pay. When he needed the feudal force to supplement these mercenaries, he fell back on the device of ordering every three knights to furnish and equip one of their number for service; and finally, driven to extremity102, he re-established the old English fyrd as a National Militia103 by the Assize of Arms. This, the earliest of enactments104 for the organisation of our national forces, and the basis of all that followed down to the reign of Philip and Mary, contained the following provisions:—
Every holder105 of one knight's fee shall have a coat of mail,[6] a helmet, a shield, and a lance; and every knight as many coats of mail, helmets, shields, and lances as there are fees in his domain106.
Every free layman107 having in chattels108 or rent to the value of sixteen marks shall keep the same equipment.
Every free layman having in chattels or rent ten marks, shall keep an habergeon,[7] a chaplet[8] of iron, and a lance.
All burgesses and the whole community of freemen shall have a wambais,[9] a chaplet of iron, and a lance.
It is noteworthy that neither the bow nor the axe appear in this list of the national weapons, an omission110 for which it is difficult to account, since the bow was evidently in full use at the time. Possibly the temptation to employ it for purposes of poaching may have been so strong as to make the authorities hesitate to enjoin111 the keeping of a bow in every poor freeman's house. The influence of the poacher will be found [13]equally potent112 when the time comes for the introduction of firearms.
Richard the Lion-Heart, like his predecessors113, preferred to employ mercenaries for his wars, while even the knights who accompanied him to the Crusade were in receipt of pay. Were it not that his achievements in the Holy Land had left little mark on English military history they would be well worthy109 of a detailed114 narrative115, for Richard was beyond dispute a really great soldier, a good engineer, and a remarkably116 able commander. The story of his march from Joppa to Jerusalem and of his victory at Arsouf is known to few, but it remains117 to all time an example of consummate118 military skill. A mixed force compounded of many nations is never very easy to control, and it was doubly difficult when the best of it was composed of knights who hated the very name of subordination. Yet it was with such material, joined to a huge body of half-disciplined infantry, that Richard executed a flank march in the presence of the most formidable of living generals, and repulsed him brilliantly when he ventured, at an extremely trying moment, to attack. The plan of the campaign, the arrangements and orders for the march, the drill and discipline imposed on the knights, and the handling of the troops in the action are all alike admirable. Yet, as has been already stated, the lessons of the Crusades wrought119 little influence in England, mainly because she had already learned from her own experience the value of a heavily armed infantry, and of the tactical combination of missile and striking weapons. In the rest of Europe they were for a time remembered but very soon forgotten;[10] and England was then once more left alone with her secret.
Two small relics121 of the Crusades must however find mention in this place. The first is the employment of the cross as a mark for distinguishing the warriors122 of different nations, which became in due time the recognised[14] substitute for uniform among European soldiers. Each nation took a different colour for its cross, that of the English being at first white, which, curiously enough, is now the regular facing for English regiments of infantry. The second relic120 is the military band which, there seems to be little doubt, was copied from the Saracens. In their armies trumpets123 and drums, the latter decidedly an Oriental instrument, were used to indicate a rallying-point; for though at ordinary times the standards sufficed to show men the places of their leaders, yet in the dust of battle these were often hidden from sight; and it was therefore the rule to gather the minstrels (such was the English term) around the standards, and bid them blow and beat strenuously124 and unceasingly during the action. The silence of the band was taken as a proof that a battalion had been broken and that the colours were in danger; and the fashion lasted so long that even in the seventeenth century the bandsmen in all pictures of battles are depicted125, drawn126 up at a safe distance and energetically playing.
1214.
The reign of King John accentuated127 still further the weak points of the English feudal system as a military organisation. The principle introduced by the Conqueror128 had been to claim for the sovereign direct feudal authority over every landholder in the country, suffering no intermediate class of virtually independent vassals129, such as existed in France, to intercept130 the service of those who owed duty to him. Of the advantages of this innovation mention shall presently be made elsewhere, but at this point it is necessary to dwell only on its military defects. The whole efficiency of the feudal system turned on the creation of a caste of warriors; and such a caste can obviously be built up only by the grant of certain exclusive privileges. The English knights possessed131 no such privileges. There were no special advantages bound up with the tenure132 of a fief. Far from enjoying immunity133 from taxation134, as in France and Germany, the knights were obliged to pay not only the imposts[15] required of all classes, but scutage into the bargain. Again the winning of a knight's fee lay open to all ranks of freemen, so that it could not be regarded as the hereditary135 possession of a proud nobility. Yet again, the grant of the honour of knighthood was the exclusive right of the sovereign, who converted it simply into an instrument of extortion. Briefly, there was no inducement to English knights faithfully to perform their service; the sovereign took everything and gave nothing; and at last they would endure such oppression no longer. When John required a feudal force, in the year 1205, he was obliged to arrange that every ten knights should equip one of their number for service. Moreover, the knights who did serve him showed no merit; the English contingent136 at Bouvines having covered itself with anything but glory. Finally, came mutiny and rebellion and the Great Charter, wherein the express stipulation137 that fiefs should be both alienable and divisible crushed all hopes of an hereditary caste of warriors for ever.
1252.
After the Charter the national force was composed nominally138 of three elements, the tenants139 in chief with their armed vassals, the minor140 tenants in chief, and the freemen subject to the Assize of Arms, the last two being both under the orders of the sheriffs. It made an imposing141 show on paper, but was difficult to bring efficient into the field. No man was more shameless than Henry the Third in forcing knighthood, for the sake of the fees, upon all free landholders whom he thought rich enough to support the dignity; yet, when the question became one not of money but of armed men, he was forced to fall back on the same resource as his greater namesake. He simply issued a writ142 for the enforcement of the Assize of Arms, and ordered the sheriffs to furnish a fixed contingent of men-at-arms, to be provided by the men of the county who were subject thereto.
1282.
The defects of feudal influence in military matters were now so manifest, that Edward the First tried[16] hard to do away with them altogether. Strictly143 speaking the feudal force was summoned by a special writ addressed to the barons, ordering them to appear with their due proportion of men and horses, and by similar directions to the sheriffs to warn the tenants in chief within their bailiwicks. The system was however, so cumbrous and ineffective that Edward superseded144 it by issuing commissions to one or two leading men of the county to muster145 and array the military forces. These Commissions of Array, as they were called, will come before us again so late as in the reign of Charles the First.
1285.
But, like all his predecessors, Edward was careful to cherish the national militia which had grown out of the fyrd. The Statute of Winchester re-enacted the Assize of Arms and redistributed the force into new divisions armed with new weapons. The wealthiest class of freemen was now required to keep a hauberk[11] of iron, a sword and a knife, and a horse. The two lower classes were now subdivided146 into four, whereof the first was to keep the same arms as the wealthiest, the horse excepted; the second a sword, bow and arrows, and a knife; the third battle-axes, knives, and "other less weapons," in which last are included bills;[12] and the rest bows and arrows, or if they lived in the forest, bows and bolts, the latter being probably less deadly to the king's deer than arrows. Here then was the axe of Harold's day revived, and the archers established by statute. It is evident, from the fact that they wore no defensive armour, that the archers were designed to be light infantry, swift and mobile in their limbs, skilful and deadly with their weapons. The name of Edward the First must be ever memorable in our history for the encouragement that he gave to [17]the long-bow; but we seek in vain for the man, if such there was, who founded the tradition, still happily strong among us, that the English whatever their missile weapon shall always be good shots. Even at the siege of Messina by Richard the First the archers drove the Sicilians from the walls; "for no man could look out of doors but he would have an arrow in his eye before he could shut it."
1297.
1298.
The bowmen had not long been a statutory force before they were called upon for active service. The defeat of the English by William Wallace at Cambuskenneth had summoned Edward from France to take the field in person against the Scots; and he met them on the field of Falkirk. The Scottish army consisted for the most part of infantry armed with pikes, not yet the long pikes of eighteen feet which they were to wield147 so gallantly148 under Gustavus Adolphus, but still a good and formidable weapon. Wallace drew them up behind a marsh149 in four circular battalions ringed in with stakes, posting his light troops, which were armed principally with the short-bow, in the intervals between them, and his one weak body of horse in rear. The English knights were formed as usual in column of three divisions, vanguard, battle and rearguard, and with them was a strong force of archers. Untrue to its old traditions, the English cavalry did not dismount, but galloped150 straight to the attack. The first division plunged151 headlong into the swamp (for the medi?val knight, in spite of a hundred warnings, rarely took the trouble to examine the ground before him), did no execution, and suffered heavy loss. The second division, under the Bishop152 of Durham, then skirted the swamp and came in sight of the Scottish horse. The Bishop hesitated and called a halt. "Back to your mass, Bishop," answered one contemptuous knight. His comrades charged, dispersed the Scottish cavalry, and drove away the archers between the pikemen; but the four battalions stood firm and unbroken, and the knights surged round them in vain.[18] Then the king brought up the archers and the third division of horse. Pushing the archers forward, he held the cavalry back in support until an incessant98 rain of arrows had riddled153 the Scottish battalions through and through, and then hurling154 the knights forward into the broken ranks, he fairly swept them from the field. It was the old story, heavy fire of artillery155 followed by charges of cavalry, the training of the Scots as Hastings had been of the English, for the trial of Waterloo.
1314.
It is interesting to note that Edward made an effort even then for the constitutional union of the two countries which had so honourably156 lost and won the day at Falkirk, but he was four centuries before his time. The war continued with varying fortune during the ensuing years. The maker157 of the English archers died, and under his feeble son the English army learned at Bannockburn an ignominious158 lesson in tactics. The Scotch159 army, forty thousand strong, was composed principally of pikemen, who were drawn up, as at Falkirk, in four battalions, with the burn in their front and broken ground on either flank. Their cavalry, numbering a thousand, a mere79 handful compared to the host of the English men-at-arms, was kept carefully in hand. Edward opened the action by advancing his archers to play on the Scottish infantry, but omitted to support them; and Bruce, seeing his opportunity, let loose his thousand horse on their flank and rolled them up in confusion. The English cavalry then dashed in disorder160 against the serried161 pikes, failed, partly from want of space and partly from bad management, to make the slightest impression on them, and were driven off in shameful162 and humiliating defeat. So the English learned that their famous archers could not hold their own against cavalry without support,[13] and they took the lesson to[19] heart. The old system of dismounting the men-at-arms had been for the moment abandoned with disastrous163 results; the man who was to revive it had been born at Windsor Castle just two years before the fight.
1327.
1333.
Thirteen years later this boy ascended164 the throne of England as King Edward the Third, and almost immediately marched with a great host against the Scots. The campaign came to an end without any decisive engagement, but on the one occasion when an action seemed imminent165, the English men-at-arms dismounted and put off their spurs after the old English fashion. Peace was made, but only to be broken by the Scots, and then Edward took his revenge for Bannockburn at Halidon Hill. The English men-at-arms alighted from their horses, and were formed into four battalions, each of them flanked by wings of archers, the identical formation adopted two centuries later for the pikemen and musketeers. The Scots, whose numbers were far superior, were also formed on foot in four battalions, but without the strength of archers. "And then," says the old historian,[14] "the English minstrels blew aloud their trumpets and sounded their pipes and other instruments of martial166 music, and marched furiously to meet the Scots." The archers shot so thick and fast that the enemy, unable to endure it, broke their ranks, and then the English men-at-arms leaped on to their horses for the pursuit. The Scotch strove gallantly to rally in small bodies, but they were borne down or swept away; they are said to have lost ten thousand slain167 out of sixty thousand that entered the battle.
The mounting of the men-at-arms for the pursuit gave the finishing touch to the English tactical methods, and the nation was now ready for war on a grander[20] scale. Moreover, there was playing round the knees of good Queen Philippa a little boy of three years old who was destined168 to be the victor of Poitiers. It is therefore time, while the quarrel which led to the Hundred Years' War is maturing, to observe the point to which two centuries and a half of progress had brought English military organisation.
Authorities.—By far the best, so far as I know the only, account of the rise of English tactics and of English military power is to be found in Die Entwickelung des Kriegswesens in der Ritterzeit, by Major-General K?hler, vol. ii. pp. 356 sq., and vol. v. pp. 97 sq., a work to which my obligations must be most gratefully acknowledged. The authorities are faithfully and abundantly quoted. Freeman's Norman Conquest, Mr. J. H. Round's Feudal England, Hewitt's Ancient Armour, Oman's Art of War in the Middle Ages, Grose's Military Antiquities169, and Rymer's F?dera are authorities which will occur to every one, as also the Constitutional Histories of Hallam, Stubbs, and Gneist.
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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binds
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| v.约束( bind的第三人称单数 )；装订；捆绑；（用长布条）缠绕 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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abide
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| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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10
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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conformity
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| n.一致，遵从，顺从 | |
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tenacity
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| n.坚韧 | |
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harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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15
unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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16
afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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18
herald
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| vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎 | |
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19
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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20
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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21
statute
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| n.成文法，法令，法规；章程，规则，条例 | |
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22
recede
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| vi.退(去)，渐渐远去；向后倾斜，缩进 | |
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23
manifestation
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| n.表现形式；表明；现象 | |
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24
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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25
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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26
blight
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| n.枯萎病；造成破坏的因素；vt.破坏，摧残 | |
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27
revival
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| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
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28
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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29
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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30
victuals
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| n.食物；食品 | |
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31
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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32
organisation
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| n.组织，安排，团体，有机休 | |
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33
levies
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| （部队）征兵( levy的名词复数 )； 募捐； 被征募的军队 | |
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34
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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35
darts
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| n.掷飞镖游戏；飞镖( dart的名词复数 )；急驰，飞奔v.投掷，投射( dart的第三人称单数 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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36
defensive
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| adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的 | |
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37
armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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38
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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39
battalions
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| n.（陆军的）一营（大约有一千兵士）( battalion的名词复数 )；协同作战的部队；军队；（组织在一起工作的）队伍 | |
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40
battalion
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| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
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41
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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42
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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43
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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44
crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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45
trench
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| n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕 | |
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46
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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47
slanting
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| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
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48
outwards
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| adj.外面的，公开的，向外的；adv.向外；n.外形 | |
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49
victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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50
fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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51
enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52
annihilated
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| v.（彻底）消灭( annihilate的过去式和过去分词 )；使无效；废止；彻底击溃 | |
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53
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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54
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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55
chafing
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| n.皮肤发炎v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的现在分词 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
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56
forsook
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| forsake的过去式 | |
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57
repulsed
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| v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 )；驳斥；拒绝 | |
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58
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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59
knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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60
reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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61
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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62
yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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63
reigns
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| n.君主的统治( reign的名词复数 )；君主统治时期；任期；当政期 | |
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64
breakdown
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| n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌 | |
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65
feudal
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| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
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66
rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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67
knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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68
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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69
dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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70
rabble
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| n.乌合之众，暴民；下等人 | |
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71
rivalry
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| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
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72
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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73
rebellious
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| adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的 | |
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74
barons
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| 男爵( baron的名词复数 )； 巨头； 大王； 大亨 | |
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75
desultory
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| adj.散漫的，无方法的 | |
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76
archers
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| n.弓箭手，射箭运动员( archer的名词复数 ) | |
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77
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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78
overthrown
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| adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词 | |
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79
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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80
supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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81
ordaining
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| v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的现在分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定 | |
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82
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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83
butts
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| 笑柄( butt的名词复数 )； （武器或工具的）粗大的一端； 屁股； 烟蒂 | |
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84
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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85
memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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86
havoc
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| n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱 | |
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87
muskets
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| n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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88
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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89
obstinacy
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| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
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90
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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91
mimic
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| v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人 | |
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92
combative
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| adj.好战的；好斗的 | |
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93
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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94
skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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95
preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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96
administrator
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| n.经营管理者，行政官员 | |
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97
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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98
incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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99
incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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100
evasion
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| n.逃避，偷漏(税) | |
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101
permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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102
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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103
militia
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| n.民兵，民兵组织 | |
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104
enactments
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| n.演出( enactment的名词复数 )；展现；规定；通过 | |
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105
holder
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| n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物 | |
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106
domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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107
layman
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| n.俗人，门外汉，凡人 | |
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108
chattels
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| n.动产，奴隶( chattel的名词复数 ) | |
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109
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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110
omission
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| n.省略，删节；遗漏或省略的事物，冗长 | |
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111
enjoin
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| v.命令；吩咐；禁止 | |
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112
potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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113
predecessors
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| n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身 | |
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114
detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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115
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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116
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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117
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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118
consummate
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| adj.完美的；v.成婚；使完美 [反]baffle | |
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119
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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120
relic
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| n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物 | |
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121
relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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122
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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123
trumpets
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| 喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 )； 小号； 喇叭形物； （尤指）绽开的水仙花 | |
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124
strenuously
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| adv.奋发地，费力地 | |
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125
depicted
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| 描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述 | |
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126
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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127
accentuated
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| v.重读( accentuate的过去式和过去分词 )；使突出；使恶化；加重音符号于 | |
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128
conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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129
vassals
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| n.奴仆( vassal的名词复数 )；（封建时代）诸侯；从属者；下属 | |
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130
intercept
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| vt.拦截，截住，截击 | |
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131
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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132
tenure
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| n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期 | |
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133
immunity
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| n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权 | |
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134
taxation
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| n.征税，税收，税金 | |
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135
hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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136
contingent
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| adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队 | |
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137
stipulation
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| n.契约，规定，条文；条款说明 | |
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138
nominally
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| 在名义上，表面地； 应名儿 | |
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139
tenants
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| n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者 | |
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140
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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141
imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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142
writ
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| n.命令状，书面命令 | |
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143
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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144
superseded
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| [医]被代替的，废弃的 | |
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muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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subdivided
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| 再分，细分( subdivide的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wield
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| vt.行使，运用，支配；挥，使用(武器等) | |
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148
gallantly
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| adv. 漂亮地，勇敢地，献殷勤地 | |
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149
marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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151
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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153
riddled
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| adj.布满的；充斥的；泛滥的v.解谜，出谜题(riddle的过去分词形式) | |
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154
hurling
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| n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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155
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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156
honourably
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| adv.可尊敬地，光荣地，体面地 | |
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maker
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| n.制造者，制造商 | |
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ignominious
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| adj.可鄙的，不光彩的，耻辱的 | |
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159
scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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serried
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| adj.拥挤的；密集的 | |
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162
shameful
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| adj.可耻的，不道德的 | |
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163
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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164
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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martial
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| adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的 | |
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slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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168
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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169
antiquities
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| n.古老( antiquity的名词复数 )；古迹；古人们；古代的风俗习惯 | |
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