Medieval European Warfare Research Paper

Medieval European Warfare
Weapons
In early to mid Medieval Europe, the armies had nothing very complicated. The nobles had solid iron weapons, and the not as rich had brass coated in iron. There was the lance, the spear, the pike, throwing axe, battle axe, short sword, the horsebow, the longsword, broadsword, dagger, shortbow, longbow, crossbow, mallet, mace, greatsword, serrated sword, halberd, throwing knives, and the wrist knife. The lance, dagger, longsword, and horse bow were generally used by cavalry. The lance, battle axe, longsword, broadsword, dagger, mace, greatsword, and the halberd were used by men-at-arms, or knights. The serrated sword, throwing daggers, shortbow, and wrist knife were used by assasins. The longbow, mallet,
Everybody immediately began developing weapons with it. The French invented the cannon and firearm, making France a major power with England and also lead to the downfall of many lesser nobles who couldn't afford cannon-proof fortifications. Castles were expensive anyway (as much as 13,000,000 ducats) so the lesser nobles could barely afford a regular castle(considering a king got 12 million ducats a year). The weapons used for seige warfare were the ballista, battering ram, and seige tower that could allow experienced archers to have more
Two armies would throw their infantry at each other and charge with the cavalry when the general deemed it right. The stronger army always won because there was no "coming in on the left flank" or "drawing your enemy into an ambush" or any of that stuff. But it didn't take long for the English to discover the usefulness of archers. They used yeomen, English farmers who were good with the longbow. The English army contained 80-90% yeomen with the rest being men-at-arms. Each 100 yeomen (called a century) were led by a centenaur, who repeated the orders of the Master of the Archers (a knight who was uncommon, for he was skilled with the longbow). The Master of the Archers told them when and where to shoot, sending about 60,000 arrows a minute at the enemy. When the opposing army had been reduced, the yeomen teamed up on the nobles and captured them for ransom. This made the yeomen very rich, for ransoms could be as much as thousands of ducats. The Swiss also had a good deal going. They reinvented the Greek phalanx with less armor and more maneuverability so they couldn't get hit in the flanks.

Qualities of a Good Soldier For men-at-arms, some good qualities were a code of honor (chivalry), weapons skill, good horsemanship, and rich (needed enough money for horse, armor, and weapons). For yeomen, good qualities were discipline, skill with a bow, and flexibility (could be called to war at any time by the king). For infantry,