10-22-2006, 09:31 PM
Felix
The examples listed by Ayton have some problems, AFAIK not one of them is a direct muster roll or pay roll, but instead they are inferences of deductions.
For example, the forces of Edward I at Falkirk, there is a pay roll that list all the Horsemen in the Roayl Household, and the jnumber is 1.300, to that the feudal levy has to be added, but estimations are greatly variable, normally between 500 and 1.000, the 1.700 estimated by Ayton clearly are in the high top estimation.
For the infantry there is no direct pay roll, but instead we have the summons to the Northern counties, but those always failed to produced the required numbers (at least everytime we had muster rolls to check them) In 1.300 Edward I summoned 16.000 but the maximum he had enlisted at any time in the campaign were 9.200. In 1322 Edward II summoned 39.000 infantry from all over the Kingdom, but only 4.449 were mustered finally.
The French examples, besides being deductions, are on global forces, not on individual field armies. As an example, in 1451 the force for the invasion of Guyenne was 6.555 Horse and about 7.000 foot, however this force was divided into 3 field armies.
The Italian examples are very misleading, they are mainly condotta, not real forces. The Hungarian example if I am not mistaken is from literary source, but I would have to check that.
So, I would say the list is somehow manipulated to support Ayton thesis
The examples listed by Ayton have some problems, AFAIK not one of them is a direct muster roll or pay roll, but instead they are inferences of deductions.
For example, the forces of Edward I at Falkirk, there is a pay roll that list all the Horsemen in the Roayl Household, and the jnumber is 1.300, to that the feudal levy has to be added, but estimations are greatly variable, normally between 500 and 1.000, the 1.700 estimated by Ayton clearly are in the high top estimation.
For the infantry there is no direct pay roll, but instead we have the summons to the Northern counties, but those always failed to produced the required numbers (at least everytime we had muster rolls to check them) In 1.300 Edward I summoned 16.000 but the maximum he had enlisted at any time in the campaign were 9.200. In 1322 Edward II summoned 39.000 infantry from all over the Kingdom, but only 4.449 were mustered finally.
The French examples, besides being deductions, are on global forces, not on individual field armies. As an example, in 1451 the force for the invasion of Guyenne was 6.555 Horse and about 7.000 foot, however this force was divided into 3 field armies.
The Italian examples are very misleading, they are mainly condotta, not real forces. The Hungarian example if I am not mistaken is from literary source, but I would have to check that.
So, I would say the list is somehow manipulated to support Ayton thesis
AKA Inaki
