DORSET SOLDIERS. 35 



later times, though they comment on the progress in military 

 art under Henry VIII. Thus the histories, whether local 

 or military, are not helpful ; but much (not of course all that 

 could be desired) has been extracted from the State Papers, 

 the registers of the Privy Council, muster rolls filed in the 

 Court of Exchequer, the manuscripts in the British Museum, 

 and some documents of a miscellaneous character which 

 contain incidental references to the matter in hand. It is 

 inevitable that there should be gaps in these records. Some 

 are either without indexes or imperfectly indexed, and further, 

 in such a great mass of documents, it is easy for the searcher 

 to overlook items of importance ; and it need occasion no 

 surprise if full information on many points is not always 

 forthcoming. 



Two general classes of soldiers have to be considered 

 here, viz. : the county troops or trained bands in which nearly 

 every man might be compelled to serve, and those who were 

 especially engaged for duties across the sea. None but the 

 former were ever employed within the kingdom of England, 

 while both classes intermingled might be sent on foreign 

 service. The county troops were of course the only permanent 

 force, always the stronger in numbers, and generally the 

 more efficient, and they will therefore receive the greater 

 share of attention in the following pages. It may be 

 observed that the term ' trained bands ' does not seem to 

 have been used in pre-Elizabethan times. 



The earliest view we have of the Dorset local forces is 

 found in a series of musters held in the years 1538 to 1543 ; 

 and we may consider ourselves fortunate that the Dorset 

 musters of so early a date are among those that have survived, 

 and that they are very nearly complete for the whole county. 

 The men, about 8,000 in number, assembled in various parts 

 of the shire, grouped under hundreds and tithings, liberties, 

 or boroughs, and comprised approximately all the male 

 population between the ages of 16 and 60 years. Peers, 

 clergy, and certain judicial officers were the only persons 

 legally exempt ; but in Tudor and Stuart times at least the 



