DORSET SOLDIERS. 37 



a gorgett, or a gleve ; but far more were entirely unprotected. 

 Probably a similar body of men, equipped in not very different 

 fashion, might have been seen at the same places on several 

 occasions during the preceding hundred years or more. 



Everyone provided, or was called en to provide, men and 

 equipment according to his estate. There were knights 

 and esquires who maintained twenty to thirty men-at-arms ; 

 but these were exceptional, and frequently the larger land- 

 owners contributed no more than half these numbers, or 

 perhaps half a dozen mounted archers carrying bow and 

 arrows, sword and dagger. The lesser gentlemen, merchants, 

 rich farmers, and the better sort of yeomen were usually 

 held responsible for a well-armed and protected man or iiwo 

 either mounted or on foot. Those still lower in the social 

 scale brought to the muster merely a bow and arrows or a 

 bill ; and the poor, having absolutely nothing, came empty- 

 handed. There is frequent mention of the tithing harness, 

 often accompanied by arms, which were the property of 

 the tithing and appropriated to the arming of some of 

 the poorer inhabitants, and for some reason the parson of 

 Long Crichel had to send a bcw and twelve arrows. Some 

 scores of aliens appeared in the ranks, either French or 

 " Douche," the latter term including perhaps more than one 

 nationality ; but none of the aliens were classed as effectives. 

 Throughout the muster rolls the " able " are distinguished 

 from those who from age or other cause were not considered 

 fit for ordinary service ; but the system of classification was 

 not uniform in all the districts. From a Roy Roll of Henry 

 the Eight's reign, however, it appears that from all the 

 heterogeneous elements which have been described, an 

 effective force was evolved numbering 1,487 archers and 

 1,347 billmen, 2,834 in all, considerably less than half of 

 whom were furnished with protective armour. 



In subsequent years many returns were made of the able 

 men in Dorset, the strength being often below 4,000 and 

 sometimes as high as 6,000. It is remarkable that the 

 returns show a reduction in numbers when, as in 1588 and 



