Feudal Statistics 99 



Wrottesley], states this to have been the most 

 complete expedition despatched from England till 

 the i 9th century. 



In 14 Hen. II. and 38 Hen. III. are some 

 1 1 and 9 cases of services of upwards of 100 fees Supposed 

 (to escuage), and yet one thinks the authors of < 

 the accepted theory of all the feudal milites* ' 

 doing service together in the same army would 

 be particularly distressed to prove an actual service 

 in the army of 20 fees even in 5 cases, or of 

 40, 50, or 100 fees in any single case whatsoever : 

 40 may have been a possible number, as the Earl 

 of Salisbury allows such to be his debt in exercitu 

 in 1166 (fees to scutage 56$ and 55^, 18 Hen. II. 

 and 38 Hen. III.) but the Baronial Charters 

 themselves often furnish undeniable witness that 

 the services are of divers natures. There is fairly 

 ample evidence as to the armies of John and Popular 

 Hen. III., and no lack of same /. Ed. I. II., and K^ht 

 in no casef (ut videtur mihi) anything approach- probable" 1 " 

 ing 20 milites by any baron; nor is it likely that^. nd 

 (in the earlier period) all the feudal milites could upport of 

 have been entirely withdrawn from the Castles, Records 

 especially on the Welsh and Scotch borders, thus 



* Milites a difficult term, Wm. I. to Hen. II., and scarcely 

 quite equivalent to the same /. Hen. III. to Ed. I. ; in 38 

 Hen. III. the Bannerets and Bachelors by tenure might total 

 1,000, or possibly 1,500; /. Ed. I. there is evidence of a 

 considerable force, including the vadlets,servientes,or esquires, 

 but by far the more part of same ad vadia nostra. 



f Earl Richard (89 fees et amplius} led 20 milites and 

 40 servientes (probably archers on foot for the more part) in 

 the army of Wales, (Pipe Roll, u Hen. II.). 



72 



