A HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE 



William Malveisin, Richard de Stretton, John de Miners, Thomas Wyther, 

 John de Swynnerton, William de Stafford, and the elder and younger Hugh 

 de Audley. 



On the other hand, for their loyal services, John de Somery, whom we 

 have seen lording it over the county, and Ralph Basset of Drayton, were 

 rewarded by grants of manors. 18 * 



Such rebellious conduct as that of Lancaster could only be followed 

 by the seizing of his estates into the king's hands ; but on the accession of 

 Edward III an Act of Parliament reversed the attainder, and Henry the 

 brother of Thomas succeeded to nearly all his vast possessions. 123 An in- 

 quisition taken at that time mentions the following in Staffordshire : Tutbury 

 Castle, Tutbury, Rolleston, Barton, Agardsley, Marchington, Uttoxeter, 

 Needwood Chase, Yoxall Manor, Rowley Park, Newcastle under Lyme, 

 Keele. m 



In 1333, when Edward was raising forces for the endless wars against 

 Scotland, the greater part of the 1,000 foot soldiers to be raised from Salop 

 and Staffordshire were to be archers, and it was by the bowmen's shafts that ' 

 the battle of Halidon Hill was won and Bannockburn avenged. Edward III 

 had profited by the tactical ability and experience of his grandfather, the 

 first great encourager of the use of the long bow. 



The writ summoning sixty hobelars m or light horsemen from the 

 county in 1335 shows that the light cavalryman of the day was somewhat 

 heavily armed. He was to have a horse, an aketone, or heavily-plated 

 doublet, a bacinet, a ' pisam ' or a ' colarettum,' steel gloves, sword, dagger 

 and lance, or other arms. 126 They differed from the pauncenars in not having 

 a habergeon or sleeveless coat of chain mail, and as a rule the hobelars 

 did not carry lances. The heavy cavalry of the time was composed of the 

 men-at-arms, so-called because they were covered with defensive armour 

 from head to foot, while their horses after 1298 were also heavily protected. 

 These men at arms were all squires and knights. 



In 1336 the military equipment of the time is further illustrated in 

 the arms demanded from the 2,000 men arrayed by Staffordshire in that 

 year. Those having land or rent between 40 and 20 were to be provided 

 with competent arms and horses according to the late proclamation of the 

 king; those having 15 of land, or chattels to the value of 40 marks, with 

 a hauberk, steel cap, sword, dagger, and horse; those with 10 of land or 

 chattels to the value of 20 marks with hauberk, steel cap, sword, and dagger; 

 those having IOQJ. of land with a steel cap, sword, and dagger, and lastly those 

 having land between 4OJ. and IDOJ. with sword, bow, arrows, and dagger. 127 



At the commencement of the great war with France the English 

 armies were raised by commissioners of array, who chose from each county 

 a certain number of men-at-arms, archers, and other soldiers, and from the 



a Coll. (Salt Arch. Soc.), viii, 43. 



ln Mosley, Hist, of Tutbury, 57, 58 ; Rymer, Foedera (orig. ed.), iv, 285. 

 IM Cat. of Inf. p.m. (Rec. Com.), ii, 8. 

 115 So called from the hobbies or ponies on which they rode. 



IK ' 



' These men seem more heavily armed than the ordinary hobelar, whose arms are stated by Fortescue 

 (Hist, of the Army, \, 28) to have been merely an iron helmet, aketon, gloves, and sword ; Coll. (Salt Arch. 

 Soc.), viii, 53. Bacinet, according to Littre, was a kind of bonnet placed under the helmet ; colarettum, 

 a gorget ; pisam, a weight (?) 



117 Coll. (Salt Arch. Soc.), viii, 57 



234 



