CHAP. VII.] 



DECLINE OF FEUDALISM. 



195 



sixteenth century, and long after the invention of 

 gunpowder should have exerted a great influence upon it. 



The cost of maintaining a knight, however, was very- 

 great, including, as it did, his esquire and followers, and 

 it can be readily understood that when mercenary 

 armies became the mainstay of monarchies, efibrts would 

 be made to utilise an infantry force that could be 

 easily raised, and could be maintained at a cost far below 

 what would be required to secure the service of knights 

 and men-at-arms. 



The cities of Italy were probably the first in the 

 middle ages to raise armies and hire foreign troops. 

 This was done by Pa via and Milan as far back as 1057.^ 

 Milan, before the middle of the twelfth century, had a 

 very great population, far beyond that of the capitals of 

 the great kingdoms. The city was strongly fortified, 

 and the industrious citizens were free from the attacks 

 of armed pillagers and the oppression of feudal tyrants. 

 The artizans had the right to bear arms in their own 

 defence, and the military organisation was based upon 

 the division of the people into trades, who marched 

 under their distinctive banners. Milan, in 1288, had in 

 her army 8,000 gentlemen, or heavy cavalry, and 

 240,000 men capable of bearing arms, while her territory 

 did not exceed probably 600 or 700 square miles.'' 



The power of the cities of Germany at this time was 

 also ver)'- great. The citizens emulated the knights in 

 skill and bravery, and far surpassed them in military 

 knowledge, fighting in serried ranks and with better 

 order. ^ 



Although the infantry of these cities, both in Germany, 

 France, and Italy, were much better than the foot-soldiers 

 of the feudal armies, they were not as yet able to meet 

 the men-at-arms of the age with any chance of sue .?S3. 

 The plate armour, which had replaced the coat of rja-l 

 that had been the principal defence m the early Crusades, 

 was impervious to the blows of either spear, javelin, or 

 arrow, so that the heavy armed cuirassiers who were 



' Hallam, Middle Ages, i. 368. « Hallam, i. 392. « Menzel, 

 ch. 180. 



