200 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. 



[period II. 



English oppressior based upon a system of mercenary 

 soldiers. The ci' ad provinces levied taxes to pay 



the troops. I aoc alone maintained 10,000 men, 



5,000 of then ig heavy men-at-arms, 1,000 sergents- 



d-cheval, and -.^ , jO crossbowmen and pavoissiers. It is 

 remarkable that in granting these supplies and raising 

 these troops the citizens stipulated for the right to enrol 

 in the bodies of cavalry, in which nobles alone had pre- 

 viously been admitted ; so that after that period armies 

 consisted of the noble, the middle, and the plebeian classes.^ 



The free companies of adventurers were composed 

 of the poorer nobles and knights who had no patrimony 

 and no profession open to them save that of arms.^ 

 They were generally all mounted, and consisted of 

 knights, esquires, and archers. These bands do not 

 appear to have been much employed in England, al- 

 though they were continually used in the armies of the 

 English kings while at war on the Continent, con- 

 sequently England did not suffer in peace from the 

 ravages of the disbanded mercenaries. 



In France, however, in the midst of peace, the great 

 companies kept together, and levied contributions as if 

 on a conquered countiy.^ They were the worst kind of 

 bandits, murder, robbery, and destruction marking their 

 progress at every step. Many attempts were made to 

 destroy or scatter them. 



It was in Italy, however, that the great companies 

 assumed the largest proportions, and exerted the most 

 important influence upon the history of the country. 

 They were chiefly composed of Germans, and were quite 

 indiflerent to the cause for which they fought, their only 

 inducement being the highest pay and the greatest 

 plunder. They passed from one service to the other 

 without the slightest compunction, and apparently 

 without any discredit.* 



In time of universal peace, however, these adventurous 

 soldiers lost their only means of livelihood, and were 

 left in a very unpleasant position in a foreign country. 

 The result was that when peace was made the companies, 



' Boutaric, 254. 2 ibid. 257. » ibid, * Hallam, i. 470. 



