The majority of any army
Stories of the Middle Ages focus on knights, but infantry made up the bulk of most armies. Chroniclers often counted only the nobles and mentioned the foot soldiers vaguely, which is one reason their role is underrated. Numbers in medieval sources are unreliable, but it is widely accepted that foot soldiers outnumbered horsemen in nearly every army and did much of the fighting, digging, guarding and marching.
Who the foot soldiers were
Infantry came from several sources, and a single army might include all of them.
Levies. Rulers could call on free men to serve for a limited time. In Anglo-Saxon England, the fyrd was a levy of this kind, and its quality varied. At Stamford Bridge and Hastings in 1066, the English armies combined household troops with local forces. Levies were usually farmers with little training, equipped with whatever they had: spears, axes, knives, simple bows. They might serve a few weeks, which limited their value on long campaigns, and their obligations came in part from feudal duties and local custom.
Household and retinue troops. Great lords kept bands of professional or semi-professional soldiers, including archers and men-at-arms, who could fight on foot or horse. These men trained together and knew their commander.
Town militias. Cities in Flanders, Italy and elsewhere maintained citizen forces, often organized by guild or district. They defended walls and sometimes marched out. Their record was mixed but sometimes impressive.
Paid troops and mercenaries. From the 12th century onward, rulers hired soldiers for wages. Genoese crossbowmen, Flemish and Brabant pikemen and companies of professional soldiers appear in many conflicts. Some elite units, such as the Varangian Guard in Byzantium, were household infantry of a special kind. Paid troops could serve longer and were better trained, but they cost money and could be a problem if wages were not paid.
Contract armies. In the later Middle Ages, English kings signed indentures with captains who agreed to supply a set number of men for pay. This system gave rulers more reliable forces than feudal summons and spread the habit of paying for service.
Weapons and roles
Foot soldiers fought in several ways.
- Spearmen formed lines or blocks that protected against cavalry. The spear was cheap and versatile, and groups held formation by discipline. Longer pikes, used by Swiss and others in the late Middle Ages, took this further.
- Archers and crossbowmen shot at a distance, either behind defenses or in advance of a line. Welsh and English bowmen became known for skill, and many were drawn from the common people.
- Men-at-arms on foot wore heavy armor and fought with swords, axes and polearms. In the 14th century this became a common role for knights themselves.
- Light infantry such as slingers, javelin throwers and skirmishers harassed enemies, scouted, and fought in rough ground.
- Specialists such as sappers, carpenters and engineers prepared sieges and built bridges.
Infantry also did the endless background work of war: building camps, guarding supply lines, manning garrisons and taking part in assaults on fortifications, where numbers mattered more than horses.
Growing importance
Historians generally agree that the weight of infantry rose over the period, though the pattern was gradual and varied. Several events are used to illustrate this. The Scots at Bannockburn in 1314 are remembered for compact spear formations that turned back English horse. The English victory at Crecy in 1346, with archers and dismounted men-at-arms on a chosen position, further showed what well-led infantry could do. Swiss forces gained a reputation in the 14th and 15th centuries, and soon their pikemen were hired abroad.
Behind this lay social and economic change. Growing towns and money economies made it easier to pay soldiers. Rulers wanted forces that could serve for the whole season and that were not tied to feudal limits. Training and discipline could turn commoners into reliable troops, and those troops proved cheaper to field than knights.
Not every case fits the story of foot soldiers replacing knights. Cavalry stayed important for mobility, raiding and pursuit, and many successful armies mixed both. It is more accurate to say the balance shifted than that one arm replaced the other.
Life in the ranks
Infantry life was hard. Common soldiers marched long distances with limited food. Illness spread through camps, often killing more men than fighting. Pay might be late or fail altogether, and plunder was a major incentive. Some soldiers, such as English archers on indenture, could earn a steady wage and a chance at loot; others, especially levies, served reluctantly and returned to their fields as soon as they could.
Soldiers from humble backgrounds usually had little political voice, but their service did sometimes affect society. Armed commoners who had fought for their lords brought skills home, a point historians raise when discussing revolts, though the connection is debated.
Why it matters
Understanding infantry shows that medieval war was not just a contest between noble warriors. It relied on ordinary people, from conscripted farmers to skilled professionals, and the changing ways they were recruited, paid and led help explain why armies of the late Middle Ages looked so different from those of the early period.