[1] I must mention here that where reference is made to Mr. Oman's Art of War, the volume alluded to is the short essay, published in 1885, not the larger and far more important work of the same author, which, to my great misfortune, appeared too late for me to avail myself of it.

[2] An alien captain of the garrison of Hereford tried in 1055 to break through this custom. "Anglos contra morem in equis pugnare jussit" (see Hewitt, vol. i. p. 17).

[3] This seems to be the simplest and likeliest solution of the problem of the palisade, which has provoked such acrimonious controversy (see Köhler, vol. i. p. 8).

[4] Oman.

[5] A single line of course must not be understood as a single rank. It was a line of wedges or, as we should now say, a line of columns.

[6] The coat of mail was made of rings or scales of iron sewn on to leather.

[7] The habergeon was a similar but smaller coat without sleeves.

[8] The chaplet was an iron scull-cap without vizor.

[9] The wambais was a doublet padded with cotton, wool or hair, and generally covered with leather.

[10] The mortality among horses and the difficulty of obtaining remounts frequently forced the crusading knights to fight afoot.

[11] The hauberk was a complete suit of mail, a hood joined to a jacket with sleeves, breeches, stockings, shoes and gauntlets of double chain-mail.

[12] A bill was a broad curved blade mounted at the end of a seven-foot shaft, sometimes with a point and a hook added.

[13] Mr. Oman (Art of War in the Middle Ages, p. 104) holds the opinion that to force a line of long-bowmen by a mere front attack was a task almost as hopeless for cavalry as the breaking of a modern square, and would have it that archers needed support on their flanks only. With all respect I must reject this view, as opposed alike to history and common sense.

[14] Barnes.

[15] William of Ypres, who came to England in the pay of Stephen in 1138, is reckoned the first of the condottièri.

[16] Whence the French word destrier.

[17] From the German panzer, a coat of mail.

[18] A sleeveless coat of chain-mail.

[19] The earliest instance of uniform in modern Europe is found in the militia of the Flemish towns at the battle of Courtrai, 1302 (Köhler).

[20] The contract price of a bow in 1341 was, unpainted 1s., painted 1s. 6d.; of a sheaf of twenty-four arrows 1s. 2d. An archer's pay was 3d. a day.

[21] See 1 Samuel xx. 40.

[22] As the historian of the Royal Artillery has ignored this gentleman we may give his name, Thomas de Roldeston (see Hewitt, vol. ii. p. 289).

[23] What since the Zulu war we have called a laager, forgetting the English word that lay ready to our hand.

[24] The only authority for this is the rhymed chronicle of the Chandos herald, but, as Köhler observes, the proceeding was so natural, and, I may add, the invention of such a story so improbable, that it is difficult not to accept it.

[25] The sword is gone, but the scabbard remains.

[26] See for the whole scene Dean Stanley's Memorials of Canterbury.

[27] Sir Arthur Wellesley occupied the Spanish position on his march to Roliça (Conversations of the Duke of Wellington, p. 3).

[28] These had been recognised by a statute of 5 Henry IV., the enactment relied on later by Charles I.

[29] More correctly Azincourt.

[30] Monstrelet.

[31] See Philippe de Commines, bk. i. chap. iii. "[At the battle of Montlhéry, 1464] the most honourable persons fought on foot among the archers ... which order they learned of the English, who are the best shot in the world."

[32] The reader will observe how early cavalry fell into the fault which caused the loss of Naseby.

[33] "The same difficulty of a Lenten campaign cropped up at the siege of Orleans a century later. It was surmounted by the general's insisting that the papal legate, who was in the camp, should grant a dispensation, which he very unwillingly did; whereupon every man in the army 'pria Dieu fort pour M. le legat'" (Brantôme, ed. Elzev. vol. i. p. 225).

[34] He remains gibbeted, however, in the pages of Shakespeare, which is perhaps the worst fate that could have befallen him.

[35] 18 Henry VI. cap. 18.

[36] Robert Patillock.

[37] Oman's Warwick.

[38] Yet they were not all ruffians. In the Paston Letters some professional soldiers hired for private defence are described as gentlemanly comfortable fellows, and their employer is warned that they must not be put to sleep more than two in a bed (vol. ii. p. 327).

[39] The same thing has been seen at our autumn manœuvres.

[40] Allusion has already been made to the supplanting of the sheriff's authority by the barons in raising troops, and the consequent fashion of issuing liveries to the corps so formed. It is perhaps worth while to note and dismiss the minute point that the garrison of Calais, the only truly national force belonging at that moment to England, was clothed in scarlet jackets, and were the first English soldiers thus distinguished.

[41] Readers of Kenilworth will remember the ballad quoted by Giles Gosling—

[42] He has left us two words, howitzer and pistol, both of which are derived from the Czech.

[43] John of Winterthur. If the reader has ever plied a long bill-hook to cut down overhanging branches he will appreciate the power of the halberd.

[44] "The earliest mention of the long pike occurs in an order addressed to the burghers of Turin by Count Philip of Savoy in 1327; but whether Swiss borrowed it from Savoyards or Savoyards from Swiss is uncertain" (Köhler).

[45] Compare the French equivalent, enfans perdus. Hauf was the regular German word for any mass of soldiers, from a company to a battalion. The English word hope therefore is a corruption, hauf having more to do with heap than hope.

[46] Feld obrist, now oberst.

[47] Hauptmann. The Germans wisely cling to these old titles, and preserve them.

[48] Laufgeld.

[49] This seems to have been a reminiscence of the Roman jugum.

[50] Fähnlein, flag or ensign.

[51] Muster is a corruption of the French monstre, Latin monstrare. So to pass muster is to pass inspection.

[52] Fähnlein.

[53] Stellvertreter. The Germans have since abandoned the word for "leutnant."

[54] Feldwebel. We may call him the colour-sergeant.

[55] Gemeinwebel.

[56] Fourier.

[57] Rot.

[58] Rottmeister. Sir Walter Scott in the Legend of Montrose has inexplicably confounded the word with Rittmeister, which is a very different thing; a rare mistake with him.

[59] It is a curious sign of the combination of his functions, that in every standing camp the Provost erected a gallows, which served to mark both the extent of his authority and the site of the market-place, or as we should call it, canteen.

[60] Vergleicher.

[61] Recht der langen Spiesse.

[62] A roll on the two first beats of the bar, a single note on the third, and silence on the fourth.

[63] See the account in Paul Jove.

[64] We need not enter into the controversy whether the word was derived from columna or corona or from neither. For a century or more it was written indifferently colonel or coronel, to which last the modern English pronunciation is doubtless to be traced. Brantôme writes always couronnel; Milton in his famous sonnet gives the word the dignity of the three syllables. Some say that it was borrowed from the landsknechts, but this is a palpable error. (See a paper by Mr. Julian Corbett, American Hist. Review, Oct. 1896, "The Colonel and his Command").

[65] French enseigne; Lat. insigne, signum.

[66] But not until after the Seven Years' War, when Lord George Sackville applied for a "furrier."

[67] We even find the word incarnated by French writers as the strumpet Madame Picorée.

[68] As a matter of fact these abuses do seem to have been more flagrant in France than elsewhere, owing no doubt to the demoralisation caused by the religious wars. See for instance Brantôme, and the Memoirs of Sully.

[69] See the remarkable conversation in Brantôme, ed. Elzev. vol. i. pp. 376-382.

[70] The Marquis del Vasto, of the same family as Pescayra.

[71] For instance Roger Williams and Tavannes.

[72] In Spanish called alferez.

[73] Brantôme.

[74] Tercio, like colonel, is a riddle which defies solution. It means a third, but a third of what is unknown (see Mr. Julian Corbett's paper, quoted above, p. 94).

[75] In a MS. treatise in the Record Office, of date 1570, the bore recommended is 28 ballets to the pound. This remained the standard bore in the French army all through the wars of Louis XIV.

[76] Musket is simply the word mosquito. Larger weapons were called drakes, falcons, and the like, and the smaller therefore after the lesser flying creatures.

[77] Mem. de Vieilleville.

[78] This again is a word which defies the skill of the etymologist.

[79] Poitrinal, so called because it was held against the chest.

[80] Mem. de La Noue.

[81] Tavannes, ed. Petitot, vol. i. p. 304.

[82] Tavannes, La Noue.

[83] It is curious to compare the parallel contest of armoured ships and artillery at the present time.

[84] Rittmeister.

[85] Fähnrich.

[86] Fourier.

[87] Wachtmeister.

[88] The particulars of the reiters' organisation are taken from the Kriegsbuch of Leonard Fronsberger, 1566.

[89] It is just possible that Xenophon's example may have favoured the abandonment of shock for missile tactics in cavalry.

[90] There were two kinds of soldiers, the gentleman soldier and the yeoman soldier. Hence the name points to the enlistment of men below the status of gentleman. The Navy still has "Yeomen of the Signals."

[91] I must confess that this should be put forward rather as a conjecture than an assertion; but it is remarkable that Henry VIII. should have permitted the use of any colours to the Artillery Company except purple and scarlet. Green and white were the favourite Tudor colours, being used even in ribbons for the attachment of the Great Seal.

[92] Cal. S. P. 20th November 1509.

[93] Ibid. 5th July 1511.

[94] Ibid. 3rd November 1509, 20th June, 1st July 1511, 8th April 1512. Rymer, vol. xiii. p. 329.

[95] Cal. S. P. 5th August 1512.

[96] Stow.

[97] Such at least is my impression. The commander-in-chief of a force not commanded by the King in person is styled the lieutenant or King's lieutenant. So also the commander of the body-guard is styled lieutenant, the King himself being captain. Compare the title, which we shall presently see introduced, of lord-lieutenant. But we meet also with the phrase lieutenant (i.e. commanding officer) of the rearguard or other of the three divisions in the army. The word is always used of a high office.

[98] In 1542, however, Wallop constantly speaks of ensigns (see State Papers, Henry VIII. (ed. 1830, 1849), vol. ix. anno 1542).

[99] Cal. S. P. 1513. 4460.

[100] Ibid. 4441.

[101] Cal. S. P. vol ii. part i., 6 Henry VIII. caps. 2, 11, 13.

[102] Ibid. vol. iii. part i. p. 402.

[103] At the meeting with Francis and Charles V. Henry took for his device an English archer in a green coat drawing an arrow to the head (Camden).

[104] Cal. S. P., Henry VIII., vol. iii. part i. 869.

[105] Ibid. vol. iii. part ii. 2012, 2013.

[106] Ibid. 2995.

[107] In the original lontes. Lunt was the Scotch name for a musket-match to the end (Cal. S. P., Henry VIII., vol. iii. part i. 3494).

[108] See the armed strength of England in 1524. Ibid. vol. iv. part i. 972.

[109] Ibid. 2086.

[110] Six feet. A horse's length was reckoned at the same figure a hundred years later.

[111] State Papers (ed. 1830-1849), vol. ix. pp. 523, 524.

[112] Henry in 1519 tried to procure horses from Italy, but was informed by Alfonso of Ferrara that there, too, the breed was decayed (Cal. S. P. vol. iii. part i. 171). Henry gave as much as £35, a great sum, for his own horses.

[113] Cal. S. P. 1514. 4902.

[114] Ibid. 1513. 4375.

[115] Stow. Mortar is the German meerthier, sea-beast. So other pieces were called after reptiles and monsters and birds,—serpentines, dragons, basilisks, falcons, culverins (couleuvrines), etc.

[116] See Cal. S. P., Dom., Addenda (1561-1579), pp. 78-84.

[117] Cal. S. P., Dom., Addenda (1566-1579), pp. 111-113, 115-116, 121-123, 126-127, 129.

[118] One sentence gives a clue to Henry VIII.'s long discouragement of firearms. "Is not the safety of the country worth more than the saving of a few wild-fowl?"

[119] Stow.

[120] The word was borrowed from the French casaque, the regular term for a livery-coat. Facings were soon added. Cal. S. P., Dom. (1595), p. 22.

[121] Cal. S, P., Dom. (1581-1590), p. 16.

[122] Cal. S. P., Dom. (1581-1590), p. 255.

[123] One bitter critic avers that the expression was due to the number of low-born captains, who, having no arms to bear on their ensigns, were obliged to trust to distinctions of colour only.

[124] Collins.

[125] Tercio Viejo.

[126] The press-gangs were not very scrupulous. On one occasion they took advantage of Easter Sunday to close all the church doors in London and take a thousand men from the various congregations.—Stow.

[127] The grandson of the victor of Pavia.

[128] Stow says that they fired two volleys only, which I hope is incorrect. The passage, however, shows that the reason for the three volleys was already unknown to many.

[129] That is to say a fort or intrenchment. German schanze. It seems a pity that we should have allowed so useful a term to become obsolete.

[130] Stow.

[131] Cal. S. P., Dom. (1588), p. 513.

[132] Born 14th November 1567.

[133] See the English translation of the Tactics, by Captain John Bingham, 1619.

[134] Hear, for instance, Tavannes, whom his writings prove to have been in many respects an excellent soldier: "Cette grande invention d'exercice pratiquée en Flandre avec leurs demi-tours à gauche et à droit—les anciens qui n'en usaient pas (!) ne laissaient de combattre aussi bien ou mieux que maintenant" (Mémoires). Tavannes began to write in 1599-1600, and died in 1629.

[135] Perhaps the following explanation will make this clearer:—Where an English officer would now give the word "Form fours" (to convert two ranks into four), the Dutch officer would have given, "To the right hand double your files." Where the Englishman would give the word "Front" (to reconvert four ranks into two), the Dutchman would have said, "To the left hand double your ranks."

[136] 1599.

[137] Its bore was of thirty bullets to the pound.

[138] These stoppages were known even then by the name of "off-reckonings."

[139] Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, Gelderland, Overyssel, Frieland, Groningen.

[140] I have followed the narrative of Sir Clements Markham (The Fighting Veres) in preference to that of Motley in the description of the battle, being satisfied after careful consultation of the authorities that his account is the more accurate.

[141] Hexham. This is the first instance that I have encountered of the word parade, which is evidently of Spanish origin.

[142] Hexham.

[143] The capture of Wesel was the occasion of rejoicing; and the details of the description leads me to infer that the feu de joie was a novelty.