Did Earls, Dukes etc... have their own armies, if so what were they called?

Question

I'm sure that earls, dukes etc had their own armies but what I wanted to know was what they were called? For example Green Howards - historically were they the private army of the Howard Family?

Answer 1

They did have their own regiments years ago and it still form the foundation of British Army regiments today'

The Scots Guards - Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll

The Somerset Light Infantry (Now The Rifles) - Earl of Huntingdon's Regiment of Foot 1685

That is only 2 examples but it was common practice then

Answer 2

Yes and only the Duke of Atholl survives in the UK.The regiments of the British army were at one time up to and including the 17th century raised by the upper classes at their expense they being named for their colonels.The perfect example is the Green Howards.Two regiments had a colonel Howard so when they were marching into the line and calling out their unit they were given the extra name green to differentiate them from their namesakes.A lot of pub signs in UK are throwbacks to private armies and men at arms.Whilst not fighting they would hand about a local pub and hang their shield or banner outside thus you got names like the Red Lion ,White Hart which were the standards of the masters.

Answer 3

Until the formation of the New Model Army in the Civil War and Interregnum each member of the Nobility was required under the law to provide a regiment from his serfs for the King's use when required. Of course what a regiment was varied greatly as shown by the Regiments of the Civil War which ranged from Fully armoured Knights to mobs of pressed men.
The Green Howards were formed during the Napoleonic Wars about 300 years later.

Answer 4

One Duke still has his own army - and in fact, his is the only legal private army in Europe today. Though significantly more recent than the medieval-era situations of which you mentioned (dating from 1837), the Atholl Highlanders are in the private employ of His Grace, the Duke of Atholl.

Answer 5

I'm not sure what they were called, if anything, but prior to the Stuarts, Kings relied upon their aristocratic supporters to raise armies to fight wars against France etc. One of the most powerful were the Earls of Northumberland, but the Crown could always rely on support from locally raised armies.

Answer 6

Each county (ruled by an earl or count) or duchy (ruled by a duke) had its own name. So, they would be the army of whatever. Just like we call ours the United States Army. They would called the army of Kent or the army of Warick.

Some military companies had a separate name, indendent of where they were based. But most standing armies did not.

Answer 7

You'll get a fairly good idea just looking at modern British regimental names, since it hasn't been long at all since that was how regiments were raised for the British army.

Answer 8

The grand old Duke of York
He had ten thousand men
He marched them up to the top of the hill
And he marched them down again

And when they were up, they were up
And when they were down, they were down
And when they were only halfway up, they were neither up nor down.

(Old nursery rhyme - no idea what his army was called though)

Answer 9

they earl greys and the dukes of hazard

Answer 10

History tells us that, "Howard blows". To that end I would speculatre thatr they might have been the Hoovers, or maybe the puffers.