Medieval Soldier Training.....?

Question

I was just thinking about something......back in the Middle Ages, how long do you think it took for a soldier to be trained to fight in the army? How old do you think the soldiers were? Or did they just find some peasant and force him to join the army with little to no training?

And what about cavaliers and knights? How long did it take for a soldier to become a knight? And what are the prerequisites for being a cavalier? Knowing how to ride a horse? Knowing how to use a sword or other weapon very well?

Any feedback would be helpful.

Answer 1

Most of the countries in the Middle Ages had little to no standing army. Training for the lower classess was nearly unheard of. Most common people had little to no training with weapons, the ones with the training were the landed nobles.

The ages are far younger than todays soldiers. Ages ranged from early teens to older age, depending on what class they were and what they fought with. Peasants were a common and cheap fodder for the armies. They were cheap to arm and equip and often didnt last throughout many battles.

Knights were actually appointed by the king or his appointee. There was an extensive religious ritual that went with becoming a knight, it sometimes varied from country to country. Knights were not just chosen at random. Knights were raised to do one thing, fight for the king. From a very young age they were taught the basics of riding horses, swordplay, chivalry and other aspects of the day. It was not uncommon for a nobles son to go to anothers castle to be raised in the knightly manners. This not only gave the son a good upbringing, but fostered peace bewteen the two families, a father would not attack a castle where his heir was living. They were called a squire during their training period, working with an older knight during this time.

They were trained in a variety of weapons, axes, bows, flails and swords. The long sword was considered to be the focal point of chivalry and has come to be associated with knights because of this.

Answer 2

This all depends on what time frame you speak of. Yes there was forced recruiting. There were many practices we would consider inhuman now days and we would never stand for. There were some area's that every boy after age x or y had to serve in the military for x years. Training for the common man was very basic to none. Basically only nobles recieved any formal training or people with enough money to afford good armor and weapons (usually nobles). The average commoner was a archer and they had sometimes litterally no training other then where put the arrow what end goes where and to pull back and release.

If a soldier was to become a knight they would somehow have to become a sqiure first generally squires were from wealthy familys.

Answer 3

A soldier? Remember the time period you are talking about went for several hundred years. It would be better to have a bit smaller time? Some soldiers were displaced farmers, some would have been towns people without a town, brigands or bandits. Soldiers may have received little or no formal training. Some "soldiers" would have had training at the castle or village.
A Knight at various times would have been the son of a noble. Trained from youth to fight, ride and various other things. His equipment would have been extremely expensive allowing only the son of a rich person to become a Knight.
But all this varied throught out the time period.

Answer 4

Back then the life expectancy of the average human being was about 35 to 40 for a civilian due to health and disease and the hard work expected.

Most poor people were in servitude to a Lord or Master, each Lord kept men for security, and was also to supply a certain number of men to the King in case of war, depending upon the size of his land and holdings.

The Lord was responsible for the clothing of his men, supplying them weapons, feeding them, his reward for service was glory, and war booty in lieu of cash, the better his men performed could also lead to a higher position for the Lords, with grants of land etc..etc..

Most Knights were born into high ranking families of the land, (it was virtually unknown for a common soldier to reach this status unless he performed & survived some heroic deed.) The male children of the Lords and rich would receive training from a very young age in the duties of a night, first as a page boy, then acting as a squire then becoming a knight.

Depending on the country you will find variations in all of the above with regards training, service, etc..etc...

It also has to be remembered that First Aid was virtualy unknown so even minor wounds got very infected leading to death and the loss of limbs was also a common cause of getting wounded.Any common soldier who lost a limb was reduced to begging on the streets, if lucky his master might allow a small pension.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

they started from birth they would work for knights like clean and care for their horses to gain strength and when the knights retire they trained the young men to fight