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__Military__

The military of the medieval and the renaissance times played a key role in almost day to day survival and power and was necessary for any major power to have a substantial military force in those times. The military was segregated into several groups: the knight, the infantry, and the cavalry. The Knight was consider the most honorable out of the whole military, like a gentleman soldier. While the infantry and the cavalry where viewed on as lesser they, they did most of the grunt work, like digging trenches and carrying all the equipment for a siege or battle.

__Knights__ Knights where not always upheld as right noble soldiers, it all started back post-Roman Western Europe felt like they couldn't defend themselves against impending raids from brigands new that there was safety in numbers so they increased their army size. They did this by training boys at a very early age to fight, they called them knights which is a term that originated from the Anglo-Saxon name for "boy". As time grew on the knights became more popular and more rich. The Knights now went threw a process where they need a wealthy family to support and but armor and equipment that was needed for training. During the training the boys started out as assistant to other knights or squires. They passed threw another level called an Accolade then finally at the right age of about 16 or 20 they boy became a knight. The knight was promised great wealth and war booty. They then continued to fight out battles and either die in honor in war or die in the comforts wealth and riches.

__The Infantry__

The Infantry were not very rich and usually recruited in the army against their will. They made up the largest portion of the army itself and were very expendable. They were usually lightly armed with a spear, sword and shield. Many infantry men were mercenaries, who fought on one army for money. The infantry had several sub-divisions of groups such as spear men, man at arms, and archers and several other unmounted troops. The spear men usually were armed with a very long spear and a small sword and smaller shield, usually a buckler and were used best against cavalry. The man at arms was usually a very plain soldier lightly armored and had a long sword and a shield and occasionally had a shorter stockier spear. They archer usually had a bow (or a long bow if a British archer) or a crossbow.

__The Cavalry__

The cavalry where a huge factor in the victory in a battle, if used properly. They where used to flank any enemy and crush them before they could set up a defense from the horses. The cavalry where usually pretty well armored and had a spear and a sword and a shield.

__The Weapons__

The weapons where not only spears and swords and bows. There were a variety of weapons including flails, maces, halberds, long swords and shorts swords, long bows and short bows, crossbows and much more. They all had different strengths and weakness to their abilities. Also they had many different machines that they used. Catapults, trebuchets, explosive barrels when sapping, siege towers, battering rams, and alter on even cannons.







Works Cited "Life of a Knight." //Knights and Armor//. Web. 19 Jan. 2010. . "Medieval warfare -." //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. Web. 19 Jan. 2010. . "THE MIDDLE AGES: THE MEDIEVAL KNIGHT." //Oracle ThinkQuest Library//. Web. 19 Jan. 2010. . Photograph. //Longbow//. Green Hollow Bow Men. Web. 19 Jan. 2010. . Photograph.__// __Weapons Emporium/Mace's//. Weapons Emporium. Web. 19 Jan. 2010. . Photograph.// Weapons Emporuim/Sword's//. Weapons Emporuim. Web. 19 Jan. 2010. . "Renaissance Weapons." //Renaissance Art, Artists, and Society//. Web. 19 Jan. 2010. .