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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lawrence of Arabica" data-source="post: 168886" data-attributes="member: 4256">The simple answer is that medieval states couldn't afford them. For much of the medieval period armies weren't all that big. And as others have pointed out there weren't standing armies.  Also:* check the knight/foot ratio-- I'm not sure that 5:1 is right* some of the soldiers' "compensation" might come in the form of pillage, or ransom for noble prisoners* At the end of the middle ages, armies got larger and the use of mercenaries increased. Many states had to go heavily into debt. The situation favored larger states and ones with better fiscal organization. It's one factor (but not the only one) that caused the creation of the modern European nation-states out of the fragmented political world of the middle ages.BTW, a lot of setting designers either don't understand the last point, or ignore it, and as a result are really designing renaissance or early modern settings. In actual fact, if I recall correctly some of the figures I've seen for the costs of the late medieval mercenary armies are in millions of gold piece range. I can probably dig up the hard numbers if you really want them.</blockquote>