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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GrumpyOldMan" data-source="post: 1524093" data-attributes="member: 16469">Lots of other posters have said bits and pieces of this, but here are my thoughts:This following consists of a number of gross generalisations, but you can’t cover two millennia of European History in one post without generalising and simplifying.  Many people have mentioned Imperial Rome as a model for a standing army. It’s not a bad model. Troops (IIRC) served for 20 years and on mustering out (if they survived) they were granted land. (This means that the empire needs land to grant to them, and therefore must expand.) They were also organised into Centuries and had a formal command structure. You could check out some of the re-enactors’ sites such as <a href="http://www.esg.ndirect.co.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.esg.ndirect.co.uk/</a> for more informationAlso the Roman army predated the Empire, Unfortunately for the Senators, the army got much to powerful and popular. Eventually some general called Julius Caesar took control of Rome. This undermined the republic and paved the way for a system of monarchy headed by Emperors (Caesar was not himself a Roman Emperor). After his death, his name was adopted as a title by all the Roman Emperors, as well as by later monarchs. (The Russian word 'Tsar' and the German 'Kaiser' are corruptions of the word Caesar).So, you could have a pre-imperial or imperial standing army without to much trouble but this requires an aggressive and expanding kingdom. When expansion halted, the Roman Empire fell. (gross oversimplification)The Feudal model is extremely complicated, but basically, the King owns everything and governs using a pyramid structure of rights and responsibilities.GOM’s Feudalism for DummiesVery simply, the King can’t run everything by himself. He gives bits of his kingdom away to others (this bit is very rough & ready).‘Okay, you’re the Duke of Northland, all of Northland is yours to do what you want with, provided you send me 40 knights, 400 archers and 800 footmen for my army, you pay for them, oh, and I’ll have £50 in cash too, Oh, and I reserve the right to appoint the Sheriffs of West Northlandshire and East Northlandshire (and a bit of Eastland) to carry out Royal Justice on my behalf, After all, I’m still the boss.’The Duke of Northland then gathers five of his men.‘You’re now the Barons of Eastnorthland Westnorthland Northnorthland Southnorthland and Middlenorthland, Your Baronies are yours to do what you want with, provided you send me 10 knights, 100 archers and 200 footmen for my army, you pay for them, oh, and I’ll have £12 in cash too. So the Duke gets the men for the king (plus some for himself), plus some cash. The line continues down to the lords of individual manors who have to provide one (or more) knight(s). The men at arms are the Yeomen. Free men, not peasants (as has already been pointed out) They pay little (or no) rent on their land in return for providing military service. Bottom of the pile is the peasant militia, unarmoured poorly trained (if trained at all) and likely to bugger of home to harvest the crops or just because they don’t want to get killed (after all, who does?).I’ve no idea how medieval a campaign you’re trying for, but for feudal background information I’ve never found anything better than HârnWorld from Columbia Games. Although Columbia Games also produce a rule system (HârnMaster) the HârnWorld module and kingdom modules are completely rules free and systemless and have a rich feudal background.You could also ask your question on the <a href="http://www.harnforum.com/index.php" target="_blank">http://www.harnforum.com/index.php</a> as there are a huge number of medieval history buffs there! But, you might get to much information.GOM</blockquote>

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