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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Agemegos" data-source="post: 1531397" data-attributes="member: 18377">That is only "mostly true".The Byzantine Empire had a standing army throughout the early and High middle ages.The Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon were a standing army in Palestine, Syria, Cyprus, and Spain from about 1120 to about 1310. The Order of Knights of the Hospital of St John were a standing army in Plaestine, Syria, Cyprus, the Aegean, and Malta from about 1130 to about 1795.The Teutonic Knights of St Mary's Hospital of Jerusalem were a standing army in Palestine, Syria, Prussia, Latvia, Livonia, and Estonia from 1198 to 1562.The Knight of Alcantara, the Knights of Calatreva, the Knight of Santiago, the Knights of Aviz, the Knights of Christ, and the Knights of Montesa were standing armies in [what are now] Spain and Portugal from about 1158 and were eventually became or were absorbed into the royal armies.Besides which there were the Knights of St Thomas Acon, the Mercedarian Knights, the Knights of St James of Compostella, and the eerie Knights of St Lazarus, who were perhaps never numerous enough to count as armies.And some English and Scandinavian kings had very large households of huscarls or berserks, which were permanent professional military units, though perhaps not quite of army size.</blockquote>