Editing Medieval Infantry (section)

==Levies==
Raising in army during the Medieval era meant mobilizing your country's manpower, whether they know [[Warrior|how to fight]] or [[Commoner|not]]. Nobles would, of course, be obligated to answer their liege's calls and bring along their retainers, but either they or their liege may also round up "volunteers" from the lower classes. These are the levies, and they are basically conscripted [[peasant]]s put under arms. A medieval lord could raise a levy in times of war, gathering up young men as part of their feudal obligations; all men of certain ages were required to show up and the nobles would take those they needed or how many they could support; there are laws that actually regulated how many men could be raised, for how long, and for what purpose, including exemptions for certain professions from mandatory service ([[Fail|a peasant under arms is not one tending the crops and paying rent, especially if he ends up dead]]). 

Most of the time, levies would supply their own equipment, so large armies composed of ill-equipped peasants are either desperate for bodies, or fighting off invaders. They were a bit better on the defensive, protecting hearth and home. Levies were common in the [[Dark Age]] (such as the Fyrds) but they became less important into the [[High Middle Ages]], when heavy cavalry became more common and could be relied upon to reliably trounce farmers with minimal training and basic equipment.

Even if you have a lot of them, for every battle of knights getting stabbed with spears or [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5ksuFG8YaY clubbed with a Goedendag], there are even more records of knights [[Bretonnia|running over peasants]]. It takes a lot of training to stop a cavalry charge head-on, and even more to reliably respond to changes in the battlefield, or to even just stay together once things get serious, so when the stirrup and lance led to heavy cavalry, armies would consist of trained retainers or professionals, and it was not until the middle ages fully ended that levies became important again as nations finally became organized enough ([[Rome|Again]]) [[Gunpowder (Warhammer Fantasy)|(and the weapons simple enough)]] to raise large levy forces and also equip them and train them. 

In terms of armament, they'd most commonly be armed with polearms, typically a spear, and a wooden shield. Besides being easy to use and easy to train with, especially in dense formations, they're also cost-effective. In terms of armour they generally had at least a basic helmet and a few of the luckier ones might have basic torso armour. A hastily raised army of levies that can form a shield wall can be surprisingly effective bulwark against an invasion if used correctly; especially of used defensively with fortifications. But if routed, they’ll be as vulnerable as fish in a barrel. You might also be able to raise forces of archers as well as most Peasants would probably have a bow already to help put food on the table. Axes or other heavy weapons are also good as they need a minimal of training to be functional.

Examples of Levies
*'''Fyrds:''' How the Anglo-Saxons organized their armies before they became the English, of which we know quite about because their kings wrote shit down; because the Anglo-Saxons were culturally Germanic, they fought like the [[Vikings]] that were invading their lands. A Fyrd would be composed of levied men, the newfags following the lead of the more grizzled neckbeards among them.
*'''Ashigaru:''' The Japanese equivalent. Eventually they would be refined into solid fighting forces.

===Urban Militias===
Similar to levies, but in towns and cities; being a step-up in the ladder, they could afford better equipment and they generally ''wanted'' to be there. Also often better equipped as cities were usually richer per-capita. Still not the best trained and equipped force you can get as seen at the Battle of Visby; where the Danish king’s professional army all but annihilated the city’s militia. Excavations of the mass graves there (oddly well preserved and not looted due to the sheer number of dead as well as the summer heat risking rapid decay when they just died), showed equipment varied from simple mail and polearms to brigandine and battle axes. 

On the other hand, if properly led and motivated, urban militia could stand up even to the flower of French knighthood, which was arguably the best in the world, as was aptly demonstrated during the Battle of Courtrai, otherwise known as the Battle of the Golden Spurs, due to 500 spurs taken from the dead knights by the victorious Flemish.

In Fantasy and Tabletop, Urban Militias are often [[Free Company Militia|a colorful bunch]], [[Discworld#Jingo|representative of the city's diverse guilds and professions]], if not their city's [[Discworld#Monstrous_Regiment|races as well]].