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The towns take on a military role

The militia was primarily used as a defensive force and was used to guard the town walls against hostile raiders. But soon the town councils discovered that the militia was the perfect instrument for securing the town's interests and frequently used the town militia to campaign against their political competitors. A Count of a significantly-sized town and city had the right to commandeer the town militias, but could not deploy them beyond the borders of his territory without the explicit permission of the town council.

All men living within the town walls could be called up to serve in the town militia in times of war. The town council maintained a register of all men who are subject to military service and maintained an arsenal of military equipment and weapons. But most of the men owned their own fighting equipment and weapons and kept these at home. In fact, many of these weapons were passed on through generations from father to son.

A town raises its forces

A town militia was subdivided into several units or folds. Such a fold counted about 600 men and was composed of both patricians and craftsmen. (A patrician was a person living within the town walls who also owned a strip of land in town; a craftsman belonged to a particular trade union). The patricians provided a number of men per town district in proportion to the respective number of people living in each of the districts. The trade unions also had a set number of infantrymen to provide in relation to the size of their union. The weavers traditionally were the largest union in town and therefore supplied the strongest contingent (Weavers typically are not thought of as the hardy, fighting type, but many military engagements saw noticeably large numbers of them bearing arms). The town council called up a number of folds according to the demands of the campaign. During the early years of the 14th century, Bruges for example, was able to assemble one dozen folds and could rely on a task force of about 7000 men.

Bruges: A sample town militia

The militia town was mainly composed of heavy infantry and archers. The infantrymen carried pikes and goedendags and always fought in close order. Each fold had a number of constabularies in which were about 20 sergeants, 6 horses and 2 wagons. Such a unit was commanded by a constable. The town council paid for the horses and wagons, but the common sergeant would hardly receive a penny for his services. At the battle of Courtrai, the number of infantrymen supplied by the town of Bruges was estimated to have been about 3,000.

Archers were armed almost exclusively with the crossbow by the close of the 13th Century. In 1302, Bruges disposed of a contingent of sixteen constabularies, each having around 19 archers, 10 servants and two wagons. The town had an artillery force totalling 320 crossbows supported by 160 servants carrying the pavises (big shields to take shelter and reload the bow) and ammunition supplies. The archers formed the elite of the communal army and a member of the select Saint-George guild was paid a wage of 4/- per day, an amount very similar to the daily pay of a squire.

Town patricians with assets worth more than 300 Flemish Pounds were required to own their own horse, weapons and armour. These upper class patricians formed the communal yeomanry, but this cavalry force did not appear in the town's accounts for 1302. It is therefore estimated that the town's cavalry was not present during the battle of Courtrai or the campaign that followed the victory.

The headquarters of the town militia was composed of the members of the town council, together with a number of trumpeters and servants. The trumpeters took care of the communication during the heat of battle. Their numbers were estimated to have been around 60. Considering the above, this means that during the battle of Courtrai, Bruges had a total of approximately 3,000 soldiers on the battlefield, almost ten percent of the town's population. This was quite a commitment. Think of your town or city and imagine 10 per cent of the population marching away to battle!