To what extent did the role of feudalism in the military organisation show continuity throughout the period of 1066?

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‘To what extent did the role of feudalism in the military organisation show continuity throughout the period of 1066 – 1216’

In Anglo-Saxon England the king could call on the population to raise an army known as the fyrd. These men were not necessarily trained or experienced soldiers, but were subject to conscription. Such forces were raised to fight the two invasions of 1066. Along with these men would have been the Housecarls, who were trained soldiers that were part of the someone like the King’s Household. The Norman kings, like William II, Henry I and Stephen all used this system to raise an army during their reigns. The system was already well-established and therefore the Norman Kings only had to built on and add elements in order to make it more efficient and organised. After 1066, William I established the principle of land in exchange for military service, this meant that the king’s ‘tenants-in-chiefs’ were obliged to provide him with mounted knights to fight in the royal army. This was known as servitium debitum.

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The number of knights expected from lay tenants-in-chief was not properly systematized in the immediate aftermath of 1066, but would later on be developed and refined under later kings such as Henry I. It is important to note that feudalism was not the only method by which military service was obtained, William the Conqueror’s invading army was made up of paid mercenaries and the preference for Norman king’s later on to do the same becomes apparent. It is debatable whether or not the Normans introduced the theory of feudalism because aspects of such a system were evident before 1066. Even ...

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