Actually, military service in the middle ages was primarily a privilege extended to those who could be trusted (and afford) to bear arms
It seems I can't which is significant but why then is there constant battle over whether there were more men than women or other way round..
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..because more men died in war or more women in childbirth & why is there so much talk of peasant women losing their husbands in war.
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And churches having to provide for widows & fatherless children?
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The levee en masse is a modern concept. Generally, medieval wars were fought by people with a vested stake in their society, or mercs.
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I know numbers in wars were often exaggerated by orders of magnitude &military historians have been showing this using pay records.
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So 10,000 men marched on X can actually mean 500.
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Given 90% of casualties are noncombat, by the end of a long march, yes. Unless you're the Duke of Marlborough.
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