Soldiers in Medieval Europe.

>>1652766
When the medieval age started (in Continental, Frank-infleunced europe at least) there was a general military class of professional soldiers who were given plots of land so they can go pro as warriors. No division existed between infantrymen and cavalry save for wealth.

However, the speshulness of the knight came about in the late Frankish period since a bunch of mounted cunts became so important in fighting multiple threats of Moor, Norse, and Magyar all over the Frankish world that they became rockstars. So they started acquiring their socio-political status as elites.

The soldier meanwhile just sort of stayed there in his unglamorous position, but he still received land and/or wages from his employer. Usually Soldiers were under Knights had pet soldiers with them which they throw to their liege lord's general body of infantry during war.

But its different althroughout Europe. You had the Yeomanry for example being able to furnish professional soldiers via some sort of proto-middle class cunts.

>>1652766
>the peasant militia is proven false
Hicks dressed in sack and armed with hayforks thrown into the meatgrinder weren't a thing, but militia as a concept (even among peasants) certainly was.

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>>1652786
Oh and to add: militias DID go to war. But not peasant militias - they're useless, agrarian stock for war- but Urban Militias.

Urban cities in Europe are often self governing entities (read: no liege lord & his pack of knights), led by an urban parliament/council of leading figures & urban nobles. Ergo the defense of cities is the responsibility of the citizen. To this end, many European cities and city states made it law for guilds, urban nobles, and citizens to contribute to the defense of the city. So you had citizen-militia organized around their guilds, neighborhoods, or patron urban lord, DIOCESES even, who pool their money to buy weapons & equipment and set dates for military training. In Italy and where I am (Hungary) being a citizen entailed spending a term of years in the Militia, manning garrisons & patrolling the streets being proto-policemen.

And these militias are no fucking pushovers. That whole arrangement up above meant they're semi-professional. They are armed in a serious manner and you can't distinguish them in appearance from the pros. They are defensive, but are often called to join offensive wars to beef up armies when the realm's own army is small and they can't hire any more mercenaries.

>>1652766
City levies and soldiers are peasants outside maybe some middle class captains

>>1652808
Based city militia. Republic stronk. REPUBLIC STRONK!

>>1652808
Not to mention many examples of them outperforming the shit out of mercs in discipline, loyalty and actual military skills.

>>1652841
They're not necessarily republics. You had similar arrangements in cities held by kingdoms.

Cities in Medieval Europe were literally a different world than fiefs. The people who lived in cities have different sets of rights and privileges than agrarian peasant stock.

Reminder serf is some one tied to lord and peasant is a socio-economic class

>>1652854
How did serfdom differ from slavery? Was it having rights?

>>1652863
Serfdom was basically debt bondage, so in a way you could certainly consider it slavery.
Technically serfs had lots of rights, but then so had slaves in many cultures.

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>>1652766