1369–1660
From medieval battles to Civil War militias, early records can be patchy – and it helps if your ancestor was landed gentry
In wartime the king… would raise an army for a specific campaign
This was, for the most part, a period when soldiering was a part-time occupation and there were only a few men permanently employed to guard key fortresses or to protect the monarch.
In wartime the king, through his representatives, would raise an army for a specific campaign. Some nobles and landowners served themselves, with an armed retinue, while others paid for soldiers to fight on their behalf, including foreign mercenaries.
Principal wars included several with Scotland (it was a turbulent border even in peacetime and had garrisons at Carlisle, Berwick and at major castles on both sides), the Hundred Years War against France (c1337–1453) including the battles of Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt, and the civil war known as the Wars of the Roses (1455– 85) when nobles raised their own private armies.
Local defence relied on the part-time militia (from the Latin word
miles meaning soldier), men recruited locally, often by ballot and trained and commanded by the Lord Lieutenant of the County.
As weapons became more sophisticated (the longbow required years of training and early guns were cumbersome and required discipline to use them) and the Hundred Years War required troops constantly, a new class of professional soldier emerged but they were, essentially mercenaries. Even so, at times such as the Spanish Armada emergency, most of the men who faced them along the coast were local militias.
The Civil War was, at first, fought mainly by local militias (the Trained Bands which kept the King away from London were London Militia) and recruits raised by local dignitaries and landlords on both sides. The New Model Army, formed by Parliament, became the first permanent army but it was dissolved when Charles II ascended to the throne in 1660.
Tracing any ancestors back to this period is difficult unless they were landed gentry and likely to have fought either as knights in earlier armies or as officers in later ones.
For the ordinary soldier the splendid ‘Soldier in later Medieval England’ website (see box, right) offers some opportunities but in most cases few details that allow one to be even half certain. The soldier’s Captain, if named, is likely to be a local landowner and you may be able to trace their landholdings and the places they probably recruited from.
Civil War soldiers have few records (especially for Royalists who recruited heavily in Wales and Ireland). Once again, if you can locate where an ancestor came from they’re likely to have fought for a local landlord or in the local militia. There are lists of both Royalist and Parliamentarian officers online (see box, above) but Parliament seems to have kept the better records so more of them are known about.