Danes
Something more mobile and efficient was required to meet sudden descents of the Danes upon the coasts which formed the chief danger to the peace of the kmgdom. In 86G a.d. Charles the Bald issued an edict that all freeholders who had or might have horses should jom the host mounted, but by the end of the tenth century it had become exclusively a feudal host, made up of the contingents of lords who had received grants of land as fiefs or benefices, and were under contract to bring their quota of mounted men into the field.
Fiefs and offices (dukes, counts, &c.) which were at first revocable or for life only, became hereditary, and the inroads of the Northmen gave the holders of them an opportunity to buUd strongholds in which they could defy the king himself. CivU wars among the Carolingian prmces weakened their authority, and enabled some of their vassals to become stronger and more independent. In the general struggle for existence the weaker lords sought safety by “commending themselves” to the stronger lords, surrendermg their lands, and receiving them back as fiefs. The freemen of the conquered (GalloRoman) race fared worse. Some of them were allowed to contmue to hold land subject to a quit-rent, but the bulk of them became serfs. After a time there was no land without its lord, and the lords took care not to aive arms or training to an alien and oppressed peasantry. Froissarts description of the Jacquerie^ shows how the pea.sants, unarmed as they were except with knives and staves, would now and then rise, and revenge themselves on theulords by fearful outrages.
Besides the valets of the men-at-arms, foot archers and crossbowmen were required, especially for garrisons and sieges. These were mostly mercenaries drawn from various quarters, and the term solidarii (soldiers) came into use for hired men early in the eleventh century .^ The army of adventurers with which William of Normandy invaded England comprised not only bowmen, but some mail-clad infantry armed with spears and swords. The Crusader armies also were largely composed of foot, and they had the more need for missile weapons as they had to deal with an enemy skilled in the use of the bow. The, earlier Crusaders suffered much from their inferiority in this respect. In 1104 a.d. they met with a disaster on the very ground, near Carrhie, where the Parthians had routed Crassus’s legions.