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HOW MUCH DID RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING CHANGE BETWEEN THE
ROMANS AND HENRY V’S ARMY IN 1415?
 Roman soldiers signed up for 20 years
 Henry V had 5,000 longbow archers.
Between the time of the Romans and the army of Henry V in 1415 recruitment and
training changed a lot, but some parts hardly changed at all. The Romans had a welltrained army which had specially selected recruits, but the Medieval armies were not
well-trained and most soldiers had to be there, rather than being selected.
The Romans had a permanent standing army so they had soldiers ready and trained for
war even in peace time. Roman recruits were specially selected and had to meet
certain requirements before being allowed to serve in the army. They had to be 5 feet
10 inches tall, be physically fit and strong, with good eyesight and intelligence. This
ensured the soldiers were ‘the best of the best’, showing recruitment was very strict.
Soldiers signed up for 20 years and were paid, ensuring loyalty and commitment to the
army. In addition, the Roman soldiers participated in a strict training regime. They
learned how to march with a full load, to fight in formation and as a unit, such as forming
‘wedges’ and ‘turtles ‘ for protection. They practiced throwing spears and improved their
sword skills by fighting against gladiators in training camps. This meant the Roman
army was a highly disciplined and professional fighting force.
However, the armies that came after the Romans were not as well trained or recruited.
In the C10th and C11th the Saxon army was made up of 2 different types of recruits, the
Housecarls and the Fyrd. The Housecarls were professional soldiers, the bodyguards to
the King and lords. These soldiers were recruited at a young age as they showed some
fighting skills. They usually practiced often and had a high level of skill. This was
similar to the Romans as they also trained regularly. However, the fyrd was mainly made
up of peasants who were called up to fight because they worked on land owned by their
local lord. The fyrd often brought their own equipment and weapons but they were
significantly less well trained. As the fyrd only came together for wars, the Saxon army
didn’t fight together as one unit. This was very different to the Roman army which
trained together and fought together. When the Normans invaded in 1066, they brought
a system of recruitment similar to the Saxons. This was called feudalism and meant that
each man owed military service in exchange for land given to him from the person
above him in society. This led to the creation of feudal armies. Peasants were forced to
fight because they owed military service and this amounted to 45 days per year. Just
like the fyrd, peasants turned up to fight when they were requested to do so. They had
very little if any training and they weren’t very committed as they didn’t really want to be
there. In this army the only real training was for the mounted knights who did learn how
to fight on horseback and they trained to do this regularly. This shows a big difference
to the Roman army as recruitment was compulsory and there was no selection of the
better recruits. As a result, there was no training for the majority of the army and so it
didn’t fight as a unit. This is also a big difference as only some parts of the army had
training whereas all Roman recruits had training.
By the later medieval period there were some more changes to recruitment and training
of the army. Henry V’s army in 1415 had a large number of mercenaries as well as
peasants. This is because the better-off peasants preferred to pay a tax called scutage
instead of doing their military service. The King then used this money to buy
professional soldiers to fight for him. Mercenaries were well-trained soldiers who earned
their living by being professional soldiers and so they had to be good at fighting, if they
wanted to stay alive. They practiced constantly. However, they were often disloyal and
ill disciplined. They fought as individuals and not as a unit and so they were very
different to the Roman soldiers. Mounted knights were also well trained as they
practiced fighting, usually through jousting competitions. This was very similar to the
Roman soldiers practicing against gladiators. But once again, they often fought as
individuals not as a unit and so they were very different to the Romans. The majority of
Henry V’s army at Agincourt in 1415 was made up of archers. These were men who
had trained for 10 years to be able to use a longbow correctly. Since 1363 Englishmen
had been ordered to practice archery every Sunday and holidays, making them very
experienced and very like the training of the Romans. In addition, longbowmen went to
special training camps where they practiced ‘cloth shooting’ which was aiming and
shooting at a white sheet placed at various distances away. They also learned how to
fire in volleys all at the same time so they could aim, fire, and reload on command. They
could fire 15 arrows a minute at a distance of 400 metres making them a deadly
weapon. The longbowmen had to practice very often and so this training was very
similar to that of the Romans as it turned this part of the army into a professional unit.
The rest of the infantry wasn’t so well trained and so were very different to the Romans.
In conclusion, between the Romans and 1415, recruitment and training changed a lot as
the Romans had very strict regulations for their recruits and they were well-trained. The
Early Medieval Army wasn’t as well trained as it only came together in times of war and
it was mainly made up of peasants who owed 45 days military service to their lord
showing a big difference to the Romans who had a permanent standing army. The Late
Medieval army was only slightly different to the Early Medieval army as it was still a
feudal army with some mercenaries. In terms of training, the army of Henry V had some
similarities with the Roman army as some parts were well trained eg the longbow
archers, whilst other parts had hardly any training. Overall there were many changes
between the Romans and Henry Vs army but there were also some things which stayed
the same.