2 - The Organisation of War

Summary

The richness of English sources has enabled scholars to explore English military organisation in great detail. Historians of Scottish military history are less fortunate. Administrative records relating to the organisation of war in fourteenth-century Scotland are practically non-existent, and this lack of evidence makes the discussion of Scottish military affairs difficult. Still, it remains a subject worthy of attention if Scottish military behaviour is to be properly understood. The means by which Scottish armies were assembled, the form these forces took, the types of soldier recruited, and the means by which they made war, are all relevant subjects of study. Likewise an understanding of warriors’ reasons for fighting, their suitability for that purpose and their abilities in combat, provide the basis upon which further discussion of chivalric behaviour and conduct can be built.

Scottish Military Organisation

The system by which Scottish armies were summoned to fight has been the subject of considerable analysis, although the absence of summonses, musters and pay rolls makes it a difficult area of study. Nonetheless, it seems clear that Scottish armies from at least the reign of David I onwards were summoned according to two distinct forms of service. The first was performed as an obligation defined by charters, and determined when individuals were awarded territories by the crown. This service is most easily described as ‘feudal’. The system concerned the elite of the Scottish army, the well-armed and mounted knights and men-at-arms. In Scotland this only amounted to a small core of troops but they remained of importance on campaigns as well as for garrison duty. The second form of military summons was based upon those who performed military service in response to a muster of the ‘army of Scotland’. Originating before the ‘feudalisation’ of Scotland, and continuing as a means of service for those below knightly status, a summons of the ‘exercitus Scoticanus’ involved the array, in theory, of all men aged between sixteen and sixty who might serve for up to forty days. This force provided the bulk of the infantry for large Scottish armies involved in either external warfare or, more usually, to face invasion or internal unrest. The infantry possessed only basic equipment and received little training but they provided sheer weight of numbers to reinforce the smaller, better armed contingents.