Several Questions Regarding Westerosi Armies

[The Feathered Dinosaur]

I’m new to the forums and I have several questions about Westerosi armies with what I have thought in parentheses.

1.       What percentage of the army is trained vs untrained? (I would presume a large percentage are trained, though the higher numbers would make me think differently)

2.       Of those who are trained how are they chosen? (I would think that it would be that each smallfolk family would have given someone for the army)

3.       Where does the army go in peace time? (I would think the barracks; though how large must the barracks be to hold an army in the thousands)

[Adam Yozza]

1. The household guard, men at arms and knights/heavy cavalry are trained. The levies I suppose get some basic training while on the march, but that's it.

2. It's as many able bodied men that can be gathered in whatever time frame they have.

3. The household guard returns to their lords castle, where they have a barracks. The Knights return to their own keeps. The majority are released and allowed to go back home. Westeros does not have any standing armies. Only household guards and City Watches.

[aryagonnakill#2]

As the above poster mentioned, most of the army are untrained peasants, farmers, blacksmiths etc etc.  Some people here will debate that but it is what we are told in the books on many occasions.

[redtree]

In peace time the peasants will go back to the field or town/city where they live, similar to what happened to Westerland army. And i'm not sure of the definitve border between trained and untrained, in Dunk and Egg we see that Dunk "trained" several farmers but the result was terrible. 

[Nyrhex]

1. The bulk of the army is a feudal levy. Farmers etc who are obliged to do x amount of time in the army. If there is no war, that time is for training, if for war, this is what is called "campaign season". Usually the time between planting and harvest. The rules vary greatly in medieval history from one nation to the other. Usually the land is the basis for troops. You have x amount of land that is able to sustain y amount of troops. A village can afford to send 1 man per x people to fight. Usually with basic weapon and armor, though the wealthier the settlement, usually the better equipped the men sent to war.

Knights are not exactly full time soldiers. They are of a knightly status, but landed knights and landless knights are two different things. A landed knight is a man who is trained at arms, and has the land to afford his armor and weapon and horse. A knight usually has a "lance" - a group of retainers that follow him. This can include men at arms (mounted or foot soldiers), bowmen/crossbowmen, a squire, a page, etc and various other persons with less combat-oriented skills. Those men are usually the better trained. 

Landless knights are either hedge-knights or household knights (or broke and homeless...). They either go around looking for gigs or they land a good job at a landed knight or a lord's household, where they get money to train and maintain thier armor and weapons (or are issued with what their boss gives them). Skill and training varies for traveling knights, as they can have little time or coin for training. 

Westerosi armies generally tend to have a ratio of 1-3 heavy horseman to foot soldiers. There is little to seperate heavy from light cavalry for some reason. So most armies tend to have ~1/4 of it's army be mounted trained soldiers, with an unknown amount of men being trained footmen, and the bulk is usually feudal levy with a few weeks of training per year.

2. Men of fighting age, the ideal would be unmarried spare sons. This is of course not the norm, and for example in the North a farmer and his sons would go while the women and children and old men stay behind. In the Westerlands there is a higher percentage of full time soldiers, and in other regions it can be in between. This does not count for camp followers, which can include those who were not levied but still wanted to tag along for the chance at loot. Septon Meribald being one such for example.

3. Knights and levied peasantry return to thier homes and lands. Household knigts return to thier usual duties. Hired sellswords and hedge knights get thier money and piss off or simply told to piss off. 

 

You seem to have an image of a full time army, but not even the Westerlands had an army made up entirely of full time soldiers, even though we are led to think that by Catelyn in AGOT. The Lannisters employed sellswords and feudal levies too. The armies are more like reserve armies, with a relatively small portion of full time or part time soldiers, and a larger force of men who can be called to war when needed. 

[The Feathered Dinosaur]

Thanks for helping clear that up. Yeah I definitely had a too much of a standing army in mind. These posts helped clear that.