Why does house Stark have the smallest army in the north?

[Knight Owl]

Okay, that's fine. But I still think GRRM just wasn't overly worried about this type of subject matter. It just isn't his thing. Notice as well that he doesn't go into tremendous detail in the books describing the precise feudal arrangements of vassal to liege lord. I mean, we can assume there are feudal obligations on both sides, but we don't know the exact details because he was either being purposely vague or he simply didn't want to write about it in detail.

I do agree with the original premise though. One would assume that House Stark on it's own could raise a larger army than any of the other Houses in the north.

I'd have to agree with you on this one. While feudal arrangements do entail the calling of banners, and vassals bringing forces to their Lord when summoned, that doesn't mean that the primary liege Lord is foolish enough to essentially depend entirely on his vassals for military forces. Many vassals remain loyal, but there are some with higher aspirations, and the Liege Lord's own forces are useful in curbing such aspiration. Additionally, it just makes more sense for a Liege Lord to have a sufficient number of their own forces, it just gives them more flexibility and independence as a ruler. GRRM references past points in history where primarily Winterfell forces were used for military operations.

The particular one that comes to mind is the invasion past the Wall by Raymund Redbeard, who was met by the forces of Winterfell and Last Hearth. The Umbers were undoubtedly a huge help during this battle, but by indications, the Starks had a sufficient number of their own personal troops. It does at times seem as though GRRM just isn't as interested in the nit picky military details, and that leads to confusion/arguments from readers. For instance, I read somewhere that GRRM had originally intended for the 50,000 troop estimate of Dorne's strength to be accurate, but he later recanted, and that's when he added the line where Doran tells Arianne that others vastly overestimate the number of Dornish troops.

[FatalTragedy]

This is most likely a mistake by the author, which will probably be rectified in future books. To illustrate:

The original 12000 had upwards of 3000 Boltons, 2300 Karstarks and likely around 2000 Umbers in it. That adds up to around 7500 men. Leaving only 4500 to be split between the Hornwoods, Cerwyns, Mormonts, Mountain Clans, Glovers and Starks. (The Tallharts might have sent their men to join along the road instead of coming to Winterfell, as did the Dustins, Ryswells, Manderlys, Reeds and Flints of Flint's Finger).

The Stark lands are easily as large and easily as fertile as the Bolton lands, so there is no way that they have less men than the Boltons. And yet, given the above scenario, it is unlikely they contributed more than 1000 men to the war effort.

Clearly, the numbers don't make sense. So it is a mistake by the author. No way around it.

You have to remember that people like the Boltons or Manderlys have vassals of their own, and their troops are counted in the overall Bolton or Manserly levy. These vassals are like at the level of the Cerwyns, Tallharts or Glovers, so to compare the Stark's levies with those of Bolton or Manserly we have to include the Cerwyns etc. in the Starks numbers. And I think it very likely that between them the Starks, Cerwyns, Glovers and Tallharts have at least 3000 men between them.

[oopeed]

Well, in theory they have all the north at their disposal as they are lords paramounts of the region. Every man can be considered a Stark man.

This is even more clear in the north where the Stark name carries not only fear but respect and love at the same time. The mountain clans and many other northmen are willing to fight for a false Arya Stark and Manderly is willing to put his fruits in Rickon's basket. Glovers, Umbers, Mormonts and Reeds are willing to go beyond every expectation for their Stark overlords. Even beyond the wall, the Stark name carries a lot of weight.

Also, it's not only numbers what counts, the quality of those men and their well-being is important. A guy that lives in Winterfell will be better fed and will have better equipment than most soldiers in the north as it is a castle that can survive the longest winters with certain degree of comfort.

[Dimples]

Also, it's not only numbers what counts, the quality of those men and their well-being is important. A guy that lives in Winterfell will be better fed and will have better equipment than most soldiers in the north as it is a castle that can survive the longest winters with certain degree of comfort.

That's a negligible factor. The majority of men that could be raised from a lord's demesne live in the surrounding holdfast and villages, not the castle itself.

[Dimples]

Y'all should play Crusader Kings 2.

If everyone did, we wouldn't need this thread.