Timore Greyjoy-Bolton Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 Is there ever a clear mention of how many professional soldiers/household guard a Lordly house is expected to maintain? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loose Bolt Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 Littlefinger seemed to keep his status as a lord though he could raise 0 real soldiers. So there are no universal rules about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donjearys Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 On 12/9/2020 at 12:12 PM, Loose Bolt said: Littlefinger seemed to keep his status as a lord though he could raise 0 real soldiers. So there are no universal rules about that. He could raise no soldiers of his own yes, but he sure made a habit of having as many sell-swords about him as possible, being the technocrat that he is and witnessing such a meteoric rise through Westeros' social ranks. But it is true that there is no real rule for lords to follow in this regard. We should however distinguish between household guards, knights and men-at-arms. The first are a corps of agents that a lord absolutely needs ; how can you possibly hold any land or castle without having enough people to police your holdings or man your keep? Knights (and sell-swords to an extent) are contractors. They work for lords in exchange of being housed, fed and given access to their land and keep. They can be relied upon since they're honor bound to the people they swear allegiance/their service to (Dunkan the Tall and Lord Eustace Osgrey, Brienne and Caitlyn Stark, etc.). Men-at-arms are the serfs living on a lord's lands. Serfdom means that a lord has the right to call these people to war whenever he needs to and they need to oblige. Septon Meribald sums and explains it quite well in his monologue about broken men. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Universal Sword Donor Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 On 12/8/2020 at 11:11 PM, Timore Greyjoy-Bolton said: Is there ever a clear mention of how many professional soldiers/household guard a Lordly house is expected to maintain? GRRM's comments on it to round out the thread: https://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/1203/ On 3/4/2021 at 9:34 AM, Donjearys said: Men-at-arms are the serfs living on a lord's lands. Serfdom means that a lord has the right to call these people to war whenever he needs to and they need to oblige. Septon Meribald sums and explains it quite well in his monologue about broken men. Serfs isn't the right word. Usually the men-at-arms were members of his household but the levy he calls up is going to be peasants, just peasants that can afford arms and armor we see in the northern, westerland, reach and SL armies (e.g. archer w bow or infantry with chainmail, a helmet, and a polearm, maybe a shield as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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