Conclusion

Medieval Europe was essentially a poor society in which armies could only be sustained on a temporary basis. This resulted in relatively small forces centred on tiny well-equipped and well-trained elites.

As wealth increased, military investment spread further, but until the fourteenth century commanders depended entirely on the native skills of their men. Europeans could not really match the hardiness, adaptability and fighting power of steppe peoples, Mongols and Turks, who were the dominant military powers of the medieval period. However Western armies became more professional and by the fourteenth century in some places there were what amounted to standing forces, though they were small. But agriculture was the most important source of wealth in the medieval world, and its productivity was always limited by the need to preserve fertility. Wealth intensification was not really possible, so extensification was the real option. The ruler of vast lands had more disposable wealth, which could be translated into military power. Europe was a mosaic of small states, which could not rival the Mamluks and the Ottomans. It is significant that it was the French monarchy that made the greatest steps towards regular forces - it was the richest and biggest power in Europe. But there was no simple pattern in Europe, where diversity remained the rule.

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Source: Gordon Matthew, Kaeuper Richard, Zurndorfer Harriet (eds.). The Cambridge World History of Violence. Volume 2: AD 500-AD 1500. Cambridge University Press,2020. — 696 p.. 2020

Conclusion

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