Hello people of reddit. It may seem like a stupid question but the other day I was thinking how were early medieval battles REALLY fought? See I know how the ancients fought such as the Romans with there legions and the Greeks with there phalanxes but in the movies medieval battles are usually depicted by each side just charging each other. Did early medieval armies usually consist of heavy infantry like the Romans or were they more cavalry based? did they use shield walls? I also know that late medieval armies usually consisted of pikemen, longbow men and mounted knights but what about the early ones that were say around 1066-1300 and how did they play out? Any answers will be appreciated, Thanks.
Edit: Thanks for all the great answers guys!
Your timing is off, you'll find armies composed of spearman, cavalry (incl. knights), archers (incl. crossbowmen) within your stated date-range. The Early Middle Ages typically run from the fourth- or fifth-centuries to around the tenth- or early eleventh-centuries.
Have a listen to this lecture for an introduction to medieval warfare 1000-1300.
Well, it really depends on where and when you're talking about. The "Middle Ages" are a very broad period, after all.
Did early medieval armies usually consist of heavy infantry like the Romans
Well, that depends on what you define as "heavy" infantry. Most early medieval soldiers were not nearly as well-equipped as a professional Roman Legionary from the height of the western army. Generally, the early medieval infantryman was a militiaman first, rather than a professional soldier and they generally weren't that well-armored, mostly fighting in the German/Celtic fashion with a spear and a shield.
It's important to remember that states were very decentralized during this period, so, they had the capacity to organize military strength for a short period of time. Early medieval lords only maintained small permanent attachments of well-equipped soldiers in their retinues, often referred to as the comitatus
did they use shield walls?
Definitely. After all, when most of your soldiers are unarmored, keeping your shields locked together is the best way of ensuring you aren't killed! Most famously, this is displayed at the Battle of Hastings, where the Anglo-Saxon shield wall performed quite well against Norman archers and cavalry. Here's a picture from the famous Bayeux Tapestry of that.
I also know that late medieval armies usually consisted of pikemen, longbow men and mounted knights but what about the early ones that were say around 1066-1300 and how did they play out?
As I said before, in Western Europe, early medieval armies were mostly militia formed around a core of a noble and his retinue. The Anglo-Saxon term is the fyrd (Kill me, I've got an Anglo-Saxon historian as a friend so I hear about this stuff.) It's pretty hard to say how well-trained they were and I imagine it varied a lot (Maybe someone else knows more about this?), since medieval records about the activities of common folks tend to be quite rare.
Anyways, it's a really interesting period. I'd have probably studied it but Latin is a pain in the ass. If you want to know more and have access to academic journals, De Re Militari often has journal articles about the subject and their site actually has a good bit of primary source information. If you want sources for something specific, I can probably dig something up.
