Warfare and types of troops in 11th century?

by funnyguy1123

I am running a role-playing game that deals with an alternate history of the 11th century but had some questions.

I am having a hard time finding information on the type of warfare and troop equipment that was around during this time. The only thing I can really find is information on the Battle of Hastings.

What type of equipment was regularly used? I know peasants made up large amounts of armies, as they were called to service. What were they armed with? Crude farming tools?

Also, were Pikes generally used in this era just yet? I know Swiss Pikemen ended up becoming incredibly popular later on. Were pikes used at all in the 11th century?

Ranged weapons consisted of just bows at this point too, right?

Ambarenya

The only thing I can really find is information on the Battle of Hastings.

There is (naturally) a lot more to 11th Century European Medieval warfare than just The Battle of Hastings (even though it was an important battle). Although I don't feel qualified to comment on Western European warfare at the time, it might interest you to know that the Byzantines produced several highly-detailed military manuals during the 10th and 11th Centuries that have survived to the present day, most notably, the expansive Taktika of Leo VI, but also smaller volumes such as the Praecepta Militaria of Nikephoros II Phokas and Strategikon of Nikephoros Ouranos, which all give valuable insight into the organization and logistical capabilities of Imperial armies of the time.

What type of equipment was regularly used? I know peasants made up large amounts of armies, as they were called to service. What were they armed with? Crude farming tools?

Huge question and highly dependent on the specific regions you are interested in. But during this time period in Byzantium, armies were made up of a mix of thematic troops (essentially part-time soldiers raised from the provinces), and tagmatic troops (professional soldiery). All soldiers were expected to meet certain armament standards according their ranks and roles within the Imperial army, and were drilled at least to some degree (tagmatic troops being generally better drilled than thematic troops). All were expected to coordinate and communicate with eachother according to standard Byzantine military practices and ranking system.

Armor and weaponry were certainly more sophisticated than sack cloths and crude farming tools in Byzantium: a wide variety of weapons including longswords and sabres, spears, flanged maces, axes, composite bows, javelins, and martiobarbuli (darts) were used. These were coupled with defenses such as quilted gambesons, leather lamellar, coats of mail, klivania (a type of iron lamellar body armor), splinted gauntlets and greaves, reinforced iron helmets with mail facemasks, thick leather boots, and a wide variety of light and heavy shields. Troops were armed according to their specific function within the army, and were sometimes mixed together for increased flexibility (such as the kataphraktoi, whose heavily-armed formations might consist of both frontline melee and nestled ranged soldiers).

Were pikes used at all in the 11th century?

Yes. The Byzantines used a long spear (7-12 feet in length) known as the menavlion for use in defensive formations.

Ranged weapons consisted of just bows at this point too, right?

Bows, javelins, slings, throwing axes, 'throwing maces', cheirosiphona (hand-held Greek fire launchers), varieties of grenades, martiobarbuli, and 'mice' were the hand-held ranged weapons used by the Byzantines at this time.

The medieval crossbow made its first major appearance at the end of the 11th Century (during the First Crusade), and were seemingly developed by Western Europeans. Anna Komnene called these devices tzangra, and she makes it seem that they were unknown in Byzantium at the time, despite the widespread use of ballistae.