Hi, my name's Kevin Hicks, welcome to my YouTube
channel The History Squad. Now today's video is about camp life for a medieval bowman in an
English army. It was asked for by one of my patreon members Michael Swatton and so I've done
my Kevin thing, is I've made a model. Now you've got to excuse me, I'm recovering from COVID. I've
been sick, but I'm not too bad at the moment, I'm improving negative so I thought
I'd do this little uh video for you. Camp life, medieval camps. Something I didn't
know that there was a guy called the harbinger. I'd heard of the Harbinger of Doom, is that
he's coming to your town and telling you that there's an army behind him and you've got to put
them up because that was the harbinger's job. If you're not gonna camp out in the open,
you're gonna go to a town, he will sort out, him and his men, all of the billeting. He had
armed men with him, he was a man of station, you didn't mess around with this man because this
is the guy who will make sure that there is food, there is accommodation. So here's the man
you've got to keep on the right side of. But there was a formula. If you had a
massive camp, if it was an army camp there were four roads, yeah, that literally
crossed the camp. In the center of the camp was the marketplace and also where the commanders
had their pavilions. Many of the pavilions, these enormous medieval tents, were actually
joined by corridors, so they didn't actually go out of their let's say their meeting tent into
their sleeping tent. But the idea of this is to kind of give us an idea how your archer lived. And
then you've got to consider archers were valuable and they were appreciated, especially come
the latter part of the Hundred Years War. Let's not go too deep into there because
the French with their guns, (shh, a later video). But into the Wars of the Roses
uh the bowman really was the elite. Um, the Earl of Warwick reckoned that his
household bowmen, one of them was worth two of anybody else's bowmen, so they were paid six pence
a day, not bad wages for the day, but they're also given uh extra things like bonuses, a house to
live in yeah for him and his family. Clothing passed down from his noble lord. So these guys,
they looked the business, they had good bows, superb arrows, so when you took them on campaign
the last thing you want is your teeth arm, your aggressive bowmen to be shivering under
the hedges. The camps were designed to be as comfortable as they could be. And the wagon trains
that contain these camps, some of the noblemen they had so many wagons full of their tentage, and
then you had the people who were employed simply to put the camp up and then strip the camp down,
pack it away and the wagoners and away they went. The wagon trains that contain these camps were
miles upon miles long. I've actually covered this, I think I've done a video before the baggage train
so you could look that one up. But what I've done is I've made a model right. So the harbinger’s
come along, this is a minor camp so let's say it's for a company or two. The first thing he's
got to make sure, that there is fresh water. So we have water on camp. Also plenty of firewood
for the fires, plenty of trees around here no problems at all. And then siting the latrines,
it's very, very important that the latrines are away and it's, it's hygienic, because the curse of
the medieval army, the curse of any army really is disease. Dysentery that's the one, the bloody
flux, you don't want it, so what I'm going to do is I'm going to walk you around. Oh, hang on
a second, little tips that I keep reading about. So I'm reading about how they set camp. So this
one's nice and open, we must be in friendly territory no problems, but if you're in enemy
territory, you fortify your camp with a ditch, and I thought oh that's just like the Romans.
Well yeah because the commanders in the medieval times read Vegitius, the Epitome of
Military Science. I've got the book, and when I found out that they read the same book
as me I'm kind of going wow! I'm learning from the books that they learned from and it's just
wow. There was also, there was discipline here so the last thing you want is bowmen
falling out or men at arms falling out, so there was a code of discipline. And it was
the Earl of Shrewsbury, this is just after Agincourt so I understand, was sick to death of
gangs of whores, prostitutes yeah, camp followers following the Army, causing problems. So he
banned them, and if you were caught with a group of these ladies within your accommodation
then that'll cost you in a fine, a month's wages. But the girls themselves were in danger here,
it was very severe, they would be thrown out, all of their money confiscated and then there's a
little bit added on the end… and break their arms. So this is serious business when you think about
it. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to walk you around my camp just a little bit to uh to show
you what I've done. The one thing that's missing here is the horse lines and I just didn't have
room. So a little tour of my camp, let's start off with the, the not so nice end. What I've
done here is, I've got laborers working away, they're digging a grave pit, so we've either had
a bit of dysentery or something or there's some casualties from a previous conflict and they're
disposing of them now. Now in that field away from the camp over here, we have the latrines,
and we have a guy there who's straining his guts out. They’re away from the camp and so they're
not going to flood the camp if they overflow. But when we go into the camp itself we have
a wagon train that's just arrived, and this one here, this model I've got here is great,
because it shows you how much kit they carried. I mean I've got another wagon, a covered
wagon here parked uh up and people are continually unloading it. These are the
enormous constructions. So as we come round to the back of the camp here we've got a,
a pot on the boil. That'll be pottage. Pottage, oat-based stew. Well I've had many a bowl of
pottage. I've had pease pottage, cabbage pottage, I've had pottage with fish in it, with bacon in
it, I've had every pottage you can imagine. Now if I remember correctly, now if anybody knows
anything about this to substantiate it I'd love to hear from you. Back in England
there was a pub that had a pottage bowl and what they did every day, it was never
allowed to go cold, it was boiled up they added stuff to it every day and there was
never a case of food poisoning but that pottage bowl had been going for approximately 200 years
so I understand. Now this is one of the legends you pick up yeah? It was only stopped through
the European government and food standards or something like that. Now I do like a drop of
pottage, but there's another little thing, if this is true, about the Scots with their
pottage. They used to let it go cold and then cut the oatmeal cake off the top, lay it down and lace
it with spirits, what we call whiskey, scotch, and that will be contained for the winter time and
it would ferment. If you know about these things, let me know because I love these little
tidbits. So you've got a pottage bowl here, now they would transport their pottage bowl with
coals attached to them to keep them warm and then they will boil them up when it's ready for the
meal. This is, great things, the way things are moving. But I've got labourers, common workers,
they've got their lean-to shelters or they're just underneath a wagon and then you come in we've
got the nobleman's pavilion here. The archers accommodation yeah, another tentage here, but the
camp isn't complete. The workers are going on, the ladies have started the cooking. The
portable oven. I find that fascinating that they would have a portable oven so they
can have bread, fresh baked bread. So you've got bakers, you've got cooks, you've got all of
these different people on top of the soldiers, so as I go around there's somebody else cooking
there. There is a lady here, I got a couple of girls there, so they would be on camp, but these
aren't your camp followers, these are wives, these are part of the family. There is your water
barrel and you've got men queuing up there to fill up. So I've made it so this would be moved,
refilled and bought back for the fresh water. Fodder for the animals. I've got some laborers
working away over here on captured pavises. So they'll be stripping the paint off those or
over painting them. Uh and then finally, my favorite bit, I've done some archery practice.
I've made a butts, couple of targets on posts and the archers are shooting away. Vitally
important that the bowmen prove themselves, they keep themselves fit, strong, healthy. So
the system worked, it had to work and it had to be good. But there were times when it could
break down, if the harbingers had got it wrong, if the camp was too big. Take Harfleur, Henry
V’s camp at Harfleur, must have been enormous. Dysentery. A third of his army dead from
dysentery I understand at Harfleur and a third of his army had to be sent back, so the
latrines were obviously placed in the wrong um situation there. The weather was bad,
the water was bad, it was a disaster. Henry V marches his army north towards Calais
which resulted in the Agingourt battle, but they couldn't take tents. There were pack
horses. Million and a half arrows you ain't got room for tents, so the men on the march they would
have slept very rough. So they could yeah? Because it wasn't a disaster at the end of the day, look
at the battle itself, they were able to fight. And this is another reflection on the character
of these men, English and Welsh, medieval times. And it's interesting camp life, we've got
everything going on but once the archers have finished practice, the wagons are away and
the wagon lines and the horses are all seen too then it's downtime, and uh, what would it have
been like? Well I've done the big re-enactment camps and it's wonderful when somebody pulls out
a flute and simply plays a tune and they sing, and of course there will be ale, there will be games.
Nine man's morris for instance, even backgammon, but uh you've got to have active sports haven't
you? The old early forms of football and wrestling and all of these kind of things would have been
going on and there would have been laughter, because something I've learned is they had a
sense of humor, just like me and they liked a joke. So the camp would have been bustling,
smoking, bustling, the aroma of food. Stay away from the latrines, you don't want that aroma
and the sound of music as it wafts around. Camp life, it couldn't have been that bad could
it? Well I hope you enjoyed our little video there, if you did like, share and subscribe
and please turn on the notifications button. The all notification button so you know what's
coming on down the line. We've got lots ready to film. And now a special shout out for
three of my patrons Lexi, Mark Wright and Michael Anderwald, hey guys thanks a million.
Your support keeps this going. Bye for now.
