How did smaller feudal vassal realms survive a war or raid?

I am basically doing this from memory based on what I’ve learned over many years, so something I may be mistaken about, or misstate some things, or I could be confused and be dead wrong.

So I welcome anybody who spots the areas that I’m wrong or off and corrects them. I’m not sensitive in that I do not know everything and I am welcome any corrections to what I will be saying below.

Medieval warfare was a long process of making war. There are at least three factors that we take for granted today that they did not have:

The first is communications. They had to send runners over land and in some cases overseas to find or communicate with allies or family members who married other nobles from other countries.

Depending how bad you were just devastated, the second factor is raising an army, and knowing how to train new members and even organize them on a battlefield. Back then it was done with flags and horned instruments, each with their own meaning.

And thirdly, since you had mentioned that most all your peasants were killed in the attack, you will need to recruit others to fight for you. Unless you’re rich, or since the people who used to work the land had ownership like crop sharing (if you allowed ownership), you can use incentives such as fighting for you you give them a free house plus a stipend to help them get settled in your lands. Recruiting can take a very long.

And more than likely your crops were destroyed during the attack and you’re gonna need people to work your land so that you can make money And feed your people from the crops you grow. So whoever you recruit will not only work the land, they will also be obligated to fight for you.

Now if you’re a Knight or a Baron, these two ranks are on the low end of being royalty. In fact, the King or Queen can bestow Knighthood to anyone for any reason, and that does not entitle them to royalty benefits.

And most people earn the title of Knight by fighting for their Baron or Prince, and other royalty above them. You have to train in the fighting arts for many years, usually apprentice under another Knight, and be recognize for bravery in battle to become a Knight. So as a Knight you really are an elite fighter for whomever you work for.

Now a Baron is a landowner who owns one or more estates, and maybe has a castle, and lots of peasants working all his lands. When a Duke or Prince or other royalty above a Baron request that he joins in on a fight, he will enlist many of his peasants to fight for him, otherwise he will kick them and their families off his land.

If you were a Baron who were attacked and lost most of your peasants, and since you are part of the royal family, you will have a easier time recruiting people to both work your land and fight for you if called upon. Hopefully you have some Knights available to train your peasant Army.

One other thing that I recall is that Knights had to provide their own weapons and armor. That means they paid for it out of their own pocket. None of the members in the royal family gave them anything. Same thing with the peasants who you want to fight for you as a Baron.

Unless you are super rich and can provide the weapons and armor, you would require your peasants to provide at least a shoe ld, a sword, and some kind of rudimentary armor to protect their heads and body. But it will not be on the level of what a Knight wears or arms themselves.

Again, I made this post basically from memory of what I learned about Medieval war and who provides a lot and how peasant recruitment is done.

There are many other factors, and generally if you have a large family who are on the same level of you or higher, you can expect help from them in recruiting and training and possibly even providing you with soldiers. Here would make a difference because if you’re fighting along side your family member, part of their army can become part of yours and both will fight together as a unit.

So if I made any mistakes or mis-stated anything, please Feel correct what I said. But I think I got the basic principles right, for to answer this question completely, there have been volumes of books written about the subject.

I hope this helps.