Sieges: Average Attacker to Defender Ratio in Middle Ages
Upvote:3
Following and expanding on from Mike L's comment the short answer will be we don't know. Numbers of armies as quoted in works at or close to the time were often (always?) exaggerated, you know our guys only had 10,000 and the bad guys, they had a 100,000 and we still beat them. Camp followers and townsfolk could also get lumped into the count regardless of their combat effectiveness or drain on resources.
The other thing to remember is the main people counting were the heralds. And their job was to note the demise of important people Sir XYZ, Monseigneur EFF, Landsknecht Von D, The Kings Brother/Son/Nephew etc. A small part of the fighting force but well worth a ransom. The bowmen, crossbowmen pike-men, halbadiers and the townsfolk were in their opinion worthless so rarely counted or counted accurately. I mean why bother when no-one cares?
I suspect to get any sort of answer you would need to look very carefully at the information available about the size of armies, remembering that because of logistics most medieval armies could not usually number more than 20,000 except in exceptional circumstances and make your own estimation of the size of the armies and then with more difficulty try to get estimates of the size of towns taking into account no real census data being available and populations fluctuating by season or plague. No doubt here tax and poll records would help but are still open to interpretation.
More post
- 📝 Were pre-columbian peoples aware of "America" as a three parts continent?
- 📝 What reasons did the Confederacy have for believing they would have a quick victory?
- 📝 What was the meaning of Auguste Delfosse's statement "La liberté française pour faire le tour du monde n'a pas besoin de passer en Belgique!"
- 📝 WWII - Russian victory over Germany
- 📝 Why did native Americans and Europeans mix in South America but not in North America?
- 📝 Historical assessments of the effectiveness of torture
- 📝 Did the Ottoman empire suppress the printing press?
- 📝 Did any Native Americans make tomahawks from metal?
- 📝 Why do western monotheistic religions seem to be so full of conflict over dogma?
- 📝 What were Russia and the US were planning to do if Ukraine refused to give up their nuclear arsenal?
- 📝 Exactly when was the country of Andorra founded?
- 📝 When did podium girls first appear?
- 📝 What does "the anointed of the Lord" mean?
- 📝 How could Poles from Kresy be enough to repopulate entire regions of Poland?
- 📝 Is this a true quote of Engels about vague Russian leaders and their vague followers?
- 📝 What can these photos say about my father's service for the British in WWII?
- 📝 Why did the kingdoms of Scotland and England merge?
- 📝 Was there a policy of preemptive attack on foreign fleets in the British Empire?
- 📝 What proportion of women died in childbirth before modern times?
- 📝 Who was the earliest historian of the Greco-Roman world to write something substantial about China?
- 📝 Is there still controversy among historians and archaeologists about the exact date of the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD?
- 📝 What is this illustration portraying?
- 📝 When is Samonios in comparison to the Gregorian calendar?
- 📝 Why did India choose August 15th as its Independence Day?
- 📝 What was middle class in Sweden in WW1?
- 📝 Was slave labor used in rebuilding the White House?
- 📝 How was Hoche and Binding's text, arguing for the murder of certain disabled people, received within eugenics movements worldwide?
- 📝 Why did Sun Tzu believe you shouldn't wait beside a river when eager to fight?
- 📝 What is my ancestor wearing, and what is the purpose?
- 📝 During the 1850’s and 60’s, was the free North (and its cause in the U.S. Civil War) considered more virtuous than the slave-holding South?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Sieges: Average Attacker to Defender Ratio in Middle Ages
- 📝 Was hay invented only in the Middle Ages in Europe?
- 📝 What is the difference between the Middle Ages and the Dark Ages?
- 📝 What did the people of the Middle Ages call their period?
- 📝 Which European monarch of the middle ages died furthest from home?
- 📝 How long would the average sword last in the middle ages?
- 📝 Why didn't mercenary combat after the middle ages lead to the collapse of the ruling class?
- 📝 What did men wear at night in the Middle Ages in Europe?
- 📝 Republican thought in the Middle Ages
- 📝 Language in German cloisters during the High Middle Ages
- 📝 Life in the middle ages for ordinary people?
- 📝 Raising children in Europe in the Middle Ages
- 📝 How "religious" was the average person in the Middle Ages?
- 📝 What was the average size of French families during the Middle Ages?
- 📝 How were de jure lands determined during the Middle Ages in Western Europe?
- 📝 How close would a peasant from middle ages England ever come to interacting with the king?
- 📝 What were the traveling practices of merchants, roughly between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance?
- 📝 Was there a semi-professional soldiering class in Early Middle Ages Europe?
- 📝 Is there any estimate for expected life of 'ordinary' or 'poor' people in middle ages after surviving infancy?
- 📝 Were sermons in the Middle Ages devoted to Old Testament or New Testament subjects?
- 📝 What was the average percentage of taxes in Europe during the Middle Ages?
- 📝 What is the strongest alcoholic drink that existed during the Middle Ages in Europe?
- 📝 What was Income Disparity like in the Middle Ages of Europe?
- 📝 Was there an alcohol abuse problem among monks and priests in the High Middle Ages in England?
- 📝 What did people of the middle ages call their periods?
- 📝 Middle east and North africa population during the high middle ages
- 📝 Adapting clothes, weapons, tools and customs from other nations in the middle ages - judging plausability
- 📝 Average ages of US Army officers at the turn of the 20th century
- 📝 How were British monarchs educated about military strategy in the Middle Ages and early modern period?
- 📝 Do we have any idea what people in the Middle Ages (or before them) thought the far future was going to be like?