Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Armour Plates" to "Arundel, Earls of"

who contemplated a great war should employ mercenaries. These were usually foreigners, as practically all national forces served on feudal terms. While the greater lords rode with him on all his expeditions, the bulk of his army consisted of professional soldiers, paid by the levy of _scutage_ imposed upon the feudal tenantry. There had always been soldiers of fortune. William's host at Hastings contained many such men; later, the Flemings who invaded England in the days of Henry I. sang to each other-- "Hop, hop, Willeken, hop! England is mine and thine,"-- and from all the evidence it is clear that in earlier days the hired soldiers were adventurers seeking lands and homes. But these men usually proved to be most undesirable subjects, and sovereigns soon began to pay a money wage for the services of mercenaries properly so called. Such were the troops which figured in English history under Stephen. Such troops, moreover, formed the main part of the armies of the early Plantagenets. They were, as a matter of course, armed and armoured like the knights, with whom they formed the men-at-arms (_gendarmes_) of the army. Indeed, in the 11th and 12th centuries, the typical army of France or the Empire contains a relatively small percentage of "knights," evidence of which fact may be found even in so fanciful a romance as _Aucassin and Nicolete_. It must be noted, however, that not all the mercenaries were heavy cavalry; the Brabancon pikeman and the Italian crossbowman (the value of whose weapon was universally recognized) often formed part of a feudal army.