The wappinschaw

In medieval Scotland, there was no professional army to speak of. Instead, in time of war, the king would summon the communis exercitus, the Scots common army. This was a levy of those able-bodied men between 16 and 60 who were considered wealthy enough to afford arms. They were required to keep and bear arms according to their wealth and rank, to attend regular musters–wappinschaws–to ensure that their arms and armour were fit for service and to serve the king as unpaid soldiers for forty days. There would be fines for those who failed to show up, for those whose equipment didn't pass muster, or those who turned up with borrowed equipment. As an extra inducement to attend, free beer might be provided for the levies.

Traditionally, the core of the Scots common army was the long spear, 8 to 12 feet in length, deployed en masse in a phalanx-like formation called a schiltron (though the name clearly means something like 'shield-troop', for most of the middle ages spearmen went shieldless). In 1471, an ineffective law was passed to replace the long spear with the longer Swiss pike (as much as 18 feet in length). Not until the reign of James IV did the pike truly become standard equipment, and then only thanks to a massive military aid programme funded by the French in the run-up to Flodden.

Some weapons other than spears and pikes were acceptable at the wappinschaw. These varied a little over time, but would include the missile weapons that were always in quite short supply in the Scots army (longbow, crossbow, hand culverin and arquebus), various polearms (halberd, Leith axe, Jeddart stave, the mysterious brogit staff and others), and the two-handed sword. Generally, soldiers would also have a sword or dagger of some kind as a secondary weapon.

From the 1450s on, all but the missile troops were required to be equipped with the targe, a small round shield, though we know that at Flodden the men at the very front of the pike blocks had instead large wooden pavises to provide even more protection against the English longbowmen.

Armour varied with the wealth of the wearer. The richer a levy was, the better armour he would be required to have, and the closer to the front of the schiltron he would be placed. At the front, you might find nobles with white harness from Italy or the Low Countries, or gentlemen in mass-produced half-plate (such as the Almain rivets produced in James IV's harness factory at Stirling), and so on down through brigandine and jack for those further back. All would also wear helmets, sometimes covered with the traditional blue bonnet of the Scottish soldier. We also know that the less well-armoured soldiers would stitch rows of brass chains into the sleeves and thighs of their doublet and hose to ward off sword blows, and that they each would also wear kerchief wrapped three or four times around his throat for added protection, though I don't believe these practices are mentioned in the wappinschaw statutes.

So, our typical Scots soldier of the early 15th century, our Jock Tamson, how would he be equipped?

*doublet and hose, reinforced with brass chain
*a quilted and padded jack
*a simple iron helmet, perhaps under his blue bonnet
*a kerchief wrapped around his neck
*a targe
*boots and gloves, as stout as he could afford
*a cheap sword
*a long spear or a pike (if available)

Some areas of Scotland provided special types of troops that I haven't covered here today–the Highlanders and the Border Horse. I'll write more about them in forthcoming posts.