New Weaponry, Tactics and the Decline of the Knight

Step 2: Calculate the arrows fired in one minute.

• $4000 \times 12 = 48{,}000$ arrows/minute

Step 3: Multiply by the total time.

• $48{,}000 \times 3 = 144{,}000$ arrows

The Cannon and the End of the Castle

• Massive stone walls that had protected lords for centuries were suddenly reduced to rubble in a matter of days.
• First appearing in European warfare in the 1320s, the cannon (often called a heavy bombard in its early siege form) became a standard battlefield feature by 1450.
• Early cannons fired stone balls, but these lacked density and often shattered on impact. In the 15th century, armies transitioned to cast iron balls, which were three times denser and could efficiently punch through solid masonry.
• Two major technological leaps increased artillery effectiveness. Trunnions (metal pivoting rods on the barrel) allowed gunners to alter their vertical aim accurately. Meanwhile, the invention of corned powder in the 1420s increased explosive force by 30% and was highly resistant to damp weather.
• This caused a major shift toward the active siege. Instead of passively starving out a garrison over many months, attackers used concentrated artillery fire on the base of a wall to create a V-shaped collapse, forming a ramp of rubble for infantry to storm.
• Fortifications had to adapt; high, thin walls were replaced by lower, earth-filled walls designed to absorb shock. Builders also added the bastion to eliminate defensive blind spots.

The Schiltron and Defensive Formations

• Imagine a giant, bristling hedgehog made of sharp wooden poles that terrified charging warhorses.
• The schiltron was a dense, tightly packed infantry formation containing up to 2,000 men. Soldiers wielded the pike, a long wooden spear measuring 3 to 5 metres, which allowed infantry to strike cavalry before the riders' lances could reach them.
• By presenting multiple rows of outward-facing pikes, the formation successfully repelled heavy cavalry charges, as seen at the Battle of Stirling Bridge (1297).
• However, the original circular schiltron had a major negative feature: it was completely static and could not maneuver. At Falkirk (1298), this immobility left them highly vulnerable to longbow fire, which thinned their ranks until cavalry could break the formation.
• To solve this, commanders evolved the tactic into the rectilinear (rectangular) schiltron by the Battle of Bannockburn (1314), allowing the formation to move offensively across the battlefield.

Discussing the Decline of the Mounted Knight

• Why would a monarch choose to spend vast sums of money on commoners instead of relying on their traditional, heavily armoured noblemen?
• The decline of the knight was driven by a combination of technological obsolescence and the rising cost of professional armies.
• Technologically, the combined arms of longbows and schiltrons stripped the knight of his greatest advantage: the shock cavalry charge. Horses became too vulnerable, forcing knights to dismount and fight as infantrymen. Furthermore, the cannon destroyed the castle, which was the traditional power base of the feudal lord.
• Socially and economically, the feudal levy—which required knights to provide 40 days of unpaid service—proved too short and unreliable for lengthy campaigns.
• Monarchs shifted toward professionalisation. Nobles paid scutage (shield money) instead of fighting, which kings used to hire a professional mercenary.
• Armies were increasingly raised via the indenture system, where captains signed formal contracts to provide a paid retinue of troops for 6 to 12 months. Royal Commissioners of Array were dispatched to select the highest quality men-at-arms.
• To ensure a supply of skilled troops, the Assize of Arms and the 1285 Statute of Winchester legally required men to own weapons. By 1363, Edward III mandated mandatory archery practice, creating a class of professional peasant soldiers earning a lucrative 3d to 6d per day.
• Ultimately, while new weapons physically defeated the knight on the battlefield, it was the structural shift towards a highly paid, contracted infantry that permanently replaced the chivalric, feudal system.