every man from sixteen to sixty be well and defensibly
arrayed and ... be ready to attend on his Highness upon a day's warning
in resistance of his enemies and rebels and the defence of this his
realm."[15] This notable incident carries us to the end of the Middle
Ages, and shows us the Old English principle in vigorous operation.

FOOTNOTES:

[10] Gervase of Canterbury. _Gesta Regum_, vol. ii, p. 97.

[11] _Statutes of the Realm_, vol. i, pp. 96-8.

[12] 1 Ed. III, c. 2. Sec.Sec.5-7.

[13] 25 Ed. III, c. 5. Sec.8.

[14] 4 Hy. IV, c. 13.

[15] Rymer, T. _Foedera_, vol. xi, p. 524.

IV. TUDOR AND STUART DEVELOPMENTS

The Wars of the Roses, so fatal to the feudal nobility, left the
national militia the only organized force in the country. The Tudor
period, it is true, saw the faint foreshadowing of a regular army in
Henry VII's Yeomen of the Guard, and the nucleus of a volunteer force in
the Honourable Artillery Company, established in London under Henry
VIII. But these at the time had little military importance, and England
remained dependent for her defence throughout the sixteenth century,
that age of unprecedented prosperity and glory, upon her militant
manhood. Hence the Tudor monarchs paid great attention to the
maintenance and equipment of the militia. The practice (which had grown
up in the later Middle Ages) of limiting the normal call to arms to a
certain quota of men from each county was revived. If the required
numbers were not forthcoming compulsion was employed. Statutes were
passed making discipline more rigid. Lords Lieutenant were instituted to
take over the command, with added powers, from the Sheriffs. An
important Mustering Statute (1557) was enacted, graduating afresh the
universal liability to service, and making new provision for weapons and
organization.[16] William Harrison, writing in 1587, said: "As for able
men for service, thanked be God! we are not without good store; for by
the musters taken 1574-5 our numbers amounted to 1,172,674, and yet were
they not so narrowly taken but that a third part of this like multitude
was left unbilled and uncalled."[17] This from a population estimated at
less than six million all told! Such was the host on which England
relied for safety in 1588, if by chance the galleons of Spain should
elude the vigilance of Drake and should land Parma's hordes upon our
shores. Well might the country feel at ease behind such a fleet and with
such a viril