Milites were the trained regular footsoldiers of ancient Rome, and later a term used to describe "soldiers" in Medieval Europe.
Roman Era
These men were the non-specialist regular soldiers that made up the bulk of a legion's numbers. Alongside soldiering, they also performed guard duties, labour work, building and other non-combat roles, which increased their status in urban centers. Milites would usually have to serve for several years before becoming eligible for training to become immunes and thus become specialists with better pay.
Medieval Era
The Latin term eventually became synonymous with "soldier", a general term that, in Western Europe, became associated with the mounted knight, because they composed the professional military corps during the Early Medieval Era. The same term, however, was expanded to mean less distinguished infantry soldiers (milites pedites). During the 13th century the term referred to the mounted horsemen who lacked knight-status, but still had similar properties and obligations to the dubbed knights.
Other usages include the "Milites Templi," referring to the Knights Templar, or Milites Sancti Jacobi (Order of Santiago).
From the Latin root, "Miles" derived words such as "Military" and "Militia".
References
- Wickham, Chris (2014) . Medieval Rome: Stability and Crisis of a City, 900–1150. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-103090-1.
- Berger, Adolf (1968). Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law, Vol. 43, p. 582. American Philosophical Society
- James, Charles (1810). A New and Enlarged Military Dictionary: In French and English, Vol. 1. T. Egerton
- Fleming, Donald F. (1990). "Milites as Attestors to Charters in England, 1101–1300". Albion. 22 (2): 185–198. doi:10.2307/4049596. ISSN 0095-1390. JSTOR 4049596.
- Bachrach, David Stewart (July 7, 2015). "Milites and Warfare in Pre-Crusade Germany". War in History. 22 (3): 298–343. doi:10.1177/0968344514524938. ISSN 0968-3445. S2CID 159106757.
- Morillo, Stephen (2001). Milites, knights and samurai: Military terminology, comparative history, and the problem of translation (PDF).
- ^ Kostick, Conor (2008). "Milites: Knights or Simply Mounted Warriors?". The Social Structure of the First Crusade. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-16665-3.
- Hanson, Victor Davis (2007). Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-307-42518-8.
- Holden, Brock (2008). Lords of the Central Marches: English Aristocracy and Frontier Society, 1087–1265. OUP Oxford. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-19-156343-0. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
- Kostick, Conor (2008). "Milites: Knights or Simply Mounted Warriors?". The Social Structure of the First Crusade. Brill. pp. 159–186. JSTOR 10.1163/j.ctt1w8h1gw.10.
- Crawford, Paul (October 22, 2007) . Milites Christi: A Categorization and Assessment of the Military Orders of the Middle Ages. Madison: University of Wisconsin–Madison.
- Constable, Giles (2008). Crusaders and Crusading in the Twelfth Century. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7546-6523-6.
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