Armies as Mobs in the Early Middle Ages

Abstract

Specialists in military matters often think of an army or a military force as a mob waiting to escape. Military forces are known to ignore or disobey orders, a situation characterized as a loss of and control and, as a result, to act in an undisciplined mob-like manner. In order to maintain command and control, it was deemed important to sustain a rigorous training regime for troops so as to thwart the fears that might undermine discipline. These efforts seem to have been successful, and during the early Middle Ages morale was maintained in part, through sermons and religious rites, such as confession, prior to combat. Despite the penchant for early medieval writers to exaggerate the damage done by armies that turned into mobs, it seems often to have been the case that technical restraints, training and brutal punishments, acted effectively to limit the loss of command and control. Keywords:armies; brutal punishments; Command; control; discipline; disobey orders; early middle ages; mobs; training regime