You could be sent off to war – with just your farming tools to fight with
Medieval society was a truly feudal affair. Nobles ruled over the peasants working their land with impunity. Not only could a nobleman levy taxes on the landless peasants, he could also require all male peasants over the age of 18 to report for military service. It didn’t matter if it was a justified war against a viable external threat or just a petty fight against a local rival, if you were called up for duty, you had to report. And, once pressed into service, you’d probably be wishing you were back toiling the fields for minimal recompense.
According to histories of the time, around 1 in 5 peasant men would be in military service at any one time. However, this number would have fallen significantly during the summer months. Then, if you weren’t fighting your Lord’s war, you would be toiling in his field. Hard work, but unlikely to get you killed. But then, fighting rarely got you killed either. In most battles, the two sides just showed up, sized each other up and then a deal was made. Actual fighting was very expensive and so remained a last resort. That’s the good news. The bad news? Well into the mid-1800s, being sent away on extended military service was still a very risky business. Military camps were very primitive. You were exposed to the rain and the cold. Food and clean water were in short supply, and disease was rife. Indeed, some historians reckon two-thirds of all conscripted men who died were killed by the unsanitary conditions of their own camps rather than by enemy action.
But what really sucked about military service in medieval times is how little was in it for you. These days, joining the army can be a way of learning a trade or generally improving your lot in life. Not so back then. Feudal lords were fearful of their peasants getting too powerful. That’s why, in most cases, peasants were required to bring their own weapons. Moreover, they would rarely receive anything more than rudimentary training, so they were sent to war unprepared and ill-equipped. If a peasant soldier did get too skillful on the field of battle, then there were several cases of them ending up mysteriously dead.