Men-at-Arms

Every lord levies Men-at-Arms from his villages: farmhands and millers' sons issued a polearm, a padded jack, and their master's colors. They are drilled just enough to stand in ranks, fed just enough to march, and expected to hold ground against horrors their betters charge past on the way to the songs.

And hold they often do, which is the quiet miracle of Bretonnia. Some stand out of faith in the Lady, some out of love for a decent lord, most because the village is at their backs and there is nowhere else to go. The Code teaches that courage belongs to the nobility; the trampled mud in front of every Bretonnian shield-line argues otherwise.