What were urban militias like in the Middle Ages?
from a discussion in r/medievalhistory on Reddit…
Urban militias were pretty interesting organizations. I can only speak to Bologna, but they were important parts of people’s lives beyond just acting as infantry and patrolmen for cities. You seem to think they were in some way similar to the anti-government militias common in the US or other countries. Obviously, it’ll vary from place to place and time period but the ones in Bologna viewed themselves as serving their city and several historians have cast them as a sort of political military intended to help preserve the regimes under the popolo in that city. I generally agree but I think it’s a little more complicated than that because many of the arms societies pre-date that city’s popular regimes.
Medieval urban militias bore little resemblance to something like the 3%ers or Proud Boys. Medieval urban militias were significantly more organized and legitimate in the eyes of the states they operated in. They were not anti-government; in many cases they were the only thing like an armed force that municipalities had, especially the communes of northern Italy.
Similar to feudal levies, arms societies in Bologna were expected to be on patrol or duty for set periods of time. The sources I’ve studied don’t say how long but at one point there were 23 arms societies and presumably different ones would be active at different times of the year. In addition to warfare, Bologna’s arms societies also aided the crossbowmen that traveling podestà and capitani del popolo employed during their tenure in the city. So, rather than being vigilantes, they were agents of the state.
Unlike a feudal levy system, arms societies did more for their members and they operated year round with regular meetings that weren’t only centered around military stuff. Some of the arms society statutes I’ve read indicate that some collectively owned land and members were expected to help cultivate or harvest it either themself or with hired help. Some either offset or completely paid for funerary services for their deceased members and, in only two companies’ cases, their entire families. Members in Bologna’s case weren’t required to be in a guild or any other popular association and, from the matriculation lists I studied, came from different occupational and economic backgrounds. Citizenship also appears to have not been a requirement. Members were expected to maintain arms and armor or face a fine. They could also face a fine if they did not attend a fellow member’s funeral, shirked some other responsibility that good membership required, or behaved in a way that was deemed morally or religiously dubious.
It’s worth noting that the funding would most likely come entirely from the members. The organizations I described required regular dues to be paid by each member, though some gave a pass to members who could prove their own poverty. All of the funds that covered the organization’s expenses, including the funeral services (if members could expect those to be covered), came from those regular dues, the revenue from any produce they sold, the fines generated from members not following the rules, and I’m assuming that the arms societies could receive gifts.
In some ways they’re similar to guilds, which often did things like provide for funerary services for their members. Add to that anyone who could join both a guild and an arms society in Bologna during this period definitely would have. But it’s not limited to any particular occupational group.
