Originally posted by Sonny
Many of the armies were seasonal and feudal obligations varied. As time went on more and more armies were paid with the scutage that the nobles paid in lieu of service or the tax money which Parliament allocated (in England). As long as these armies got paid they usually stayed where they were put (at least this is more or less the way it was in England and similar in France).
The seige of Acre which was kinda the lead in for the Third Crusade lasted 18 months IIRC.![]()
But wasn't crusading a special circumstance. I thought that one of the benefits of going on crusade is that the crusader was no longer obligated to provide military service to their leige lord upon return - making the crusades very popular - but in return the time which required of a crusader in the field was extended.