Household knights, esquires and common soldiers in castles

[Luca Cherstich]

If I get an estate (BoE) or honour (BoW) I always know how many household knights and common soldiers I get to defend the property, as these warriors are always explicitly counted in the budge scheme.

What if I become a castellan (=officer) for my liege lord (e.g. the Count of Salisbury)? How many household knights, esquires or common soldiers are given to me to defend the castle? I'm thinking about Salisbury castles like Vagon or Du Plain.

I know these warriors should all have homage to my liege lord and not to me, but I guess I can command them to defend the castle. I was wondering about how many of them make a reasonable number.

 

Edited September 3 by Luca Cherstich

[Morien]

18 hours ago, Luca Cherstich said:

What if I become a castellan (=officer) for my liege lord (e.g. the Count of Salisbury)? How many household knights, esquires or common soldiers are given to me to defend the castle? I'm thinking about Salisbury castles like Vagon or Du Plain.

Previous editions (3e - 5.x) have a section on Salisbury, that lists out how the count's manpower is distributed usually (KAP 5.2, p. 77). Now that manpower is not exactly in line with BotW (it is close enough what he might have from Salisbury itself + most of the footsoldiers from the outliers), but at least it gives you an idea.

Another source is BotEstate, you can look at how many professional soldiers you need to oversee the perimeter of a motte and bailey castle, and how many total defenders. If it is a more isolated castle, you might not be able to trust to have the peasant levy helping on the walls, so you might have to commit more footsoldiers to garrison it.

Edited September 3 by Morien