grounde our talke, upon this name moste knowen, and after, according to
the aunciente, and to the orders now adaies, the beste that is possible
to ordaine it; and bicause the Romaines devided their Legion, whiche was
made betwene five and sixe thousande men, in ten Cohortes, I will that
wee devide our main battaile, into ten battailes, and that we make it of
sixe thousande menne on foote, and we will give to every battaile,
CCCCL. men, of whiche shall be, CCCC. armed with heavie armour, and L.
with light armour: the heavie armed, shall be CCC. Targettes with
sweardes, and shalbe called Target men: and C. with Pikes, whiche shalbe
called ordinarie Pikes: the light armed shalbe, L. men armed with
Harkabuses, Crosse bowes, and Partisans, and smal Targaettes, and these
by an aunciente name, were called ordinarie Veliti: all of the ten
battailes therefore, comes to have three thousande Targaet men, a
thousande ordinarie Pikes, CCCC. ordinarie Veliti, all whiche make the
nomber of fower thousande and five hundred men. And we saied, that we
would make the maine battaile of six thousande; therefore there must be
added an other thousande, five hundred men, of whiche I will appoinet a
thousande with Pikes, whom I will call extraordinarie Veliti, and thus
my menne should come (as a little before I have saied) to bee made halfe
of Targaetes, and halfe of Pikes and other weapons. I would appoinete to
everie battaile, or bande of men, a Conestable, fower Centurions and
fouretic peticapitaines, and moreover a hedde to the ordinarie Veliti.
with five peticapitaines; I would give to the thousande extraordinarie
Pikes, three Conestabelles, ten Centurions, and a hundred
peticapitaines; to the extraodrinarie Veliti, two Conestabelles, v.
Centurions, and l. peticapitaines: I would then apoinet a generall hed,
over all the main battaile: I would that every Conestable should have an
Ansigne, and a Drum. Thus there should be made a manne battaile of ten
battailes, of three thousande Targaet men, of a thousande ordinarie
Pikes, of a thousande extraordinarie of five hundred ordinarie Veliti,
of five hundred extraordinarie, so there should come to bee sixe
thousande men, emongeste the whiche there should bee M.D.
peticapitaines, and moreover, xv. Conestables, with xv. Drummes, and xv.
Ansignes, lv. Centurions, x. heddes of the ordinarie Veliti, and a
Capitaine over all the maine battaile with his Asigne and Drume, and I
have of purpose repeated this order the oftener, to the intent, that
after when I shall shewe you, the maners of orderyng the battailes, and
tharmies, you should not be confounded: I saie therefore, how that, that
king, or that common weale, whiche intendeth to ordeine their subjectes
to armes, ought to appoincte theim with these armoures and weapons, and
with these partes, and to make in their countrie so many maine
battailes, as it were able: and when thei should have ordained them,
according to the forsaid distribucion, minding to exercise them in the