Raised in time of war for a special object, they were always disbanded as soon as hostilities were over. It was then that troops more or less regular were formed the first paid bands had at first only a provisional existence limited by circumstances. The principle of the division of labour having taken root in the Anglo-Saxon character, the military power separated from the civil element. This state of things became modified with the progress of time, and with the growth of society. In England, as in the majority of all the European states of the Middle Ages, all men were at first soldiers, all were bound to join the standards at a given moment to repel an attack or make an invasion.
