Sergeant
From Wessexwiki
This is the 3rd rank for melee fighters. When a man-at-arms shows skill in combat and can provide a mount, he may be made a sergeant. Sergeants are the lowest ranking mounted combatants but are often chosen to lead small parties of other fighters. They consist of both villeins and freemen. They have the eye of the gentry and therefore are more likely to be chosen as esquires, the lowest rank of the gentry.
When soldiers are able to acquire their own horses and the skills to adequately fight from them in battle along with significant accomplishments in arms and armor, they will be designated sergeants. A minor exam will be given, but very little in the way of bureaucracy and certification need be practiced. Often as little as a nod of acknowledgement from a liege lord and the note of it taken by a herald is enough for that soldier to then be known as a sergeant. Sergeants are the best candidates to be selected as esquires. Sometimes if a sergeant is sworn to a knight, the knight will leave the sergeant with the duty of leading the knight's villeins and soldiers to battle while the knight takes his place in a cavalry unit
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--DR.NUMBERS 23:27, 14 November 2008 (UTC) --Troas 10:45 PM EST, 14 December 2008
