How were real medieval armies composed?

[Furious Mental]

"it was relatively safe for peasants during times of war."

Actually peasants suffered from war more than anyone. Following the theories of Roman strategist Vegetius, medieval leaders avoided gambling their armies in pitched battles and often major sieges. Wars were won chiefly by gaining a logistical advantage over the enemy in a war of attrition- in other words campaigns centered around garnering as many supplies as possible for one's own forces and denying them to the enemy. What this amounted to was outright pillage of the countryside and it most definitely led to people in the affected areas starving to death and if not that then at least having a very hard time of it.

[Dave1984]

"it was relatively safe for peasants during times of war."

Actually peasants suffered from war more than anyone. Following the theories of Roman strategist Vegetius, medieval leaders avoided gambling their armies in pitched battles and often major sieges. Wars were won chiefly by gaining a logistical advantage over the enemy in a war of attrition- in other words campaigns centered around garnering as many supplies as possible for one's own forces and denying them to the enemy. What this amounted to was outright pillage of the countryside and it most definitely led to people in the affected areas starving to death and if not that then at least having a very hard time of it.

I didn't mean that, sorry, I meant that in general the peasants wouldn't fight and wouldn't be fought.
Whether they starved to death or not is another matter.