Quote Originally Posted by ajaxfetish
Um . . . what medieval style of forcing people into the ranks are you referring to. I'm not familiar with the idea. I know of the French arriere-bans and similar ancient recruitment options, but those only applied to vassals, who had already voluntarily obliged themselves to provide military service to their lords. Armies such as the English armies of the Hundred Years War were mostly contractual volunteers or mercenaries. If I'm not mistaken, ministeriales in early feudal Germany were often serfs employed as soldiers, but that would be a limited use in both time and place. Do you have a specific society in mind where forced recruitment was the norm? Sources?

Ajax
You are correct about the Englih, one of the reasons the Wars of the Roses happened was that nobles had their own standing armies on contract basis'