ABSTRACT
This chapter calls into the question the model of a small military elite dominating warfare in Latin Europe around the turn of the millennium. Through a focused analysis on the contemporary historical work De diversitate tempororum, composed by Alpert of Metz between 1021 and 1023, it will show that the lower Rhineland continued to be dominated by the military organization and structures that had been prevalent in the Latin West since the later Roman Empire. This was a tri-partite military organization that was characterized by a mix of both professional soldiers and military forces, who participated in local defense and on campaign. At the broadest level, every able-bodied man was required to defend his home district from outside attack. A subset of this male population was required, on the basis of their wealth, to serve in the expeditionary levy outside the boundaries of their home district. Finally, secular and ecclesiastical magnates maintained military households, whose members constituted the military elite. Crucially, most men of noble status were not professional soldiers, and the great majority of professional soldiers were not members of elite social or economic status.
