Man-at-arms was a medieval term for a soldier, almost always a professional. It was most often used to refer to men in a knight's or lord's retinue who were well-equipped and -trained (deriving from having men under arms - meaning to be trained in the use of arms). The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... A Norwegian soldier (a Corporal, armed with an MP-5) A soldier is a person who has enlisted with, or has been conscripted into, the armed forces of a sovereign country and has undergone training and received equipment to defend that country or its interests. ... A silver statue of an armoured knight, created as a trophy in 1850 For the chess piece, see knight (chess). ... A lord is a male who has power and authority. ... The bayonet, still used in war as both knife and spearpoint. ...
The term was used during the Hundred Years War to refer to men not of the higher order, who fought either on horseback or on foot with swords and armour. A knight was technically a man-at-arms, but a man-at-arms was not a knight. In this way it was understood that a 'man-at-arms' was a man of the higher echelon of the military scale, but neither of noble birth nor a knight himself. By this time, the term was only ever used to refer to professional soldiers, usually of a distinctly higher order than archers or billmen. The term was phased out during the 16th century. This article is in need of attention. ... Archer may refer to: Someone taking part in archery. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ...
It was also used to refer to a man who carried hand-weapons into combat during the medieval period (rather than billmen, spearmen or archers).
When used in allusion to a professional soldier in a regular national army, the term is an honorary denotation and could be considered unusual usage.
He is a man of about 35, in a deplorable plight, bespattered with mud and blood and snow, his belt and the strap of his revolver-case keeping together the torn ruins of the blue tunic of a Servian artillery officer.
He is a middle-aged man of cool temperament and low but clear and keen intelligence, with the complacency of the servant who values himself on his rank in servitude, and the imperturbability of the accurate calculator who has no illusions.
He is a cheerful, excitable, insignificant, unpolished man of about 50, naturally unambitious except as to his income and his importance in local society, but just now greatly pleased with the military rank which the war has thrust on him as a man of consequence in his town.