Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	file_n	front_n	rank_n	2,070	5	10.6376	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A06964	The souldiers accidence. Or an introduction into military discipline containing the first principles and necessary knowledge meete for captaines, muster-masters, and all young souldiers of the infantrie, or foote bandes. Also, the cavallarie or formes of trayning of horse-troopes, as it hath beene received from the latest and best experiences armies. A worke fit for all noble, generous, and good spirits, that loue honor, or honorable action. G.M.	Markham, Gervase, 1568?-1637.	1625 (1625)	STC 17388; ESTC S102642	32,968	76

heeles that march before Three foote in Ranke is when they come almost to the Swords poynt and twelue foote is the length of a Pike charged ever Next vnto distance of place is to be taught Marches and Motions and in teaching of Marches after euery man knowes his place and is willed to obserue his fyle and ranke In a plaine March there is no hardnesse nor yet in a Counter-march if the Leaders of the fyles be well chosen and that every man obserue well him that goes next before him Besides if there be any little disorder the Officers keeping a good eye and being every one of them in their due place will easily reforme it Now for the places of the Officers they are these The head of the Troope or Band is for the Captaine and the Reare for the Lieutenant except it be in a Retrayt and then the Captaine should be in the Reare and the Lieutenant at the Head The Ensigne in an ordinary Battalia vpon the head behinde the Captaine or within a Ranke thereof But marching in an extended Battayle then in the heart or midst of the Pikes The Drummes are in a square Battalia to beate before the right and left wings But in an extended Battayle the eldest Drumme shall beate before the third and fourth ranke of Shot which followeth next after the Captaine The second Drumme shall attend the Ensigne and the third if there be so many in one Companie shall beate betweene the third and fourth Ranke of Shot which marcheth in the Reare next before the Lieutenant The Phiphes if there be more then one the eldest shall march with the eldest Drumme and the second shall attend on the Ensigne The Sergeants are extravagantly to march on each side the Company and to see the Souldiers keepe their Rankes and Fyles according to the Captaines appoyntment as also to listen and performe any direction that shall come from the Captaine or other Officer in chiefe as also vpon any occasion to leade loose and disbanded fyles of Shot in Skirmish or els devisions of Pykes or Shot in ordinary Marches where superior Officers are absent Now to these Marches are added the teaching of Motions because there are many such that are not Marches at all As some without changing of place in onely turning of their faces to the right hand or the left or about that is to say the meere contrary way to that they were at the Command giuen which is necessarie if the enemy should charge of either side or behinde Some motions there are which change place But yet no more then a remouing from one Ranke to another or from one File to another when as commonly though some doe remoue yet others stand still and these kinde of Motions are doubling of Rankes or Fyles whereby the Battalia is made broader or longer as the Enemy or the ground you haue causeth you to make your Flankes Fronts Rankes or Files greater or lesser And here is to be noted in this doubling of Rankes or Fyles that Rankes when they double to the right hand must ever turne to the left hand to come to their former places againe and if they be doubled to the left hand they must turne on the right hand to come to their first places againe And Fyles when they are doubled to any hand by the doubling of Rankes to the contrary hand they are brought to their first places againe And so having doubled your Rankes to any hand by the doubling of Fyles to the contrary hand you also bring them to their first places againe There is also to be taught another Motion in which all doe moue and yet none doe march which is the Opening and Closing either of Rankes or Fyles and is of vs● not onely when you would haue one Ranke passe through another or the whole Body of the Battalia make a counter-march but when we would draw the Battayle quickly and in order more of one hand or other In teaching the Souldier how to know the sounds or Beatings of the Drumme you must make them obserue not onely what the Drum doth beat as whether it be a Call a March a Troope a Battalia a Charge a Retrait a Batterie a Reliefe and so forth but also what time he keepes for euer according to the measure of time the Souldier is to march slower or faster to charge with greater violence or to come off with greater speede also he shall know when by the Drum to attend his Captaines directions when to repayre to his Colour● and when to doe other duties And many other beatings as occasion shall administer and as by the sound of the Drum you doe teach your Souldiers to march so by the voice at their first instruction you shall teach them all other motions To make them therefore perfect in these and all other Motions it is good to vse them to some certaine words which being once learned● will serue for direction and they must bee the wordes● now most in vse in our English Armies The words which are now in vse both here and in the Netherlands are these and such like 〈◊〉 following First for all Motions in generall they must eyther be in Distance or in Forme If in Distance it must eyther be in File or Rank or in both together If the motion be in distance o● Files it must eyther be in closing or in opening If in closing then your words of proper directions are th●se First hauing drawne your Ba●●aile in order you shall say Leaders stand forward with your Files Then Close your Files Close your Files to the right hand Close your Files to the left And all these three motions you shal doe eyther closest close to Order or to open Order Open your Files Open to the right hand Open to the left Or to any order as aforesayd If in distance of Rankes then also in closing or opening if in closing then Close your Rankes Close your Rankes from the front to the reare Close your Rankes from the reare to the front And any of th●se to any order as aforesayd and if in opening then Open your Rankes Open your Rankes from the front reareward Open your Rankes from the reare forward And any of th●se to any order aforesayd And heerein is to bee noted that Rankes when they open ought for the most part to open downeward turning to the Reare and if they close it m●st euer be vpward to the Front Lastly if motion in distance be both of Rankes and File● at one instant then you shall say Files and Rankes close Files and Rankes open And both these to any order aforesayd Now if it be motion in forme it is also in files in rankes and in files and rankes both together If it be motion in forme of files the words of direction are Double your Files to the right hand Double your Files to the left Advance 〈◊〉 Files to the right hand Advance your Files to the left Advance

encounter the enemy with shall be faire Partizans of strong and short blades well guilt and adorned according to their owne pleasures For the Formes or manner of Trayning That forme is onely to be followed which shall be soonest and easiest learned and of most vse for all kind of service whatsoever and which I take to be this Forme following First you shall draw your Company into two Battalions or square Bodies the Pikes by themselues and the Shot by themselues which Bodies shall consist of Ranks and Files and you shall draw them forth by Files or tens man after man or if they be much disorderly and vncapable then draw them forth by halfe Files or fiues and when they are so placed by doubling those halfe Files you may bring them to whole Files which done then placing the Pikes in the midst wing them on either hand with your Shot wherein if you haue Ha●quebushes which are now out of vse with vs you shall then giue to your Musquetiers the prioritie of place that is they shall make the outmost Files both of the right and the left hand Now for a Ranke you shall vnderstand it is a Row of men placed Pouldron to Pouldron or Shoulder to Shoulder their faces being directed all one way And a File is a Sequence of men standing one behind another Backe to Belly extending from the first to the last man And it is taken from the French word la Fila signifying a Thridd because men stand long wise and straight like a thrid and the Files consist of single men downeward as the Ranks consist of single men ouerthwart Now these Files in some discipline are called Flankes because they doe flanker or wall in the Battalia and the Rankes are called Fronts because they stand formost and doe as it were affront the Battailes and looke vpon the Enemie but in truth none can properly be called the Front but the Ranke which standeth formost nor any File be called a ●lanke but those which stand outmost yet all are Ranks and all are Files and therefore those two names are without contradiction Now lastly you shall vnderstand that a Ranke may consist of as many men as you please according to the number of your Company But a File howeuer the Spaniards and Italians vse it in vncertaine depth ought neuer to be aboue ten persons deepe except it be in marching or in most especiall seruice where advantage of ground requireth the contrary The reason thereof being that the first man hauing done his dutie in discharging his piece may in the space that nine other men shall do their duties and discharge their pieces distinctly one after another be againe in readines make his first place good there to discharge his piece a-againe Besides it is the readiest and best way for the drawing of Grosses and great numbers into any forme that you please because according to this discipline euery hundred men make a full Square that is to say iustren euery way This done you shall deuide one hundred men into foure Corporall shipps or Squadrons and euery Squadron into as many Files as the number wil beare and euery File into Fellowships or Camera-does Th● Corporall of euery Squadron shall be the leader of the chiefest file of the Squadron and the Lanspresado who in the Corporalls absence as vpon a guard or otherwise doth all the Corporalls duties shall lead another file and the most sufficient Gentlemen of euery Squadron shal be the leaders of the rost Now for the especiall duties of these two Officers which is the Corporall and the Lanspresadoe you shall vnderstand that the Corporalls chiefest dutie is vpon guards at night after the Watch is set and the Sentinells placed● where so soone as the Sentinell shall call vpon any approach lie shall immediately goe with his Sword drawne or in especiall cases where the Enemy lodgeth neare with a guard of two at least being a Pike and a Shot vnto the Sentinell and making his Guard stand vpon their guard he shall place the point of his sword to the breast of him that is to giue the Word whether he be Rounder or other private passenger and so with his eare to his mouth very closely receiueth● Word which if it be right he shall giue the partie passe if otherwise he shall take him prisoner and disarme him and either keepe him vpon his guard or els deliver him to his superior Officer But if any resistance shall be offered then it shall be lawfull for him to kill him Also the Corporall shall in the time of service fee that every Souldier in his Squadron haue his Armes neate cleane and handsome that they be not vnfurnished of Powder Match and Bullet and the Lanspresadoe as was before said shall in the absence of the Corporall doe all the Corporals duties and in the time of rest he shall call vpon his Squadron and see them dresse trimme and scoure their Armes and Weapons and teach them how best to doe the same And also he shall see them cast their Bullets if need require and to such as are ignorant teach them how to doe the same and shew them how to scoure their Pieces and oyle them and in time of necessitie or vpon Cloying how to vnbreetch them The Companie being thus devided In the Trayning foure principall things are to be taught 1. First the carriage and vse of Armes conteined in divers Postures or Stations expressing the formes of men in Armes 2. Secondly Distance or proportion of place in Files and Rankes 3. Thirdly March and Malion contained in words of most especiall directions 4. And fourthly all the sounds or beatings of the Drumme and ordinarie words of direction which are our Vocabula artis and how by the Drumme or the voice of a Commander to moue and obey the direction 1. The carriage of Armes must be comely and readiest for vse The vse of Pikes is either in receiving or giuing a Charge By being t●ught the first● the Souldier learnes to withstand Horse By the second to encounter with the enemies Pikes in which the vse of Armes is most in knowing when and how every man and so every Ranke should giue his push In teaching the vse of Shot the Souldier must first learne how to carry his Piece then how to present it and to take his levell and how and when to giue his volley with those in his Ranke All which shall be more plainly described when wee come to speake of Postures ● And this part of Instruction is the proper office of the Serieants of Companies for they should both teach the Shot the vse of their Armes and be their Leaders in Service if by an especiall commandement a superior Officer be not appointed In teaching to giue volleys the ancient and vulgar manner of discipline which is that the whole volley shall be given of all the Shot in one Battalia or Troop at one instant as well of them behind as before

is vtterly to be condemned For either the hind most must venture to shoot their fellowes before through the heads or els will overshoot and so spend their Shot vnprofitably Besides the volley being once given the Enemy comes on without impeachment or annoyance● But in stead of this kind of volley at once which onely serues to make a great crack let the first Ranke onely giue their volley and if the Bat●ali● ma●ch then that Ranke which hath giuen their volley to stand and the second to passe through it and so giue their volley and then to stand and the third to come vp and so consequently all the Rankes But if the Battalia stand then the first Ranke having given their volley shall fall back to the Reare either in Wheele or in Counter-march according to the number of persons in the Ranke And the second Ranke come into their places and so the third and fourth till the first Ranke be come to their places againe and so to continue to the end of commandement But if the Battalia shall fall backe or retire and loose ground then shall all the Shot stand still and no man advance a foote of ground But the first Ranke in its due place shall giue their volley and then fall backe behind the last Ranke and then the second Ranke shall giue their volley in their due place and so fall behind the first and in the same manner all the rest till they haue lost so much ground as to the Commander shall seeme convenient And so the volley shall be still continued whether in Marching Standing or Retyring and the enemy never free from annoyance All which is easily performed if before the Motion you doe make all your Shot open their Files well either to one or the other hand There are two other wayes of giuing fire the one vpon advancement the other vpon a swift and speedie retrayt That vpon advancement towards an enemy when your men skirmish loose and disbanded must be done by Rankes in this manner Two Rankes must alwayes make ready together and advance tenne paces forwardes before the bodie at which distance a Sergeant or when the body is great some other officer must stand to whom the Musquetiers are to come vp before they present and giue fire first the first Ranke and whilest the first giues fire the second Ranke keepe their Musquets close to their Rests and their pans guarded and as soone as the first are falne away the second presently present and giue fire and fall after them Now as soone as the two first Rankes doe moue from their places in the Front the two Rankes next it must vnshoulder their Musquets and make readie so as they may advance forwards tenne paces as before as soone as the two first Rankes are fallen away and are to doe in all points as the former so all the other Rankes through the whole devision must doe the same by twoes one after another The manner of giving fire in a swift retrayt is as the devision marcheth away the hinder most 〈◊〉 of all keeping still with the devision maketh readie and being readie the Souldiers in that ranke turne altogether to the right hand and giue fire Marching presently away a good round pace to the Front and there place themselues in Ranke together iust before the Front As soone as the first Ranke turnes to giue fire the Ranke next it makes readie and doth as the former and so the rest Next to the Carriage of Armes you shall teach the knowledg of Distance or Seperation of places being accounted a certaine orderly space betweene File and File Ranke and Ranke in such order and measure as the Gaptaine shall be disposed to nomina●e which not being obeyed the whole body of the Battalia is put out of order and neither carrying proportion● nor true shape are as men in rout or disorder● Therefore it ought carefully of all things to be observed and vsed according to the limitation or fitnesse of every Motion For the Stations of all Military persons and the Motions in Armes are not alwayes certaine or in one steadie role● but do● continually interchange and alter agree a●y one with another And the vse of this Distance is both in Rankes and Files in Marches and in Motions In Files as when they stand or march at the first Distance which is called Closest that is to say Pouldron to Pouldron or Shoulder to Shoulder or when they stand or march at the second Distance which is called Close and is a foot and a halfe distance man from man or when they stand or march at the third distance which is called Order which is three foote man from man or when they stand or march at the fourth and last Distance which is called Open Order and is sixe foote betweene person and person So likewise in Rankes to stand or march Closest is to be at the Swords poynt to stand or march Close is three foote to stand or march at Order is sixe foote and to stand or march at Open Order is ever twelue foote Now there be some Commanders which vary in the nomination of these termes though not in Quantitie or Distance for they will haue Close in Files to be Pouldron to Pouldron Order a foote and an halfe Open-Order three foote and Double-distance sixe foote● and so omit the word Closest And so like wise in Rankes Close they will haue to the Swords poynt Order three foote Open Order sixe foote and Double-distance twelue foote and so not the word Closest at all Others vary it another way and will haue but three Distances that is to say Open Order which they will haue to be six foote both betweene ranke and fyle Order three foote betweene Ranke and Fyle and Close-order a foote and an halfe betweene Fyle● and Fyle and three foote betweene Ranke and Ranke and when they come to open Rankes then they command Double-distance also which they make twelue foote and so by steps come to the fourth Distance also but I preferre the first discipline and hold the words fully as significant and most in vse which aboue all things are to be esteemed and imitated Now to take the true measure of these Distances because the eye is but an vncertaine Iudge you shall take the distance of sixe foote betweene fyle and fyle by commanding the Souldiers as they stand to stretch forth their arme● and stand so remoued one from another that their handes may meete To take the distance of three foot betweene fyle and fyle you shall make the Souldiers set their armes a kenbowe and put themselues so close that their elbowes may meete and to take the distance of a foote and an halfe euery other Souldier in the Ranke shall set one arme a kenbowe and his fellow shall neare touch it And thus likewise in Rankes wee take the distance of sixe foote when the but ends of the Pikes do almost reach their