"All the country parishes in Anjou were constrained to raise men-at-arms commonly called francs-archers, which was a grievous burden; for each parish furnished one man who they had to fit out with cap, plumes, doublet, leather collar, hosen and shoes, with such harness and staff as the captain should command. Albeit they were raised, fed, clothed and armed at so great a cost, yet were they unprofitable both to prince and to people; for they began to rise up against the common folk, desiring to live at ease without further labouring at their wonted trades, and to pillage in the fields as they would have done in an enemy's country; wherefore several of them were taken and given into the hands of the provost-marshals, ending their lives on the gibbet which they had so well deserved."
Jean de Bourdigne, Chronicle of Anjou (1521).
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