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Name
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The Ancient Militia
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Description
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The ancient militia was one of the Lord of Mann's prerogatives — Manx men, armed and trained, defending their own island under the Lord's authority. The garrison tradesmen whose names fill the disbursement accounts — the Brews and Killeys and Quayleys — had combined military service with their ordinary occupations for generations. A man might be a carpenter six days a week and a soldier on the seventh, and his father and grandfather had done the same. The Lord took responsibility for defence, but the community contributed. The garrison was raised from the people, not imposed upon them. That distinction — between a force that belongs to a community and a force that occupies it — is the distinction the Revestment destroyed.
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Type
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Military Tradition
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Source
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Disbursement accounts; Moore