The English militia was descended from the Anglo-Saxon "Fyrd", the military force raised from the freemen of the shires under command of their Sheriff. It continued under the Norman kings, notably at the Battle of the Standard (1138). The force was reorganised under the Assizes of Arms of 1181 and 1252, and again by King Edward I's Statute of Winchester of 1285. Levies from London were engaged at the Battle of Lewes in 1264, and defended the city in the Siege of London in 1471 during the Wars of the Roses.