translate English to French: Englishmen had been compelled to keep arms according to their wealth (and in some cases their wives' wardrobesa silk petticoat let you in for the expense of light horseman's equipment!
This probably gave them extra �lan, but made them harder to control. (La Noue, in the 1580s suggested that their single rank formation was dictated by the refusal of any true gentleman to serve anywhere but in the front rank!).