By David Deming

The Second Amendment to the US Constitution reads “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” The Amendment is distasteful to leftists. They view the Second Amendment as both recondite and anachronistic, a relic of the eighteenth century when farmers with muskets toiled in the fields.

But this view is sourced in ignorance. Like the Constitution itself, the Second Amendment has deep historical roots and represents the culmination of hundreds of years of Western military and political theory and practice. The roots of the Second Amendment lay in the customs and laws of Anglo-Saxon England.

Anglo-Saxon dominance in England began after the Romans withdrew in AD 410. In the mid fifth century AD, Germanic tribes including Angles, Jutes, and Saxons began emigrating and settling in England. By the 7th century AD, Anglo-Saxon culture, language, and religion had become dominant throughout most of England. Initially pagan, by the end of the 7th century most Anglo-Saxons had converted to Christianity. The Anglo-Saxon period in England lasted for about 600 years until the Norman invasion of AD 1066.

The Anglo-Saxons operated under the ancient custom and belief that defense and security were the responsibility of the entire body of able-bodied free men. The right to bear arms was a hallmark of a free man. Slaves were forbidden from having weapons, but for a free man the possession and use of arms was both a right and a duty. Although kings regularly employed small amounts of professional or mercenary troops, in times of need they called out the militia. The Anglo-Saxon militia was called the fyrd.

An Anglo-Saxon fyrd commonly consisted of a select group of men especially suited for military duty. The Anglo-Saxon unit of land area was the hide. One hide was approximately equal to 120 acres, but the measurement of a hide was based more on productive capacity than pure geometric size. When the fyrd was called out by the king, every five hides was expected to supply a man for duty.

When the need was great, all men were called for service and the great fyrd was assembled. The great fyrd was summoned in the year 1016 when the Viking Canute the Great (c. 990-1035 AD) invaded England with 160 ships. The great fyrd of 1016 participated in the siege of London and fought in several major battles.

It has been argued that history shows that the ancient Anglo-Saxons had an obligation to bear arms, not a right. But surely the right was implicit because the duty could not be otherwise fulfilled. There existed not a single law or regulation in Anglo-Saxon England limiting or restricting the ownership or use of arms in any way. And because the ordinary person was expected to serve in the military, the type of arms he was obligated to possess were those suitable for military use and service. The right to keep and bear arms was such a universal custom and practice that it was unnecessary to enact legislation recognizing it as right needing protection.

The tradition of a universally armed people continued after the Norman conquest of 1066. The Domesday Book of 1086 records that when a man is summoned for service in the select fyrd from a five-hide unit, each hide is obligated to provide him “four shillings toward his food and wages for two months.” What is unsaid is revealing. There is no mention of providing or subsidizing weapons for the person called to serve. The conclusion can only be that the man summoned for military duty was expected in all cases to have personal possession of the necessary military arms.

Norman kings made use of Anglo-Saxon English citizen militias. In AD 1088, William II summoned Anglo-Saxon fyrds to fight in his campaigns against rebellious nobles. In return for promises of improved laws, abolishment of unfair taxes, and better government, the fyrds provided crucial manpower that helped secure the crown. William II again used Anglo-Saxon fyrds to put down a rebellion in AD 1095 by Robert de Mowbray, the Earl of Northumbria.

In AD 1181, King Henry II restored the ancient fyrd system with an Assize of Arms. Every knight was ordered to possess, at minimum, a shirt of mail, a helmet, a shield, and a lance. Freeman of lesser rank were commanded to acquire and possess arms according to their wealth and means, “and the whole community of freemen shall each have a gambeson, an iron cap, and a lance.” No one in possession of arms was allowed to “sell them or pledge them or lend them or alienate them in any way.” Furthermore, Henry II forbade any lord from disarming his subjects and outlawed the exportation of weapons from England.

In AD 1253, the 1181 Assize of Arms was reinforced and expanded by King Henry III. All able-bodied males, including citizens, burgesses, free tenants, villeins and others, between the ages of 15 and 60, were required to possess and maintain arms suitable to their wealth and landholdings. Wealthier individuals were ordered to have the full equipment of a knight, including a hauberk, an iron helmet, sword, dagger, and horse. Even men of the poorest classes, including villeins, were required to have basic weapons such as a halberd, knife, or bow and arrows.

Although outnumbered, in AD 1346 the English defeated the French at the Battle of Crecy, a remarkable demonstration of the devastating power and lethality of the English Longbow. In AD 1363, concerned that archery skills in England were declining, King Edward III proclaimed that all able-bodied men between the ages of 15 and 60, including commoners, yeomen, townsmen, and even some villeins, should practice archery on Sundays and holidays. Every village and town was required to construct and maintain an archery range called a butt. The obvious but unspoken corollary was that Englishmen of all classes had the implicit right to possess and use the longbow, at that time the deadliest military weapon on earth.

In AD 1477, King Edward IV reinforced and expanded the 1346 mandate of Edward III. Every able-bodied male between the ages of 16 and 60 was required to own a longbow of his own height and practice regularly. Archery ranges, or butts, were set up in every township so that residents could practice on holidays and Sundays after attending church services. In AD 1511, King Henry VIII enacted “An Act Concerning Shooting in Long Bows,” that specified that fathers were required to provide male children between the ages of 7 and 17 with bows and arrows and teach them to shoot.

The AD 1328 Statue of Northampton forbade people from “riding armed” in fairs and markets, from appearing before the king’s ministers with “force and arms,” and from disturbing the peace. It has been suggested that this law indicates that there was no general right to carry arms in public. But the interpretation of this statute in the common law was that it only forbade the carrying of arms with evil intent or in a manner intended to terrify people. It was not a ban on the peaceful carry of arms for self-defense.

When the Second Amendment to the US Constitution was first drafted by James Madison in 1789, the Revolutionary War had barely concluded. It must have been foremost in the thoughts of Madison and other Founders that the war could not have been won without significant participation by citizen militias. The militia played a crucial role in the Battles of Lexington and Concord, patriot victories at Saratoga and Cowpens, and single-handedly defeated the British at the 1780 Battle of King’s Mountain. Thus the Second Amendment was written to prevent the new national government from ever infringing on the citizen’s right to not just “keep and bear” arms for self defense, but military arms suitable for militia service.

Once the history is known, the Second Amendment is not difficult to understand. The militia that is “necessary to the security of a free state,” is to be drawn from an armed people, a people with a right to “keep and bear arms” that is their tradition and inheritance. The two clauses are interlocking and mutually reinforcing. Indeed, it is impossible to assemble a militia from a people that have been disarmed.