References to people with the surname Edwardson before 1500 are extremely hard to find. This is probably because the Edwardsons were all lower class people who's births, marriages, and deaths were only recorded at local level, if at all. Few such records from the medieval world have been digitized.

 

One exception to this rule exists thanks to the Medieval Soldier database. This site holds digitized information from middle ages muster rolls (records of soldiers enlisted in military forces). Common soldiers were seldom recorded in surviving manuscripts, but search for 'Edwardson' on here and you are presented with Robert and Raulyn Edwardson, archers who served in France with a few years of each other in the 1400s.

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The database gives us only limited information about each man, but it's enough to put some flesh on their bones:

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Firstly, while there is no information on Robert or Raulyn's place of origin, it's most likely that they came from the Edwardson heartland of Lancashire. This is because the surname was so strongly centred there a century later (meaning it likely had been in the 1400s), and also because a large number of longbowmen were always recruited from the north-west of England. Perhaps they came from one of the areas of Edwardson concentration, such as Farnworth or Kirkham.

Secondly, if they were archers then they were almost certainly lower class men, but not from society's bottom wrung. Longbowmen were historically drawn from yeoman (common farmers who owned their own land) or free peasants (commoners who owned no land but were still free to move as they pleased, unlike serfs). Archers also usually needed to provide their own kit and equipment, including their bow and personal side-arms/armour. It would have taken a certain amount of capital to kit yourself out as a credible soldier. 
 

Both men must have been competent with the longbow and had trained with it from a young age. The 1363 Archery Law passed by King Edward III mandated archery practice for all able-bodied Englishmen on Sundays and holidays, with the intent of providing a large, enduring pool of skilled archers to draw from. After all, longbowmen had won King Edward the Battle of Crécy, and he knew it. To develop true mastery, archers needed to start training young in order to develop the acute full-body strength and technique required. Robert and Raulyn can therefore be imagined training in the fields of Lancashire from boyhood, loosing arrows at straw targets on the village greens of Kirkham or Farnworth, knowing that one day they might need to shoot for their lives in battle.

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Based on the types of forces in which they served, we can draw potential distinctions between the two men. Robert served in a garrison, while Raulyn joined an expeditionary force. Garrison duty offered steady employment as a guard, often to experienced professional soldiers. It was stable and arguably less risky than an expeditionary force, but did not pay as well or offer the chance of wealth and advancement through plunder and glory earned in battle. We can neatly summarize the potential distinctions between the two men in the table below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As such Raulyn might have been the more ambitious and/or wealthier of the two Edwardsons, seeking to make his name. Successful archers could often return home to become local notables such as militia captains or business owners, their eyes set on becoming minor gentry. But that is just a theory - it's also entirely plausible that the two men were of almost identical social backgrounds, and simply found themselves enlisted into different armies by chance. 

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Were they closely related to each other? It's possible, especially given just how rare the surname was. It's tempting to suggest that Raulyn was Robert's younger brother, following him to France with a hope of finding both a brotherly reunion and glory on the battlefield. But that would be pure conjecture.

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In any event, theirs was not the era of glory. By the 1430s the Hundred Years’ War was already shifting against the English, with serious military and political setbacks. The French had recaptured Paris in 1436, and thereafter began raiding in Acquitane - likely causing Robert a few sleepless nights on sentry, at best.  Attempting to regain the initiative for England, the Duke of Somerset launched an offensive into French-held Normandy in 1443. It must have been this campaign that Raulyn signed up for - and it proved a disaster. The Duke was ill and proved an ineffective commander, failing to bring the French to battle or capture any territory. The force ended up marching aimlessly through Maine, its logistics chain breaking down, its coherence crumbling. The Duke abandoned the campaign in disgrace and died, possibly by suicide, the following year, leaving many of his soldiers unpaid and stranded in France. We can only hope that Raulyn was resourceful enough to make it home alive - or perhaps he made for Acquitane to link up with Robert. 

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If he did, they would both have been well advised to get back to England at the earliest opportunity. The next ten years would see the final battles of the war as the French all but completed their reconquest. The Battle of Castillon in 1453 proved to be endgame for both the English war effort and the supremacy of the English longbowmen, as French cannons obliterated the archers. Most survivors were likely executed.

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Of course, even if Robert and Raulyn did make it home, their fighting days may not have been over. The nobility of England, traumatized by the loss of France, would tear itself and its nation apart fighting the Wars of the Roses. With their legacy of service to mainly Lancastrian commanders, and likely home in Lancashire, Robert and/or Raulyn could have found themselves on the Lancastrian side under their local lords, the Stanleys. This might ultimately have led to the family's service being rewarded with minor patronage after the Battle of Bosworth, as you can read about here. Of course, this is purely conjecture.

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However, unless a truly miraculous document turns up, we are never likely to know Robert's or Raulyn's ultimate fate.  Regardless, they are the first Edwardsons of whose existence we can be sure - and sadly, they were not the last Edwardsons to experience the horrors of a brutal war in France.​​​​​​
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