Peasant Bowmen

Peasant Bowmen are the most basic support infantry fielded by the armies of Bretonnia. It is customary within Bretonnia for every peasant to learn, willing or not, the use and training of a longbow. This custom is usually enforced by a local Bretonnian Lord as a means of training their peasantry should the call to war be sounded. Once war is upon the horizon, every able-bodied peasant is encouraged to serve in the armies of Bretonnia as a dedicated force of archers, a willingness often reinforced with the princely wage, to a peasant, of a copper per campaign. On many occasions, peasants are simply pressed into service alongside the more adequately equipped standing companies of Men-at-War.

Unlike the armor and weaponry of the Men-at-Arms companies, Peasant Bowmen are not equipped from the armories of their local Lord, and instead must bring their own gear to armed themselves in combat. As you might expect, the quality of these Peasants are often mediocre, and in order to compensate for this weakness, longbowmens often congregate into large huddled units on the battlefield, directing volley after volley into incoming enemy regiments behind a long wall of wooden stakes. Predictably unreliable if left to their own devices, these peasant would only fight anything near adequately, should the stern gaze of their commanding Knight be upon them.

Source

 * Warhammer Armies: Bretonnia (6th Edition) -- p. 53 - 54