Out of the Woodwork Productions
http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/articles/mcglynn.htm Article by Sean McGlynn, "The Myths of Medieval Warfare", published in History Today, Vol. 44, No. 1 (1994) and reproduced on this web site.
Allmand, Christopher, "The De Re Militari of Vegetius: A Classical Text in the Middle Ages", History Today, Vol. 54, No. 6 (June 2004), pp. 20-25. The author examines the characteristics of this text and its significance as a military textbook in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Bachrach, Bernard S., "Medieval Siege Warfare: A Reconnaissance", The Journal of Military History, January 1994 (Vol. 58, No. 1). An informative article reviewing the literature on medieval sieges and discussing medieval sieges in general. Further comment on this article is found in the July 1994 (Vol. 58, No. 3) edition, pp. 576-577.
Banner,Lois, "The Fashionable Sex, 1100-1600", History Today, Vol. 42, April, 1992, pp. 37-44. Dedicated followers of fashion-or senders of coded messages via the doublet, codpiece, and hose? The author provides an intriguing investigation of how male clothing reflected changing images of power, gender, and sexuality in medieval Europe. Several references here to military clothing.
Caferro, William, "Italy and the Companies of Adventure In the Fourteenth Century", The Historian, Vol. 58, No. 4 (Summer 1996), pp. 794-810. This essay focuses on the impact on Italy of the mercenary bands that rode through Europe in the 14th century. It discusses what recourse was available to towns in guarding against mercenary attacks, and sketches the far-reaching economic and political consequences of what was, along with plague and famine, one of the most severe scourges of the era. This is an informative article that is worth reading.
Cook, Weston F., Jr. "The Cannon Conquest of Nasrid Spain and the End of the Reconquista." The Journal of Military History, January 1993 (Vol. 57, No. 1), pp. 43-70. Discusses in some detail the decisive use of gunpowder technology in the final conquest of the Muslim kingdom in Spain at the end of the 15th century.
Cook, Weston F. Jr., "Warfare and Firearms in Fifteenth Century Morocco, 1400-1492", War and Society, Vol. 11, No. 2 (October 1993), pp. 24-40. An interesting article on the use of gunpowder weapons in Morocco during the 15th century, one of the major root causes of the military revolution in Morocco during the 16th century.
Harari, Yuval Noah. "Strategy and Supply in Fourteenth-Century Western European Invasion Campaigns", The Journal of Military History, April 2000 (Vol. 64, No. 2), pp. 297-333. An outstanding and enlightening article on medieval military logistics in Western Europe in the 1300's. The author's arguments are well reasoned and clearly set out.
Kagay, Donald J. "The Defense of the Crown of Aragon during the War of the Two Pedros (1356-1366)", The Journal of Military History, Vol. 71, No. 1 (January 2007), pp. 11-33. This article focuses on the general strategy of defense developed by the Aragonese king Pere III during the War of the Two Pedros between the Crown of Aragon and Castile, headed by Pedro I "The Cruel". After eight years of fiscal creativity and defensive luck, Pere retained most of his territory but had lost some sovereignty to his parliaments. He then went on the offensive but never effectively defeated Pedro. What the war did accomplish, however, was the establishment of administrative and military forces that would ultimately lead toward a Spanish statehood in the 15th century.
Showalter, Dennis E. "Caste, Skill, and Training: The Evolution of Cohesion in European Armies from the Middle Ages to the Sixteenth Century", The Journal of Military History, July 1993 (Vol. 57, No. 3), pp. 407-430. Explores the structure of medieval Europe's military systems and the factors that held medieval armed forces together in battle and campaign. Very well done, very clearly written. On the web at http://www.deremilitari.org/RESOURCES/ARTICLES/showalter.htm
Stone, John. "Technology, Society, and the Infantry Revolution of the Fourteenth Century", The Journal of Military History, April 2004 (Vol. 68, No. 2), pp. 361-380. This article argues that developments in the technique of infantry warfare during the 14th century were largely a consequence, rather than a cause, of social change. In doing so, the article calls for a new approach to understanding late-medieval military developments, one which is informed by the view that war is powerfully shaped by the societies which wage it. It is one of the best articles I have see arguing against technological determinism.
Ayton, Andrew, and Price, J.L., editors. The Medieval Military Revolution: State, Society, and Military Change in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. London: I.B. Tauris, 1995. This volume contains a good deal of new thinking on assorted military themes; its title promises more than its contents deliver. The editors' introduction sets the scene by outlining the elements of the military revolution which historians have discovered, isolated, and analysed for the early modern period. The kite which the editors fly gives a stimulating overview of the subject. The weakness common to the other contributions is that virtually none of them fit into this editorial schema. The articles in the book were almost all worth publishing; some are important revisionist pieces which any further synthesis will have to take account of. But what most of them have to do with the supposed 'medieval military revolution' remains deeply obscure. Information taken from a review by J. R. Maddicott in English Historical Review, Vol. 112, No. 447 (June 1997), pp. 731-732. In the review is a brief listing and discussion of many of the essays in the book.
Barber, Richard. The Knight and Chivalry. Rochester, NY/Suffolk, UK: Boydell and Brewer, 1995. This is a heavily revised version of the award-winning 1970 edition, and it takes into account much of the serious scholarship published in the field during the quarter century since. Much of this splendidly presented book is devoted, unsurprisingly, to the tournament. Barber provides a wealth of evidence to authentically portray the tournament as both an effective military training ground and a business venture. Barber also usefully discusses the political dimensions of the tournament. The book's great strength lies not only in its treatment of tournaments, but also of literature; it also assuredly handles the interaction between chivalry and church and state. Barber has written an excellent, comprehensive summary of medieval chivalry. Information taken from a review by Sean McGlynn in History Today, Vol. 47, No. 2 (Feb. 1997), pp. 60-61.
Barber, Richard, and Barker, Juliet. Tournaments: Jousts, Chivalry and Pageants in the Middle Ages. New York: Weidenfeld & Nicolson; Rochester, NY/Suffolk UK: Boydell and Brewer, 1989. This coffee table book is much more than that. It is well written and meticulously researched, as well as sporting notes, an index and an essential glossary of terms. It is in fact a concentrated history of the Western European phenomenon of the tournament, in which the 'Jousts, Chivalry and Pageants' of the subtitle figure only when directly relevant to the central activity. The authors' plan is broadly chronological, with chapters on different countries followed by analyses of the attitudes of spiritual and temporal powers to tournament, details of tournament arms and armor, and consideration of 'Tournaments as Events'. This is an excellent book. Information taken from a review by Brian Stone in History Today, Vol. 39, December, 1989, page 52.
Boffa, Sergio. Warfare in Medieval Brabant 1356-1406. (Warfare in History). Rochester, NY: Boydell, 2004. What Boffa provides is a richly documented four-part study of how war was conducted and made possible within this single duchy. The first part briefly narrates the military history of the era. Part two outlines the governing structure of the duchy. Part three is devoted to the military combatants. Part four outlines military organization. If it sometimes rehearses familiar themes, Boffa's book has given us a close and important look at this duchy, making military history more than a narrative of campaign and battle. We can hope that he and others building on his work will add further investigations into finance, the social and economic devastation of constant war, and the mentality of those who fought. Information taken from a review by Richard W. Kaeuper in American Historical Review, Vol. 111, No. 1 (February 2006), pp. 250-251.
Bradbury, Jim. The Medieval Siege. Woodbridge, UK/Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 1992. Well researched and almost too well referenced, this is a useful general study covering the whole Middle Ages. Written in a style likely to appeal to the average reader, Bradbury enables the reader to follow the broad story of the siege from late Roman practice to the age of gunpowder and architectural re-designing which occurred at the end of the Middle Ages. This volume provides a useful summary of the state of our knowledge at this time (1992). Information taken from a review by Christopher Allmand in English Historical Review, Vol. 110, No. 438 (September 1995), pp. 974-975.
Caferro, William. John Hawkwood, An English Mercenary in Fourteenth-Century Italy. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. ISBN: 0-8018-8323-7. In the author's superb biography, Hawkwood's prudence and military abilities go hand in hand and, like the English captain, he skillfully uses his wherewithal to maneuver on the historical battlefield, taking few prisoners. The book is strewn with the corpses of Hawkwood's earlier biographers. As benefits the topic, the book is a narrative of Hawkwood's life from the womb to the tomb-and beyond-founded on an impressive array of archival and primary sources. There is not much to criticize in this sterling piece of work, most of the few mistakes being very minor points. Recommended. Information taken from a review by Niccolo Capponi in The Journal of Military History, Vol. 71, No. 4 (October 2007), pp. 1224-1225.
Contamine, Phillippe; translated from the French by Michael Jones. War In The Middle Ages. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1984. ISBN: 0-631-13142-6. This is one of the best books on medieval warfare ever written. It is a highly scholarly, yet vivid and readable, narrative of medieval warfare from the end of the Roman Empire in the west to the fifteenth century. The book is divided effectively into three parts. Part I is The State of Knowledge: General Characteristics of Medieval Military History. Part II is Themes and Perspectives, and Part III is an excellent bibliography. This is an outstanding volume. Information taken from a review by John Marshall Carter in Military Affairs, July 1986 (Volume 50, No. 3), pp. 156. I have read the book and I generally agree with this reviewer. The only problem I find in the book, based largely on my interest in and knowledge of military material culture, is that the section on arms and armor neglects the arms and armor of the later Middle Ages and should discuss the evolution of arms and armor during all of the Middle Ages, not just the early part. Also reviewed in History Today, Vol. 35 (May, 1985), pp. 55-56, and American Historical Review, Vol. 86, No. 2 (April 1981), pp. 381.
Davis, R. H. C. The Medieval Warhorse: Origin, Development and Redevelopment. London: Thames and Hudson, 1989. The main theme of this book is that breeding the medieval war-horse, a horse capable of bearing a considerable weight of armour, its own and its rider's, was a remarkable achievement. Although more concerned with how the war-horse was bred than with the animal in action, the author nonetheless begins with a concise, and fairly conventional, account of European warfare from the Carolingian period when, he believes, the demand for cavalry increased dramatically, to the seventeenth century, when the proliferation of firearms meant that expensive body-armour, and hence the war-horse, was no longer required. The book is nicely produced, well illustrated, and written in a good style. Information taken from a review by John Gillingham in English Historical Review, Vol. 107, No. 425 (October 1992), pp. 982-983.
DeVries, Kelly. Infantry Warfare in the Early Fourteenth Century: Discipline, Tactics, and Technology. Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 1996. ISBN 0-85115-567-7. In this volume, the author describes and analyzes battlefield tactics and then uses this analysis to demonstrate that fourteenth century battlefields were dominated by infantry rather than heavy cavalry, and that the tactics that made this domination possible were far more sophisticated than traditional scholarship allows. In doing this, the author has produced a work that will interest not merely medievalists but all students of military history. Information taken from a review by Paul Solon in The Journal of Military History, October 1997 (Vol. 61, No. 4), pp. 798-799. Also reviewed in American Historical Review, Vol. 103, No. 3 (June 1998), pp. 865-866 and English Historical Review, Vol. 113, No. 453 (September 1998), pp. 975-976.
DeVries, Kelly. Medieval Military Technology. Lewiston: Broadview, 1992. The author has produced a valuable summary of the most important facets of medieval military technology in a form that should prove valuable for teaching purposes. In four separate sections, DeVries provides a discussion of arms and armor, a history of artillery, a treatment of medieval fortifications, and a concluding section on the warship. Encyclopedic rather than analytical, each section brings together research published in sometimes obscure books and journals. An excellent and useful book. Information taken from a review by James Murray in American Historical Review, Vol. 99, No. 1 (Feb., 1994), pp. 211.
DeVries, Kelly, and Smith, Robert Douglas. The Artillery of the Dukes of Burgundy, 1363-1477. Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 2005. ISBN: 1-84383-1627. The impressive iron and copper-alloy medieval guns in European museums are brought to life in this book. The book's goal is "to put together a coherent framework for the development of gunpowder weaponry throughout the fifteenth century from a synthesis of the available evidence: contemporary narrative, documentary sources, and surviving examples. The first of the book's four chapters addresses the controversial question of when gunpowder weapons were introduced into European warfare. Chapter 2 is the most extensive of the four chapters and provides a close examination of the impressive build-up of the Burgundian artillery train in 1363-1477. Chapter 3 provides a useful lexicon of medieval guns and gunnery. Chapter 4, an "Illustrated Catalogue of the Surviving [Medieval] Guns", features black and white photos as well as line drawings. While the reviewer notes some problems with the analysis, overall he gives the book a good review. Information taken from a review by Albert D. McJoyn in The Journal of Military History, Vol. 72, No. 1 (January 2008, pp. 228-230.
Fowler, Kenneth. Medieval Mercenaries: The Great Companies, Volume I. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2001. ISBN 0-631-15886-3. This tells the story of the English and French soldiers who, suddenly finding themselves out of work after the treaty of Bretigny in 1360, formed "Great Companies" which alternated between fighting for pay and terrorizing France. Those who drifted into Italy will be dealt with in Volume II. There are some subjects not treated fully but, overall, this book is a valuable contribution. Fowler's research is awe-inspiring: he uses published materials in eight languages and manuscripts from dozens of archives. His ability to sift through these data to construct narratives of the various companies is quite impressive, and his treatment of Iberian affairs is particularly good. Certain key archival documents are transcribed in valuable appendixes. The volume is well produced, with many fine maps. Information taken from a review by Clifford J. Rogers in History: Reviews of New Books, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Fall 2001), pp. 27.
France, John. Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades, 1000-1300. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999. France's book is an overview and synthesis of Western warfare in this period. It adopts, in the main, a thematic approach and covers not just the obvious topics, such as the recruitment of troops, sieges, and battles in the field: among the less familiar subjects treated are metallurgical developments, the provision of food supplies, transport, and the qualities demanded of a successful commander. Medieval warfare is also set in political, social, and economic contexts, with an examination of the causes and objectives of war. There are some problems with this volume, but it is, in the main, a useful work. Information taken from a review by A. J. Forey in American Historical Review, Vol. 105, No. 2 (April 2000), pp. 596-597. Also reviewed in English Historical Review, Vol. 115, No. 464 (November 2000), pp. 1265.
Forey, Alan. The Military Orders from the Twelfth to the Early Fourteenth Centuries. London: Macmillan, 1992. The author has produced an original book, succinct yet erudite, which explores the internal and institutional histories of the Orders while never losing sight of their context. At every turn there are new insights or clarification of old observations. Few will be unimpressed by this authoritative survey. In unadorned style, densely packed with learning, it provides a most valuable account of the myriad features of these organizations. Information taken from a review by C. J. Tyerman in English Historical Review, Vol. 110, No. 436 (April 1995), pp. 444-445.
Housley, Norman. Religious Warfare in Europe, 1400-1536. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. This book is based on wide and catholic reading in several languages; it has plenty to say for itself but is generous in acknowledging the work of others. It is to be welcomed particularly for the open-minded and well-informed way in which he views radical religious movements of the period, evaluating not only how they dealt with attempts to wage religious war against them, but also with the problem of whether their own military struggles would be considered to be religious wars. Housley discusses late-medieval ideas about the Turks, but does not enter far into the practical results of the hostilities between the two religions. He tends to think that, rather than unite the Christians, the Turkish menace tended further to divide them. He concedes the slippery nature of the concept of religious war, but offers an able analysis of its practical and ideological manifestations in this period between the Council of Basel and the Lutheran Schism that was to see the end of the holy wars in their old form. This is a solid and useful volume. Information taken from a review by Peter Partner in English Historical Review, Vol. 119, No. 480 (February 2004), pp. 189-190. Also reviewed in History: Reviews of New Books, Vol. 31, No. 2 (Winter 2003), pp. 77.
Hyland, Ann. The Medieval Warhorse from Byzantium to the Crusades. Stroud: Alan Sutton, 1994. The author combines judicious use of an impressive array of primary sources and archaeological evidence with field experiments and a profound knowledge of horsemanship and equine behaviour. The central theme of this book is the part played by the horsed warrior in shaping the history of Europe and neighbouring regions from the disintegration of the Roman empire to the mid-thirteenth century. This is a substantial and wide-ranging study. Breadth of compass is one of its undoubted strengths. Information taken from a review by Andrew Ayton in English Historical Review, Vol. 112, No. 445 (April 1997), pp. 430-431.
Kaufmann, J.E., and Kaufmann, H.W. The Medieval Walled Fortress; Castles, Forts, and Walled Cities of the Middle Ages. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press (A member of the Persus Book Group), 2004 (originally published by Combined Publishing, 2001). ISBN: 0-306-81358-0. I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it is a techie's delight. It uses very detailed line drawings illustrating numerous details of the elements of a castle, and the explanations are very clear. There are numerous photos and site diagrams which are put forth quite well. The different approaches to building fortifications in various parts of Europe are well described and illustrated. From that point of view, it is an invaluable volume for the student of military history. On the other hand, the portions of the book putting this subject matter in broader historical perspective is, to my mind, inadequate, sketchy, and repetitive. From that point of view, the volume is disappointing. In sum, I would recommend this book highly in terms of providing technical information on the characteristics of medieval fortifications, but the provisioning of historical context needs work.
Keen, Maurice, ed. Medieval Warfare. A History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN: 0 19 820639 9. The surveys of various chronological periods of medieval warfare provided in this volume are of immense value to students because they provide a scholarly up-to-date and readable overview of nearly a millennium of military development. While the volume does not deal with every aspect of European warfare in this era, it is a highly useful and informative overall view of the subject, aimed at a wide audience. Information taken from a review by Anne Curry in War In History, Vol. 9, No. 2 (April 2002), pp. 219-221.
Keen, Maurice. Chivalry. New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 1984, 1986 (pb.). This book is welcome and important. The central argument is that, pace John Huzinga and in spite of the romances and the apparent phoniness of tournaments and jousts, chivalry was something real. Now we have what could be the definitive work on the subject for this (circa 1987) generation. This is a splendid book written with great enthusiasm, easy to read, and reflecting a wide scholarship. Information taken from a review by Christopher Allmand in English Historical Review, Vol. 102, No. 402 (January 1987), pp. 184-186.
Keen, M. H. The Laws of War in the Late Middle Ages. Toronto: University of Toronto Press; London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1965. This volume has a far wider interest and significance than its title may at first suggest. Mr. Keen's broad and deep study of the law of arms, based as it is on the sources of the Hundred Years War between England and France in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, sheds new light upon Western society both in that period and throughout the Middle Ages. There can be no doubt of the importance to the general medieval historian of a knowledge of these matters. This volume is a heartening example of the importance of so called "specialist" research. The only criticism is the seemingly ambiguous use of the word "soldier", which presumably in this context usually means knight or gentleman or noble, rather than the common man in arms. Information taken from a review by R. Allen Brown in English Historical Review, Vol. 81, No. 321 (October 1966), pp. 816.
Keen, Maurice. Nobles, Knights and Men-at-Arms in the Middle Ages. London: The Hambledon Press, 1996. Keen's book is an invaluable mine of information. This collection of scholarly papers ranges from the early 1960's to the 1990's. Themes in these papers, very deftly treated, include the legal restraints (effective or otherwise) on the conduct of combatants, the divisions of the spoils of war and the practical applications and limits of chivalry in times of armed conflict. A recurring theme throughout these essays is the wholly apposite emphasis on the symbiotic relationship between war and chivalry. The volume clearly emphasizes the primary role of the knight-as a soldier-and strips away the romance of chivalry to reveal its true self-serving (and self-preserving) purpose: to provide both a high measure of safety to chevaliers and the opportunity to profit from the misery of war. Keen also examines closely the process of legalization chivalry underwent. Throughout, Keen's realism is very apparent, but it is never drowned by cynicism. Information taken from a review by Sean McGlynn in History Today, Vol. 47, No. 2 (Feb. 1997), pp. 60-61. Interesting to contrast this book with Keen's 1984 Chivalry which, as near as I can tell from the reviewers of the two volumes, has a much more positive approach to chivalry than this 1996 work.
Mallett, Michael. Mercenaries and their Masters: Warfare in Renaissance Italy. London; Totowa NJ: The Bodley Head, 1974. In this volume, the author has written a concise and reliable guide to the way in which armies were organized and warfare conducted in Italy in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. He claims, with a measure of justice, that too much attention has been given to the lives and deeds of individual condottieri. There is indeed plenty to be gleaned about them in this book, but the author's concern is to set them within the 'institutional framework" within which they operated and to show how they were gradually brought into closer and more permanent relation to the needs of the governments that employed them. In a neat and accurate description of the stages of transition, from the largely citizen armies of the thirteenth century through the periods dominated first by the independent Companies and then by the freelance Captains, the relevance of the changing political structure is consistently brought out. Professor Mallet has set out to be comprehensive at the risk of seeming episodic. The book succeeds most admirably in bringing together the fruits of recent work, presenting them in a clear and easily digestible way, and pointing the road for future inquiry. It is written with lightly worn learning and shrewdness of judgement. Information taken from a review by D. M. Bueno De Mesquita in English Historical Review, Vol. 90, No. 357 (October 1975), pp. 887-888.
Needham, Joseph. Science and Civilization in China; Volume 5: Chemistry and Chemical Technology; part 7: Military Technology: The Gunpowder Epic. Assisted by Ho Ping-Yu, et. al. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986. This authoritative volume outlines the Chinese origins of gunpowder, guns, and rockets and then traces both their transmission to the West and their eventual reintroduction to China. The scholarly achievement is impressive, particularly when one considers the linguistic challenges posed by the sources, which often use a single term to describe quite different objects (trebuchets and cannons, for example). Overcoming such difficulties, however, the authors provide precise descriptions and good dates for the Chinese discoveries. By providing a firm historical baseline of the development of firearms technology in China, it prepares the way for others to show either how it changed that society or why it did not. Information taken from a review by Arthur Waldron in American Historical Review, Vol. 94, No. 2 (April 1989), pp. 501-502.
Nicholson, Helen. Medieval Warfare. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. This book employs the full scholarly apparatus: her wide-ranging and detailed footnote references make her book particularly useful for students; the ,author's extensive reading is clear and impressive. Six succinct and highly informative chapters cover theory, practice, personnel, equipment, buildings and naval warfare. Nicholson readily concedes that in a relatively short book such as this, it is inevitable that some areas do not receive enough coverage. Overall, however, the book is well balanced. Despite its relative brevity, the volume conveys a convincing sense of comprehension, while adeptly avoiding cluttering the text with dense facts and figures. A particular strength of the book is that, not only does it afford the opportunity to include many revealing, colorful and oft-overlooked examples from the early medieval period,it also serves to show just how little warfare changed over the whole medieval period, thereby questioning further the increasingly challenged concept of a military revolution in the late medieval period. Nicholson has produced a masterful synthesis which offers a perfect summation of revisionist and post-revisionist scholarship on warfare in the middle ages. Information taken from a review by Sean McGlynn in English Historical Review, Vol. 121, No. 493 (Sept. 2006), pp. 1160-1161. I've read the book and agree with the review, although with the proviso that it should not be the first book on medieval warfare read by the historical novice.
Nicholson, Helen, ed. The Military Orders. Vol. II: Welfare and Warfare. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 1998. This book sets new standards. The editing is superb and all the contents of considerable range, value, and interest. Thirty-three papers are presented in four parts, on Welfare, Warfare, Life Within the Military Orders, and Relations with the Outside World, admirably completed with a Select Bibliography and Index. Information taken from a review by K. S. B. Keats-Rohan in English Historical Review, Vol. 115, No. 461 (April 2000), pp. 437-438. This review provides a good brief discussion of several of the essays included in the volume.
Nicolle, David; Plates by Richard Hook. The Mongol Warlords. London: Brockhampton Press, 1998 (originally published Dorset, UK: Firebird Books, 1990). ISBN: 1 86019 4079. The irruption of the Mongols into Asia, the Middle East, and Europe in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries had profound repercussions, both at the time and into the present day. This is a well done, broad popular historical survey of the life and times of four of the best known of the Mongol conquerors-Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, Hulegu, and Tamerlane. The book is clearly and simply written, copiously illustrated, and well organized. There are some good sections on the equipment and tactics of the soldiers who fought for the Mongols. It is by no means the definitive work on the development and expansion of the Mongol kingdoms, but it is a good place to start.
Nossov, Konstantin. Ancient and Medieval Siege Weapons: A Fully Illustrated Guide to Siege Weapons and Tactics. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2005. ISBN: 1 59228 710 7. First, the review should start with what this book is not. It is not an analytical historical study of ancient and medieval siege weapons and their utilization. Nor, in the space available, should that be expected for such a vast subject. . It instead has a brief overview of the history of the subject up to about 1500 for Europe and the Middle East, and some of the basics of the tactics of siege warfare and the defense against it. Central to the volume is its description of various siege engines. The writing style is OK, if a bit plodding, but part of that may be translation of the volume into English from the original Russian. The great value of this volume lies in its clear (for the most part) treatment of every major type of siege weapon of the ancient and medieval world in a systematic and organized fashion, complete with a plethora of illustrations-some not so clear, but with many excellent ones, especially the color plates. I learned a lot from this book. It is not the final definitive word on the subject, and the style and organization could be improved. Still, overall, I highly recommend it for the person who wants to learn about the siege weapons of this era.
Oman, Sir Charles W. C. The Art of War in the Middle Ages: A.D. 378-1515. 2 volumes. Revised and edited by John H. Beeler. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1953. First published in two volumes in 1924. There have many different editions of the work; this is but one. Oman's volumes are a standard text on medieval military history. They are particularly strong on accounts of battles and campaigns. While there has been much reinterpretation on the characteristics of medieval warfare since these volumes were written, they are still good solid volumes and very much worth reading. Beeler's edit is reviewed in Military Affairs, Vol. 17, No. 4 (Winter 1953), page 199.
Prescott, William H., ed. by Albert D. McJoynt. The Art of War in Spain: The Conquest of Grenada. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1995. While a 19th century work, this is still the best recounting of this war available in English, and includes concern for the social, economic, and cultural aspects regarded integral to "new" military history. But this is no ordinary reprint. The introductions by editor McJoynt provide a brilliant survey of the evolution of three hundred years of war-making in Europe and western Islam. He seems to have covered literally every book, article, war, battle, tactical innovations, technological improvement, vocabulary issue, and naval development revolving around the Granadan war and its era. His succinct coverage of late medieval warfare makes The Art of War in Spain an extremely valuable work for any person interested in military history in general-and in good writing. Information taken from a review by Weston F. Cook, Jr., in The Journal of Military History, January 1996 (Vol. 60, No. 1), pp. 152-153.
Santosuosso, Antonio, Barbarians, Marauders and Infidels: The Ways of Medieval Warfare. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2004 The author argues that for the most part warfare in the Middle Ages-whether on the part of Christians or Muslims-was carried out for God, personal gain and honor, and discusses how charismatic leaders, the church and the aristocracy managed the art and practice of war. Information taken from a brief unattributed review provided in History Today, Vol. 54, No. 11 (Nov. 2004), page 64. There are also positive reviews on the web: http://www.militaryink.com/books/2004/may/0813391539.htm There is also a positive review by Clifford J. Rogers in History: Reviews of New Books, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Spring 2005), pp. 115-116. Rogers' final comment in his review is "Santosuosso writes with admirable vigor and color. Readers looking for an enjoyable but serious first introduction to medieval warfare may therefore find this book their best choice. Those who want something weightier will be better off with one of the books by one of the authors mentioned at the beginning of this review."
Saunders, Frances Stonor. The Devil's Broker: Seeking God, Gold, and Glory in Fourteenth- Century Italy. New York: Fourth Estate, An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2004. ISBN: 0-06-077729-X. This book discusses the various military companies of mercenaries that plagued Italy in the late 1300's. The volume is centered around the life and times of John Hawkwood, the best known of the leaders of these companies. It is not precisely a military history, nor is it the definitive history of the military history of this era, but it is a well-written and interesting volume. It is a good account of this difficult era in Italy and provides a good feel for the military events of this time and place. The same volume, under a different title- Hawkwood, Diabolical Englishman, was published London: Faber and Faber, 2004, ISBN: 0- 571-21908-X and is reviewed by R.J. Knecht in The Journal of Military History, Vol. 69, No. 4 (October 2005), pp. 1199-1200. The following comment made in the review is one which I agree with: "What is clear is the absence of manuscript sources and a heavy reliance on printed material, both primary and secondary. Literary sources loom large in her [the author's] text. For this reason the book, scholarly and readable as it is, has little new to offer the military historian on Hawkwood as a soldier and tactician; its main interest lies in the vivid, not to say lurid, picture it offers of everyday life in medieval Italy."
Urban, William. Medieval Mercenaries: The Business of War. London: Greenhill Books; St. Paul, MN: MBI Publishing Company, 2006. ISBN-13: 978-185367-697-0; ISBN-10: 1-85367-697-7. This book is decidedly a mixed bag and, for that reason, I am going to give it some extra attention and a longer review than usual. On the one hand, on the web site http://department.monm.edu/history/urban/books/medieval_mercenaries_reviews.htm , , one reviewer, Syd Wigzell states "The scope of Greenhill's military history books has been enhanced by the publication of this work by the noted American scholar, William Urban. It is indeed a fitting companion to another recent Greenhill publication, The Art of Renaissance Warfare. Medieval Mercenaries is more a social commentary than a nuts and bolts manual of warfare, although strategy and tactics do receive due attention. The author succeeds in establishing why kings, dukes and other similar potentates relied on mercenaries to defend or expand their territory before massed national armies existed. The diversity of solutions to the problems of recruitment, payment, logistics and disbandment are ably covered, as is the philosophical question as to why mercenaries and bodyguards are so widely employed in the world today. This is one of those user-friendly books that can be opened at random by busy people and read a dozen or so pages at a time. This means the reader will be rewarded by becoming acquainted with little known but fascinating aspects of European history, including numerous power-brokers, crusaders, warriors, plotters, cynical alliances and such that would rival anything Byzantine. The author injects into the saga the novelty of a literary perspective of these times by quoting from the works of the likes of Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Shakespeare. The informatively annotated illustrations are an education in themselves which, when taken with the text, can only heighten the reader's grasp of European history and establish mercenaries as a fact of life. In short, this is a different kind of history book that is highly recommended for the curious or for the academic researcher". Yet another review, from http://shyuechou.blogspot.com/2007/06/medieval-mercenaries-how-will-i-even.html "This unpretentious book is a conversational piece about the role of mercenaries in various wars during the Middle Ages, quoting extensive from popular culture, Shakespeare and more. It describes the role of mercenaries in the Hundred Years War, the Baltic Crusades, the Italian Wars and more with some analysis as to how the mercenaries were viewed, who they were and more. It places mercenaries in the context and framework of the socio-political map. While conversational, it will bewilder readers who are unfamiliar with mention of the lesser known conflicts while delight readers who are familiar with them. Secondly, it can deter while it meanders all over. Even then, it was good, fast, lightweight read." Other reviewers are not so kind: "Covers a lot of ground, but canters over it far too superficially. Urban seems more interested in later attitudes to mercenaries (not that he says anything very profound about those) than in trivial details like who they were, how they were recruited, paid, fought. For example, he gives more space to a precis of Conan Doyle's "White Company" than to the deeds of the historical White Company. If that's what you want, fine; if not, look elsewhere." "The book is an eclectic series of anecdotes, without much of analyses or insight, and not always accurate." "Perhaps the author was contractually obligated to deliver another book to the publisher; otherwise I see no reason for it to have been written. It reads like a junior's term paper, skimming over the period with the grossest of generalizations and no citations of sources. Because the sources are, in fact, inadequate to provide the depth and detail that the average reader would expect to find in a title like this, Urban pads them with fictional sources and tries to pass it off with the repeated excuse that fictional representations are at least as responsible as reality for forming modern notions of mercenaries. While this may be true, I picked up the book (for $10 from the History Book Club) expecting to get the straight dope; instead, I get quotations from Shakespeare. In short, if you want to know about medieval mercenaries, you'll learn practically nothing from this book. I've read the book, and I fall between the two stools. I learned a lot from it, especially about use of mercenaries in campaigns in the late medieval Baltic. This, IMHO, is an area of European military history sorely neglected in the English language historical literature and Dr. Urban has really made a major contribution with his several works on this topic. There is a lot of useful information and the treatment of fictional sources is a useful approach to the subject-I'd like to see more of this in other works of military history. However, my impression of the volume is that it needs much tighter organization, and the criticism of the book that it is "an eclectic series of anecdotes" is something I must agree with to a certain extent. I also have some discomfort with the treatment of Renaissance mercenaries in the book. I feel that it didn't go far enough, on the one hand, and maybe shouldn't have been included. Bottom line: read this book, but don't expect the final, definitive work on the subject.
Vale, Malcolm. War and Chivalry. Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press, 1981; also London: Duckworth, 1981. The book's subtitle admirably summarizes its contents: "Warfare and Aristocratic Culture in England, France and Burgundy at the End of the Middle Ages". Vale argues very solidly that heavy cavalry was at this time still very important on the battlefield, that tournaments still had worth for military training, and that the chivalric orders still in the 1400's could be used, and were used, as instruments for politics. None of these points is entirely new, but they have never before been so accessibly brought together in a book which is both finely produced and sensibly illustrated. Taken together they comprise a powerful assault on Huizinga's concept of The Waning of the Middle Ages. For Huizinga and his followers the elaborate display of late medieval chivalry was a symptom of its loss of contact with reality and was in decline. Vale disputes this successfully. Information taken from a review by John Gillingham in History Today, Vol. 32, April 1982, page 52. Also reviewed in American Historical Review, Vol. 87, No. 2 (April 1982), pp. 433-434.
Verbruggen, J.F. The Art of Warfare in Western Europe During the Middle Ages from the Eighth Century to 1340. Second edition, revised and enlarged. Trans. Col. S. Willard and Mrs. R.W. Southern. New York: Boydell Press, 1997. ( first published 1954). ISBN: 0-85115-630-4. A very solid and well-crafted book on medieval warfare, competently translated into English in this edition. Deals primarily with battles and campaigns. Siege warfare is not discussed, nor are the "society" aspects of War and Society. But, as the reviewer in The Journal of Military History puts it, "for medieval strategy and tactics there is nothing better than this book". Information taken from a review by Kelly DeVries in The Journal of Military History, January 1998 (Vol. 62, No. 1), pp. 193-195. There was an edition in 1977, published Amsterdam: North Holland, 1977. Reviewed in Military Affairs, October 1978 (Vol. 42, No. 3), pp. 164, by Carroll Gillmor, who, while praising the book overall, points out some problems in explaining the transition from the infantry of the ancient world to the cavalry of the Middle Ages. Also reviewed in The Historian, Vol. 61, No. 3 (Spring 1999), pp. 723-24.
Verbruggen, J.F. (ed. Kelly Devries and tr. David Richard Ferguson), The Battle of the Golden Spurs: Courtrai, 11 July 1302. Woodbridge, UK: The Boydell Press, 2002. ISBN: 0 85115 888 9. This is a translation of a meticulous and influential study of the battle of Courtrai written in the 1950's. Verbruggen's methodology-an exhaustive sifting of all the major sources for the battle, weighing and contrasting them with each other in order to iron out inconsistencies-was exemplary, a model for future generations. Not only was the volume an account of the battle, but it was set in its political context. While, in retrospect, it seems to be rather biased in favor of the Flemings, all in all it is a good solid account of the battle. One rather surprising aspect of this translation is that it was done without any indication of how the historiography of late medieval warfare in general, or indeed of the battle of Courtrai itself, has changed in the past half century, especially since the editor of the volume, Kelly Devries, has challenged some of Verbruggen's interpretations. Information taken from a review in War In History, Vol. 13, No. 3 (July 2006), pp. 389-390.
http://www.deremilitari.org/RESOURCES/ARTICLES/rogers.htm Web reprint of an article by Clifford J. Rogers, "The Military Revolutions of the Hundred Years' War", from The Journal of Military History, Volume 57 (1993).
Allmand, Christopher. The Hundred Years War: England and France at War, c. 1300-c. 1450. (Cambridge Medieval Textbooks). New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988. This is a very well done brief history of the Hundred Years War. The opening chapter gives an admirably lucid summary of the causes and progress of the war itself. This may be the most readable short survey of the campaigns yet written. In the following six chapters, Allmand interprets the war in a variety of contexts: attitudes to war, both popular and learned; the conduct of war; the institutions of war; the socioeconomic effects of war; the connection between war and nascent nationalism; war and literature. Each of these topics is well chosen, and each chapter would give a student (at any level) a good introduction. There are some problems with the book to be found. But such criticisms (and those every specialist can bring against a small general book on a broad theme) should not reduce the sense that this is a valuable book. It will be widely used as a starting place for the study of this significant period of Anglo-French conflict. Information taken from a review by Richard Kauper in American Historical Review, Vol. 94, No. 4 (October 1989), pp. 1078-1079.
Ayton, Andrew, and Preston, Philip. The Battle of Crecy. Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 2005. ISBN: 1-184383-115-5. The Battle of Crecy traces its beginnings to a conference held at Crecy in 1998, and includes papers presented at the conference, but contains also chapters written by the authors for this volume. The ten essays, all written in (or translated into) English, are divided into five sections: an introduction, "The Campaign", "The Battle", "The English", "The French", and "Sources and Problems of Interpretation". While some will likely disagree with some of the conclusions reached in these essays, this book is a useful addition to the literature and worth reading by anyone with any interest in its topic. Information taken from a review by Charles Chandler in The Journal of Military History, Vol. 69, No. 4 (October 2005), pp. 1198-1199. Also reviewed in English Historical Review, Vol. 121, No. 492 (June 2006), pp. 908-909.
Curry, Anne. The Battle of Agincourt: Sources and Interpretations. Woodbridge, UK: The Boydell Press, 2000. The author has performed a valuable service to scholars, teachers and general readers by compiling this comprehensive source book for Henry V's Agincourt campaign of 1415. The range of material cited, all of it in English translation, is impressive, including not only the more familiar narrative accounts from the chronicles but also a selection of literary texts, as well as extracted administrative and financial documents, all supported by helpful commentaries and notes. Diplomatic documents, which could shed light on war aims and objectives are, however, not incorporated. There is a useful discussion of mythologizing by Tudor historians, and an interesting, if somewhat overlong, account of the historiography of the subject from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries. Information taken from a review by Malcolm Vale in English Historical Review, Vol. 117, No. 471 (February 2002), pp. 458-459.
Curry, Anne. Agincourt: A New History. Stroud, UK: Tempus, 2005. Professor Curry's book is a sequel to her The Battle of Agincourt: Sources and Interpretations (2000). It is an extremely detailed analysis of the siege of Harfleur, Henry V's march to Calais, and the battle itself. The chronicle sources are systematically compared, with each other and with the administrative records, on both the French and the English sides. The interpretation is skillfully done. There are useful maps and full and informative appendices; they include, astonishingly, some 8,000 names of English participants. The author knows the territory well. Unlike much military history, this book is lucidly written. This is all face-to-face military history. Recommended. Information taken from a review by C. S. L. Davies in English Historical Review, Vol. 121, No. 491 (pp. 518-520).
Curry, Anne. The Hundred Years War. London: Macmillan, 1993. The author's stated aim is to provide a diplomatic perspective on the Hundred Years War in the broad context of the international relations of the period, and in this she largely succeeds, and does so with some panache. The war (and peace) aims of successive English and French rulers are expertly anatomized, and the peripheral conflicts to which their struggle gave rise, or with which they became involved, are deftly disentangled. The different phases of the conflict are boldly characterized and readers will be in no danger of losing the thread of argument, despite the volume of information conveyed. The only problem with the book is that it is somewhat too Anglocentric. Information taken from a review by J. J. N. Palmer in English Historical Review, Vol. 111, No. 441 (April 1996), pp. 438.
Curry, Anne., and Hughes, Michael. (eds.), Arms, Armies, and Fortifications in the Hundred Years' War. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press, 1994. This volume attempts to move the focus of research away from the 'war and society' approach and back to the mainstream study of armies, the arms they used, and the defences used against them. It is a good volume. There are useful, in some cases very useful, contributions in this collection. Information taken from a review by Christopher Allmand in English Historical Review, Vol. 112, No. 446 (April 1997), pp.447. In the review is a brief listing and discussion of many of the essays in the book.
Livingstone, Marilyn, and Witzel, Morgen. The Road to Crecy: The English Invasion of France, 1346. London: Pearson Education, 2005. ISBN: 0-528-78420-4. The books begins well, describing the armament, constitution, and tactics of the opposing forces. After delineating the strategic circumstances of the war, the book turns to the beginning of the campaign in 1346. The story of the campaign is well told, but offers little new battle analysis. The description of the mobilization and supply of the force is the book's greatest strength. In short, the book provides an accessible and informative, but ultimately redundant, account of a heroic tale in English history. It has both the strengths and weaknesses expected in a work from writers with little previous experience who are well read but insensitive to the complexities and breadth of recent scholarship. The general reader may be satisfied, but professional military historians will reply on other recent or soon to appear works. Information taken from a review by Paul Solon in The Journal of Military History, Vol. 69, No. 4 (October 2005), pp. 1197-1198.
Seward, Desmond. The Hundred Years War: The English in France, 1337-1453. Reprint. New York: Antheneum, 1982. The author has provided a good popular readable account of the Hundred Years War. While the book avoids analysis and qualifications and has certain problems from a historical point of view, it is a good narrative history of the subject. Information taken from a review by Michael Powicke in American Historical Review, Vol. 88, No. 4 ((October 1983), pp. 968-969.
Sumption, Jonathan. The Hundred Years War: Trial by Battle. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992. This is the first of a multi-volume narrative of the Hundred Years War. It examines the beginnings of these wars through the capture of the town of Calais in August of 1347, and its immediate aftermath. Sumption's history is an extremely detailed descriptive narrative. His book is not analytical, and he intends it to be this way. Within the study, however, is explanation of the war and a subtle analysis. No single scholar or group of historians has (as of 1992) ever attempted to write a multivolume study of this war. Because Sumption has decided on a narrative that often moves day by day, and which is built on extensive examination of documentary materials, he has provided a picture of events that we have not possessed before. Not only are previously ignored military campaigns detailed but also their destructive impact on local social conditions is related. This is an excellent work. Information taken from a review by Kenneth Madison in American Historical Review, Vol. 99, No. 1 (Feb., 1994), pp. 213. Also reviewed in English Historical Review, Vol. 106, No. 421 (October 1991), pp. 945-947.
Sumption, Jonathan. The Hundred Years War. Vol. II: Trial By Fire. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999. This volume tells the story of the Hundred Years War from 1347 to 1369. Largely eschewing footnote references to a huge secondary literature, preferring to point to the contemporary documentary evidence on which serious discussion must be based, Sumption has cast his net wide; little has escaped his attention. Sumption steers his way with impressive authority and drive through a mountain of information, providing a wonderfully clear and comprehensive synthesis of a turbulent and confusing period. Every theater of war from Scotland to Spain receives its due, as do the major players. But perhaps Sumption's most notable achievement is to make sense of the apparently chaotic movements and activities of the free-booting companies which sprang into being in so many parts of France. The book has almost fifty excellent and clear maps and plans to accompany the text. A recommended work. invaluable. Information taken from a review by Michael Jones in English Historical Review, Vol. 115, No. 464 (November 2000), pp. 1280-1281.
Villalon, L. J. Andrew, and Kagay, Donald J., eds. The Hundred Years War: A Wider Focus. (History of Warfare, No. 25). Boston: Brill, 2005. 520pp. This appears to be a collection of essays on various aspects of the Hundred Years War, but primarily on a variety of topics which are relevant, but not normally treated in the literature on this war. There is a list of the authors of the essays included, and the topics, in American Historical Review, Vol. 110, No. 4 (Oct. 2005), pp. 1302.
Wagner, John A. Encyclopedia of the Hundred Years War. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006. ISBN: 0-313-32736-X. Of the 256 entries in this encyclopedia, 104 are biographical, 30 cover individual battles, and 21 deal with particular peace treaties, truces, or peace conferences. Only 13 treat sieges or capture of fortified places. Other entries cover a diverse range of topics, both expected and unexpected. Other that the disproportionate attention given to battles over sieges, the entry list is well conceived. There are also a few general maps, some genealogies, chronological lists of battles, sieges, campaigns, rulers, and popes, constables and marshals, and holders of select noble titles, and a handy 22 page overall chronology. The bibliography is reasonably extensive and up-to-date. The entries are unusually uniform in length and are solid. This book is intended to be a convenient reference source for basic information, and it meets that goal well. Information taken from a review by Clifford J. Rogers in The Journal of Military History, Vol. 71, No. 3 (July 2007), pp. 913-914.
Wright, Nicholas. Knights and Peasants: The Hundred Years War in the French Countryside. Rochester, NY: The Boydell Press, 1998. ISBN: 0 85115 535 9. This exciting and provocative book eschews the conventional political narrative of the Hundred Years' War. Nor is this a study of the big battalions and well-trodden campaigns. Instead, a new interpretative framework is set up, defining an entirely different, underlying dimension: a series of highly localized clashes between military adventurers and the rural population. It is the harsh reality of this often unseen and largely forgotten war that Wright vividly brings to life. Overall, this courageous, well written book provides us with a ground-breaking survey. It brings out a story of the Hundred Years War that has long needed to be told, and as such will deservedly form an essential addition to our reading on the subject. Information taken from a review by Michael K. Jones in History Today, Vol. 50, No. 5 (May 2000), pp. 57-58. Also reviewed in American Historical Review, Vol. 106, No. 1 (February 2001), pp. 240-241 and English Historical Review, Vol. 114, No. 458 (September 1999), pp. 957-958.
Christiansen, Eric. The Northern Crusades: The Baltic and the Catholic Frontier, 1100-1525. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1980. In this volume, Christiansen describes the series of campaigns by Germans and Scandinavians against non-Christians in the Baltic region between the twelfth and the sixteenth centuries. He argues persuasively that, insofar as their participants had a common cause, the crusading ideal defined it, and that it is "legitimate to treat 300 years of diverse warfare as the story of one recurrent phenomenon, and to deal more with the ideas and organization that provided the unifying theme than with the other motives and concerns of the crusaders". While there are problems with citations, the book reflects an admirable control over a large section of primary sources. The account of the various events are often vivid, written well, and avoid bias. It is a well done volume which fills a gap in the existing literature. Information taken from a review by Francis R. Swietek in The Historian, Vol. 44, No. 3 (May 1982), pp. 387-388. Also reviewed in Military Affairs, April 1984 (Vol. 48, No. 2), pp. 96, English Historical Review, Vol. 97, No. 382 (January 1982, pp. 122-124, and American Historical Review, Vol. 86, No. 4 (October 1981), pp. 830-831.
Ellenblum, Ronnie. Crusader Castles and Modern Histories. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-521-86083-3. This is a highly important study of both the historiography of castle building in the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem and of the evolution of the castles themselves. The work begins with a survey or how nationalists and colonialist discourses appropriated the legacy of crusading architecture and archaeology and used it to reflect their contemporary agendas. In the second half of the book the author explains how the castles developed and breads the twelfth century down into three periods: first, an age of Frankish conquest and intensive warfare (1099-1115); then a largely peaceful era (1115-67); and finally a time of increasing pressure from the Muslims (1167-87). Enhanced by numerous maps and plans, it is this framework that underpins his analysis of the evolution of castles. While there are some problems with the closing arguments, overall this book is recommended for its splendid survey of the historiography, its provocative questioning of accepted "truths" about Frankish fortresses and its incisive and convincing re-interpretation of the history of the crusader castle in the twelfth century. Information taken from a review by Jonathan Phillips in The Journal of Military History, Vol. 71, No. 4 (October 2007), pp. 1218-1219.
France, John. Victory in the East: A Military History of the First Crusade. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994. This volume is a welcome addition to the literature, because, in it, the author answers questions concerning how crusading armies succeeded in marching across Anatolia, in defeating seemingly formidable Turkish forces arrayed against them, in capturing such daunting fortifications as Antioch, and in establishing a series of principalities in the Levant, all questions demanding serious answers, especially in light of persistent notions concerning the ineffective nature of European warfare during the entire Middle Ages. France puts special emphasis on the role of infantry in medieval war and demonstrates how important the infantry was in the Crusader victories. An excellent volume. Information taken from a review by Charles R. Bowlus in The Journal of Military History, January 1996 (Vol. 60, No. 1), pp. 151-152.
Houseley, Norman. The Later Crusades: From Lyons to Alcazar, 1274-1580. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992. This study of crusading activity from the Second Council of Lyons to the Hapsburg-Ottoman truce provides a valuable survey of military campaigns, governmental planning, religious evolution, and social change. It is a useful synthesis and provides thoughtful consideration of the role of crusading in medieval society. Specialists may not agree with all of Norman Houseley's interpretations of campaigns and monarchical policies, and the bibliographic essays do not serve students as well as integrated notes, but there is much to laud, starting with the fourteen outline maps provided. If Houseley's approach has a flaw, it concerns the extent to which he subsumes the motives of frontier expansion and government maturation under crusading with the religious impetus obscuring all else. Nevertheless, Houseley's study stands as a commendable achievement in campaign expositions recommended for their detail and contextual analysis, and his vision of pious devotion is considerate of medieval culture's persistence through centuries of change. Information taken from a review by Lorraine Attreed in The Historian, Vol. 55, No. 4 (Summer 1993), pp. 748-749. Also reviewed in History Today, Vol. 43, March 1993, page 57 and English Historical Review, Vol. 109, No. 430 (February 1994), pp. 109-11.
Marshall, Christopher. Warfare in the Latin East, 1192-1291. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992. Thirteenth-century Frankish Syria has been largely neglected in the general histories of medieval warfare. This volume now fills the gap. The author examines the resources available to the rulers of Latin Syria, the provenance and quality of their troops, the impact of the crusades from western Europe, the function of strongpoints, and the three types of military operations, battle, raid, and siege. Wisely, given the nature of the sources and their often problematic handling of military events, he eschews efforts to reconstruct particular conflicts and instead defines the general characteristics of military engagements. This is a very competent study, based on an impressive array of literature and personal familiarity with many of the sites and architectural remains. Of the past and brings to Information taken from a review by Peter Jackson in English Historical Review, Vol. 110, No. 437 (June 1995), pp. 699-700.
Mitchell, Piers D. Medicine in the Crusades: Warfare, Wounds, and the Medieval Surgeon. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. 293 pages. The themes of this book are central to the history of the crusades, yet this is the first systematic, full-length study of crusade medicine. The author is a practicing surgeon, who has made a specialist study of crusader medicine, and the result is a fascinating account that both tests the assertions of the past and brings to bear the new techniques of the present. This is an excellent book, enlightening on several areas of medieval life beyond its specific subject. Most importantly, Mitchell shows that, although authority and academic training remained important, the pressures of life in the crusader states equally encouraged a search for empirical knowledge that could be applied in a practical way to the immediate problems of a frontier society. Information taken from a review by Malcolm Barber in American Historical Review, Vol. 111, No. 2 (April 2006), pp. 546-547.
Pryor, John H., ed. Logistics of Warfare in the Age of the Crusades. Proceedings of a Workshop held at the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Sydney, Australia, 30 September to 4 October 2002. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing, 2006. ISBN: 0-7546-5197-5. This is a good, solid volume on the logistics of warfare during the Crusades. It deals with a considerable variety of topics, including harbors, port facilities, and sailing routes, Muslim warfare, maps, and Byzantine roads and communications. Particularly interesting and the most important methodologically are the essays by John Pryor and John Haldon, which bring into focus the realities that limited the movement of large bodies of men and animals. While as history their essays have weakness, they are still very useful. This volume marks the development of an innovative approach to the subject of crusading warfare. Information taken from a review by Jonathan Riley-Smith in The Journal of Military History, Vol. 71, No. 2 (April 2007), pp. 515-516.
Riley-Smith, Jonathan. The Crusades: A Short History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987. This ambitious attempt to put all of the Crusades into the context of the times and to explain their relationship to one another opens at Clermont in 1095 and closes after the Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683. Although it is impossible for any one scholar to be fully acquainted with every episode, the author makes a commendable effort. More important, he gives us new insights. Riley-Smith is weakest in describing the Eastern Crusades. However, despite occasional inaccuracies and confusing wordiness, he at least seeks to cover important crusading activities that other short histories ignore. Thirty years earlier, no historian could have written a book of this breadth and quality. It was not then customary to think of the Crusades as extending much beyond the nine principal expeditions to the Holy Land, and there was much about those campaigns that was poorly understood. This is a solid historical contribution. Information taken from a review by William Urban in American Historical Review, Vol. 94, No. 3 (June 1989), pp. 751.
Riley-Smith, Johathan, ed. The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. This volume brings together contributions by a panel of leading experts. The period covered goes down even beyond the shadowy vestiges of crusading in the seventeenth century, since the volume includes innovative contributions on the nineteenth and twentieth century images of the crusades and on the recent rebirth of holy war ideology in wars of liberation. Overall, the authors successfully distil the results of the most recent scholarship, and the well-chosen illustrations further enhance the quality of the book, making this a valuable, as well as convenient and attractive, volume. Information taken from a review by Peter Jackson in English Historical Review, Vol. 113, No. 450 (February 1998), pp. 143-144. In the review is a brief listing and discussion of many of the essays in the book.
Rogers, R. Latin Siege Warfare in the Twelfth Century. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992. The author studies the role played by the siege in war, mainly in the Mediterranean, in these important years for the development of western European (Latin) influence in the region. Naturally enough, he is concerned with the Crusades and with the part played by sieges in the conquest and defense of Outremer against the Muslim world. This is a solid contribution to twelfth-century military history but an aid towards understanding some of the political and cultural developments of the period. Information taken from a review by Christopher Allmand in English Historical Review, Vol. 110, No. 438 (September 1995), pp. 974-975.
Smail, R.C. Crusading Warfare (1097-1193). Cambridge: University Press, 1956. This is very definitely not a book for the general reader, and the style is pretty hard going. However, it is an excellent work on the subject. The book begins with a chapter on historians of crusading warfare. The final chapter is on Crusader castles. The other five chapters discuss the tactics and the organization of the Latin and Muslim armies. The main emphasis of the book is that military operations evolved from the social organization of the Franks in Syria. Information taken from a review by Robert Walker Davis in Military Affairs, Summer 1957 (Vol. 21, No. 2), pp. 88.
Urban, William. The Teutonic Knights: A Military History. St. Paul, MN: MBI Publishing, 2003. ISBN: 1-85367-667-5. The volume is divided into 13 chapters of uneven length following a brief introduction and is equipped with 15 useful maps, two short appendixes that list the major figures in the history of the Teutonic order and the grandmasters down to 1525, and a brief bibliography. The work follows a generally chronological organization that presents the military campaigns and political history of the order over a period of three long centuries. This work is a useful general introduction to the activities of the Teutonic Knights and the only work of its kind available in English. However, it is very far from being a proper military history. Urban's omission of a critical treatment of the biases of the narrative sources toward their aristocratic patrons leads him to overemphasize the importance of "mounted knights" in the campaigns of the German Order at the expense of the far more numerous foot soldiers who played a central role in all military campaigns during the three centuries covered in this work. In addition to the misleading focus on knighthood and chivalry, Urban does not address in a systematic manner questions that are now seen as central by leading specialists in medieval military history, including military administration and organization, technology, and logistics. It is a useful introductory survey, but, as indicated, is missing discussion of some critical matters. Information taken from a review by David S. Bachrach in The Journal of Military History, Vol. 70, No. 4 (October 2006), pp. 1114-1115.
Bartusis, Mark C. The Late Byzantine Army: Arms and Society, 1204-1453. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992. The author has written what should be the standard reference work for a long time on the hitherto poorly understood Late Byzantine army. This is a carefully researched institutional history. It is not a history of military operations, tactics, or military theory. This book is a war-and-society type book, indeed, a very good one. A well-done volume, and worth reading. Information taken from a review by Walter E. Kaegi in The Journal of Military History, October 1993 (Vol. 57, No. 4), pp.717-718. Also reviewed in American Historical Review, Vol. 99, No. 1 (Feb. 1994), pp. 211-212, and English Historical Review, Vol. 108, No. 429 (October 1993), pp. 973-975.
Foss, Clive, and Winfield, David. Byzantine Fortifications: An Introduction. (Unisa 1986, Number 22). Pretoria: University of South Africa Press, 1986. The authors here combine their knowledge of history, archaeology, and architecture to make clear the intimate relationship between the technical aspect of fortification and the broader history of the era. Foss and Winfield succeed admirably in the difficult task of combining several disciplines to produce in one volume both an introduction to Byzantine fortifications for the general reader and an interpretive study for more advanced students of Byzantine history, military affairs, and architecture. We now have for the first time a comprehensive study of Byzantine fortification that integrates the physical evidence with the written sources to enhance our understanding of a particularly important aspect of Byzantine civilization. Information taken from a review by Charles Shrader in American Historical Review, Vol. 94, No. 4 (October 1989), pp. 1075.
Runciman, Steven. The Fall of Constantinople, 1453. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965. A solid account of the fall of Constantinople. There is very little in the way of new interpretations, opinions, or insights, but there is a good treatment of the Ottoman Turks, more attention than had hitherto been allotted them in previous accounts in English of this event. Information taken from a review by Norman Rosenblatt in The Historian, Vol. 28, No. 3 (May 1966), pp. 521-522. There is a 1990 reprint (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990). There is also a sizable review in English Historical Review, Vol. 81, No. 321 (October 1966), pp. 820-821.
Articles:
Bachrach, Bernard S., "The Military Administration of England: The Royal Artillery (1216-1272)", The Journal of Military History, October 2004 (Vol. 68, No. 4). An interesting article which discusses in some detail the construction, storage, and transportation involved in the management of the siege engines belonging to the English kingdom. It shows beyond doubt that proper management of such equipment is a complex process and, by implication, illustrates that the effectiveness of a technology-the ability to utilize it properly-depends on proper administration of its use as well as proper application.
Currin, John M., "'The King's Army into the Partes of Betaigne': Henry VII and the Breton Wars, 1489-1491", War In History, Vol. 7, No. 4 (November 2000), pp. 379-412. Between 1489-91 Henry VII projected his military power abroad in an attempt to prevent the French conquest of Britanny and influence political affairs in the duchy. This episode in Tudor military and diplomatic history, however, has been largely ignored by historians. This article discusses the English military and political involvement in Britanny, the composition of land and naval forces, the strategies employed, and the mistakes and circumstances that contributed to the Anglo-Breton defeat. The 1489 English expedition was larger than historians have hitherto supposed. Officers of the Royal Household served in land and sea operations in Britanny and carried out critical supply and support functions. Henry VII took great interest in the expeditions, and did not seem as neglectful of military matters as many modern historians have thought.
Grummitt, David, "The Defence of Calais and the Development of Gunpowder Weaponry in England in the Late Fifteenth Century". War in History, Vol. 7, No. 3 (July 2000), pp. 253-272. This article challenges the prevalent perception that the development and the use of gunpowder weaponry in England in the late fifteenth century differed markedly from that in France and Burgundy. This is done in the light of the evidence of the Calais victuallers' accounts. Calais was England's most important military and commercial frontier, and the unique survival of large amounts of archival material allows its gunpowder weaponry to be reconstructed in detail. The accounts show that from the 1460's, the Crown systematically increased and modernized the ordnance in Calais and, moreover, extended increased royal control over it, bringing English gunpowder weaponry and its use in line with that of France and Burgundy.
Ayton, Andrew. Knights and War horses. Military Service and the English Aristocracy under Edward III. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press, 1994. The author has been able to construct a judicious and illuminating survey of the cavalry element in Edwardian armies, especially of the period 1327-1360. Ayton's particular contribution to this subject rests in the accumulation of materials on the quality and value of horses, and the analysis of the military practices and administrative structures that generated the horse inventories that he has preserved. This book is particularly successful in setting the subject in a wider context and addressing the current debate over whether the major military changes during the reigns of the three Edwards warrant description as a 'military revolution'. Information taken from a review by W. M. Ormrod in English Historical Review, Vol. 112, No. 446 (April 1997), pp.446.
Bell, Adrian R. War and the Soldier in the Fourteenth Century. Woodbridge, UK: The Boydell Press, 2004. Although potential readers would not guess it from the title of this book, this is a closely observed investigation of the men-in all, more than 5,600 of them-who served in the two English armies that, under the command of Richard Fitzalan, earl of Arundel, campaigned on the French coast in 1387 and 1388. These armies are of exceptional interest to the historian, not so much for the significance of the naval operations that Arundel conducted, as for the fact that both are illuminated by complete, retinue by retinue muster rolls, which record the names of all the men-at-arms and archers who served. The study and analysis of these armies is a very difficult and time-consuming process but one which, on balance, Bell has done well, albeit with mixed results. There is much about the military community of later fourteenth-century England that is yet imperfectly understood, particularly with regard to its social composition and how it changed over time. The statistics gleaned from this book throw some light on the size and character of the military community in the 1380's. Based on the comparison of closely related sources, this snapshot is revealing in itself and suggestive of an analytical method that would have wider application. Information taken from a review by Andrew Ayton in English Historical Review, Vol. 121, No. 490 (Feb. 2006), pp. 283-284.
Bennett, Michael. Lambert Simnel and the Battle of Stoke. New York: St. Martin's, 1987. The quincentenary of the Battle of Bosworth prompted the British publisher Alan Sutton to commission several short books on the coming of the Tudors. Like its predecessors in this series, this book has been designed for a popular audience. It is meant to appeal to museum-shop crowds. The substance of the text, however, as much as the notes and appendix (consisting of extracts from eleven original sources, including several translated by the author from Latin and French) mark his work as a serious attempt to explain the origins of the Tudor regime. It is a solid, useful work. Information taken from a review by Dale Hoak in American Historical Review, Vol. 94, No. 4 (October 1989), pp. 1078. This is the only book I've heard of on this battle.
Brown, Michael. The Wars of Scotland, 1214-1371. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004. Michael Brown uses as a framework for his useful addition to the New Edinburgh History the impact of a century and a half of wars fought both against and within Scotland, exploring how warfare affected kingship, political society, allegiance, and identity. He gives special attention to the years 1296 to 1314, seeing them as years of almost civil war as well as national resistance. Brown's book will be useful for students as well as being fully accessible to anyone with a general interest in Scottish history. Information taken from a review by Amanda Beam in English Historical Review, Vol. 121, No. 490 (Feb. 2006), pp. 278-279.
Gillingham, John. The Wars of the Roses: Peace and Conflict in Fifteenth Century England. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1982.
Goodman, Anthony. The Wars of the Roses: Military and English Society. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1981. Revised and reprinted as The Wars of the Roses: Military Activity and English Society, 1452-97 (London: Routledge) in 1990 Gillingham's argument is directed primarily towards dispelling the "Tudor Myth"-the conviction that the troubles England experienced during the 15th century were the direct result of the usurpation of the throne by Henry IV in 1399. This view, fostered by the Tudors and Shakespeare, was for many years a standard historical interpretation of the era which has been difficult to dispel. Goodman's study, on the other hand, deals primarily with the military aspects of the struggle. With the caveat that the author accepted too high estimates of the size of the armies, this is probably one of the best commentaries on the purely military aspects of the wars that has yet appeared. Singly, these scholarly studies are significant contributions to our knowledge of the 15th century in England; together, they tell us an enormous amount about the Wars of the Roses. Information taken from a review of both books by John Beeler in Military Affairs (Vol. 47, No. 1), pp. 48. There is another review of Goodman's work in Military Affairs, October 1983 (Vol. 47, No. 3) by Robert A. Doughty which is generally favorable, but not as much so as Beeler's review; in Doughty's opinion, tedious and unnecessary details often obscure the sweep of a campaign. There is also a review of both books in English Historical Review, Vol. 99, No. 390 (January 1984), pp. 157-158. There is a review of Gillingham's book in American Historical Review, Vol. 88, No. 3 (June 1983), pp. 661-662 and a review of Goodman's book in American Historical Review, Vol. 87, No. 4 (October 1982), pp. 1071-1072.
Goodman, Anthony. The Wars of the Roses: The Soldier's Experience. Stround, UK: Tempus, 2005. This, as the author acknowledges, is his second entry into the fray; he published The Wars of the Roses: Military Activity and English Society, 1452-1497 in 1981. One strand of that book was an attempt to get at the realities of the wars, to see how they were actually experienced 'on the ground'. That becomes ostensibly the theme of the present book. Paucity of direct evidence is, of course, the problem. The book is rather bland, lacking discussion of evidential problems. The earlier book was less readable, but much meatier. Information taken from a review by C. S. L. Davies in English Historical Review, Vol. 121, No. 490 (Feb. 2006, pp. 285.
Goodman, Anthony, and Tuck, Anthony, eds. War and Border Societies in the Middle Ages. London: Routledge, 1992. The Anglo-Scottish border was an unglamorous campaigning ground in the expensive and unsuccessful war conducted by the English government between 1369 and 1389. The most welcome feature of this book is the attention it accords this neglected theatre of operations. The least welcome is the misleading nature of the title, for in reality this is a collection of conference papers inspired by the six-hundredth anniversary of the Scottish victory at Otterburn (1388) which never strays far, either in time or place, from that celebrated but still puzzling battle. There is some description of the essays in the book in the review of it in the September 1995 English Historical Review. Information taken from a review by Simon Walker in English Historical Review, Vol. 110, No. 438 (September 1995), pp. 987-988.
Hewitt, H.J. The Organization of War under Edward III. Barnsley, UK: Pen and Sword Books, 2005 (originally published 1966). Hewitt's lively and challenging book has an honoured place in the development of medieval military history from a limited study of battles and tactics to a broader understanding of the role of warfare in society. It examined aspects which had received little consideration from more orthodox military historians, concerned as they were with battles and tactics, and comprised studies linked by the general theme of the impact of war on the civilian population. Hewitt's approach was novel when he wrote. He relied extensively on manuscript sources, and pointed the way to major new areas for research. Most of his conclusions have remained unchallenged. His was a most remarkable achievement and this was truly a seminal work. The only difference between it and the original is that the illustrations and a fold-out map have been lost; the text remains the same. Information taken from a review by Michael Prestwich in English Historical Review, Vol. 121, No. 491 (April 2006), pp. 590-591.
Jones, Michael K. Bosworth, 1485; Psychology of a Battle. Stroud, Gloucester: Tempus, 2002. ISBN: 0 7524 23347. This book has two themes. The first is an attempt to understand Richard III's reasons making himself king in place of his nephew. The second is a reinterpretation of the battle at which he was killed. What connects the two is the author's contention that Richard's troops were not demoralized or reluctant to fight, and that the outcome of the battle was by no means predetermined. While some of the points made by the book may be argued, generally this is an interesting and useful account of the battle and its background. Information taken from a review by C.S.L. Davies in War in History, Vol. 11, No. 4 (November 2004), pp. 446-449. Also reviewed in English Historical Review, Vol. 118, No. 476 (April 2003), pp. 488-490.
Kenyon, J.R. Medieval Fortifications. Leicester, UK: Leicester University Press, 1990. This volume, based almost entirely on archaeological findings, is to be unequivocally welcomed by everyone interested in castle studies: historians, archaeologists and the general reader alike. The author has drawn on his own invaluable bibliographies of recent castle research, as well as site visits and communications with excavators, to produce a synthesis of results from many of the most important rescue or research projects of the last thirty years or so. It is divided into four chapters with sub-sections, of which the first two covering the defensive and domestic aspects of the castle are most important. The third deals briefly with town defenses and the short final chapter refers to the demise of the castle as a result of obsolescence or parliamentary gunpowder. The dust-jacket states that this book complements all previous works on the subject; thus the reader needs a nodding acquaintance with some standard historical/architectural work on the castle, be it Hamilton Thompson (1912) or Allen Brown (1976). Appears from the review to deal with English castles. Information taken from a review by P. E. Curnow in English Historical Review, Vol. 109, No. 430 (February 1994), pp. 133-134.
McNamee, Colm. The Wars of the Bruces: Scotland, England, and Ireland, 1306-1328. Phantassie, East Lothian, Tuckwell Press, 1997. In this splendid book, McNamee both provides a narrative account of the wars and analyses the conflict in the light of a wide range of archival and other evidence. This book provides an admirable case-study of fourteenth-century warfare; but, in addition, he has skillfully brought together the political and economic strands of a complex conflict which, as he perceptively points out, in the long term transformed the Anglo-Scottish border from a boundary line into a frontier zone. Information taken from a review by Michael Prestwich in The Historian, Vol. 61, No. 3 (Spring 1999), pp. 717.
Nicholson, Ranald. Edward III and the Scots, 1327-1335. London: Oxford University Press, Oxford Historical Series, 1965. Nicholson makes a very useful contribution to the history of Anglo-Scottish relations at a critical period. In his introduction, he endorses the thesis that the tactics which triumphed in the French wars were born at the battles of Dupplin and Halidon Hill and he stresses the point-too often missed in the past century-that to neglect the warfare of Edward III's reign is to neglect the essence of that reign. The most valuable feather of the book is the use of Public Records Office materials to illuminate details of these northern campaigns. This is a good useful volume, although a general conclusion would have added to the value of this admirable narrative history. Information taken from a review by May McKisak in English Historical Review, Vol. 81, No. 321 (October 1966), pp. 810-811.
Prestwich, Michael. Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages: The English Experience. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996. Cynicism is rampant in Prestwich's book, no matter how elegantly dressed: he is cynical about chivalry, outmoded views on medieval warfare, the idea of the Early Modern military revolution and even the dominance of the knight in battle. Furthermore, he is absolutely right to be, for he is correct on all the fundamentals of medieval warfare. He cogently argues for the grasp of military strategy by medieval commanders; for the competence and, dare one say, professionalism of the soldier; for the strength of infantry against cavalry; for the sound reason behind ravaging; and for the central role of logistical planning. In doing so he has assimilated all the major revisionist research into medieval warfare of the last two decades. Herein lies the book's real importance: it is the first work to comprehensively present these findings in a general, but entirely authoritative, survey. That Prestwich limits himself to England in no way restricts the application of his conclusions to warfare throughout Latin Christendom. The book is not perfect-it is weaker on the earlier medieval period and, despite its acknowledgements of the role of fortifications, allows only one chapter for siege warfare-but as a reliable and stimulating overview to medieval warfare it can hardly be bettered. Information taken from a review by Sean McGlynn in History Today, Vol. 47, No. 2 (Feb. 1997), pp. 60-61. There is a review in American Historical Review, Vol. 102, No. 4 (October, 1997), pp. 1145-1146, as well as in English Historical Review, Vol. 113, No. 453 (September 1998), pp. 973-974.
Prestwich, Michael. The Three Edwards: War and State in England 1272-1377. London: Wiedenfeld and Nicolson, 1980. In this book, the author has drawn together the twin themes of warfare and politics. The book is well written and clearly argued and is eminently suitable for the undergraduate reader at whom it is chiefly directed. But this fact, together with the glossy cover, numerous illustrations and a minimum of references, mostly drawn from suitably arresting chronicle and literary sources, should not be allowed to mislead. This book is a work of scholarship which contains the first general synthesis of recent (circa 1980) publications on the period as well as a considerable amount of original research. Information taken from a review by J. R. S. Phillips in English Historical Review, Vol. 96, No. 380 (July 1981), pp. 603-605. There is also a review in American Historical Review, Vol. 86, No. 2 (April 1981), pp. 384-385.
Reid, Peter. Medieval Warfare: Triumph and Domination in the Wars of the Middle Ages. New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers, 2007. ISBN-13: 978-0-78671-859-7; ISBN-10: 0-7867-1859-5. This volume examines English warfare from about 1290 until 1485 and discusses the successes and failures of English warfare in this era, both in the military and political aspects. I was impressed by this book. It is well laid out and is a thorough, clear, and systematic examination of the subject matter. In particular, it discusses many aspects of the political environment of the Hundred Years War and its impact on military matters which I have not seen discussed in any detail in other volumes on that war. It is also quite well written and very readable. I recommend this volume for anyone interested in the late medieval English way of war.
Rogers, Clifford J. War Cruel and Sharp: English Strategy under Edward III, 1327-1360. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell and Brewer, 2000. In this important study, Clifford Rogers challenges received orthodoxies through a very close reading of the sources for Edward III's wars in Scotland and France, 1327-1360. Edward has been described as an opportunist, as lacking in overall strategic sense, and as anxious to avoid confrontation with a numerically superior enemy. On the contrary, said Rogers, he was a strategist of the highest caliber, intelligent, ruthless and single-minded, and a consistent battle seeker. Rogers' book is structured round detailed narrative accounts of successive campaigns. The central argument is sustained through the course of the narrative by a very close analysis of English troop movements and their rationale, of explicit statements in royal correspondence, and of the commentary of the best informed chroniclers. Rogers' bold and forceful reassessment of Edward III's military talents remains broadly very persuasive. . Highly recommended. Information taken from a review by Maurice Keen in English Historical Review, Vol. 116, No. 468 (September 2001), pp. 940-941. Also reviewed in War In History, Vol. 13, No. 3 (July 2006), pp. 390-392.
Rogers, Clifford J., ed. The Wars of Edward III: Sources and Interpretations. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell and Brewer, 2000. This is a useful collection of material, offering a good introduction for undergraduates studying its subject. In addition to 200 pages of sources, it puts eight articles, from the last half-century of writing on the first phase of the Hundred Years War. A great many aspects of war, to include finance, recruitment, logistics, diplomacy and treaties, are illustrated. This is a largely Anglocentric collection, but is not confined to the French war; a quarter of the source material relates to the Scottish wars of the first few years of the reign. The whole amounts to an effective and rounded portrait of a half-century of warfare. Information taken from a review by Benjamin Thompson in English Historical Review, Vol. 117, No. 470 (February 2002), pp. 159.
Sadler, John. Border Fury: England and Scotland at War, 1286-1568. New York: Longman, 2005. ISBN: 0-582-77293-1. Border Fury traces the history of the border wars, and shows how crucial they have been in determining the character of both the Scots and English, and how the long standing resentment over English attempts at domination still persist. Primarily a military history, it conveys what it was actually like for the combatants. Based on existing primary and secondary sources, combined with the author's personal experience of walking the battlefields, and information gathered through his access to private collections of arms and armour, it covers all the major campaigns and battles. It also includes a detailed discussion of the terrain, commanders, weapons, tactics and outcomes in each case. Sadler also looks at developments in the art of war during the period and the key transition from medieval to renaissance warfare. All the key personalities involved are profiled and the topography of each battle site is examined in detail, with the author providing several new interpretations that differ radically from those that have previously been understood. Information taken from the following web site: http://www.ablongman.com/catalog/academic/product/0,1144,0582772931,00.html There is also a review in The Journal of Military History, Vol. 70, No. 1 (January 2006), pp. 216-217.
Suppe, Frederick C. Military Institutions on the Welsh Marches. Shropshire, AD 1066-1300. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press, 1994. This volume uses the Shropshire Marches to portray a complex and interactive border society, seen from both sides of the hill. Detailed studies of defensive institutions form the core of this compact book. Suppe's central contention is that the ability of the comparatively "primitive" military techniques of the Welsh to hold back conquest for two centuries seriously qualifies Robert Bartlett's model of the outward spread of military technology-characterized by heavy cavalry, archers, and castles-from a north-west European center to more peripheral zones such as the 'Celtic fringe'. A stimulating book, this is to be welcomed as a valuable contribution to the study of both Anglo-Welsh warfare and of frontier societies. Information taken from a review by Matthew Strickland in English Historical Review, Vol. 111, No. 444 (November 1996, pp. 1243-1244.
Traquair, Peter. Freedom's Sword: Scotland's Wars of Independence. Niwot, CO: Roberts Rinehart Publishers, 1998. ISBN: 1-57098-247-3. This is a very solid and well-written history of the conflict between Scotland and England in the period 1286 to the 1360's, describing how Scotland lost and then won her independence from England. The book appears to be thorough, comprehensive (within the space limitations) and well researched. Recommended.
Watson, Fiona. Under the Hammer: Edward I and Scotland, 1286-1306. East Linton, UK: Tuckwell Press, 1998. Fiona Watson provides a study of the attempted English conquest of Scotland, rather than one of Scottish resistance to Edward I. This is not a work of traditional military history, with an emphasis on battle tactics and strategy. Rather, it concentrates on the immense efforts of Edward I's officials to sustain the war effort year after year, and on their attempts to create a viable administration in Scotland. Its heroes are not the kings and soldiers, but civil servants who struggled to meet the demands of an irascible English king. This is a lively and challenging study, which reopens many issues about Edward I's strategy and policy in Scotland. Information taken from a review by Michael Prestwich in English Historical Review, Vol. 115, No. 462 (June 2000), pp. 695. I've read the book, and agree with the review. Useful volume.
Weir, Allison. The Wars of the Roses. New York: Random House, 1995. ISBN: 0-345-40433-5. This is not a primarily military history; it is more of a standard political history with the military affairs of the era included as appropriate. It is, however, a book that anyone who wishes to understand this conflict should read. It is superbly written. The narrative is clear and flows cleanly. There is a very good treatment of the prequel to the actual wars in the late 14th and early 15th centuries. One particular characteristic of this book is how well it spells out who is who and their relationships (very important in this context); I have never read a history of the Wars of the Roses which has ever done half as good a job in this respect. One thing I found a bit odd is that the volume ends rather abruptly after the account of the Battle of Tewkesbury and the death of Henry VI in 1471. It does not carry on to discuss the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 and accession of Henry VII, which most historians consider to be the real end to the major English factional strife of the latter half of the 15th century. That little caveat aside, this is an excellent book. I highly recommend it, without qualification.
Guilmartin, John F. Jr., "The Earliest Shipboard Gunpowder Ordnance: An Analysis of Its Technical Parameters and Tactical Capabilities", The Journal of Military History, Vol. 71, No. 3 (July 2007), pp. 649-669. A good brief survey of this topic.
Friel, Ian. The Good Ship: Ships, Shipbuilding and Technology in England, 1200-1520. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995. Traces the momentous developments in rigging and ship construction in England during the medieval period. This is not an overly technical book: shipbuilding is described in a simplified manner, techniques being explained by diagrams where necessary, and there is a glossary of those few nautical terms which cannot be avoided. This is a book of sound scholarship and a useful contribution to the literature. Information taken from a review by Sean McGrail in English Historical Review, Vol. 112, No. 447 (June 1997), pp. 715-716.
Hattendorf, John B. and Richard W. Unger, eds. War at Sea in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Warfare in History Series. Woodbridge and Rochester: Boydell Press, 2003. ISBN 0-8511-5903-6. . Little attention has been paid by medieval historians in recent years to the development and use of aquatic craft, whether for commercial or military purposes, in comparison with the tremendous amount of ink spilt to further the project of medieval history generally, and this despite new technologies that have increased our knowledge exponentially through the recovery of artifacts. Military and maritime historians have begun to redress this lacuna, but as Hattendorf and Unger point out in the preface to War at Sea in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, a general reappraisal of the use of armed force at sea is needed. This collection of sixteen essays, which developed from discussions at a 1997 American Historical Association meeting and, more directly, from a 2000 conference on maritime history sponsored by the Fondaço Oriente in Portugal, makes a valuable contribution toward that end. Information taken from a book review by Marguerite Ragnow, Department of History, Center for Early Modern History, University of Minnesota, located on the web at http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=234191095096845. Another review, by Susan Rose, noted medieval naval author, can be found at http://www.deremilitari.org/REVIEWS/review28.htm. Sites valid as of 10/20/2004. A list of the essays in the volume is in American Historical Review, Vol. 108, No. 4 (October 2003), pp. 1269-1270. There is a review of this volume in English Historical Review, Vol. 118, No. 479 (November 2003), pp. 1320-1322
Lewis, A. R., and Runyan, T. J. European Naval and Maritime History, 300-1500. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985. Aimed at the general reader, this book is a very well written survey of all aspects of seafaring in the Middle Ages. It deals well with both ship design and tactics. The authors also show the close connection between sea power and economic development: the creation of a "naval-maritime industrial complex" that combines financial, commercial, and naval interests. All in all, a very informative book. Information taken from a review by Stephen R. Alvin, Jr., in The Journal of Military History, January 1991, (Vol. 55, No. 1), pp. 99-100. Also reviewed in American Historical Review, Vol. 92, No. 1 (February 1987), pp. 117.
Mott, Lawrence V. Sea Power in the Medieval Mediterranean: The Catalan-Aragonese Fleet in the War of Sicilian Vespers. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2003. ISBN: 0813026628. This volume deals primarily with the Catalan-Aragonese naval force which dominated the Mediterranean from 1285 until 1302, under the leadership of Roger of Lauria. While the title of this book specifies the War of the Sicilian Vespers, Mott deals with a wider range of naval engagements and maritime matters. Despite Roger's sacrifice of sturdy defensive vessels for speed, his operations ranged through the Mediterranean. To understand the complexities of such, Mott provides a thorough analysis of medieval naval warfare ranging from types of ships, methods of warfare, and logistics. This is a solid volume, and recommended. Information taken from a review by Anthony J. Papalas in Sea History, No. 109 (Winter 2004-2005), pp. 46-47. Also reviewed in American Historical Review, Vol. 111, No. 3 (June 2006), pp. 894-895.
Pryor, John H. Geography, Technology and War: Studies in the Maritime History of the Mediterranean, 649-1571. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988. This is an exceptionally fine analysis of how the limitations of medieval technology, combined with the physical realities of the Mediterranean, affected naval strategy in the thousand-year struggle between Christianity and Islam. The book is divided into two parts. The first gives background by devoting chapters to the geography of the Mediterranean, the ships that sailed on it, and how the ships navigated on the sea. Based on the conclusions made in the first chapters, the second part of the book examines various maritime aspects of the medieval Mediterranean. This book is a recommended read. Information taken from a review by Stephen R. Alvin, Jr., in The Journal of Military History, January 1991, (Vol. 55, No. 1), pp. 99-100. Also reviewed in American Historical Review, Vol. 95, No. 2 (April 1990), pp. 457-458.
Rodgers, VADM William Ledyard. Naval Warfare Under Oars: 4th to 16th Centuries. Annapolis: United States Naval Institution, 1939. From the review, it appears that book goes into the topic of sail as well as oars for propulsion. The scope of the book is vast because the study is not merely technical: it is "a study of strategy, tactics, and ship design", but ADM Rodgers views these matters in the light of offspring from the political, economic, and other social conditions of the times. A survey so wide in range has caused him to rely mainly on standard works. The sources used are sufficient for the accomplishment of his mission because he has selected them with discretion. The book is well written, in a straightforward narrative style. The text is further clarified and illuminated by 11 maps and 51 illustrations, all well done. This is a good, solid piece of work. Information taken from a review by J. M. Scammell in Military Affairs, Vol. 4 (1940), pp. 107-109.
Rose, Susan. Medieval Naval Warfare, 1000-1500. New York: Routledge, 2002. ISBN: 0-415-23976-1 (hbk); 0-415-23977-X (pbk). The basic text is 134 pages; in this, Rose does an excellent survey of the naval warfare of this period. Very useful. There is a review in The Journal of Military History, Vol. 67, No. 1 (January 2003), pp. 221-222. Also reviewed in English Historical Review, Vol. 117, No. 473 (September 2002), pp. 960-962.
Unger, Richard W. The Ship in the Medieval Economy 600-1600. London: Croom Helm, 1980. The complex economy of later medieval Europe with its specialized agricultural and industrial areas implies a well-organized transport system, the efficiency and development of which is of great interest to the economic historian. The development of sea transport is an aspect far from neglected by maritime historians but one whose technicalities sometimes obscure its economic significance. A volume surveying ship design against its economic background is therefore welcome. Dr. Unger sets himself a formidable task; within a slim volume he covers Europe from Scandinavia to Byzantium, a period of a thousand years, a highly technical subject, and a vastly complex range of possible influences. He divides his book into six periods and notes political and economic changes in each before looking closely at the designs of both war and merchant ships, with their possible economic significance. This is a most useful introduction to and survey of recent historical and archaeological findings, with a bibliography which, while not comprehensive, lists the most important works and collections of illustrations. It is also a quite readable book, with the diagrams and the crisp style makes the technical details themselves intelligible to the non-sailor. Information taken from a review by W. R. Childs in English Historical Review, Vol.96, No. 380 (July 1981), pp. 591-592. Also reviewed in American Historical Review, Vol. 86, No. 4 (October 1981), pp. 823-824.
GENERAL
http://home.messiah.edu/~gdaub/armor/picgloss.htm
http://www.medievaltymes.com/courtyard/armour_terminology.htm These two sites have useful glossaries of medieval armor terms.
Bartlett, Clive, and Embleton, Gerry, "The Medieval Footsoldier 1460-85: (1) Livery Coats and Badges ". Military Illustrated, Past and Present, No. 7 (June/July 1987), pp. 11-18.
Bartlett, Clive, and Embleton, Gerry, "The Medieval Footsoldier 1460-85: (2) Cut and Fashion".Military Illustrated, Past and Present, No. 8 (August/September 1987), pp. 10- 17.
Bartlett, Clive, and Embleton, Gerry, "The Medieval Footsoldier 1460-85: (3) Edged Weapons and Helmets". Military Illustrated, Past and Present, No. 11 (February/March 1988), pp. 14-20.
Bartlett, Clive, and Embleton, Gerry, "The Medieval Footsoldier 1460-85: (4) Body Protection and Campaign Service". Military Illustrated, Past and Present, No. 12 (June/July 1987), pp. 39-46. An informative, extremely well illustrated, and well written series of articles on the late medieval soldier, his life and equipage. An excellent short guide to the subject.
Gravett, Christopher, "The Face of Medieval Warfare", Military Illustrated, Past and Present, No. 6 (April/May 1987), pp. 17-21. An article on the evidence about medieval combat, including the nature of the armor worn and the injuries suffered, based on the study of corpses buried immediately after the battle of Wisby, a battle between the Danes and the defending Swedish forces on the island of Gotland in July of 1361.
McPeak, William J. "Falchion: The Short Sword that Made Good". Command, Issue 41 (January 1997), pp. 62-64. An informative article on an effective but obscure type of medieval sword that eventually evolved into the cutlass.
Heath, Ian. Armies of the Middle Ages, Volume 1: The Hundred Years War, The Wars of the Roses, and the Burgundian Wars, 1300-1487. A Wargames Research Group Publication. Worthing, Sussex, UK: Flexprint Ltd, 1982.
Heath, Ian. Armies of the Middle Ages, Volume 2: The Ottoman Empire, Eastern Europe, and the Near East, 1300-1500. A Wargames Research Group Publication. Worthing, Sussex, UK: Flexprint Ltd, 1982.
These two books are not so much historical narratives as they are general, yet thorough, quick reference to the organization, methods of warfare, dress, and weapons of a variety of late medieval armies. The first volume deals with the military of Western Europe; the second, as the title states, the Ottoman Empire, Eastern Europe, and the Near East. For the size of the volumes, the detail is impressive. The sections on organization and methods of warfare are very instructive. The illustrations of uniforms and weapons are all line drawings-there are no color illustrations or photographic reproductions of paintings-but they are of very high quality, and the descriptive information is outstanding. For anyone who has any interest at all in the uniforms and equipment of the medieval soldier, I highly recommend these books.
Oakeshott, Ewart. A Knight and His Weapons. 2nd ed. Chester Springs, PA: Dufour Editions, 1997 (first published 1964). ISBN: 0-8023-1299-3.
Oakeshott, Ewart. A Knight and His Horse. 2nd ed. Chester Springs, PA: Dufour Editions, 1998 (first published 1962). ISBN: 0-8023-1297-7
Handy and well-illustrated basic guides to the weapons of the soldier during the Middle Ages and early Renaissance, particularly those of the knight, as well as the equipage and horse of the Knight. In the first of these short books, the author does an excellent job of providing a short description of these weapons, their variations (particularly swords) and how they were used. In the second, he provides very useful detail about the knight and his horse and their equipage, as well as dispelling a number of myths. Particularly good for those who know little about the subject, but also useful to those who are more knowledgeable. Two very good books.
Osprey Publications. Osprey has over the past roughly 30 years published various series of publications on military forces and equipment throughout human history. They are published by Osprey, an imprint of Reed Consumer Books. Ltd, Michelin House, 81 Fulham Road, London SW3 6RB. There are seven series: Men-At-Arms, Warrior, New Vanguard, Fortress, Campaign, Essential Histories, and Elite. These publications provide brief, competent surveys of various military forces and their characteristics. Very handy for getting a good mental picture of what the soldiers looked like and what weapons they used-something often neglected by academics writing scholarly works on military history. As Robin Higham comments in Military Affairs, October 1984 (Vol. 48, No. 4), page 206, in a review of the book Armies of the Ottoman Turks, 1300-1774, "These short illustrated histories with the major illustrations described in French and German also provide capsule histories, and in some cases are virtually the only readable modern work for the non-specialist." The particularly relevant publications are:
A web site providing some references to the history of archery:
http://www.capnmac.com/archery/historylinks/history.html
This is a useful web site on archery, and provides references to some good historical archery references: http://www.student.utwente.nl/~sagi/artikel/
Interesting discussion on English archery, power of bows, details of arrow heads:
http://yarchive.net/metal/arrowheads.html
Some discussion of the manufacture of arrow and bolt heads and pictures of the same:
http://belza.iq.pl/index_eng.html
Saracen Archers in Southern Italy:
http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/articles/saracen_archers.htm
Discussion of penetration of mail by arrows:
http://forums.swordforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=41041
http://forums.swordforum.com/printthread.php?s=1a7fbb000b0884829532b55f61cec19a&threadid=45006
http://www.capnmac.com/archery/maille/Chapter3.htm
http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/lofiversion/index.php/t1312.html
A rambling, but sporadically interesting and informative, discussion on various types of Asian and European medieval era bows and their military effectiveness.
An 1894 book on archery: http://www.xs4all.nl/~marcelo/archery/library/books/badminton/index.html
Bartlett, Clive, and Embleton, Gerry, "The English Archer c. 1300-1500 (1)". Military Illustrated, Past and Present, No. 1 (June/July 1986), pp. 10-17.
Bartlett, Clive, and Embleton, Gerry, "The English Archer c. 1300-1500 (2)". Military Illustrated, Past and Present, No. 2 (August/September 1986), pp. 14-21.
Two well-written and well illustrated articles on the English archer of the later medieval period-his life, equipment, and utilization in war.
Foley, Vernard, George Palmer, and Werner Soedel. "The Crossbow." Scientific American, Vol. 252, No. 1 (January 1985), pp. 104-110. A very well written technical article about how the crossbow works and some technical characteristics of the weapon. There is as well some technical information on the longbow (called handbow in this article) and its arrows, and some technical comparisons between crossbow bolts and longbow arrows. Quite informative.
Bartlett, Clive, and Embleton, Gerry. English Longbowman: 1330-1515. Osprey Military. Oxford: Osprey Publishing Company, 1999 (first published 1995). ISBN: 1 85532 9328. A solid and well illustrated overview of the English longbowman in his glory days. A good introduction to the subject and a very useful guide to the clothing and equipment of these men. Recommended.
Bradbury, Jim, The Medieval Archer. New York: St. Martin's, 1985. Jim Bradbury has written a mildly revisionist book about medieval warfare. As the title indicates, the goal is to redress the balance against the medieval and also modern prejudice in favor of the knights and chivalry. It is highly readable. The bibliography includes most modern writing in English and French, together with about three hundred printed sources, nine-tenths of them narrative and some archaeological. Not a piece of fundamental scholarship, but a useful work. Information taken from a review by Michael R. Powicke in American Historical Review, Vol. 92, No. 1 (February 1987), pp. 116-117. Also reviewed in English Historical Review, Vol. 103, No. 407 (April 1988), pp. 479.
Hardy, Robert. Longbow: A Social and Military History. New York: Lyons & Burford, 1993 (lst edition published 1976). ISBN: 1 85260 412 3. A detailed history of the development and use of the longbow (and, peripherally, bows in general), especially in England during the longbow's heyday from the late 1200's to into the 1500's. Also has quite a bit of information on the subsequent history of the longbow and other bow and their use in target shooting and hunting. For the techie, there is a lot of detailed information on construction materials and techniques. Includes also a good appendix on the longbows found on the Mary Rose, the well-known major warship of Henry VIII that sank by accident near Portsmouth in 1545. Interesting reading.
Payne-Gallwey, Sir Ralph. The Crossbow: Mediaeval and Modern, Military and Sporting, Its Construction, History, and Management, With a Treatise on the Balista and Catapult of the Ancients and an Appendix on the Catapult, Balista, & the Turkish Bow. New York: Bramhall House, 1958 (originally published 1903). This book has been republished several times since 1958. An interesting technical treatise on the crossbow and several types of ancient and medieval siege engines. There is also information on various other types of bows as well. The volume is not well organized and the style is somewhat antiquarian and dated. Nevertheless, it serves as a handy reference on the subject.
Strickland, Matthew, and Hardy, Robert. The Great Warbow; From Hastings to the Mary Rose. Stroud, UK: Sutton Publishing Limited, 2005. ISBN: 0-7509-3167-1. This is an excellent book on the longbow, with much useful information as well on the crossbow and composite bows. There is great detail on the weapon itself, and particularly how it was utilized. As part of this discussion, there is much good information on tactics in general from about 1000 through the early 1500's; one of the best treatments I have ever seen with many valuable insights. The only placed I think the authors fudged a bit was the section on armor penetration, and I think that was only because there is a lack of good data available on the subject. This volume is valuable both for the scholar and the general reader interested in the subject matter. I highly recommend it.