Medieval Warfare Bibliography for 2004

Books

Ailes, M.J. (trans.), The History of the Holy War: Ambroise's `Estoire de la guerre sainte'
Boydell, ISBN: 1 84383 001 9

The Estoire de la Guerre Sainte, an early example of vernacular chronicle, by the Norman poet Ambroise, presents an eye-witness account of the Third Crusade (1188-92) in a highly-polished rhetorical style. Central is the character of Richard the Lion Heart, Ambroise's hero, but the narrative is also enlivened by short anecdotes, sometimes heroic and sometimes more down-to-earth, about other participants. It depicts clearly the privations and sufferings of the ordinary crusaders, whether at the siege of Acre or on the march, and provides both a detailed record of events and a personal perspective on the Islamic warriors and their leaders, in particular Saladin and Saphadin. Ambroise also shows remarkable knowledge of contemporary weapons of war, such as siege engines and types of ship.

Bell, Adrian R., War and the Soldier in the Fourteenth Century
Boydell & Brewer, ISBN: 1843831031

Little is known about the soldiers who fought in the Hundred Years War, though much about tactics and weapons. Adrian Bell's book redresses the balance: he explores the 'military community' through focusing on the records of the two royal expeditions led by Richard Fitzalan, earl of Arundel, in 1387 and 1388, where the extensive surviving evidence makes it possible to identify those who served on these expeditions, and to follow their careers. These campaigns are not only interesting for the wealth and concentration of materials surviving on military organisation, but also because of the political background against which the expeditions were undertaken, which included the attack upon the favourites of the King in Parliament by the Lords Appellant and the possible temporary deposition of Richard II. Advances made in historical computing techniques have made possible for the first time such detailed analysis of the personnel of a royal army. 

Boffa, Sergio, Warfare in Medieval Brabant, 1356 -1406
Boydell & Brewer, ISBN: 1843830612

The medieval duchy of Brabant was one of the most powerful principalities of the Low Countries. During the second half of the fourteenth century, it underwent a particularly dramatic period in its history: the House of Leuven was on the point of disappearance, the duchy was coveted by Philip the Bold of Burgundy, who was already dreaming of extending the 'Burgundian Empire' and, by a network of alliances, Brabant was drawn into the Hundred Years' War. The author reviews the successive conflicts which troubled the duchy between 1356 and 1406; the different authorities which influenced the course of military operations (the duchess and the duke, their officers, and the Estates of Brabant); describes the combatants, in particular the nobility and the urban militias; considers the practical aspects of warfare; and analyses the military obligations and contracts which bound the men at arms to the duke.  To read the first few pages of this text, click here.

Bradbury, Jim, The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare
Routledge, ISBN: 045221269

This comprehensive volume provides easily accessible factual material on all major areas of warfare in the medieval west. The whole geographical area of medieval Europe, including eastern Europe, is covered, including essential elements from outside Europe such as Byzantine warfare, nomadic horde invasions and the Crusades. The author examines practical topics including castle architecture, with examinations of specific castles, ship building techniques, improvements in armor, specific weapons, and developments in areas such as arms and armor, fortifications, tactics and supply.

Bridgeford, Andrew, 1066: The Hidden History of the Bayeux Tapestry
Fourth Estate, ISBN: 1-84115-040-1

Brown, Michael, The Wars of Scotland, 1214-1371
Edinburgh University Press  ISBN: 0748612386

Between the mid-thirteenth and mid-fourteenth centuries medieval Scotland experienced its greatest period of crisis. The expanding lordship of the crown, which reached its high medieval peak under Alexander II and Alexander III, came near to collapse in the face of multiple threats. The communities which made up the thirteenth-century realm were forced to respond and adapt to needs of war and shifting allegiances as rival royal dynasties and the English crown competed for lordship over Scotland. This volume describes the wars and examines their impact on the anglicised and gaelicised worlds of the British Isles. The period is dominated by the struggle to maintain Scotland as a distinct realm and community: Michael Brown considers how far the wars may also be seen as part of wider rivalries and related struggles in across western Europe.

Davies, Sean, Welsh Military Institutions, 633-1283
University of Wales Press, ISBN: 0708318363

Evans, Joan (trans.), The Unconquered Knight: A Chronicle of the Deeds of Don Pero Niño, Count of Buelna, by Gutierre Diaz de Gamez
Boydell & Brewer,  ISBN: 1843831015

Gutierre Diaz de Gamez entered the service of Pero Niño, count of Buelna, in 1402, when they were both about 23, and served as head of his military household for nearly fifty years. He began a chronicle of his master's deeds in about 1431, and it is this eyewitness account of the life of a knight, both in war and peace, which is translated here. It is written in praise of his master, but beneath the veneer of hero-worship a good deal of the reality of a knight's existence shows through: even in the prologue, Diaz de Gamez gives a bitter picture of the hardships of a military campaign: 'Knights who are at the wars eat their bread in sorrow; their ease in weariness and sweat... Mouldy bread or biscuit, meat cooked or uncooked, water from a pond or a butt, poor sleep with their armour still on their backs, the enemy an arrow-shot off...' On the other hand, he can evoke the glories of a tournament, in which his master excelled, and his triumphs as a military commander both by sea and land. It is a story full of colour, adventure and romance, and one which deserves its place in the chronicles of chivalry.

Finlay, Alison (trans.), Fagrskinna, A Catalogue of the Kings of Norway
Brill, ISBN: 90 04 13172 8 

This book, along with the Heimskringla and the Morkinskinna, is one of the most important sources on Norway and Scandinavia from the 10th to the 12th centuries. 

Forte, Angelo; Oram, Richard; and Pedersen, Frederik, Viking Empires
Cambridge University Press, ISBN: 0 521 82992 5 

Harari, Yuval Noah, Renaissance Military Memoirs: War, History and Identity, 1450-1600
Boydell & Brewer, ISBN: 1843830647

This is a study of autobiographical writings of Renaissance soldiers. It outlines the ways in which they reflect Renaissance cultural, political and historical consciousness, with a particular focus on conceptions of war, history, selfhood and identity. A vivid picture of Renaissance military life and military mentality emerges, which sheds light on the attitude of Renaissance soldiers both towards contemporary historical developments such as the rise of the modern state, and towards such issues as comradeship, women, honor, violence, and death. Comparison with similar medieval and twentieth-century material highlights the differences in the Renaissance soldier's understanding of war and of human experience.  To read the first few pages of this text, click here.

Hewitt, H.J., The Black Prince¹s Expedition
Pen and Sword Books, ISBN: 1-84415-217-0

This classic study focuses on the crucial phase of his extraordinary career - his daring campaign against the French in central and southwestern France in 1355-7

Holt, P.M., The Crusader States and Their Neighbours
Pearson Education, ISBN: 0 582 36931 2

Mitchell, Piers D., Medicine in the Crusades: warfare, wounds, and the medieval surgeon
Cambridge University Press, ISBN: 052184455X - forthcoming November 2004

This first ever book on any aspect of medicine in the crusades will be of interest not only to scholars of the crusades specifically, but also to scholars of medieval Europe, the Byzantine world and the Islamic world. The work focuses on injuries and their surgical treatment. In order to understand this fully Piers D. Mitchell considers medical practitioners, hospitals on battlefields and in towns, torture and mutilation, emergency and planned surgical procedures, bloodletting, analgesia and anesthesia. He provides an assessment of the exchange of medical knowledge that took place between East and West in the crusades, and of the medical negligence legislation for which the kingdom of Jerusalem was famous. The book presents a radical reassessment of many outdated misconceptions concerning medicine in the crusades and the Frankish states of the Latin East.

Phillips, Jonathan, The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople
Jonathan Cape, ISBN: 0224069861 

Prestwich, J.O., The Place of War in English History, 1066-1214 
Boydell & Brewer, ISBN: 1843830981

War and the state in the Anglo-Norman period was, for the late J.O. Prestwich, a lifetime's study. This book pulls together his ideas on the way that war was conducted, both by land and sea, and the ways in which it affected government and the economy. Prestwich was particularly concerned with the ways in which armed forces were raised, maintained, supplied, disciplined and transported, and the studies printed here, based on his Ford Lectures, consider the relations between war and diplomacy, propaganda and morale, military intelligence, and economic warfare. The discussion ranges widely over such issues as the purpose of Domesday Book, the English contribution to the Lisbon crusade, and the antecedents of Magna Carta. Appendices focus on feudalism and its influence and the composition of Anglo-Norman armies.

Reeve, M.D. (ed.), Vegetius - Epitoma Rei Militaris
Clarendon Press, ISBN: 0-19-926464-3

A Latin edition of the De Re Militari.

Ridyard, Susan J. (ed.), The Medieval Crusade
Boydell & Brewer, ISBN: 1843830876 - forthcoming November 2004

Essays in this collection include: "Introduction, The Crusades: Sources, Impact and Context", by Jonathan Phillips; "Latin and Hebrew Crusade Chronicles: Some Shared Themes", by Robert Chazan; "Crusading in Christian-Jewish Polemics", by Robert Chazan; "How, or How Much, to Reevaluate Peter the Hermit", by Jay Rubenstein; "Christian Authority in the Latin East: Edessa in Crusader History", by Christopher MacEvitt; "Venice, the Papacy and the Crusades before 1204", by Thomas F Madden; "Innocent III, the Fourth Crusade, and the Coming Apocalypse", by Alfred Andrea; "Were the Templars Guilty?", by Jonathan Riley-Smith; "The Structures of the Orders of the Temple and the Hospital in c. 1291", by Jonathan Riley-Smith; "The C-revisions and the Crusades in Piers Plowman", by William E Rogers; " The Failure of Philip the Good to Fulfill his Crusade Promise of 1454", by Kelly DeVries.

Roquebert, Michel (ed.), La Croisade albigeoise: Actes du Colloque du Centre d'Etudes Cathares Carcassonne, 4,5, et 6 octobre 2002 organisé avec le concours du Conseil Général de l'Aude
Centre d'Etudes Cathares, ISBN: 2-9521024-0-6

Santosuosso, Antonio, Killing for God, Honor, and Profit: The Ways of Medieval Warfare
Westview Press, ISBN: 0813391539

Saunders, Corinne; Le Saux, Francoise; and Thomas, Neil (eds.), Writing War: Medieval Literary Responses to Warfare
Boydell, ISBN: 0 85991 843 2

This book considers the variety of responses to warfare and combat in medieval literature, beginning with a consideration of ideal military practice and the reception of Vegetius, contrasted with Christine de Pisan's treatise on warfare. The collection then turns to chronicling war, particularly in France, Germany and Scotland, and also covers the fictions of war, as presented in English Arthurian narratives, Chaucer, Malory, and pastoral poetry. It concludes with an examination of attitudes to women in warfare.

Spiedel, Michael, Ancient Germanic Warriors: Warrior Styles from Trajan's Column to Icelandic Sagas
Routledge, ISBN: 0415311993

Ancient Germanic warriors played a decisive role in historical events from 200 BC, when Germanic culture first became identifiable, to AD 1000 when Christianity swept through the Nordic countries. Arising from beliefs and states of mind, a variety of warrior styles manifested themselves in differences of dress, weaponry and fighting technique. Professor Speidel here details seventeen different Germanic warriors styles, including berserks, wolf-warriors, club-wielders, long-hairs, ghost warriors and horse-stabbers, and how they indicate an unbroken continuity of customs, beliefs and battle-field tactics.
The book presents a range of evidence for these diverse styles, from Roman art to early medieval bracteate amulets, and from classical texts to Beowulf, the Edda and Icelandic sagas. Fully illustrated with over forty photographs, this vivid and fascinating survey adds a colourful new dimension to our understanding of the history of Europe.

Spike, Michele K., Tuscan Countess: The Life and Extraordinary Times of Matilda of Canossa
Vendome Press, ISBN: 0-86565-242-2

Sweetenham, Carole (trans.), Robert the Monk's History of the First Crusade
Ashgate, ISBN: 0754604713 - forthcoming December 2004

Syvänne, Ilkka, The Age of Hippotoxotai: Art of War in Roman Military Revival and Disaster (491-636)
Tampere University Press, ISBN 951-44-5918-0 

Acta Universitatis Tamperensis 994: Originally a PhD dissertation, this work is a study of the Roman art of war during the years 491-636. The primary aim has been to study the Roman tactics on land but the thesis also reassesses and studies the unorthodox fighting methods, strategy, siege tactics and naval warfare. The aim has been to assess the military effectiveness of the Roman army.  For more information, or to order this book, please go to this website.

Villalon, Andrew J., and Kagay, Donald (eds.), The Hundred Years' War: A Wider Focus
Brill Publishing, ISBN: 90 04 13969 9

This volume, the first of a two-volume set, is the work of fourteen European and American scholars and focuses on the wider aspects of the Hundred Years. These essays range far afield from the traditional heartlands of Hundred Years War studies to investigate the influence of the conflict on Italy, the Low Countries, and Spain and on such topics as urban history, and the actualities of weapon use on the battlefield. A number of the essays in this collection seek to re-examine old but thorny questions long associated with the conflict, including the real immediate impact of gunpowder technology on siege warfare during the fourteenth century and the “purposeful” strategy of Henry V in staging and bringing about the battle of Agincourt in 1415. Articles include: L. J. Andrew Villalon, “Spanish Involvement in the Hundred Years War and the Battle of Najera”; Maria Teresa Ferrer i Mallol, “The Southern Valencia Frontier during the War of the Two Pedro's”; Donald J. Kagay, “A Government Besieged by Conflict: The Parliament of Monzon (1362-1363) as Military Financier”; Clara Estow, “War and Peace in Medieval Iberia: Castilian-Granadan Relations in the Mid-Fourteenth Century”; William P. Caferro, “The Fox and the Lion": The White Company and the Hundred Years War in Italy” ; Sergio Boffa, “The Duchy of Brabant Caught Between France and England: Geopolitics and Diplomacy during the Hundred Years War”;  Peter Konieczny, “London's War Effort during the Early Years of the Reign of Edward III”; Paul Solon, “Tholosanna Fides: Toulouse as a Military Actor in Late Medieval France”; Manuel Sanchez Martinez, “The Invocation of Princeps namque in 1368 and its Repercussions for the City of Barcelona”; James E. Gilbert, “A Medieval ’Rosie the Riveter’?: Women in France and Southern England during the Hundred Years War”;  Jane Marie Pinzino, “Just War, Joan of Arc, and the Politics of Salvation” ; Clifford J. Rogers, "Henry V's Military Strategy in 1415"; Kelly DeVries, “'The Walls Come Tumbling Down': Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, and the Myth of Fortification Vulnerability to Early Gunpowder Weapons"; John Clement, “Wielding the Weapons of War”.

Articles

Archer, Rowena E., "Agincourt! Agincourt!  Know ye not Agincourt?", The Ricardian: Journal of the Richard III Society v.14 (2004) p.106-115.

Arvanigian, Mark, "A Lancastrian polity? John of Gaunt, John Neville and the war with France, 1368-1388", Fourteenth Century England v.3 (2004) p.121-142.

Bachrach, Bernard S., "Dudo of St. Quentin and Norman military strategy c.1000", Anglo-Norman Studies v.26 (2004) p.21-36.

Bachrach, David S., "Crossbows for the King: The Crossbow during the Reigns of John and Henry III of England", Technology and Culture 45:1 (2004), p.102-119.

Bachrach, David S., "Conforming with the rhetorical tradition of plausibility: clerical representation of battlefield orations against Muslims, 1080-1170", International History Review v.26:1 (2004) p.1-19.

Bachrach, David S., "The Medieval Military Chaplain and his duties", The Sword of the Lord: Military Chaplains from the First to the Twenty-First Century, ed. Doris L. Bergen (Notre Dame Press, 2004) p.69-88.

Bachrach, David S., "The Military Administration of England: The Royal Artillery (1216-1272)", The Journal of Military History v.64:4 (2004) p.1083-1104

Baudry, Marie-Pierre, "Les châteaux d'Aliénor: palais, fortifications ou prisons?," Aliénor d'Aquitaine (2004) p.119-127.

Boylston, Anthea, et al., "Archaeology and anthropology of medieval warfare", Medieval History Magazine issue 10 (June 2004) p.50-57. 

Bullard, Melissa Meriam, "Storying death in the Renaissance: the recapture of Roberto di Sanseverino (1418-1487)", MLN: Modern Language Notes v.119:1 Suppl. (2004) p.178-200.

Carey, Brian T., "Debacle at Manzikert, 1071: Prelude to the Crusades", Medieval History Magazine issue 5 (January 2004) p.16-23

Chevedden, Paul E, “Black Camels and Blazing Bolts: The Bolt-Projecting Trebuchet in the Mamluk Army,” Mamluk Studies Review v.8 n.1 (2004), p.227-77.

Coupland, Simon, "The Carolingian Army and the Struggle against the Vikings", Viator  v.35 (2004)

DeVries, Kelly, "The Reasons for the Bishop of Norwich's Attack of Flanders in 1381", Fourteenth Century England v.3 (2004) p.155-165.

DeVries, Kelly, "Disaster at Hattin, 1187: beginning of the end", Medieval History Magazine issue 5 (January 2004) p.24-31

DeVries, Kelly, "John the Fearless' way of war," Reputation and Representation in Fifteenth-Century Europe, eds. D. Biggs, S. Michalove and A.C. Reeves (Leiden, 2004) p.39-55.

Edwards, J.C., "What Earthly Reason? Bows and guns", Medieval History Magazine issue 7 (March 2004) p.54-63

Eickhoff, Ekkehard, "Maritime defence of the Carolingian empire," Vikings on the Rhine: Recent Research on Early Medieval Relations Between the Rhinelands and Scandinavia eds. R. Simek and U. Engel (Wien, 2004) p.50-64.

Gardner, Nigel, "Lewes 1264: a battle royal", Medieval History Magazine issue 7 (March 2004) p.12-17.

Green, David, "Edward the Black Prince and East Anglia: an unlikely association", Fourteenth Century England v.3 (2004) p.83-98.

Hankins, Nick, "A Kingdom in the Sun: The Other Norman Conquest", Medieval History Magazine issue 12 (August 2004) p.10-17.

Harke, Heinrich, "Swords, warrior graves and Anglo-Saxon Warfare", Current Archaeology v.16:12 (2004) p.556-561.

Held, James E., "Legend of the Fall, 1389: The Battle of Kosovo", Medieval History Magazine issue 5 (January 2004) p.32-37.

Hughes, Gavin, "The Other Bruce: Sir Edward Bruce and the Irish Campaign", Medieval History Magazine issue 11 (July 2004) p.50-57.

Jensen, Janus Moller, "Denmark and the holy war: a redefinition of a traditional pattern of conflict 1147-1169", Scandinavia and Europe 800-1350: Contact, Conflict, and Coexistence (2004) p.219236.

Jesch, Judith, "Vikings on the European continent in the late Viking Age", Scandinavia and Europe 800-1350: Contact, Conflict, and Coexistence, Ed. by jonathan Adams (David Brown Book Company, 2004) p.255-268.

Jordan, Jenny, "Galley Warfare in Renaissance Intellectual Layering: Lepanto through Actium", Viator  v.35 (2004)

McCormick, Michael, "The Liturgy of war from antiquity to the Crusades", The Sword of the Lord: Military Chaplains from the First to the Twenty-First Century, ed. Doris L. Bergen (Notre Dame Press, 2004) p.45-57.

McGregor, James B., "Negotiating knightly piety: the cult of the warrior-saints in the West, ca. 1070- ca.1200", Church History v.73:2 (2004) p.317-345.

Maier, Christopher T., "The roles of women in the crusade movement: a survey", Journal of Medieval History v.20 n.1 (2004) p.61-82.

Mathisen, Ralph W., "Emperors, priests, and bishops: military chaplains in the Roman empire", he Sword of the Lord: Military Chaplains from the First to the Twenty-First Century, ed. Doris L. Bergen (Notre Dame Press, 2004) p.29-43.

Nicolle, David, "Gibraltar: A Medieval Military Base", Medieval History Magazine issue 12 (August 2004) p.40-45.

Paul, Michael C. "The Military Revolution in Russia, 1550-1682", Journal of Military History v.68 n.1 (January 2004), p.9-45.

Quinn, Matthew W., "That Dreadful Day: Seljuk vs. Byzantine - The Battle of Manzikert", Cry Havoc n.45 (2004) p.5-12.

Robinson, Chase, "The conquest of Khūzistān: a historiographical reassessment", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies v.67:1 (2004) p.14-39.

Rogers, Clifford J., "The Medieval Legacy," Early Modern Military History, ed. Geoff Mortimer (London: Palgrave, 2004). 

Trombley, Frank R., "The Arabs in Anatolia and the Islamic law of war (fiqh al-jihād) (seventh-tenth centuries)", Al-Masaq: Islam and the Medieval Mediterranean v.16:1 (2004) p.147-161.

Turnbull, Stephen, "The Teutonic Knights' Battle for Riga", Medieval History Magazine issue 6 (February 2004) p.56-63

Turnbull, Stephen, "Fighting Cardinals: Henry Beaufort and Guiliano Cesarini", Medieval History Magazine issue 13 (September 2004) p.48-55.

Watson, William, "Ibn Rustah's Book of Precious Things: A Reexamination and Translation of an Early Source on the Rus," Canadian-American Slavic Studies v.38, n.3 (2004), p. 389-399 - examines the Viking-era culture, warfare, and religion of the Rus from the perspective of Ibn Rustah.

Whitby, Michael, "Emperors and armies, AD 235-395," Approaching Late Antiquity: The Transformation from Early to Late Empire, eds. S. Swain and M. Edwards (Oxford, 2004) p.156-186.

White, Monica, "A Byzantine tradition transformed: military saints under the house of Suzdal'", Russian Review v.63:3 (2004) p.493-513.