Noble Ideals and Bloody Realities

Warfare in the Middle Ages

Edited by Niall Christie and Maya Yazigi

From Brill Publishing, volume 37 in their History of Warfare series

ISBN: 90 04 15024 2

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The contributions presented in this volume address several issues related to the topic of medieval warfare from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and examining a number of geographical regions. The contributors analyze social and economic issues, military strategy, technological and medical developments, ideology and rhetoric, and address warfare in Europe, the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim world. In three parts, the contributors explore warfare in theory, warfare in practice and warfare as perceived through medieval and modern historiography. In doing so they present a number of engaging case studies that will be of use to students and scholars interested in warfare and its effects on medieval society.

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Table of Contents

Introduction (PDF)

“Collateral Damage?” Civilian Casualties in the Early Ideologies of Chivalry and Crusade, by David J. Hay

Medieval Warfare and the Value of a Human Life, by Kelly DeVries

Religious Campaign or War of Conquest? Muslim Views of the Motives of the First Crusade, by
Niall Christie

Thinking about Crusader Strategy, by John France

The Torture of Military Captives in the Crusades to the Medieval Middle East, by Piers D. Mitchell

Holy War, Royal Wives, and Equivocation in Twelfth-Century Jerusalem, by Deborah Gerish

Arming the Enemy: Non-Christians’ Roles in the Military Culture of the Crown of Aragon during the Reconquista, by Paula R. Stiles

Communal Piracy in Medieval England’s Cinque Ports, by David G. Sylvester
 

Wartime Corruption and Complaints of the English Peasantry, by Ilana Krug

The Military Revolution and the Early Islamic State, by Hugh Kennedy

Byzantium, the Reluctant Warrior, by Warren Treadgold

Reynald of Châtillon and the Red Sea Expedition of 1182–83, by Marcus Milwright