Introduction
Clifford Rogers’ contributions to the field of medieval military
history need little introduction. His studies of Edward III’s strategy and his participation in the debates
over the medieval “military revolutions” have helped make medieval
military history an exciting and innovative field of research. His
latest book is a worthy addition to his prior work: The Middle Ages,
from the series Soldiers’
Lives Through History, is an outstanding survey of the experience
of war in the medieval period, drawing on a wide range of primary source
material, and is sure to please both scholars and non-specialists (for
which latter the volume is especially intended). Although, given
the range of the subject, there are areas where one might quibble with
choice of emphasis and evidence, it is a remarkable study in a field
which has seen many fine ones.
The
book is organized in topical fashion, reconstructing a medieval soldier’s
experience:
“joining the host,” the rigors of camp life, campaigning, and
the aftermath of battles. Slightly less time is devoted to sieges
(46 pages) than to battles (56), and the “battle” chapter is
followed by “the aftermath”
of conflict, which essentially adds to the total space given to open-field
conflicts. The centrality of battle is doubtless in keeping with
Dr. Rogers’ firm belief in the importance of the “clash of
arms” to medieval strategists (which belief this reviewer partially
shares), but one would have wished slightly more attention given to sieges
and “little war,” as the penultimate chapter is entitled. The
concluding chapter, a case study of the life of Sir Thomas Gray of Heton (d. 1344), synthesizes the themes of the volume.
Fit and finish
The
book benefits from quality fit and finish, with a strong binding and fairly
thick pages; it is clear that The Middle Ages is meant to withstand
considerable use. The copious illustrations are all black-and-white,
and while some color would have been preferable, black-and-white makes
the most sense for a volume which is already rather steeply priced. Although
certainly within the reach of most institutional libraries’ acquisitions
departments, the price tag may discourage general classroom use.
Contents
Chapter 1 Soldiering in Peacetime
The
first chapter opens with lengthy quote from Díaz de Gamez’s tales of Pero Niño,
through which Dr. Rogers immediately cautions the reader about the sources
of medieval warfare. The Spanish warrior’s account “is
so one-sided as to be seriously misleading. It depicts some of the
hardships that were only occasionally experienced by men on campaign as
if they were the norm, contrasts them with a picture of life in peacetime
that few could aspire to, and suggests a much stricter line between soldiers
and other man than existed in reality” (1-2). The rest of the
chapter is devoted to explaining the reality behind the distortions, beginning
with the medieval tripartite social theory: those who fight (subdivided
into “standing armies, garrisons, and household troops”), those
who work (including townsmen and villagers), and those who pray. It
is an effective discussion, one which manages to convey general trends
in medieval life as they affected soldiering, but without getting bogged
down in the endless debates and fine points of medieval social organization
and obligation. And it is a tribute to Dr. Rogers’ skill as
a writer that he manages to make even this (potentially the driest of chapters!)
a lively discussion.
Chapter 2 Joining the Host
Chapter
2 is devoted to that mysterious gap between “regular life” and “military
life”, when the medieval soldier would learn a) that there was a
war on and b) he was going. An extended discussion of recruitment
by the great magnates and their men (27) and the “material preparations” of
horsemen (30) develops from this, and Dr. Rogers emphasizes how the need
to demonstrate means and social status would often affect the number and
type of equipment a lord would bring in his entourage. “Horizontal
recruitment” deals with the recruitment and array of the infantry
levies (42), and so on through muster and joining the army (47). The
attention given to infantry levies is especially welcome, since students,
fixated as they often are on the armored horseman, forget all too easily
that the bulk of medieval armies did not just appear out of thin air!
Chapter 3 Camp Life and Mobile Operations
In
chapter 3 we see the lines begin to blur between life in camp and actual
military operations—indeed, as Dr. Rogers points out, camp activities
often directly contributed to military effectiveness (69). In considering
the camp as a social unit, we are reminded that, in the Early Middle Ages,
the army reflected the polity, whereas in the later centuries that was
not the case (71). Next follows a vivid description of the army on
the march, in which the ever-present need for food and shelter is most
often satisfied at the expense of the local population (76). When
the banners are unfurled, we are in enemy territory, where scouting, pillaging,
and skirmishing are the orders of the day. All-in-all, it is a cogent
reminder (and for many students, a discovery), that medieval armies conducted
most of the operations which they do today—scouting being an excellent
example of this, and one to which Dr. Rogers draws special attention (79).
Chapter 4 Sieges
The
siege being such a defining feature of medieval warfare, it deserves careful
attention. Dr. Rogers pays the siege its due, in the process highlighting
the (underestimated) dilemmas which sieges posed to medieval commanders. Would
one try to overwhelm the fortifications immediately? How good was
one’s intelligence? If a hasty assault failed, would the commander
still have the wherewithal to maintain a longer investment? Defensive
sallies (126) posed a genuine threat to an army waiting the right moment
to mount a carefully prepared attack (133). Noticeable on occasion is the
lack of obvious context for various lengthy quotes, which, in absence of
time of place, are rendered somewhat less effective than they would otherwise
be.
Chapter 5 Battle
Chapter
5 Battle is the core of The Middle Ages, being the longest
chapter in the book. Given the heavy emphasis on the Hundred Years’
War, it may seem somewhat surprising at first that the major example is
the Battle of Hastings in 1066 (157). Yet, as Dr. Rogers demonstrates,
Hastings actually exhibits most of medieval battle’s major features,
from orations to archer skirmishing to major engagements between different
types of troops. Features which many students would either take for
granted or unknowingly dismiss are painstakingly delineated, not least “the
press”—the crushing, claustrophobic chaos once battle was joined. Despite
the confusion of “the press”, however, the number of people
actually exposed to danger in a medieval army was much smaller than we
are accustomed to in a modern army (171-2). It may be assumed that
this applies rather more to the winning side.
Chapter 6 The Aftermath of a Victory
If
an army was fortunate enough to have taken the field (literally), their
tasks did not stop there. The enemy had to be pursued, plunder had
to be taken, often assessed and divided, prisoners and ransoms organized. Further,
casualties and medical care had to be assessed and administered, while
at the same time it was imperative for the army to continue to “hold
the field.”
One is reminded that victory could easily be as draining an experience
as defeat.
Chapter 7 Little War
Since
battle, in this account, is the ultimate martial experience, it should
come as no surprise that the “other” activities (already partially
covered in chapter 3) follow the major engagement (more on this aspect
of the book below). The chapter is organized around “raids” (238), “ambushes” (240), “larger
forays”
(243), reaction (244), “escort duty” (247), “coups de
main” (248), and finally that nebulous category, “private wars” (250). In
many ways this is the best chapter in the book, with a slightly informal
style which makes the text more accessible. Further, it makes us
realize that “special operations” are not the domain of twentieth-century
armies!
Chapter 8 Conclusion: The Life of One Active Warrior
Rather
than a conventional conclusion, Dr. Rogers opts to synthesize the elements
of the book by presenting Sir Thomas Gray’s military career. Gray
was as “typical” a medieval soldier as one can hope to find,
having participated in most types of warfare several times, and as such
is an excellent example of how medieval soldiers and commanders seamlessly
moved from one area of endeavor to another. On the other hand, we
do not get much idea of how Sir Thomas would have spent the majority of
his time—i.e., the non-military side of life, the administrative,
legal, political, and economic aspects of his posts and positions. Such
attention, one might argue, would have further served to place the medieval
soldier’s experience in context. Yet Dr. Rogers is doubtless
correct when he states that it is possible learn more from one well-chosen
case study than we can from numerous graphs and charts about medieval armies
(268).
Bibliography
The
final gem in the book is the bibliography, which is a goldmine for students
and scholars alike (the index, one feels, could have been a tad more extensive). Perhaps
the most useful item of all is the list of websites and databases on medieval
history, some of which, if one either does not know them or know their
exact web address, would be very difficult to find. Combined with
the footnote apparatus at the end of each chapter, the bibliography makes The
Middle Ages a superb reference tool.
Critiques and major areas of criticism
Encomiums aside, it is only appropriate here to assess areas where some
scholars will wish for a different emphasis, arrangement of material, and
ontological approach. To start, I would draw attention to a general
lack of coverage of the series’ topic: soldiers’ motivation,
morale, and ideological make-up. Dennis Showalter’s forward
to the series states that “[t]he authors’ intentions are to
facilitate understanding of one of history’s fundamental questions:
Why do humans fight wars?” (xii). Yet topics which might suggest
themselves as possible answers to that question are largely absent from
the text, outside of chapter 1 “Soldiering in Peacetime,”
and parts of chapter 2 “Joining the Host.” Granted, Dr.
Rogers’ study seems to share this feature with Richard A. Gabriel’s
companion series volume The Ancient World, and it probably has more
to do with the uncertain nature of the sources than anything else. As
Michael Prestwich has remarked, “It is
hard to reconstruct the cast of mind of those who fought in medieval armies. Numbers
of men can be calculated, their food consumption estimated, their speed
of march worked out. It is not so easy to depict the cultural identity
of the world in which they lived.” Conversely, Showalter’s
own volume The Early Modern World (written with William J. Astore)
has more space devoted to the larger social and cultural contexts of soldiering—and
of course the surviving sources multiply exponentially during this period. Ultimately,
however, with The Middle Ages we have a detailed picture of how
the medieval soldier fought, but not precisely why—and although a
firm believer that the “how” often (at least partially) answers
the “why,” I must confess to finding this omission of The
Middle Ages rather puzzling, as the next couple of paragraphs may elucidate.
Some scholars will remark on the near-total absence of “medieval
chivalry”
from the study, with only three references aside from primary source quotations. Yet
the undeniable affect which both chivalry and discussions of “the
just warrior”
had upon the practice of warfare (and by extension the medieval soldier’s
life) has been well established by studies such as Nicholas Wright’s Knights
and Peasants: The Hundred Years’ War in the French Countryside, Malcolm Vale’s War
and Chivalry, and Michael Prestwich’s Armies
and Warfare in the Middle Ages: The English Experience. Others might note the scattered treatment
of religion throughout the text, with the most detail coming on pages 166-169,
where Dr. Rogers reconstructs the suspenseful period before battle. This
section also serves as the main (and virtually only) discussion of medieval
ideas of the “just war,” centered in large part around the
commanders’ supposed battlefield orations. Illuminating reflections
by medieval soldiers on just war and soldiering, such as those scattered
in the works of Philippe de Commynges and Jean
de Bueil, are rather thinly supplied (though Bertran de
Born receives a couple mentions). In this connection, it is worth
noting that, in addition to Wright’s volume, studies such as David Bachrach’s Religion
and the Conduct of War and John Bliese’s articles
on battle rhetoric do not appear in the bibliography.
Another area which may cause some scholars to hesitate is in the thematic
layout of the text. Given the book’s target audience and purpose,
the thematic approach seems well chosen, since it emphasizes the unity
of the medieval military experience, as Dr. Rogers himself notes in the
preface. Moreover, in an era when most studies of medieval military
history emphasize change (the various “revolutions” of medieval
military affairs being the obvious example), Rogers’ work is a cogent and
timely reminder of the continuities of lived experience across generations—especially
given the relative stability of technology during the medieval period. As
such, The Middle Ages follows the finest traditions of military
history, which see the didactical value of past events to current affairs. It
is also calculated to better appeal to the average student, who is likely
to want easy access to specific information, such as camp life, pursuit,
medical services, and so on, and whose eyes might well glaze over had the
book been arranged by chronological watersheds. Indeed, a number
of my own students have praised the book for precisely these reasons.
Again, some scholars might criticize the de-emphasis of Carolingian and Ottonian era
warfare, but since space is limited, and since those subjects inevitably
commit the author to dealing with debates which he is expressly trying
to avoid, little need be said about this feature of the work. In
any case, differences of opinion and emphasis are often indicated in the
copious footnotes. Dr. Rogers has quite appropriately used the sources
at his disposal, and they happen to be concentrated in thirteenth-, fourteenth-,
and fifteenth-century France and England. However, although material
from Spain, Germany, Italy, and elsewhere is not absent, one feels that
the volume could have been subtitled “The Hundred Years War.” One
might have wished for a closer analysis and larger selection from the Italian
wars of the trecento, which would have
set the French-English examples in larger context. However, since
the average student will find few of these sources translated (as Caferro’s recent
biography of Hawkwood makes depressingly clear),
their omission makes sense from a pedagogical perspective. Further,
although the bibliography’s excellent collection of primary sources
contains many rather antiquated translations, it is certain to be useful
to teachers constantly looking (and often in vain, one might add) for sources
to broaden their students’ research papers.
On the other hand, it is worth pointing out that, while it is good to
understand the similarities between a Carolingian warrior of the early
ninth century and a man-at-arms from the late fourteenth, identifying the
points where their experience differed is of scholarly and pedagogical
use as well. A chronological-thematic approach similar to Philippe Contamine’s War
in the Middle Ages has much to recommend it. In this regard, one might
also wonder at the overall interpretation of medieval warfare which students
are rather likely to take from this volume: that of an enterprise which
was defined by the (decisive) battle, to which all other forms of combat
were in reality ancillary activities. Certainly, fourteenth-century
knights like Geoffroi de Charny ranked
battle as the highest chivalric endeavor, the defining experience. However,
given Dr. Rogers’ caution about taking such accounts as normative,
should these professional beliefs be privileged over more general experience? While
Edward III may certainly have “sought battle” in 1346, for
example, the fact remains that many medieval soldiers, though they mustered
to the host, never participated in an engagement larger than perhaps a
thousand combatants altogther, and that what
Dr. Rogers terms “little war” was in fact “large war” to
many combatants, especially in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Hence,
as John France has demonstrated in Victory in the East, a closer
connection between “little war” and sieges, would not have
come amiss, since the two—besides being intimately connected—formed
a greater part of the medieval soldier’s experience than the average
student would realize when reading this study.
Conclusion
These
critiques should be read in a spirit of continuing discussion and debate. Given
a subject as vast as the one encompassed, The Middle Ages is an
outstanding volume, certain to be popular with students and a valuable
resource for teachers and scholars alike. In general, Clifford Rogers’ devotion
to understanding the how of medieval warfare is successful, and
will greatly assist students in coming to the elusive realization that
medieval folk were actually very like us, even though they may have lacked
radios and MREs. Scholars will appreciate the synthesis of medieval
soldiering on a grand scale, and will come away with a renewed respect,
both for the ingenuity of the medieval soldier as well as the meticulous
scholarship of the author. Soldiers’ Lives Through History:
The Middle Ages should be on the shelf of every serious student of
medieval warfare.