Bøger i Warfare in History serien

Three weeks before the battle of Hastings, Harold defeated an invading army of Norwegians at the battle of Stamford Bridge, a victory which was to cost him dear. The events surrounding the battle are discussed in detail.

The author of the international bestseller Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind looks at covert operations and assassination plots in the medieval period, matching anything to be found in our own era.

First full-length study of the use and perception of deceit in medieval warfare.Deception and trickery are a universal feature of warfare, from the Trojan horse to the inflatable tanks of the Second World War. The wars of the Central Middle Ages (c. 1000-1320) were no exception. This book looks at the various tricks reported in medieval chronicles, from the Normans feigning flight at the battle of Hastings (1066) to draw the English off Senlac Hill, to the Turks who infiltrated the Frankish camp at the Field of Blood (1119) disguised as bird sellers, to the Scottish camp followers descending on the field of Bannockburn (1314) waving laundry as banners to mimic a division of soldiers. This study also considers what contemporary society thought about deception on the battlefield: was it a legitimate way to fight? Was cunning considered an admirable quality in a warrior? Were the culturally and religious "e;other"e; thought to be more deceitful in war than Western Europeans? Through a detailed analysis of vocabulary and narrative devices, this book reveals a society with a profound moral ambivalence towards military deception, in which authors were able to celebrate a warrior's cunning while simultaneously condemning their enemies for similar acts of deceit. It also includes an appendix cataloguing over four hundred incidents of military deception as recorded in contemporary chronicle narratives.

Analyses of different aspects of the history of warfare in the Mediterranean in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.The kingdom of Sicily plays a huge part in the history of the Norman people; their conquest brought in a new era of invasion, interaction and integration in the Mediterranean, However, much previous scholarship has tended to concentrate on their activities in England and the Holy Land. This volume aims to redress the balance by focusing on the Hautevilles, their successors and their followers. It considers the operational, tactical, technical and logistical aspects of the conduct of war in the South throughout the eleventh and twelfth centuries, looking also at its impact on Italian and Sicilian multi-cultural society. Topics include the narratives of the Norman expansion, exchanges and diffusion between the "e;military cultures"e; of the Normans and the peoples they encountered in the South, and their varied policies of conquest, consolidation and expansion in the different operational theatres of land and sea. Dr GEORGIOS THEOTOKIS is Lecturer at Ibn Haldun University, Istanbul. Contributors: Matthew Bennett, Daniel P. Franke, Michael S. Fulton, Serban V. Marin, David Nicolle, Francesca Petrizzo, Luigi Russo, Charles D. Stanton, Georgios Theotokis, James Titterton.

First full investigation in English into the role played by chivalric ideology, and its violent results, in late medieval Castile.The Kingdom of Castile in the late Middle Ages suffered from regular civil strife, warfare, dynastic contests, and violence, such that only a century before the birth of the Spanish Empire, it is difficult to imagine a successfulworld empire centered in this tumultuous realm. The chaos that marked this period of Castilian history was not mere chance, but the result of key historical developments which have not been fully examined in Anglophone scholarship. This book explores the roots of the disorder that plagued Castile in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, identifying the ideology of chivalry and its knightly practitioners as the chief instigators of the violence thatdestabilized the kingdom. The author argues that chivalry was far from being a code of good behaviour, scrupulously observed, but rather encouraged knights to avenge themselves violently upon their neighbours, pursue a zealous holy war against Islam, and tear at the social fabric of Castilian society. Their powerful ideas and values shaped the course of Castilian history in the crucial years before the unification of the Spanish kingdoms. SAMUEL A. CLAUSSEN is Assistant Professor of History at California Lutheran University.

The theme of warfare as a collective enterprise investigated in the theatres of both land and sea.From warhorses to the men-at-arms who rode them; armies that were raised to the lords who recruited, led, administered, and financed them; and ships to the mariners who crewed them; few aspects of the organisation and logistics ofwar in late medieval England have escaped the scholarly attention, or failed to benefit from the insights, of Dr Andrew Ayton. The concept of the military community, with its emphasis on warfare as a collective social enterprise, has always lain at the heart of his work; he has shown in particular how this age of warfare is characterised by related but intersecting military communities, marked not only by the social and political relationships within armies and navies, but by communities of mind, experience, and enterprise. The essays in this volume, ranging from the late thirteenth to the early fifteenth century, address various aspects of this idea. They offer investigations of soldiers' and mariners' equipment; their obligations, functions, status, and recruitment; and the range and duration of their service. Gary P. Baker is a Research Associate at the University of East Angliaand a Researcher in History at the University of Groningen; Craig L. Lambert is Lecturer in Maritime History at the University of Southampton; David Simpkin teaches history at Birkenhead Sixth-Form College. Contributors: Gary P. Baker, Adrian R. Bell, Peter Coss, Anne Curry, Robert W. Jones, Andy King, Craig L. Lambert, Tony K. Moore, J.J.N. Palmer, Philip Preston, Michael Prestwich, Matthew Raven, Clifford J. Rogers, Nigel Saul, David Simpkin.

The author has retraced on foot the routes taken by the Black Prince during the French campaigns of 1355-1356, enabling him to provide an entirely new dimension to the events.In 1355 the Black Prince took an army to Bordeaux and embarked on two chevauchees [mounted military expeditions, generally characterised by the devastation of the surrounding towns and countryside], which culminated in hisdecisive victory over King Jean II of France at Poitiers the following year. Using the recorded itineraries as his starting point, the author of this book walked more than 1,300 miles across France, retracing the routes of the armies in search of a greater understanding of the Black Prince's expedition. He followed the 1355 chevauchee from Bordeaux to the Mediterranean and back, and that for 1356 from Aquitaine to the Loire, to the battlefield at Poitiers, and back again to Bordeaux. Drawing on his findings on the ground, a wide range of documentary sources, and the work of local historians, many of whom the author met on his travels, the book provides a unique perspective on the Black Prince's chevauchees of 1355 and 1356 and the battle of Poitiers, one of the greatest English triumphs of the Hundred Years War, demonstrating in particular the impact of the landscape on the campaigns.Peter Hoskins is a former Royal Air Force pilot, now living in France. He combines his interest in exploration of his adopted country with his research into the Hundred Years War.

Mariners made a major - but neglected - contribution to England's warfare in the middle ages. Here their role is examined anew, showing their importance.During the fourteenth century England was scarred by famine, plague and warfare. Through such disasters, however, emerged great feats of human endurance. Not only did the English population recover from starvation and disease but thousands of the kingdom's subjects went on to defeat the Scots and the French in several notable battles. Victories such as Halidon Hill, Neville's Cross, Crecy and Poitiers not only helped to recover the pride of the English chivalrous class but also secured the reputation of Edward III and the Black Prince. Yet what has been underemphasized in this historical narrative is the role played by men of more humble origins, none more so than the medieval mariner. This is unfortunate because during the fourteenth century the manpower and ships provided by the English merchant fleet underpinned every military expedition. The aim of this book is to address this gap. Its fresh approach to the sources allows the enormous contribution of the English merchant fleet to the wars conducted by Edward II and Edward III to be revealed; the author also explores the complex administrative process of raising a fleet and provides career profiles for many mariners, examining the familial relationships that existed in port communities and the shipping resources of English ports. Craig L. Lambert is Research Assistant at the University of Hull.

Examines the role of Welsh soldiers in English armies, from the conquests under Edward I through to the Battle of Agincourt.Not only the leaders but the entire nation are trained in war. Sound the trumpet for battle and the peasant will rush from his plough to pick up his weapons as quickly as the courtier from the court. So wrote Gerald of Wales atthe end of the twelfth century; and war continued to define the experiences of Welshmen in the succeeding years. This book explores the role of the Welsh in England's armies and in England's wars between Edward I's conquest of Wales in the 1280s, through the wars in Scotland and France and the revolt led by Owain Glyndwr, concluding with Henry V's conquest of Normandy following his victory at Agincourt in 1415. It examines the structure and composition of armies and the social networks and hierarchies which underpinned them: what sort of Welshmen became soldiers? How was Welsh society organised for war? What impact did wider political considerations have upon Welshmen in England's armies? These questions are answered using both well-known sources, such as the financial records of the English crown, and others less familiar, including the records of local administration and the large surviving corpus ofWelsh-language poetry. Adam Chapman is Editor and Training Coordinator with the Victoria County History of the Counties of England at the Institute of Historical Research, London.

A fresh perspective on the Crusade shows its ideal and practice flourishing in the fourteenth century.

Essays throwing fresh light on what it was like to be a medieval soldier, drawing on archival research.

Detailed account and analysis of a major event of the Hundred Years War, stressing the logistical efforts behind the fighting.

A new appraisal of the military careers and activities of soldiers from elite medieval families.

Contemporaries considered Edward III of England 'the wisest and shrewdest warrior in the world'. He has not fared so well in the estimation of modern historians, many of whom have argued that he was a fine tactician but a poor strategist. Yet by 1360 the English, at the beginning of his reign considered 'inferior to the wretched Scots', had become the foremost martial nation of Europe. At Dupplin Moor, Halidon Hill, Crecy, and Poitiers their armies had won famous victories against heavy odds. David II of Scotland and Jean II of France were Edward's prisoners, and the French, with the Treaty of Bretigny, had agreed to surrender a third of their kingdom to his sovereign rule in exchange for peace.In War Cruel and Sharp, Dr Rogers offers a powerfully argued and thoroughly researched reassessment of the military and political strategies which Edward III and the Black Prince employed to achieve this astounding result. Using a narrative framework, he makes the case that the Plantagenets' ultimate success came from adapting the strategy which Robert Bruce had used to force the 'Shameful Peace' on England in 1328. Unlike previous historians, Rogers argues that the quest for decisive battle underlay Edward's strategy in every campaign he undertook, though the English also utilized sieges and devastation of the countryside to advance their war efforts.

Groundbreaking reassessment of the role played by armour, weapons and heraldry in medieval warfare, showing their cultural as well as military significance.

Definitive account of the English garrison at Calais - the largest contemporary force in Europe - in the wider context of European warfare in the middle ages.

Medieval warfare on both land and sea examined by leading scholars in the field.

Germany's Schlieffen Plan of the First World War is much talked of but little understood. Translations of primary sources recently available clarify the issues involved.

A survey of warfare between England under Henry VIII and Scotland from the death of James IV, identifying its objectives and accounting for its inconclusive nature.

An investigation into three of the best-known cases tried under the Court of Chivalry reveals much about gentry military society.

First ever large-scale study of Crecy and its context, bringing out its true importance in English and French history.

Flemish townspeople defeat the cream of French nobility, and explode the myth of knightly invincibility for ever. Discussion of bias in sources and difficulties of interpretation preface careful account of what actually happened during the three-hour battle.

Collection of source material and crucial interpretations, offering a comprehensive guide to Anglo-Saxon warfare.

First full-length study of the campaigns led by Henry of Lancaster in Aquitaine, including a detailed biographical study of the individuals involved.

An account of the causes, combatants and course of events in the successive conflicts which troubled the duchy for half a century.

Contemporary documents and classic studies follow Edward's fortunes on the battlefield, from failure against the Scots to major military successes in France.

The motivations behind those who went on the Third Crusade examined through close investigation of their social networks.

First extended survey of the subject, looking at the knights' activities, roles, background and service.

Women's role in crusades and crusading examined through a close investigation of the narratives in which they appear.