Medieval Warfare: A Reader

by Kelly Robert DeVries (Editor), Michael Livingston (Editor)

Overview

Medieval Warfare: A Reader examines how armed conflict was experienced in the Middle Ages both on the field of battle and at home. This comprehensive collection of more than 130 primary-source materials—some translated here for the first time—traces over one thousand years of military developments, including the fall of Rome, the fight for Jerusalem, the building of castles and other fortifications, the rise of gunpowder, and the negotiation of treaties. Developed by two of the leading experts in medieval military history, the readings tell stories of terrors and tragedies, triumphs and technologies in the Middle Ages. By reclaiming the voices of victims and veterans that have previously been ignored, the editors stake out a powerful new perspective on the long history of military conflict and suffering.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442636729
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	08/22/2019
Series:	Readings in Medieval Civilizations and Cultures
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	392
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Kelly DeVries is a professor in the Department of History at Loyola University, Maryland and an honorary historical consultant at the Royal Armouries, UK.

Michael Livingston is a professor in the Department of English, Fine Arts, and Communications at The Citadel.

Table of Contents

Maps
General Introduction
Recommended Reading
Acknowledgements

Part I: The Casualties of War

Those Who Mourned

1. On the Thuringian War (after 561)
2. Wulf and Eadwacer (ca. 1000)
3. A Crusader’s Lament
4. Destruction from the Hundred Years War (1361)

Those Who Fought

5. Riddles on Armaments (ca. 1000)
6. Massacre at Civetot (1096)
7. Battle of Waun Gaseg (1410)
8. Pity the Veteran Soldiers (ca. 1420)

Those Who Feared

9. After the Siege of Arles (507–08)
10. Devastation of Villages (1215)
11. Local Atrocities (1358)
12. The Poor in War (1425)

Part II: The Preparations for War

Theories of War: Just War

13. The Just War (before 430)
14. The Call to Crusade (1095)
15. Take Her Husband, Please (1212)
16. How We Die (1481)

Regulating War

17. Declaration of a Truce of God (1063)
18. Criticism of the Second Crusade (1149)
19. Curse on Those Who Require the Making of Arms (1374)
20. Wyclif Against War (1375)
21. End the Hundred Years War (1395)

Training for War

22. Vegetius on Fortifications and Siege Preparation (ca. 388)
23. Rule of the Templars (1135–65)
24. Practice Archery, Not Games (1363)
25. The Training of Boucicaut (1409)
26. How to Conduct a Siege (ca. 1425?)

Chivalry

27. The Function of Knighthood (1159)
28. The Decadence of Knights (1250)
29. Becoming a Knight (1352)
30. Peace-time Jousts at St-Inglevert (1390)
31. The Decline of Chivalry (1483–85)

Financing War

32. Military Obligations of Landholders (743)
33. The Saladin Tithe and Crusader Ordinances (1188)
34. Poll Tax (1379)

Outfitting for War: Individual

35. Renting a Suit of Armor (1248)
36. The Arming of Sir Gawain (ca. 1360)
37. Margaret Paston to Her Husband (1449)

Outfitting for War: Militia

38. Florentine Militia Requirements (1260)
39. Provisions for the Ostend Militia (1436)
40. Troyes Arsenal (1474)

State

41. Fortifications at Dara (6th c.)
42. Construction of Saphet Castle (ca. 1263)
43. A Weapons Dowry (1449)

Recruiting and Obligations

44. Charlemagne’s Way of Raising Troops (801–11)
45. Pope Gregory Pleads for Matilda to Lead a Crusade (1074)
46. Levy of Troops for the Wars in Bohemia (1422)
47. Indenture of War (1415)

Part III: The Waging of War    

Plans and Rules

48. Barbarossa’s Rules of the Army (1158)
49. Spring Is for Warfare (1184–88)
50. Payment for Camp Workers (1378)
51. Ordinances of a Combined Army (1385)
52. Battle Plan for Agincourt (1415)
53. Maintaining Discipline (1419)
54. How to Attack Venice (1517)

The March

55. Accounts of the Third Crusade (mid–1190s)
56. Costs of the Seventh Crusade (1256)
57. Army on March and in Camp (1304)
58. Itinerary of the Crécy Campaign (1346)
59. Array of Verona (1386)
60. Agincourt: March and Battle (1415)
61. Transport of Artillery (1474)

Declaration and Oration   

62. Oration against the Thuringians (6th c.)
63. Battle of the Standard (1138)
64. Declaration of War Against Philip Augustus (1212)
65. A King’s Challenge (1340)
66. Joan of Arc’s Letter to the English (1429)

The Fight: On Land

67. Battle at Adrianople (378)
68. Battle of Dara (530)
69. Battle and Aftermath of the Catalaunian Plains (551)
70. Battle of Hastings (1066)
71. Battle of Hattin (1187)
72. Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212)
73. Battle of the Golden Spurs (1302)
74. Battle of Crécy (1346)
75. Battle of Othée (1408)
76. Battle of Barnet (1471)

The Fight: At Sea  

77. Battle of Nisa (1062)
78. Landing in Egypt (1249)
79. Naval Warfare Between Pisa and Genoa (1284)
80. Fighting the Saracens at Sea (1325–32)
81. Battle of Winchelsea (1350)

In Siege  

82. Siege of Jerusalem (614)
83. Siege of Paris (885–86)
84. Siege of Thessaloniki (904)
85. Fight at Finnesburh (ca. 1000)
86. Siege of Jerusalem: Wood and War (1099)
87. Siege of Lisbon (1147)
88. Siege of Orléans (1429)
89. Siege of Constantinople (1453)
90. Siege of Rhodes (1480)

Feats of Bravery   

91. Battle of Maldon (991)
92. Gathering Bolts at Tournai (1340)
93. Archer-woman of Karia (1341)
94. The Maid of Orléans (1429–31)
95. The Unconquered Knight (ca. 1440)

The Margins of War   

96. Camp-Followers Win a Battle (1018)
97. Hiring a Foreign Engineer (ca. 1180)
98. Slaughter of Non-combatants (1203)
99. Piracy in the English Channel (ca. 1250)
100. Contract for Genoese Mercenaries (1337)
101. Payment for Spies (1343)
102. English Mercenaries in Italy (1361–64)
103. Mercenaries Disguise as Women (1388)

Duels   

104. Song of Hildebrand and Hadubrand (ca. 800)
105. Siege, Duel, and Battle at Halidon Hill (1333)
106. Joust between Armies (1387)

Part IV: The Outcomes of War
   
Wounds of War   

107. Death on the Field (1289)
108. Curing a Royal Head-wound (1403)
109. Cauterizing a Wound (ca. 1440)
110. After the Battle of Barnet (1471)
111. Richard III’s Death (1485)

Victory and Surrender   

112. The Taking of Autun and the Blinding of Leodegar (675)
113. Jomsvikings Meet Their End (986)
114. Aftermath of Hattin (1187)
115. Execution of the Prisoners at Acre (1191)
116. Execution of the Prisoners at Nicopolis (1396)

Pillage and Booty   

117. Siege of Worcester (1139)
118. Plundering Relics (1204)
119. Razing Enemy Property (1403)

Prisoners and Ransoms   

120. Enslaving Noble Hostages (511)
121. Gospel Book Ransomed from Vikings (ca. 800)
122. Surrender to Blanche of Navarre (1218)
123. Announcement of Victory (1356)
124. Ransom of a Knight (1356)

The Fallen

125. Mongol Devastation in Hungary (1241)
126. Destruction of the Mongols (1247)
127. Identifying the Dead (1346)
128. Expenses for the Quartering of Hotspur (1403)

An End of War   

129. Two Sides of a Treaty (1245)
130. The Burghers of Calais (1346)
131. General Amnesty to Rebels (1411)
132. After the Fall of Constantinople (1453)
133. Ottoman Treaty with the Venetians (1478)
134. Surrender of Rhodes to Suleyman (1522)

Memorialization   

135. Battle of Brunanburh (ca. 955)
136. Lament for Jerusalem (1099)
137. Defeat of Igor (1185)
138. Song of the Battle of the Golden Spurs (1302)
139. The Founding of Battlefield Church (1406)

Sources
Index

What People are Saying About This

John D. Hosler

"Offering an array of source materials that are simultaneously broad and deep, the editors have curated an incisive exhibition of medieval warfare. Armies and fortifications are prepared, campaigns and battles are waged, fire and sword threaten and destroy, triumphs and glory are gained, disasters are suffered, and the butcher's bill is counted with blood, coin, and lamentations. Its focus on war as a profoundly human endeavor affecting all aspects of society is unrelenting. This collection will be enormously useful for students in all fields of medieval studies and beyond."

João Gouveia Monteiro

"DeVries and Livingston offer us a brilliant guided tour of medieval warfare organized by themes and chronologically. This is an original solution, quite formative and very striking, which undoubtedly projects a new light on medieval military history!"

João Gouveia Monteiro

"DeVries and Livingston offer us a brilliant guided tour of medieval warfare organized by themes and chronologically. This is an original solution, quite formative and very striking, which undoubtedly projects a new light on medieval military history!"

H.J. Nicholson

"Medieval Warfare: A Reader is a real treasure trove, covering the whole gamut of European war from battle between the Romans and the Goths in the fourth century to the Ottoman capture of Rhodes from the Knights Hospitaller in the early sixteenth century. It includes extracts of every kind of written record of war: poetry, treaties, contemporary comment, official letters, instruction manuals, account books, regulations, battle orations, declarations of war, songs of triumph, and lamentations. There are writings by men and women, warriors and non-combatants. This is the essential primary-source handbook to medieval warfare."

Editorial Reviews

"A simply impressive work of collaborative scholarship, Medieval Warfare: A Reader must be considered an essential core addition to community, college, and university library Medieval Studies collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists."

—Midwest Book Review

"In short, this is a truly superb source collection, one which is entirely suited to becoming the central point of reference for modules or courses on Medieval European military history."

—Nicholas Morton, Nottingham Trent University, The Medieval Review

"A thoroughly enthralling collection of primary sources, which reveal the ever-changing but consistently traumatic effects of warfare over more than a thousand years of human history."

—Ronald W. Braasch III, United States Military Academy at West Point, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching

"DeVries and Livingston offer us a brilliant guided tour of medieval warfare organized by themes and chronologically. This is an original solution, quite formative and very striking, which undoubtedly projects a new light on medieval military history!"

—João Gouveia Monteiro, University of Coimbra, Portugal

"Offering an array of source materials that are simultaneously broad and deep, the editors have curated an incisive exhibition of medieval warfare. Armies and fortifications are prepared, campaigns and battles are waged, fire and sword threaten and destroy, triumphs and glory are gained, disasters are suffered, and the butcher’s bill is counted with blood, coin, and lamentations. Its focus on war as a profoundly human endeavor affecting all aspects of society is unrelenting. This collection will be enormously useful for students in all fields of medieval studies and beyond."

—John D. Hosler, Command and General Staff College

"Medieval Warfare: A Reader is a real treasure trove, covering the whole gamut of European war from battle between the Romans and the Goths in the fourth century to the Ottoman capture of Rhodes from the Knights Hospitaller in the early sixteenth century. It includes extracts of every kind of written record of war: poetry, treaties, contemporary comment, official letters, instruction manuals, account books, regulations, battle orations, declarations of war, songs of triumph, and lamentations. There are writings by men and women, warriors and non-combatants. This is the essential primary-source handbook to medieval warfare."

—H.J. Nicholson, Cardiff University

From the Publisher

"A thoroughly enthralling collection of primary sources, which reveal the ever-changing but consistently traumatic effects of warfare over more than a thousand years of human history."

Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching - Ronald W. Braasch III

"A simply impressive work of collaborative scholarship, Medieval Warfare: A Reader must be considered an essential core addition to community, college, and university library Medieval Studies collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists."

Midwest Book Review

"In short, this is a truly superb source collection, one which is entirely suited to becoming the central point of reference for modules or courses on Medieval European military history."

The Medieval Review - Nicholas Morton