Military History Archive
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English Writings on Chivalry and Warfare during the Hundred Years War
Posted on May 18, 2013 | No CommentsAlongside the Old Testament stories of famous warriors like Joshua and Judas Maccabeus, these chivalric tales were to provide Oldcastle with the appropriate models for knightly behaviour that would, in turn, restore him to the path of heterodoxy. -
William the Conqueror and the Channel Crossing of 1066
Posted on May 16, 2013 | No CommentsWilliam the Conqueror waited several weeks before making his maritime crossing of the English Channel in 1066 - was he hampered by weathered or did the Norman Duke intentionally remain in Normandy, hoping that events in Anglo-Saxon England would turn to his favour? -
The Hundred Years War as a Siege War
Posted on May 10, 2013 | No CommentsKelly DeVries aims to correct some misperceptions about the Hundred Years War, and argues that war between England and France, fought from 1337 to 1453, was mostly a war of sieges. -
Welsh Poetry and the War of the Roses
Posted on May 5, 2013 | No CommentsThis is a brief summary of a paper on Welsh poetry, patronage and politics. It was given at the Celtic Studies Association of North America Annual Conference at the University of Toronto April 18 - 21, 2013. -
Late Medieval Attitudes on the Evil in Warfare: Honoré Bouvet’s Arbre des batailles and its Sources
Posted on May 2, 2013 | No CommentsMy approach in this paper will be to look at Bouvet’s view on the nature of warfare under these broad guidelines, and to treat them as a part of the greater tradition of medieval thought that was fed simulatenously by both pagan and Christian writings. -
War and Peace in the Works of Chaucer and his Contemporaries
Posted on May 1, 2013 | No CommentsBut whenever authors of work on chivalry and war during the Middle Ages have tried to determine the exact historical influence and result of chivalric ideals, they have run into difficulties. That is why there are such widely varying hypotheses concerning the 'Golden Age' of chivalry. -
The Possible Reasons for the Arab-Khazar Wars
Posted on April 28, 2013 | No CommentsFrom the middle of the 7th century until the second half of the 8th century, the Arab-Khazar wars were fought by the Umayyad, and later by the Abassid Caliphate against the regional power, the Khazar Khaganate. -
Captain of Fortune: Galeazzo da Montova
Posted on April 20, 2013 | No CommentsEqually part knight and part bandit, the profession of condottiero created opportunity and social mobility unlike anything seen in the rest of Europe -
Fiore dei Liberi’s Armizare: The Chivalric Martial Arts System of Il Fior di Battaglia
Posted on April 20, 2013 | No CommentsIn this book, Robert Charrette brings together his experiences as a martial artist and respected 14th century living historian with his skills as a professional author graphic artist to not only take readers on a walking tour of Master Fiore’s manuscripts, but into the mindset behind its creation. -
Muslim Perspectives on the Military Orders during the Crusades
Posted on April 15, 2013 | No CommentsWhat caused the particular enmity between Saladin and the Templars and Hospitallers? To understand this situation one must begin with examination of Muslim perspectives on monasticism in general. -
Late Antique and Early Byzantine fortifications in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Posted on April 15, 2013 | No CommentsGeographically, the province of Dalmatia can be divided into two zones: the coastal and the mountainous regions. -
Science, warfare and society in the Renaissance, with particular reference to fortification theory
Posted on April 14, 2013 | No CommentsThe new style of fortification was accompanied, in the second half of the 16th century, by the publication of a relatively large number of treatises on the art. -
“Of Arms and Men”: Siege and Battle Tactics in the Catalan Grand Chronicles (1208-1387)
Posted on April 9, 2013 | No CommentsWhat was the nature of combat as then practiced by the Aragonese? Who and what was involved? How were the practicalities of battle realized on the field? -
The Battle of Yarmuk
Posted on April 8, 2013 | No CommentsOn August 20, 636 AD, a battle was fought in Syria between the Roman army and a Saracen force made up of allied Arab tribes which during the previous decade had been converted to the new monotheistic religion of the prophet Mohammed. -
The Welsh soldier: 1283-1422
Posted on April 8, 2013 | No CommentsThe present thesis is a study of the reality – and the myth – of the ‘Welsh soldier’ in the later middle ages. -
Hard and Soft Power on the Eastern Frontier
Posted on April 7, 2013 | No CommentsThis paper considers historical perspectives on recently discovered archaeological evidence in what was the sixth-century Roman-Persian frontier region. -
Colonization activities in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem
Posted on March 24, 2013 | No CommentsThe following paper is an attempt to describe one important feature of the social and economic problems of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem: The colonization activities of the Crusaders in the Holy Land. -
Interpreting Warfare and Knighthood in Late Medieval France: Writers and Their Sources in the Reign of King Charles VI (1380-1422)
Posted on March 10, 2013 | No CommentsRomances provided the basis of a particular kind of view of knighthood and warfare that was very influential on other literature concerning knights and warfare, as much as it was on real life practices and attitudes. -
Scandinavian late Viking Age art styles as a part of the visual display of warriors in 11th-century Estonia
Posted on February 24, 2013 | No CommentsArtefacts decorated in Scandinavian Late Viking Age art styles have been known for a long time in the Estonian archaeological material, and were first published as early as 1914 by Max Ebert; a more comprehensive overview was given in 1929 by Birger Nerman. The finds include silver-plated and sometimes partially gilded weapons, as well as belt and scabbard fittings, plaques, and only a few pieces of jewellery. -
The Wendish Crusade of 1147
Posted on February 17, 2013 | No CommentsThe so-called Wendish Crusade of 1147 was actually part of the Second Crusade of the same time period. It was fought on German soil, largely by Saxon Germans (some Danes as well) against the pagan tribes of Wends -
Solem a Tergo Reliquit: The Troublesome Battle of Bosworth Field
Posted on February 10, 2013 | No CommentsThe first major point upon which we disagree concerns the nature of existing evidence about the Battle. Richardson points to a number of sources, but the central problem here is that, with one ex- ception, they are not contemporary with the Battle itself. -
The Danish attacks on London and Southwark in ‘1016’
Posted on January 28, 2013 | No CommentsThis incident has been fatally embroidered by many local historians, taking their cue from various sources, so that the popular accounts have distorted what was already a confusing set of events. -
How useful is Blind Hary’s ‘The Wallace’ as a source for the study of chivalry in late medieval Scotland?
Posted on January 26, 2013 | No CommentsWhat scholars consider to have constituted a chivalric attitude needs to be considered at this point. To live the chivalrous life was to seek to imitate the great deeds of others, which could be learned from the extensive literature that dealt with the idea of knighthood. In chivalric literature, the knight was expected to have a strong sense of personal honour and had to be willing to defend it against affronts -
Ransoming prisoners of war became widespread in the Hundred Years War, new book finds
Posted on January 24, 2013 | No Comments'There is widespread evidence to suggest that during the 15th century the practice of ransom is increasingly extended to commoners, not just kings or chivalrous knights.' -
Women, children and the profits of war
Posted on January 24, 2013 | No CommentsThroughout the middle ages when men went to war, they expected to make a profit, to take plunder and capture prisoners.
