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Military History Archive
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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. -
The Conquest of Wales (1282)
Posted on January 20, 2013 | No CommentsThat was when an English king, Edward the First, sent an army along this route I'm travelling now. He conquered Wales, he built castles as symbols of his power, and he shipped in English settlers to exploit this land. And the Welsh became second-class citizens in their own country. -
The man who lost at Stirling Bridge
Posted on January 19, 2013 | No CommentsThe Battle of Stirling Bridge, fought on September 11, 1297, is remembered as one Scotland's greatest military victories and the high point in the career of William Wallace. A new article now explores the other side of that battle, seeking to understand how the English lost that day. -
A Burgundian Death: The tournament in Le Chevalier Délibéré
Posted on January 18, 2013 | No CommentsLe Chevalier Délibéré (1483) by Olivier de la Marche (c. 1425-1502) is a poem of great literary value. But it was also conceived and received in a historical context. Its central theme, the tournament of Atropos (Death), reflects the spectacle of choice for the Burgundian Nobility of the fifteenth century: the tournament, specifically the Pas d'Armes. -
The patronage of the Templars and of the Order of St. Lazarus in England in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
Posted on January 15, 2013 | No CommentsThe religious revival of the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries saw the rise of a host of new orders ranging from the Cistercians and Carthusians to the Augustinian and Premonstratensian canons. In addition, it also saw the development of the Military Orders which originated in the Holy Land after the capture of Jerusalem in 1099, and fulfilled a mixture of military, hospitaller, religious and political functions. -
Questioning the Accepted Techniques for Sword-Forging in Anglo-Saxon England and in Frankish Europe
Posted on January 14, 2013 | No CommentsFrankish swords were absolutely crucial to the rise of the Carolingian empire and they played a major role in Afro-Eurasian commerce during this period. -
The English Soldier in the Campaign of Agincourt
Posted on January 13, 2013 | No CommentsThe field between the English and French was open, devoid of hedges, thickets, valleys, ravines, or other obstacles, and had been chosen by the French themselves. For our purpose the country was like a table; rarely is a battlefield so simple and easy to describe. -
The Papal Bulls for the Invasions of England and Ireland
Posted on January 13, 2013 | No CommentsJohn has represented his master's enterprise in the very best light, making him out as an enthusiast for the reformation of the lax moral and ecclesiastical condition of Ireland. -
The Trebuchet
Posted on January 13, 2013 | No CommentsRecent reconstructions and computer simulations reveal the operating principles of the most powerful weapon of its time -
The Scottish wars of Edward III, 1327-1338
Posted on January 13, 2013 | No CommentsThis thesis deals with the events of the Anglo-Scottish wars of the 1330s and the English military machine that allowed Edward III to win numerous successes against the Scots yet was unable to secure a permanent conquest of any portion of Scotland save Berwick-upon Tweed. -
The Effect of Killing the Christian Prisoners at the Battle of Nicopolis
Posted on January 7, 2013 | No CommentsThe Ottoman Turks acted against the customary laws of war, which bound both Christians and Muslims even when fighting one another: no prisoner of war was ever to be executed, especially if he was a noble! -
The Battle of Beroia: A Byzantine ‘Face of Battle’
Posted on January 7, 2013 | No CommentsIt was by reading John Keegan’s Face of Battle that I discovered that it was possible to write military history that was both intellectually rigorous and engaging to read. -
The Use of Gunpowder Weapons in the Wars of the Roses
Posted on January 7, 2013 | No CommentsDuring the fourteenth century, while continental gunpowder holdings were largely in local control England's gunpowder weaponry never fell under a similar local control, but was always exclusively a royal possession. -
Tournament Culture in the Low Countries and England
Posted on January 6, 2013 | No CommentsIn England and the Low Countries towards the end of the thirteenth century, a common chivalric culture had emerged which permitted exchanges and mutual participation in tournaments on both sides of the Channel. -
Excavating All Saints: a medieval church rediscovered
Posted on January 1, 2013 | No CommentsWhen excavations started at the site of the ‘lost’ church of All Saint’s in York, archaeologists knew they would find burials. What they found was much more than expected: an Anchoress and the remains of soldiers who helped Oliver Cromwell take the city at the Siege of York in 1644. Lauren McIntyre and Graham Bruce explain the evidence. -
Early European Longswords: Evidence of Form and Function
Posted on December 27, 2012 | No CommentsThe longsword probably first arose somewhere in Germany (i.e. Holy Roman Empire) and eventually spread via migratory innovation and/or native industry to England, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, France, Switzerland, Italy, Benelux, Iberia, Poland, Bohemia, Prussia and Baltica. -
Holy War as a theme in World History: A Prolegomenon to Further Research
Posted on December 26, 2012 | No CommentsMy new research, which goes far beyond the theology and practice of holy war within Christianity and Islam, is still in its early stages, but today I propose to offer some preliminary thoughts on holy war as a global phenomenon and, as time allows, to discuss in a bit of detail the crusades. -
Querimonia desolacionis terre sancte – The fall of Acre and the Holy Land in 1291 as an emotional element in the Teutonic Order tradition
Posted on December 24, 2012 | No CommentsThose Military Orders − the Templars, Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights, along with other Military Orders, had shed their blood across the Latin Kingdom and suffered many casualties in the final siege which took place in Acre between March and May 1291. -
Late Medieval Scottish Swords: Strength and Balance from the North
Posted on December 22, 2012 | No CommentsLike the warriors who wielded them, late medieval Scottish swords were distinctive and deadly. The cutting power of these weapons was awesome, and some were reckoned better even than the blades of Gaelic legend. -
Sir Thomas Gray’s Scalacronica: a medieval chronicle and its historical and literary context
Posted on December 20, 2012 | No CommentsSir Thomas Gray's Scalacronica is almost unique amongst medieval English chronicles in having been written by a knight, and it is therefore surprising that so little work has been done on it; this thesis attempts to remedy that omission. -
King and magnate in medieval Ireland: Walter de Lacy, King Richard and King John
Posted on December 17, 2012 | No CommentsPerhaps the best way to capture the essence of the relationship between Richard, John and their magnates is to focus on one such relationship and to analyse the changes it underwent over the twenty-seven years the two brothers ruled England. The career of Walter de Lacy provides an excellent opportunity for such an analysis. -
Tolkien’s Heroic Criticism: A Developing Application of Anglo-Saxon Ofermod to the Monsters of Modernity
Posted on December 12, 2012 | No CommentsThe structure of this study follows the development of Tolkien’s social criticism and heroic aesthetic. The study begins by looking at some biographical elements of Tolkien’s life and how those elements shaped the creation of Tolkien’s anti-hero, the Hobbit. -
Scourges of God: A General Comparison of Tamerlane and Hulagu in the History of Baghdad
Posted on December 11, 2012 | No CommentsThe sacking of Baghdad earned both Hulagu and Tamerlane the epithet 'scourge of God', though it will be shown that Hulagu‟s reputation has suffered more, acting as the scapegoat for later failings of Muslim empires. -
“We Have Met Devils!”: The Almogavars of James I and Peter III of Catalonia-Aragon
Posted on December 9, 2012 | No CommentsWho were these Almogavars, who were able to defeat these heavily-armed and highly-trained knights? Why were they consistently effective against all who came before them? How were they utilized by James I the Conqueror (1213-1276) and his son Peter III the Great (1276-1285), count-kings of Catalonia-Aragon, to further the interests of their realm? These are the questions that this paper will attempt to answer.