Early medieval commanders didn’t just learn war by doing—they read it, too, drawing on Roman military manuals, surveying handbooks, and historical case studies. From Charlemagne’s court school to copying Epitoma rei militaris and Strategemata, this article by David Bachrach shows how books helped train leaders for large-scale campaigns, sieges, and the complex logistics of medieval warfare.
By David Bachrach
It is well understood and broadly accepted that clerics in early medieval Europe learned from books and, indeed, that the written word was at the centre of education in both monasteries and cathedral schools. Although less studied, specialists in the history of architecture and engineering have made clear that the individuals charged with the construction of palaces and large churches, such as the octagonal chapel at Aachen that was built in the late eighth century for Charlemagne, drew extensively on mathematical texts and handbooks on construction. These works frequently were copied from Roman exemplars and often featured annotations and even new material based on current practice.
By contrast, there is a general conceit, even among some specialists in military history, that early medieval military commanders did not learn from the written word. This view ultimately derives from the assertion by the famed German military historian Hans Delbrück (died 1929) that the medieval period was bereft of military science. This diktat, backed by Delbrück’s enormous prestige and authority, was combined with the general conception of the early medieval period as a “dark age” in which the secular institutions of the later Roman Empire collapsed, and the great inheritance of knowledge was lost.
In place of sophisticated military leaders trained in the imperial tradition, early medieval military leaders were, and often still are, presented as illiterate barbarians who operated on the basis of feral cunning. They did not learn how to command in any formal sense but rather were born to leadership. In addition, many historians still labour under the assumption that warfare in the early medieval period was a simplistic affair in which a few hundred, or even a few score, warrior nobles raided their enemies in search of plunder and glory. Thus, instruction in the finer points of military science was more or less beside the point.
Charlemagne meeting Alcuin – British Library MS Royal 16 G VI f. 153v
However, this view of the state of military education, and of the conduct of warfare more broadly in early medieval Europe, is grossly in error. Most military operations in this period, and throughout the medieval millennium, were focused on the capture or defence of substantial fortifications, including erstwhile Roman fortress cities. Armies involved in these operations often numbered in the tens of thousands of troops engaged in campaigns lasting many months at a time.
A far from exhaustive list of the tasks required of military leaders in this period included: training men to use their arms, training men to operate cohesively in formation, learning and applying appropriate tactics on the field for archers, infantry formations, and mounted troops, choosing a battlefield, maintaining camp discipline and morale, making decisions about whom to promote, identifying marching routes with appropriate stopping locations to establish overnight camps with water and fodder, constructing marching camps, organising men for the march, maintaining proper security on the march, ensuring proper supply for men and animals, constructing siege equipment, constructing siege works, and defending a fortification against a besieging enemy.
Training for Command
Relics of Adalhard of Corbie – photo by Ybroc / Wikimedia Commons
When assessing how future military leaders in early medieval Europe obtained both the basic knowledge and more advanced skills necessary to carry out these tasks, it is helpful to consider the words of the Greek historian Polybius who spent 17 years as a hostage at Rome during the height of the Late Republic’s imperial conquests (167–150 BC). He argued that successful commanders learned in three ways: obtaining advice of men knowledgeable about war, learning directly by experience in the field, and by studying handbooks.
It is clear that youths who were intended for a career in the armies of early medieval Europe prepared in precisely these ways as well. Charlemagne famously educated his own sons in the artes liberales as well as having them trained in arms and equestrian exercises. In addition, he also established a school at court for youths to prepare them for imperial service, including as officers in the army. These youths were denoted by Charlemagne’s cousin Adalhard of Corbie in his handbook on the management of the royal court as discipuli who were organised in a specialised military unit (ordo) under the command of highly skilled teachers. Adalhard explained that the ordo of discipuli lived alongside the members of the ruler’s permanent military household (expediti milites).
Manuals, Measuring, and Military History
A page of the French translation of Frontinus’ „Strategemata“ by Jean de Rouvroy in the manuscript Brussels, Royal Library, Ms. 10475, fol. 115r. The miniature shows Pompey with his officers Servilius and Glaucia.
In addition to learning basic combat skills on foot and horseback, these youths required an extensive training in a wide range of topics that were necessary to undertake the myriad tasks of an officer in the army. Certainly, military manuals, such as Vegetius’ Epitoma rei militaris and Frontinus’ Strategemata, both of which were copied and used at the Carolingian court as well as the courts of many other rulers, played a role in this education. So too, however, did a wide variety of other manuals and handbooks. These included works such as the agrimensores, which were practical manuals on surveying. The information in such texts was essential for duties such as laying out a camp or measuring the distance to the walls of a fortification, to properly set out siege lines, and to emplace stone-throwing and spear-casting engines.
Equally important were works of history, which provided a vast number of examples of successful, and even more crucially, unsuccessful military operations. Charlemagne’s advisor Alcuin wrote to the ruler, for example, that: “it is very important for us to read in ancient books of history about the kind of strength that fighting men had so that the kind of wise temperament, which ought to be acted upon, shall guide and rule us in all things.”
Given the large-scale and sophisticated nature of warfare in early medieval Europe, it was necessarily the case that young men had to learn a vast amount in order to be effective leaders. In the western tradition of warfare, practical training in the field and learning from one’s elders was complemented with learning from books. This tradition did not come to an end with the dissolution of the Roman Empire any more than it did in regard to other areas of life that required the acquisition of both practical and theoretical knowledge.
David Bachrach is a Professor at the University of New Hampshire, where he researches medieval military history, particularly in England and Germany.
Top Image: A mid-9th century copy of Epitoma rei militaris, in a manuscript written for Lupus Servatus. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vaticanus Palatinus lat. 1572, fol. 62r.
Early medieval commanders didn’t just learn war by doing—they read it, too, drawing on Roman military manuals, surveying handbooks, and historical case studies. From Charlemagne’s court school to copying Epitoma rei militaris and Strategemata, this article by David Bachrach shows how books helped train leaders for large-scale campaigns, sieges, and the complex logistics of medieval warfare.
By David Bachrach
It is well understood and broadly accepted that clerics in early medieval Europe learned from books and, indeed, that the written word was at the centre of education in both monasteries and cathedral schools. Although less studied, specialists in the history of architecture and engineering have made clear that the individuals charged with the construction of palaces and large churches, such as the octagonal chapel at Aachen that was built in the late eighth century for Charlemagne, drew extensively on mathematical texts and handbooks on construction. These works frequently were copied from Roman exemplars and often featured annotations and even new material based on current practice.
By contrast, there is a general conceit, even among some specialists in military history, that early medieval military commanders did not learn from the written word. This view ultimately derives from the assertion by the famed German military historian Hans Delbrück (died 1929) that the medieval period was bereft of military science. This diktat, backed by Delbrück’s enormous prestige and authority, was combined with the general conception of the early medieval period as a “dark age” in which the secular institutions of the later Roman Empire collapsed, and the great inheritance of knowledge was lost.
In place of sophisticated military leaders trained in the imperial tradition, early medieval military leaders were, and often still are, presented as illiterate barbarians who operated on the basis of feral cunning. They did not learn how to command in any formal sense but rather were born to leadership. In addition, many historians still labour under the assumption that warfare in the early medieval period was a simplistic affair in which a few hundred, or even a few score, warrior nobles raided their enemies in search of plunder and glory. Thus, instruction in the finer points of military science was more or less beside the point.
However, this view of the state of military education, and of the conduct of warfare more broadly in early medieval Europe, is grossly in error. Most military operations in this period, and throughout the medieval millennium, were focused on the capture or defence of substantial fortifications, including erstwhile Roman fortress cities. Armies involved in these operations often numbered in the tens of thousands of troops engaged in campaigns lasting many months at a time.
A far from exhaustive list of the tasks required of military leaders in this period included: training men to use their arms, training men to operate cohesively in formation, learning and applying appropriate tactics on the field for archers, infantry formations, and mounted troops, choosing a battlefield, maintaining camp discipline and morale, making decisions about whom to promote, identifying marching routes with appropriate stopping locations to establish overnight camps with water and fodder, constructing marching camps, organising men for the march, maintaining proper security on the march, ensuring proper supply for men and animals, constructing siege equipment, constructing siege works, and defending a fortification against a besieging enemy.
Training for Command
When assessing how future military leaders in early medieval Europe obtained both the basic knowledge and more advanced skills necessary to carry out these tasks, it is helpful to consider the words of the Greek historian Polybius who spent 17 years as a hostage at Rome during the height of the Late Republic’s imperial conquests (167–150 BC). He argued that successful commanders learned in three ways: obtaining advice of men knowledgeable about war, learning directly by experience in the field, and by studying handbooks.
It is clear that youths who were intended for a career in the armies of early medieval Europe prepared in precisely these ways as well. Charlemagne famously educated his own sons in the artes liberales as well as having them trained in arms and equestrian exercises. In addition, he also established a school at court for youths to prepare them for imperial service, including as officers in the army. These youths were denoted by Charlemagne’s cousin Adalhard of Corbie in his handbook on the management of the royal court as discipuli who were organised in a specialised military unit (ordo) under the command of highly skilled teachers. Adalhard explained that the ordo of discipuli lived alongside the members of the ruler’s permanent military household (expediti milites).
Manuals, Measuring, and Military History
In addition to learning basic combat skills on foot and horseback, these youths required an extensive training in a wide range of topics that were necessary to undertake the myriad tasks of an officer in the army. Certainly, military manuals, such as Vegetius’ Epitoma rei militaris and Frontinus’ Strategemata, both of which were copied and used at the Carolingian court as well as the courts of many other rulers, played a role in this education. So too, however, did a wide variety of other manuals and handbooks. These included works such as the agrimensores, which were practical manuals on surveying. The information in such texts was essential for duties such as laying out a camp or measuring the distance to the walls of a fortification, to properly set out siege lines, and to emplace stone-throwing and spear-casting engines.
Equally important were works of history, which provided a vast number of examples of successful, and even more crucially, unsuccessful military operations. Charlemagne’s advisor Alcuin wrote to the ruler, for example, that: “it is very important for us to read in ancient books of history about the kind of strength that fighting men had so that the kind of wise temperament, which ought to be acted upon, shall guide and rule us in all things.”
Given the large-scale and sophisticated nature of warfare in early medieval Europe, it was necessarily the case that young men had to learn a vast amount in order to be effective leaders. In the western tradition of warfare, practical training in the field and learning from one’s elders was complemented with learning from books. This tradition did not come to an end with the dissolution of the Roman Empire any more than it did in regard to other areas of life that required the acquisition of both practical and theoretical knowledge.
David Bachrach is a Professor at the University of New Hampshire, where he researches medieval military history, particularly in England and Germany.
Click here to read more from David Bachrach
Further Readings:
Bernard S. Bachrach, “The Education of the ‘Office Corps’ in the Fifth and Sixth Centuries,” in La noblesse romaine et les chefs barbares, ed. Françoise Vallet and Michel Kazanski (Condé-sur-Norieau, 1995), 7-13.
David S. Bachrach, Warfare in Tenth-Century Germany (Woodbridge, 2003), particularly chapter 4.
Top Image: A mid-9th century copy of Epitoma rei militaris, in a manuscript written for Lupus Servatus. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vaticanus Palatinus lat. 1572, fol. 62r.
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