| GRothwell | 04 Jan 2017 2:26 p.m. PST |
The Middle Ages are not really my period. I would appreciate suggestions for good books about warfare in the period. For example, is Oman's two volume history still worth reading?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions. |
| agrippavips | 04 Jan 2017 4:11 p.m. PST |
This is a good one. Just finished it. Got it in my Public Library. "The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England" link |
| agrippavips | 04 Jan 2017 4:14 p.m. PST |
Getting this next from the library. Crusading Warfare, 1097-1193 (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: New Series) 2nd Edition link |
| JasonAfrika | 04 Jan 2017 4:44 p.m. PST |
R.C.Smail's Crusading Warfare as stated above is an absolute MUST! The hardback is only 63 CENTS on Amazon! Cheap at 10 times the price! |
| DeHewes | 04 Jan 2017 5:05 p.m. PST |
John France's Western Warfare on the Age of the Crusades |
Gunfreak  | 05 Jan 2017 10:49 a.m. PST |
J.F Verburger's the art of warfare in Western Europe during the middle ages. It takes to task among other Oman. By showing medieval warfare was not some fall from strategy and tactics. But shows knights and commanders. Trained and adapted well to changing circumstances. And that knights where highly trained in unit fighting and not just single minded warriors out to show how was best, but disciplined "soldiers". It also show quite complex cooperation between cavalry and infantry. |
| DucDeGueldres | 05 Jan 2017 12:03 p.m. PST |
War in the Middle Ages by Contamine.
The Froissart Chronicles.
Various books by George Duby. |
| Gone Fishing | 05 Jan 2017 3:12 p.m. PST |
I'm sure it's shorter than you're looking for, but a good nutshell treatment (albeit focused on Agincourt) can be found in The Face of Battle by John Keegan. There he discusses some of the worm's-eye issues facing the common men at the time. Again, it's only twenty-some pages, but if you have it on your shelf it is quite informative. |
| Great War Ace | 05 Jan 2017 6:19 p.m. PST |
Good recommendations of some core classics, above. Oman remains a must. So many other authors refer to him, even disparagingly, that you really need to read his two-volume treatment of medieval warfare. Yes, he generalizes about the "fall of infantry" and the "age of cavalry" (beginning somewhat arbitrarily at the battle of Adrianople where Valens died). But his well narrated battles belie his own assertions: knights in many of them do well and even perform sophisticated tactics, while the good infantry are almost too often to mention. It seems that only in "France" does his assertion that infantry went into an almost total eclipse apply at all. |
| Thomas Thomas | 06 Jan 2017 11:11 a.m. PST |
The medieval period is to large and has too many tactical nuances to be reduced to one volume. Just sticking to Europe covers a lot of ground. Oman is useful but must now be used with some caution as modern scholorship has overtaken some of his battle naratives. The best survey for the "high middle ages" (1300-1500) in Europe is still the Great Warbow by Hardy and Strictkland. Any work by John France is good for prior periods. Froissart is sort of a war correspondent for the period – a great essential read but requiring some back ground to appreciate. Any work by Clifford Rogers or Anne Curry is highly recommended but they also focus on the 100 year war. Johnathon Sumptions multi-volume work on the 100 years war is magnficiant but dense and a bit overwhelming for a beginner. This is why Oman hangs on – there just isn't another general survey work covering as much ground (Delbruck being even more dated). TomT |
shows how using inks makes it easier to paint a 15mm scale army.
