Bloodied Banners

Author: Robert W. Jones
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1843835614
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 230

Book Description
Groundbreaking reassessment of the role played by armour, weapons and heraldry in medieval warfare, showing their cultural as well as military significance. `A penetrating investigation of medieval martial display... The reader is struck by its originality, and by its sophisticated and critical interpretative engagement with historical and literary sources. Particularly notable is the author's subtle exploration of the function of armour: not only its practical role, but as a form of display... A refreshingly different approach to the world of the medieval combatant and his place within that "host of many colours" that was a medieval army, it adds a new dimension to our understanding of medieval warfare.' Dr ANDREW AYTON, Senior Lecturer in History, University of Hull The medieval battlefield was a place of spectacle and splendour. The fully-armed knight, bedecked in his vivid heraldic colours, mounted on his great charger, riding out beneath his brightly-painted banner, is a stock image of war and the warrior in the middle ages. Yet too often the significance of such display has been ignored or dismissed as the empty preening of a militaristic social elite. Drawing on a broad range of source material and using innovative historical approaches, this book completely re-evaluates the way that such men and their weapons were viewed, showing that martial display was a vital part of the way in which war was waged in the middle ages. It maintains that heraldry and livery served not only to advertise a warrior's family and social ties, but also announced his presence on the battlefield and right to wage war. It also considers the physiological and psychological effect of wearing armour, both on the wearer and those facing him in combat, arguing that the need for display in battle was deeper than any medieval cultural construct and was based in the fundamental biological drives of threat and warning. ROBERT W. JONES gained his PhD from Cardiff University.

The Encyclopedia of War, 5 Volume Set

Author: Gordon Martel
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 140519037X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 2973

Book Description
This ground-breaking 5-volume reference is a comprehensive print and electronic resource covering the history of warfare from ancient times to the present day, across the entire globe. Arranged in A-Z format, the Encyclopedia provides an overview of the most important events, people, and terms associated with warfare - from the Punic Wars to the Mongol conquest of China, and the War on Terror; from the Ottoman Sultan, Suleiman ‘the Magnificent’, to the Soviet Military Commander, Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov; and from the crossbow to chemical warfare. Individual entries range from 1,000 to 6,000 words with the longer, essay-style contributions giving a detailed analysis of key developments and ideas. Drawing on an experienced and internationally diverse editorial board, the Encyclopedia is the first to offer readers at all levels an extensive reference work based on the best and most recent scholarly research. The online platform further provides interactive cross-referencing links and powerful searching and browsing capabilities within the work and across Wiley-Blackwell’s comprehensive online reference collection. Learn more at www.encyclopediaofwar.com. Selected by Choice as a 2013 Outstanding Academic Title Recipient of a 2012 PROSE Award honorable mention

Elite Participation in the Third Crusade

Author: Stephen Bennett
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1783275782
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 465

Book Description
The motivations behind those who went on the Third Crusade examined through close investigation of their social networks.

John of Salisbury

Author: John Hosler
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004251472
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 239

Book Description
The English scholar John of Salisbury was a major intellectual of the twelfth century whose contributions to the fields of education, grammar, political theory, and rhetoric are well-known. His significance is amplified further in John of Salisbury: Military Authority of the Twelfth-Century Renaissance, in which John D. Hosler examines his heretofore overlooked contributions to the ideals and practice of medieval warfare. This book surveys an array of military topics present within John’s extant corpus, including generalship, strategy, tactics, logistics, military organization, and training; it also collates John’s military lexicon and charts the influence of classical texts upon his conceptualization of war. John of Salisbury, it argues, deserves inclusion in the roll-call of military theoreticians and writers of pre-Reformation Europe.

Conflict in Fourteenth-Century Iberia

Author: Donald J. Kagay
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004425055
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 639

Book Description
In Conflict in Fourteenth-Century Iberia Donald Kagay and Andrew Villalon explore the background, administrative, diplomatic, economic, and military results, and the aftermath of the War of the Two Pedros between Castile and the Crown of Aragon (1356-1366) and the Castilian Civil War (1366-1369).

Warfare in the Norman Mediterranean

Author: Georgios Theotokis
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1783275219
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 267

Book Description
Analyses of different aspects of the history of warfare in the Mediterranean in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

Military Society and the Court of Chivalry in the Age of the Hundred Years War

Author: Philip J. Caudrey
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1783273771
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Book Description
An investigation into three of the best-known cases tried under the Court of Chivalry reveals much about gentry military society.

Siege of Acre, 1189-1191

Author: John D. Hosler
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300235356
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 279

Book Description
The first comprehensive history of the most decisive military campaign of the Third Crusade and one of the longest wartime sieges of the Middle Ages The two-year-long siege of Acre (1189–1191) was the most significant military engagement of the Third Crusade, attracting armies from across Europe, Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Maghreb. Drawing on a balanced selection of Christian and Muslim sources, historian John D. Hosler has written the first book-length account of this hard-won victory for the Crusaders, when England’s Richard the Lionheart and King Philip Augustus of France joined forces to defeat the Egyptian Sultan Saladin. Hosler’s lively and engrossing narrative integrates military, political, and religious themes and developments, offers new perspectives on the generals, and provides a full analysis of the tactical, strategic, organizational, and technological aspects on both sides of the conflict. It is the epic story of a monumental confrontation that was the centerpiece of a Holy War in which many thousands fought and died in the name of Christ or Allah.

Geoffrey Chaucer in Context

Author: Ian Johnson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107035643
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 499

Book Description
Provides a rich and varied reference resource, illuminating the different contexts for Chaucer and his work.

Living by the Sword

Author: Kristen Brooke Neuschel
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501752146
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Book Description
Sharpen your knowledge of swords with Kristen B. Neuschel as she takes you through a captivating 1,000 years of French and English history. Living by the Sword reveals that warrior culture, with the sword as its ultimate symbol, was deeply rooted in ritual long before the introduction of gunpowder weapons transformed the battlefield. Neuschel argues that objects have agency and that decoding their meaning involves seeing them in motion: bought, sold, exchanged, refurbished, written about, displayed, and used in ceremony. Drawing on evidence about swords (from wills, inventories, records of armories, and treasuries) in the possession of nobles and royalty, she explores the meanings people attached to them from the contexts in which they appeared. These environments included other prestige goods such as tapestries, jewels, and tableware—all used to construct and display status. Living by the Sword draws on an exciting diversity of sources from archaeology, military and social history, literature, and material culture studies to inspire students and educated lay readers (including collectors and reenactors) to stretch the boundaries of what they know as the "war and culture" genre.