John France - Böcker

The monk Rodulfus Glaber is best known for his Five Books of Histories, a major source for events in the first half of the eleventh century, and valuable above all for revealing the mental furniture of an eleventh-century monk - for his account of the millennium, of relics genuine and false, of church-building, and visions of saints and demons. This edition, the first since 1866, presents the only critical text of the Histories, accompanied by a complete translation and a full historical commentary. Glaber also wrote a Life of his mentor, St William of Dijon, the renowned monastic reformer. The Life is reprinted after the Histories, again with translation and notes. The evidence for Glaber's life, and the value of his work are discussed in a Historical Introduction.

On 4 July 1187 the legendary Muslim leader Saladin destroyed the Crusader army of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem with a terrible slaughter at the battle of Hattin - and went on to restore the Holy City of Jerusalem to Islamic rule. The carnage at Hattin was the culmination of almost a century of religious wars between Christian and Muslim in the Holy Land. It had enormous consequences for the whole medieval world because it produced an intensification of holy war between Islam and Europe for over another century - and in retrospect marked the beginning of the end for the Crusader presence in the Middle East. In the 20th century memory of the battle was revived as a symbol of Arab hope for liberation from Crusader-Imperialism, and in the 21st it has become a rallying cry for radical Muslim fundamentalists in their struggle for the soul of Islam.In this new volume in the Great Battles series, John France analyses the origins and course of this pivotal battle, illuminating the roots of the bitter hatred which underlay it, and explains its significance in world history - from medieval times to the present.

This volume brings together a series of articles by John France, published over a span of more than forty years, covering a number of aspects of the military and crusading history of the Middle Ages, both in Europe and the Near East. An interest in understanding how war worked and why informs a first group of articles, ranging from Carolingian armies to the organisation of war in the 13th century. The focus then turns to the Crusades, the most ambitious conquests of the era, with a set of studies on the First Crusade and others on the manner and conduct of warfare in the territories of the Latin East. The volume also includes a major unpublished analysis, co-authored with Nicholas Morton, of the problems faced by the local Islamic powers in the early Crusading period, reminding us that an army is only as strong as its enemies permit, and suggesting that the crusaders should be seen in this light.

The Crusades and the Expansion of Catholic Christendom, 1000-1714 is a fascinating and accessible survey that places the medieval Crusades in their European context, and examines, for the first time, their impact on European expansion. Taking a unique approach that focuses on the motivation behind the Crusades, John France chronologically examines the whole crusading movement, from the development of a ‘crusading impulse’ in the eleventh century through to an examination of the relationship between the Crusades and the imperialist imperatives of the early modern period.France provides a detailed examination of the first Crusade, the expansion and climax of crusading during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and the failure and fragmentation of such practices in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Concluding with an assessment of the influence of the Crusades across history, and replete with illustrations, maps, timelines, guides for further reading, and a detailed list of rulers across Europe and the Muslim world, this study provides students with an essential guide to a central aspect of medieval history.

The Crusades and the Expansion of Catholic Christendom, 1000-1714 is a fascinating and accessible survey that places the medieval Crusades in their European context, and examines, for the first time, their impact on European expansion. Taking a unique approach that focuses on the motivation behind the Crusades, John France chronologically examines the whole crusading movement, from the development of a ‘crusading impulse’ in the eleventh century through to an examination of the relationship between the Crusades and the imperialist imperatives of the early modern period.France provides a detailed examination of the first Crusade, the expansion and climax of crusading during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and the failure and fragmentation of such practices in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Concluding with an assessment of the influence of the Crusades across history, and replete with illustrations, maps, timelines, guides for further reading, and a detailed list of rulers across Europe and the Muslim world, this study provides students with an essential guide to a central aspect of medieval history.

How can you off-balance your enemy? When is the best moment to deliver a counter-attack? What is the effect of shock action or defence in depth? Certain tactical concepts have stood the test of time. This ground-breaking book examines, in a series of case studies, 25 of the key tactics that have achieved victory through the ages. Drawing on examples of battles from around the globe, on land, at sea and in the air, and across history, the authors reveal the enduring value of each tactic in clear and compelling descriptions and analysis. General Robert E. Lee, although heavily outnumbered achieved a remarkable victory through an audacious flanking manoeuvre at Chancellorsville in 1863; the same bold move had been used over 600 years before by the king of France at Bouvines. For the Parthian general Surenas at Carrhae in 53 BC and again for Kitchener at Omdurman in 1989, an overwhelming concentration of firepower ensured a decisive outcome, while drawing the enemy led to victory both for Saladin at Hattin in 1187 and for the Russians against Napoleon in 1812. The book examines how Allied armies seized and retained the initiative through the airborne landings in Normandy in 1944, and how Soviet General Zhukov pierced enemy lines and penetrated in depth using Blitzkriegtactics in Mongolia in 1939. Evocative photographs, illustrations and paintings, and a series of specially commissioned battle plans complete this detailed study of the most successful tactics of all time. Written by leading experts, How to Win on the Battlefield will prove indispensable reading for historians, military enthusiasts and business leaders.

This is a major study of the ideas and practices involved in the making and breaking of peace treaties and truces from Classical Greece to the time of the Crusades. Leading specialists on war and peace in ancient and medieval history examine the creation of peace agreements, and explore the extent to which their terms could be manipulated to serve the interests of one side at the other's expense. The chapters discuss a wide range of uses to which treaties and other peace agreements were put by rulers and military commanders in pursuit of both individual and collective political aims. The book also considers the wider implications of these issues for our understanding of the nature of war and peace in the ancient and medieval periods. This broad-ranging account includes chapters on ancient Persia, the Roman and Byzantine Empires, Anglo-Saxon England and the Vikings.

The success of the First Crusade, and its capture of Jerusalem in 1099, has been conventionally explained in terms of its ideological and political motivation. This book looks at the First Crusade primarily as a military campaign and asks why it was so successful. Modern writing about the crusade has tended to emphasise the moral dimension and the development of the idea of the crusade, but its fate was ultimately decided on the field of battle. Victory in the East looks at the nature of war at the end of the eleventh century and the military experience of all the contending parties in order to explain its extraordinary success. It is the first such examination, taking into account all other factors but emphasising the military.

This is a major study of the ideas and practices involved in the making and breaking of peace treaties and truces from Classical Greece to the time of the Crusades. Leading specialists on war and peace in ancient and medieval history examine the creation of peace agreements, and explore the extent to which their terms could be manipulated to serve the interests of one side at the other's expense. The chapters discuss a wide range of uses to which treaties and other peace agreements were put by rulers and military commanders in pursuit of both individual and collective political aims. The book also considers the wider implications of these issues for our understanding of the nature of war and peace in the ancient and medieval periods. This broad-ranging account includes chapters on ancient Persia, the Roman and Byzantine Empires, Anglo-Saxon England and the Vikings.

The study of medieval warfare has developed enormously in recent years. The figure of the armoured mounted knight, who was believed to have materialized in Carolingian times, long dominated all discussion of the subject. It is now understood that the knight emerged over a long period of time and that he was never alone on the field of conflict. Infantry, at all times, played a substantial role in conflict, and the notion that they were in some way invented only in the fourteenth century is no longer sustainable. Moreover, modern writers have examined campaigns which for long seemed pointless because they did not lead to spectacular events like battles. As a result, we now understand the pattern of medieval war which often did not depend on battle but on exerting pressure on the opponent by economic warfare. This pattern was intensified by the existence of castles, and careful study has revealed much about their development and the evolving means of attacking them. Crusading warfare pitted westerners against a novel style of war and affords an opportunity to assess the military effectiveness of European methods. New areas of study are now developing. The logistics of medieval armies was always badly neglected, while until very recently there was a silence on the victims of war. Assembled in this volume are 31 papers which represent milestones in the development of the new ideas about medieval warfare, set in context by an introductory essay.

The articles in this volume explore the way in which military developments helped to sculpt, out of very strange and diverse components, our familiar Europe. The period studied covers the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the rise of the Carolingian Empire and its eventual collapse, leaving a vacuum in the heart of Europe into which flowed new forces: the Vikings from outside and the great lords from within.

This authoritative and concise work surveys the range of warfare in the high Middle Ages while reflecting on the society that produced these military struggles. The book brings together for the first time a wealth of information on such topics as knighthood, military organization, weaponry and fortifications, and warfare in the East. In 1095 with the launching of the First Crusade, Europeans established a great military endeavour to save the Holy Land, an undertaking that remained a central preoccupation until the end of the thirteenth century. While the expeditions that went forth to fight the Muslims involved armies of exceptional size, much of the warfare within western Europe itself was conducted by small armies on behalf of landowners who were often neighbours and kin. In his approach to his subject, John France considers political, social, and economic development in the age of the crusades. He emphasizes the significance of four factors in shaping medieval warfare: the dominance of land as a form of wealth, the limited competence of government, the state of technology that favoured defence over attack, and the geography and climate of western Europe. His coverage of the castle and the knight in armour depicts the role of landowners in producing these characteristic medieval instruments of war. In addition, France provides an extensive analysis of battles in which he reconstructs a series of encounters in superb detail.

I am full of admiration for this excellent story of the practice of warfare in the Central Middle Ages. It is a work of both scholarship and synthesis, full of insight, and communicated in an accessible and professional way. ―Norman Housley, University of LeicesterThis authoritative and concise work surveys the range of warfare in the high Middle Ages while reflecting on the society that produced these military struggles. The book brings together for the first time a wealth of information on such topics as knighthood, military organization, weaponry and fortifications, and warfare in the East.In 1095 with the launching of the First Crusade, Europeans established a great military endeavour to save the Holy Land, an undertaking that remained a central preoccupation until the end of the thirteenth century. While the expeditions that went forth to fight the Muslims involved armies of exceptional size, much of the warfare within western Europe itself was conducted by small armies on behalf of landowners who were often neighbours and kin. In his approach to his subject, John France considers political, social, and economic development in the age of the crusades. He emphasizes the significance of four factors in shaping medieval warfare: the dominance of land as a form of wealth, the limited competence of government, the state of technology that favoured defence over attack, and the geography and climate of western Europe. His coverage of the castle and the knight in armour depicts the role of landowners in producing these characteristic medieval instruments of war. In addition, France provides an extensive analysis of battles in which he reconstructs a series of encounters in superb detail.

This volume is concerned with the sources for the study of the Crusades, conceived in terms of the records of their history and of their enemies, the motives that inspired them, and the monuments which they left behind. Some of the studies analyse particular historical sources, both written and visual, for the events of the Crusades and the history of the Crusader states. Others look more broadly at the impact of the Crusading movement in the West, its origins and its propaganda, from the First Crusade to the time of Erasmus.

In 1095 the First Crusade was launched, establishing a great military endeavour which was a central preoccupation of Europeans until the end of the thirteenth century. In Western warfare in the age of the Crusades, 1000-1300 John France offers a wide-ranging and challenging survey of war and warfare and its place in the development of European Society, culture and economy in the period of the Crusades. Placing the crusades in a wider context, this book brings together the wealth of recent scholarly research on such issues as knighthood, siege warfare, chivalry and fortifications into an accessible form. Western warfare in the age of the Crusades, 1000-1300 examines the nature of war in the period 1000-1300 and argues that it was primarily shaped by the people who conducted war - the landowners. John France illuminates the role of property concerns in producing the characteristic instruments of war: the castle and the knight. This authoritative study details the way in which war was fought and the reasons for it as well as reflecting on the society which produced the crusades.

The study of medieval warfare has developed enormously in recent years. The figure of the armoured mounted knight, who was believed to have materialized in Carolingian times, long dominated all discussion of the subject. It is now understood that the knight emerged over a long period of time and that he was never alone on the field of conflict. Infantry, at all times, played a substantial role in conflict, and the notion that they were in some way invented only in the fourteenth century is no longer sustainable. Moreover, modern writers have examined campaigns which for long seemed pointless because they did not lead to spectacular events like battles. As a result, we now understand the pattern of medieval war which often did not depend on battle but on exerting pressure on the opponent by economic warfare. This pattern was intensified by the existence of castles, and careful study has revealed much about their development and the evolving means of attacking them. Crusading warfare pitted westerners against a novel style of war and affords an opportunity to assess the military effectiveness of European methods. New areas of study are now developing. The logistics of medieval armies was always badly neglected, while until very recently there was a silence on the victims of war. Assembled in this volume are 31 papers which represent milestones in the development of the new ideas about medieval warfare, set in context by an introductory essay.

From the author of Victory in the East: A Military History of the First Crusade, this book offers a wide-ranging and innovative survey of crusading warfare, and is intended as a standard reference for students and professional historians

This volume brings together a series of articles by John France, published over a span of more than forty years, covering a number of aspects of the military and crusading history of the Middle Ages, both in Europe and the Near East. An interest in understanding how war worked and why informs a first group of articles, ranging from Carolingian armies to the organisation of war in the 13th century. The focus then turns to the Crusades, the most ambitious conquests of the era, with a set of studies on the First Crusade and others on the manner and conduct of warfare in the territories of the Latin East. The volume also includes a major unpublished analysis, co-authored with Nicholas Morton, of the problems faced by the local Islamic powers in the early Crusading period, reminding us that an army is only as strong as its enemies permit, and suggesting that the crusaders should be seen in this light.

This book provides an overarching, comprehensive analysis of the French military in the medieval period. The focus is on the armies of the French monarchy and the lands close around them, extending from the Low Countries to Provence. Central themes include recruitment and payment; military organisation; leadership, strategy, and tactics; weapons and arms; chivalry, military culture, and the rise of military professionalism.

Highlights "the range and richness of scholarship on medieval warfare, military institutions, and cultures of conflict that characterize the field". History 95 (2010)Warfare on the periphery of Europe and across cultural boundaries is a particular focus of this volume. One article, on Castilian seapower, treats the melding of northern and southern naval traditions; another clarifies the military roles of the Ayyubid and Mamluk miners and stoneworkers in siege warfare; a third emphasizes cultural considerations in an Icelandic conflict; a fourth looks at how an Iberian prelate navigated the line between ecclesiastical and military responsibilities; and a fifth analyzes the different roles of early gunpowder weapons in Europe and China, linking technological history with the significance of human geography. Further contributions also consider technology, two dealing with fifteenth-century English artillery and the third with prefabricated mechanical artillery during the Crusades. Another theme of the volume is source criticism, with re-examinations of the sources for Owain Glyndwr's (possible) victory at Hyddgen in 1401, a (possible) Danish attack on England in 1128, and the role of non-milites in Salian warfare.Contributors: Nicolás Agrait, Tonio Andrade, David Bachrach, Oren Falk, Devin Fields, Michael S. Fulton, Thomas K. Heeboll-Holm, Rabei G. Khamisy, Michael Livingstone, Dan Spencer, L.J. Andrew Villalon

The Journal of Medieval Military History continues to consolidate its now assured position as the leading academic vehicle for scholarly publication in the field of medieval warfare. Medieval WarfareThis volume has a special focus on the topic of proxy actors and irregular forces in medieval warfare. John France and Jochen G. Schenk offer broad overviews: France addresses the military role of non-noble combatants and the significance of differences between medieval and modern ideas of the "legitimacy" of war-fighters, while Schenk applies a concept originating in political science - Mary Kaldor's idea of "New Wars" - to the conflicts of the Middle Ages, showing that in some ways, what is old is new again. Alex Mallett likewise ties the past to the present, comparing Muslim responses to the Crusades with modern responses to the Western-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Michael Lower and Mike Carr, meanwhile, examine important groups of foreign fighters employed by North African states and Byzantium.In addition, the volume encompasses a study of Anglo-Norman siege engines (by Michael Fulton), three pieces on war and politics in fourteenth-century Iberia (by Douglas Biggs, Donald Kagay, and L.J. Andrew Villalon), and David Green's magisterial survey of imperial policy and military practice in the Plantagenet dominions in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.Contributors: Douglas Biggs, Mike Carr, Michael S. Fulton, David Green, Donald Kagay, Michael Lower, Alex Mallett, Jochen Schenk, Andrew Villalon

The Journal of Medieval Military History continues to consolidate its now assured position as the leading academic vehicle for scholarly publication in the field of medieval warfare. Medieval WarfareThe articles here offer a wide range of approaches to medieval warfare. They include traditional studies of strategy (on Baybars) and the logistics of Edward II's wars, as well as cultural history (an examination of chivalry in Guy of Warwick) intellectual history (a broad analysis of strategic theory in the Middle Ages), and social history (on knightly training in arms). The Hundred Years War is studied using cutting-edge methodology (data-drivenanalysis of skirmishes) and by tackling relatively new areas of inquiry (environmental history). There is also a close reading of Carolingian documents, which sheds new light on armies and warfare in the time of Charles the Great.Contributors: Ronald W. Braasch III, Pierre Galle, Walter Goffart, Carl I. Hammer, John Hosler, Rabei G. Khamisy, Ilana Krug, Danny Lake-Giguère, Brian Price.

The Journal of Medieval Military History continues to consolidate its now assured position as the leading academic vehicle for scholarly publication in the field of medieval warfare. Medieval WarfareThis volume focuses on two of the most vibrant areas of research in the field: Crusader studies and the warfare of the Late Middle Ages, embracing a diversity of approaches. Chapters look at the battle of Tell Bashir (1108) in thecontext of Saljuq politics; the defenses of 'Altit castle, one of the Templars' strongest fortifications, from an archaeological perspective; the involvement of the Military Orders in secular conflicts, particularly in Europe; and how royal women affected and were affected by the wars of Castile and the Crown of Aragon in the fourteenth century. Fencing competitions are used to explore masculinity and status in Strasbourg from the late Middle Ages into the early modern period, and key aspects of the actual conduct of warfare in the fifteenth century come under detailed scrutiny: the role of cavalry in turning the Hundred Years War in favour of the French, and the logistical and procurement difficulties and methods involved in fielding a Florentine army in 1498. The volume is completed with a translation and discussion of Guillaume Guiart's rich description of a French royal army on the march and in camp atthe start of the fourteenth century.Contributors: Fabrizio Ansani, Drew Bolinger, Oliver Dupuis, Ehud Galili, Michael Harbinson, Donald J. Kagay, Michael Livingston, Ken Mondschein, Helen J. Nicholson, Avrahem Ronen,Andrew L.J. Villalon

The Journal of Medieval Military History continues to consolidate its now assured position as the leading academic vehicle for scholarly publication in the field of medieval warfare. Medieval WarfareThis volume continues to reflect the vibrancy and diversity of the field, through the rich variety of topics and methodologies its chapters treat, and its geographical and chronological range. It includes an analytical narrative of the eastern campaigns of Henry II (1003-1017), demonstrating the strength and sophistication of German military institutions in this early period; a social-history approach to the First Crusade, looking at how European trends towards increasing political participation by the common people played out in the crusading army; an argument for radical change in Scandinavian naval warfare in the thirteenth century, including tactical innovations and the use of new types of large warships; and a toponymonographical approach to the continued presence of Pecheneg soldiers employing steppe tactics in Hungary in the thirteenth century. There are also essays on the sources used by English and French chroniclers to describe battles; the use of practical experimentation to determine the importance of different types of soft armor in helping mail to resist arrows; the role and importance of cavalry in the siege-based warfare of the later Hundred Years War; and the siege of Pisa in 1499, drawing on archival records to illustrate the logistical challenges facing the besiegers. The volume also includes freshly re-examined and re-edited manuscript texts of late-medieval gunpowder recipes.

The leading academic vehicle for scholarly publication in the field of medieval warfare. Medieval WarfareThe articles here focus on activities in north-western Europe, with a reconsideration of the location of the battle of Stamford Bridge (1066), an examination of the role of open battles in the civil wars of the Anglo-Norman and Angevin kings, a re-assessment of the strategy of Edward I's war against Philip IV in 1297-98, and an analysis of the role of cavalry "coureurs" in late-medieval France. But regions further to the south and east are by no means neglected, with a dissection of the military rhetoric of Pere III of Aragon and his queen, Elionor of Sicily, and a discussion of the earliest European gunpowder recipes, from Friuli (1336) and Augsburg (1338- c. 1350). The volume also offers studies of the campaigns culminating in the battles of Firad in 634 and Qinnasrīn in 1134.

"The leading academic vehicle for scholarly publication in the field of medieval warfare." Medieval WarfareThe essays in this volume of the Journal continue its proud tradition of presenting cutting-edge research with a wide chronological and geographical range, from eleventh-century Georgia (David IV's use of the methods described in De velitatione bellica) to fifteenth-century England and France (a detailed analysis of the use of the under-appreciated lancegay and similar weapons). Iberia and the Empire are also addressed, with a study of Aragonese leaders in the War of the Two Pedros, a discussion of Prince Ferdinand's battle-seeking strategy prior to the battle of Toro in 1476, and an analysis and transcription of a newly-discovered Habsburg battle plan of the early sixteenth century, drawn up for the war against Venice. The volume also embraces different approaches, from cultural-intellectual history (the afterlife of the medieval Christian Warrior), to experimental archaeology (the mechanics of raising trebuchets), to comparison of "the face of battle" in a medieval illuminated manuscript with its depiction in modern films, to archivally-based administrative history (recruitment among the sub-gentry for Edward I's armies). Contributors: David S. Bachrach, Daniel Bertrand, Peter Burkholder, Ekaitz Etxeberria Gallastegi, Michael John Harbinson, Steven Isaac, Donald J. Kagay, Tomaž Lazar, Mamuka Tsurtsumia

"The leading academic vehicle for scholarly publication in the field of medieval warfare." Medieval WarfareThe twenty-first volume of the Journal of Medieval Military History begins with three studies examining aspects of warfare in the Latin East: an archaeological report on the defenses of Jerusalem by Shimon Gibson and Rafael Y. Lewis; a study of how military victories and defeats (viewed through the lens of carefully shaped reporting) affected the reputation, and the flow of funds and recruits to, the Military Orders, by Nicolas Morton; and an exploration of how the Kingdom of Jerusalem quickly recovered its military strength after the disaster of Hattin by Stephen Donnachie. Turning to the other side of the Mediterranean, Donald J. Kagay analyzes how Jaime I of Aragon worked to control violence within his realms by limiting both castle construction and the use of mechanical artillery. Guilhem Pépin also addresses the limitation of violence, using new documents to show that the Black Prince's sack of Limoges in 1370 was not the unrestrained bloodbath described by Froissart. The remaining three contributions deal with aspects of open battle. Michael John Harbinson offers a large-scale study of when and why late-medieval men-at-arms chose to dismount and fight on foot instead of acting tactically as cavalry. Laurence W. Marvin reconsiders the Battle of Bouvines, concluding that it was far from being a ritualized mass duel. Finally, Michael Livingston elucidates some principles for understanding medieval battles in general, and the battle of Agincourt in particular.

This book provides an overarching, comprehensive analysis of the French military in the medieval period. The focus is on the armies of the French monarchy and the lands close around them, extending from the Low Countries to Provence. Central themes include recruitment and payment; military organisation; leadership, strategy, and tactics; weapons and arms; chivalry, military culture, and the rise of military professionalism.