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Volume III of 'De Re Militari's' annual journal once again ranges broadly in its chronological and geographic scope, from John France's article on the evidence which early medieval Saints' Lives provide concerning warfare to Sergio Mantovani's examination of the letters of an Italian captain at the very end of the middle ages, and from Spain [Nicolas Agrait's study of early-fourteenth-century Castilian military structures] to the eastern Danube [Carroll Gillmor's surprising explanation for one of Charlemagne's greatest setbacks]. Thematic approaches range from 'traditional', though revisionist in content, campaign analyses [of Sir Thomas Dagworth, by Clifford J. Rogers, and of Matilda of Tuscany, by Valerie Eads], to tightly focused studies of a single document [Kelly DeVries on militia logistics in the fifteenth century], to controversial, must-read assessments of the broadest topics in medieval military history [Stephen Morillo and Richard Abels on change vs. continuity from Roman times; J.F. Verbruggen on the importance of cavalry.] CONTRIBUTORS: RICHARD ABELS, NICOLAS AGRAIT, KELLY DEVRIES, VALERIE EADS, JOHN FRANCE, CARROLL GILLMOR, SERGIO MANTOVANI, STEPHEN MORILLO, CLIFFORD J. ROGERS

This 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 broad topic of medieval warfare is here explored across the full chronological range of the Middle Ages, using a wide variety of approaches, including literary, prosopographical, technological, and narrative-based analysis. A key feature of the journal is its commitment to fostering debate on the most significant issues in medieval military history; that tradition is continued here with Bernard Bachrach's argument against the idea that early medieval military structures and practices were sharply different from Late Antique ones. Individual battles, the Hattin campaign of 1187 and Byzantine war against Bulgaria in 1254-1256, are the focus of two other chapters; an article by Richard Kaeuper (based on his De Re Militari special lecture at the International Congress of Medieval Studies) emphasizes the value of chansons de geste and other `romance' material for understanding the mentalité of the martial lay aristocracy of medieval Christendom; and there are further articles on the factors that motivated gentlemen to fight, in both open warfare, and individual combat. Weapons of warfare are not neglected, with chapters casting light on the development of the crossbow and the trebuchet. CONTRIBUTORS: BERNARD S. BACHRACH, MICHAEL EHRLICH, MICHAEL BASISTA, NICHOLAS S. KANELLOPOULOS, JOANNE K. LEKEA, RICHARD W. KAEUPER, MARK DUPUY, MALCOLM MERCER, STEVEN C. HUGHES

The essays in this latest edition of the 'Journal., by leading experts in the field, are a witness to the flourishing state of the subject, and provide significant contributions to various important on-going debates and controversies. They include wide-ranging discussions of state formation and the role of women in medieval warfare, and an energetic argument against viewing medieval warfare as cavalry-dominated. A trio of articles dealing with issues of bravery and cowardice, though based on Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman evidence, advance our knowledge of one of the all-pervasive aspects of the military history of the middle ages. Similarly, an experimentally-based study of the effectiveness of arrows against mail armor reaches conclusions that will cast light on combat from Visigothic Spain to Crusader Outremer to fifteenth-century Bohemia. In addition, the Journal includes in-depth studies of Iberian war-dogs, the naval battle of Zierikzee at the start of the fourteenth century, and [reflecting the editors' broad understanding of the scope of the field] the war-related activities of Dutch magistrates at the turn of the sixteenth century. Contributors: STEPHEN MORILLO, BERNARD S. BACHRACH, RUSS MITCHELL, RICHARD ABELS, STEVEN ISAAC, WILLIAM SAYERS, JAMES P. WARD, J.F. VERBRUGGEN, ROBERT BURNS

"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."--

A collection which highlights 'the range and richness of scholarship on medieval warfare, military institutions, and cultures of conflict that characterize the field', 'History' 95 [2010]. The journal's hallmark of a broad chronological, geographic, and thematic coverage of the subject is underlined in this volume. It begins with an examination of the brief but fascinating career of an armed league of (mostly) commoners who fought to suppress mercenary bands and to impose a reign of peace in southern France in 1182-1184. This is followed by a thorough re-examination of Matilda of Tuscany's defeat of Henry IV in 1090-97. Two pieces on Hispanic topics - a substantial analysis of the remarkable military career of Jaime I 'the Conqueror' of Aragon (r. 1208-1276), and a case study of the campaigns of a single Spanish king, Enrique II of Castile (r. 1366-79), contributing to the active debate over the role of open battle in medieval strategy - come next. Shorter essays deal with the size of the Mongol armies that threatened Europe in the mid-thirteenth century, and with a surprising literary description, dating to 1210-1220, of a knight employing the advanced surgical technique of thoracentesis. Further contributions correct the common misunderstanding of the nature of deeds of arms 'à outrance' in the fifteenth century, and dissect the relevance of the 'infantry revolution' and 'artillery revolution' to the French successes at the end of the Hundred Years War. The final note explores what etymology can reveal about the origins of the trebuchet. Clifford Rogers is Professor of History, West Point Military Academy; Kelly DeVries is Professor of History, Loyola College, Maryland; John France is Professor of History at the University of Swansea. Contributors: John France, Valerie Eads, Don Kagay, Carl Sverdrup, Jolyon T. Hughes, L. J. Andrew Villalon, Will McLean, Anne Curry, Will Sayers

The comprehensive breadth and scope of the Journal are to the fore in this issue, which ranges widely both geographically and chronologically. The subjects of analysis are equally diverse, with three contributions dealing with the Crusades, four with matters related to the Hundred Years War, two with high-medieval Italy, one with the Alans in the Byzantine-Catalan conflict of the early fourteenth century, and one with the wars of the Duke of Cephalonia in Western Greece and Albania at the turn of the fifteenth century. Topics include military careers, tactics and strategy, the organization of urban defenses, close analysis of chronicle sources, and cultural approaches to the acceptance of gunpowder artillery and the prevalence of military "games" in Italian cities. Contributors: T.S. Asbridge, A. Compton Reeves, Kelly DeVries, Michael Ehrlich, Scott Jessee, Donald Kagay, Savvas Kyriakidis, Randall Moffett, Aldo A. Settia, Charles D. Stanton, Georgios Theotokis, L.J. Andrew Villalon, Anatoly Isaenko

This book argues for the value of applying methods deriving from cognitive sciences (such as neuroscience or psychology) to studies of medieval history, literature, art and culture, and suggests ways in which this comparative approach might be achieved.