ACPL

Medial

Discarded PONS AND Warfa

THE MIDDLE

AGES

Don Nardo

GEO

3^7

THE HISTORY OF

WEAPONS AND WARFARE

THE MIDDLE

AGES

the History of

Weapons and Warfare

THE MIDDLE

AGES

Other books

in this series include:

Ancient Egypt
Ancient Greece

Ancient

Rome

The Civil War

The Native Americans

Weapons and Warfare

the History of

THE

MIDDLE

AGES
Don Nardo

by

83ES
LUCENTK

BOOKS

THOMSON
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THOMSON
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GALE

On Cover: The

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2003 by Lucent Books. Lucent Books

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBUCATION DATA

Nardo, Don, 1947-

The Middle Ages

p.

cm.

by Don Nardo.

(The history of weapons and warfare)

Summary: Discusses the weapons, tactics, gunpowder, castles, fortifications, cannons,

handheld guns, ships and other weapons used in the Middle Ages warfare.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-59018-069-0
1.

Military art

Civilization,
4.

Europe

and science

Medieval

Castles Juvenile

History,

Juvenile literature.

literature.

I.

Title.

II.

3.

Juvenile

Medieval-500-1500

Knights and knighthood

literature. 2.

Juvenile literature.

Series.

U37.N37 2003
355'0094'0902dc21

2002006253

Printed

in

the United States of America

Contents
Foreword

Introduction

10

Medieval Warfare: Romance

Chapter One
Cavalry Weapons and

Tactics

Chapter Two
Infantry Weapons and

Tactics

vs. Reality

16

28

Chapter Three

41

Siege Warfare: Castles and Fortifications

Chapter Four
Siege Warfare: Offensive

55

Weapons and Methods

Chapter Five

67

Gunpowder. Cannons, and Handheld Guns

Chapter Six

79

Ships and Naval Warfare

Notes
Glossary
For Further Reading
Major Works Consulted
Additional Works Consulted
Index
Picture Credits
About the Author

93
95
98
100
103
105
111

112

Foreword
The

earliest battle

tailed

when
the armies of the Egyptian and Hittite empires clashed. For this reason, modern hisplace in 1274 B.C. at Kadesh, in Syria,

torians devote a

good deal of

know

Kadesh. They

attention to

that this battle

and the

war of which it was a part were not the first

fought by the Egyptians and their neighbors. Many other earlier conflicts are mentioned in ancient inscriptions found
throughout the Near East and other regions,
as from the dawn of recorded history citystates

Even

about which any de-

information has survived took

with

security, or settling disputes.

a dialogue

All

men

another.

For what

term peace

eral

reality,

every city

is

is in

proclaimed by heralds, but everlast...

ing.

scholars go so far as to suggest that

Cro-Magnons. the direct ancestors of

modern humans, wiped out another early

No

possessions or institu-

Neanderthals

prolonged and fateful conflict

likely that

if this

in the

did not happen,

in

any value

to

him who is
the good

all

things of the conquered pass into

the

Even

in gen-

a natural state

defeated in battle: for

past.

men

only a name; in

of war with every other, not indeed

likely that warfare long

the

Greek

war with one

are always at

Some

B.C.

thinker Plato declares:

tions are of

group)

A character in

by the fourth-century

predated city-states and written records.

human

religion,

war was widely accepted.

Most people saw it as the most natural
means of defending territory, maintaining

economic dominance.
it is

"civilized."

and organized

the necessity of

fought one another for political or

Moreover,

humans became

after

cities, writing,

the hands of the conquerors.

dim

Considering the thousands of conflicts that

is

have raged across the world since Plato's

it

even the earliest humans en-

time,

would seem that war is an

human condition.

it

gaged in conflicts and battles over territory and other factors. "'Warfare is almost
as old as man himself," writes renowned
military historian John Keegan, "and
reaches into the most secret places of the
human heart, places where self dissolves
rational purpose, where pride reigns,
where emotion is paramount, where in-

evitable part of the

stinct is king."

the

in-

War

not only remains an ever-present re-

ality, it

has also had undeniably crucial and

on human society and

As Keegan puts it, "History

far-reaching effects
its

development.

lessons remind us that the states in which

we live

have come to us through

conflict,

often of the most bloodthirsty sort." Indeed,

world's

first

and oldest

nation-state,

Foreword
Egypt, was born out of a war between the

An

two kingdoms

gence of two tendencies, fear of war

area; the

that originally

occupied the

modern nations of Europe rose

and

more information about the

making of war in earlier times, not

and the United States was established

only in terms of tools, techniques,

ian invasions that destroyed the

by a bloody revolution between

colonists

and

their

thirst for

and methods used

British

mother country.

from varying

Sometimes the

factors.

wars are

have

side

about

set

of

business

the

preparing for and fighting them.

most persistence won; other times supeand strategy played key

rior generalship
roles. In

many

cases, the side with the

advanced and deadly weapons was

most

victori-

ous. In fact, the invention of increasingly

lethal

and devastating

largely

tools

of war has

the evolution of warfare

human

ous

books

in

Warfare

societies

it

has affected vari-

lie at

the core of the

Lucent's History of Weapons and

series.

Each book examines

exploring the beliefs about and motivations

development

the

of

Among

for

war

at the

time, as well as specifics

the major advances in an-

about weapons, strategies, battle forma-

were the composite bow, the war

tions, infantry, cavalry, sieges, naval tac-

and the stone

castle.

Another was

Greek phalanx, a mass of close-packed

spearmen marching forward as a

astating all before

made

unit,

dev-

In medieval times, the

it.

tics,

and the

Where

lives

and experiences of both

leaders

and ordinary

possible,

descriptions

military

campaigns and

how

battles are

soldiers.

of actual

provided to

il-

came

to-

easier for a rider to stay

on

lustrate

his horse, increasing the effectiveness

of

gether and decided the fate of a

stirrup

the

new

cient times
chariot,

warfare of a pivotal people or era in detail,

stimulating

tactics.

These themes

and weapons and how

driven the evolution of warfare,

counter-weapons, strategies, and battlefield

the

whom

and have been fought and how men

overwhelming numbers or

that possessed

in warfare, but

by

also of the people

Victory in these and other wars resulted

the

interest in the past, has seen a

Roman Em-

from the wreckage of the sweeping barbar-

pire;

inevitable result of the conver-

it

cavalry charges.

medieval and

And

a progression of late

modem weapons

cannons, handguns,

rifles,

including

submarines,

planes, missiles, and the atomic

air-

bomb

made warfare deadlier than ever.

Each such technical advance made war
more devastating and therefore more
feared. And to some degree, people are

these various factors

city,

nation, or a people. Frequent quotations

by

contemporary participants or observers, as

well as by noted modern military historians,

add depth and

ume

features

an

authenticity.

extensive

Each

vol-

annotated

bibliography to guide those readers interested in further research to the most important

and comprehensive works on warfare

drawn to and fascinated by what they fear,

which accounts for the high level of interest in studies of warfare and the weapons
used to wage it. Military historian John

in the period in question.

Hackett writes:

man

The

series pro-

vides students and general readers with a

useful

means of understanding what

grettably

is re-

one of the driving forces of hu-

history

violent

human

conflict.

Introduction

Medieval Warfare:

Romance
Of

the various

in

human

dieval times
jects

is

among

modes of warfare

history, that

vs. Reality
fense of honor and morality. This idealis-

practiced

of Europe in me-

tic

one of the more popular sub-

students, general readers,

way of looking

and

early

war was passed from

modern times through verbal

story-

music, and eventually written

scholars. Textbooks, novels, children's story-

telling,

books, movies, video and war games, and In-

erature. In the

ternet sites are filled with the familiar

at

generation to generation in medieval and

Richard Winston:

images

of mounted knights taking oaths to defend

the

weak and charging

at

The tendency to idolize the role of

the young warrior took many forms.
A whole literature developed

one another with

long lances; castles mightily resisting the onslaught of battering rams, scaling ladders, ar-

rows, and cannons; courageous individual

songs and romances centering on the

combats between warriors armed with huge

figure of the knight. His bravery, pu-

broadswords and

rity,

struggles of

shields;

and righteous

Robin Hood-like heroes against

evil lords exploiting defenseless peasants.

Horrendous Butchery
despite

the

was

were subtly

the field of battle to the

His allegiance ... to his

translated into the servitude

of a lover to his lady. Figures from

widespread

the

can often be misleading.

past,

like

[the

folk

heroes]

Roland, Charlemagne, and King

popularity and familiarity of these depictions, they

fidelity [loyalty]

from

castle hall.

lord

Unfortunately,

and

shifted

drawn

Arthur, were

First,

into this mythol-

they tend to play up the heroic and ro-

ogy. They, too, were described in

new

mantic aspects of medieval fighting, em-

these

phasizing such themes as the nobility of

terms, which, of course, had

knighthood, royal pageantry, and the de-

tion to their historical reality.

10

lit-

words of scholars Clara and

exalted

and emotional

no
1

rela-

Medieval Warfare: Romance vs. Reality

Indeed, the reality of medieval warfare

was more often

barity as a fact of life."

Most knights and

quite unromantic and ex-

other medieval warriors fought not for love

tremely brutal, bloody, and cruel. "Despite

or honor but to gain power, land, prestige,

the

theological

admonitions

warnings] against

it,"

or money, either for themselves or their

[religious

military historians

leaders. Justice, morality,

Dunnigan and Albert A. Nofi

point out, "the Middle Ages had an enormous propensity to accept cruelty and barJames

the innocent

F.

and protecting

were usually secondary con-

siderations used conveniently to justify ag-

gression and slaughter.

This painting by nineteenth-

century English artist Ed-

mund Blair Leighton

illustrates the common and
popular romantic image of
medieval chivalrx and honor.
11

The Middle Ages

Also, the battlefield was less an arena
for

displays

place

of chivalry

tie in

and more a

of horrendous butchery,

as

1361 reveal, as one observer de-

scribed the scene,

re-

vealed by some graves recently exca-

the effects of crossbow bolts verti-

vated in Sweden. The remains of more

cally piercing [armor],

than a thousand soldiers killed in a bat-

cuts,

sword and ax

and blows from maces and

This engraving of eleventh-century knights fighting shows the savagery of the medieval battlefield.
''.'

12

.V.N.J-

.''
i.'i

Medieval Warfare: Romance vs. Reality

So if they were willing to
march through another one of [the
lord's] villages many miles from
their own, the troops still felt they
were moving through "alien" ter-

morning-stars (spiked balls attached

by a chain

the lower legs

village.

one case

to a handle). In

were severed, and sevdeep

eral skulls exhibited

The

cuts.

lower legs below the protection of

shields suffered

many deep wounds.

and tended to act accordmedieval times, there

ritory

ingly. ... In

were no police departments or

media to report atrocities. A few
dozen soldiers could come upon a
village
and kill a few of the inhabitants, and no one would know

Such horrors were not confined to formal

It was not unusual, following a
battle, for men armed with knives and
combat.
axes to
still

them
suits

move among heaps

of fallen but

and mercilessly slay

living knights

as they lay helpless in their

heavy

about

of armor.

it

lagers.

except the surviving

vil-

The romantic myth of medieval warfare

and chivalrous

as colorful

by the routine rape,

innocent

is

pillage,

civilians.

also shattered

and

An Evolution of

killing of

Military Affairs

twelfth-century

chronicle describes a typical scene of vic-

Another misconception

torious troops raiding local villages:

strategies,

Out

in the front [of the

makers]. After them

agers

tumult.

villages
visit

come

[and] soon

The

on

all

First, the

the forin

long.

It

turies,

and the foragers

fire

began

it

the sixteenth
turies.

mules, and sheep are

all

be

civilians but

lord]," say

owe

sixth cen-

and early seventeenth cen-

And

this is

one

duly reflected in the

roots of the term medieval;

some-

the Latin phrase

times against fellow citizens. "While your

troops might

and

was sandwiched between ancient and mod-

Even worse, such outrages were perpetrated

enemy

in the fifth

In a sense, then, the roughly

ern times.

not only against

after the disintegration of the

thousand years comprising medieval times

cattle,

seized.

centuries.

continued until the emergence

away with their hands tied

held for ransom
money,
.

as well as

of modern nations and modes of warfare in

inhabitants are either burned or led

weapons,

which marked the end of ancient

times; and

terrified

to

that the

time period in question was very

Roman Empire

incendiaries set the

and sack them. The

is

of warfare were the

across

[fire-

is

tactics

same throughout medieval times,

all of Europe during these

army] are

the scouts and incendiaries

and

it

derives

from

medium aevum, meaning

"the age in the middle." This, in turn, gave

allegiance to [the local

rise to the

Dunnigan and Nofi,

times

the

common synonym

for medieval

Middle Ages.

During these many centuries, the techthe only civilians they felt kinship

niques of warfare did not remain stagnant.

own

Rather, weapons, armor, battlefield tactics,

with were those from their

13


The Middle Ages
fortifications,

and general approaches

largely shared origin

to

war changed and varied over time as

events and needs dictated. To defend
against invading armies, some local lords
erected

castles

and other

Rome.

rate to say that initially

most of
tactics

ins of

fortifications.

its

It

is

accu-

Europe inherited

military ideas, weapons,

from the

Roman

and

realm, on the ru-

which the medieval kingdoms grew.

Their enemies countered by developing

Until their last century or so as a nation,

more

the

effective

siege methods,

which

in

new and even more effective defenses. Meanwhile, new weapons,

devices, and technology
among them the
stirrup, the battle pike, and gunpowder

by

large, well-

efficient,

profes-

sional generals and administrators.

steadily

Romans had maintained

trained armies run

turn stimulated

armies were well coordinated,

Such

moved

great distances quickly, and implemented

transformed warfare, rendering

the policies of the central authority

older tools and methods obsolete. In short,

entire

By

military affairs evolved over time.

on the

Mediterranean world.
contrast, medieval

Europe lacked

such scope and organization. Early Eu-

Lack of Organization

rope was a large, culturally diverse sphere

and Uniformity
Similarly, warfare

made up of a patchwork

was not

the

same

across Europe at any given time, despite a

Among

the

new weapons

as portrayed

in this

1484

quilt of small, of-

backward kingdoms with different

aims, problems, and policies. Accordten

all

that evolved during the late

illustration.

14

Middle Ages were gunpowder and cannons,

Medieval Warfare: Romance

Viking raiders wielded huge axes they

methods of fighting developed

local
needs and realities; there
meet
to
were few large-scale battles; and wars
tended to be localized, short-lived, and
ingly, their

and haphazardly planned,

hastily

Reality

vs.

swung with two hands; and

the Scots and

Swiss developed formations of foot

diers holding long pikes.

Nearly

sol-

of

all

these peoples used foot soldiers, horses,

utilizing

whatever weapons and soldiers could be

armor, bows, swords, and castles; how-

gathered together in a given spot

ever, except for castles, there

As noted

time.

at a

given

military historian Archer

Jones explains:

to another.

Most Western armies formed themselves only for a particular campaign. A Western commander usually
would not have in advance a clear
idea of the forces he would have,
even if many of them were mercenaries [hired soldiers] whose employment he had arranged. He
would not know the total numbers,

Truth More Interesting

than Fiction

the proportions of light and heavy

more

infantry
ity

When

army, he rarely had time to train

a unit, but had to
ately

These

upon

to

adage

On

the

from the

that truth is usually far stranger

Medieval weapons, armor, bat-

tle tactics, castles,

his

attract

and sieges continue to

and captivate millions of people

across the world.

as

and

interesting than fiction certainly ap-

plies here.

As

scholars Nicholas

Hooper and Matthew Bennett

write, this

is

partly because people recognize that warfare

promptly. 6

"is

since

of

the

relation to the realities.

compelling nature of the subject. The old

embark immedi-

commander emphasized

little

the

it

many of the popular

positive side, that does not detract

For these reasons, each medieval realm

and

that

warfare are myths and misconceptions that

bear

the campaign, if only be-

move

show

and ideas aboutmedieval

cause supply difficulties compelled

him

facts

depictions of

and of cavalry, or the qual-

of his heavy infantry.

commander had concentrated

or

was usually

uniformity from one time and place

little

it

a worthwhile subject of study,

has been one of the primary forces

human endeavor." Moreover, "all ashuman society have been shaped

pects of

weapons

for better or

style of fighting best suited to local

states

owe

worse by warfare," and

their

"all

shape and a good deal of

and economic structure

needs or circumstances. For a long time

their political

the French built their armies around cav-

war." Finally, because most of today's Eu-

alry

(mounted horsemen) who charged

and

tried

to run

at

ropean nations and their offspring grew

infantry

out of the conflicts of the Middle Ages,

on inlongbows;

"these observations are especially true of

down enemy

(foot soldiers); the English relied

fantry

armed with deadly

to

medieval warfare." 7

15

Chapter One

Cavalry Weapons

and Tactics
For a long time, most historians believed

which

fare in

cavalry, infantry, fortifica-

mounted warriors dominated medieval warfare. However, it now appears

that the vision of rows of heavily armored

tions,

knights gloriously charging against either

The Rise of Frankish Cavalry

that

was a

cavalry or infantry

distorted

or

each playing a crucial

exaggerated

who

tended

to

view.

the early part of the era,

and

portance of their

downplaying the

inflated

own

men

the im-

exploits

from the

sixth

through tenth centuries. Although horse-

be knights. Therefore, they

concentrated on

role.

The use and impact of medieval cavalry

can be conveniently divided into two distinct phases. The first phase occurred in

at

Most contemporary military sources from the period were

written by members of the ruling elite,
least

and other factors worked together,

could be found in most parts of Eu-

their major development and

employment occurred in France, the re-

while

rope,

role of lower-class foot

whom they looked on as inferiSuch accounts understandably misled

many modern scholars.

Romans had

called Gaul.

soldiers,

gion that the

ors.

Among the tribal peoples who overran

the Roman Empire were the Franks, who

This does not

mean

that the role of cav-

alry in medieval warfare

To

the contrary,

tant as infantry;
to

settled in

was unimportant.
as impor-

Two

and horsemen were used

Franks

it

was often just

one degree or another by

all

as

medieval

one pivotal part of a larger combined

arms system,

that

is,

their

name

to the

dynasties

(ruling

families)

of

Merovingian and Carolingian

ruled France in the early Middle
Ages; and both developed strong cavalry
traditions. This was partly because many
of the enemies the Franks faced had large

European kingdoms. The most balanced

and accurate way to view medieval cavalry
is

Gaul and gave

region.

the

units of horsemen.

an approach to war16

These included the

Cavalry Weapons and Tactics

and the Mus-

(originally central Asia),

who had

lims

Over

tribesmen from eastern Europe

Avars,

recently overrun Spain.

The Avars had many

archers,

and the Franks

fine
felt

own horsemen

have their

elite class

mounted

elite

they had to
to

counter

emphasis on cavalry was the

creation by the

Romans

horse-breeding estates

Rome
tates

fell,

of
in

many
Gaul.

the nucleus of an

because they were well-to-do and

supported
bles.

became

of horse warriors. They were

or
by the

directly sponsored

ther part of

them. Another factor that contributed to

the Frankish

time, the Frankish horse-breeding

estates naturally

ei-

and

ruling kings and no-

This was because horses were very

expensive to breed and

raise.

Equipping

large

and training a mounted warrior was also

After

expensive.

The

men gained

the Franks inherited these es-

result

was

that cavalry-

increasing social status and

wealth, as well as land, which over time

and maintained them.

This nineteenth-century English illustration

captures the

arrogance of the

elite class

of cavalrymen who played

crucial military
roles in

17

and social

medieval times.

The Middle Ages

The Influential
Carolingians
Carolingian realm, centered in France,

Pepin fought both the Muslims in Spain and

proved highly influential for the develop-

groups of Christians who opposed the pope in

The

ment and spread

of medieval European cul-

weaponry, and fighting

who

Charlemagne,

Italy.

768 to

ruled from

styles. In

814, was the most ambitious and famous of

was attributable to the milcampaigns and conquests of the first

three
and most successful Carolingian
leaders: Charles Mattel, Pepin the Short, and

the three. His realm eventually encompassed

Charlemagne. In 732, at Tours, in west-central

Indeed, in 800 Pope Leo

ture, armor,

large degree, this

itary

France, Charles Martel defeated a large force

of invading Muslims, a victory that

may have

parts of

ple

what

are

as well as

Italy,

viewed

it

now Belgium, Germany, and

of France, and many peo-

all

as a reborn

Roman

among themselves and

spared Europe from Muslim domination. After

heirs fought

making himself king of the Franks

his realm into petty kingdoms.

751,

in

Empire.

crowned Charlemagne "Holy Roman Emperor." But this empire soon fell apart, because Charlemagne's
III

carved

contributed to their becoming a sort of

ing blow of a sword or arrow,

landed aristocracy.

stop a forceful direct thrust or puncture.

Early Armor,

medieval cavalrymen relied mainly on

Weapons, and Tactics

swords and spears

The Frankish and other early medieval

cavalrymen differed from the later vari-

as in the case of the Avars. Generally, they

it

could not

For weapons, Frankish and other early

ety

the

full-fledged

knights

armor, weapons, and tactics.

in

their

Armor com-

posed of heavy metal plates was a

later

by contrast, Frankish
horsemen wore light armor made of mail,
or rows of iron rings or scales either riveted or sewn together to form a heavy
protective shirt. (The Franks and many
other Europeans inherited mail from the
Romans, who had used it for many centuries.) Mail provided a certain amount of
flexibility at the expense of comprehendevelopment;

sive protection.
rider to

maneuver

weapons with

mail shirt allowed the

his horse

and use

his

ease, for example; but al-

though the mail could deflect the glanc-

and sometimes bows,

swung and threw

the spear overhand, al-

though an underhand stroke might be used

to jab at the

who was

back of an enemy foot soldier

running away. These riders also

sometimes carried
say,

it

skill to

shields.

Needless to

took a great deal of flexibility and

hold and maneuver both the shield

and horse's reins with one hand, while using a spear or sword with the other.

As

for

tactics,

shock action

direct

charges of large cavalry units against

ther cavalry or infantry
rare.

was

ei-

extremely

This was partly because large battles

were themselves
early Frankish
benefit of the

rare occurrences. Also,

horsemen did not have the

stirrup, which helps a rider

maintain his balance and position atop his

\

Cavalry Weapons and Tactics

horse. Without stirrups, shock action
difficult, as

was

During the Middle Ages, most bat-

saw most of the men

who came to the battlefield on horse-

any significant impact could

tles in the field

knock a horseman to the ground.

When stirrups were adopted in western

back dismount and

Europe

deed

in the early eighth century, they

made mounted

warriors

more formidable:

but at the time shock action was

trained to

Roman

still rare.

fight

on

foot. In-

Carolingian horsemen were

do

this

training

through the

methods

Such horsemen were used mainly as

had inherited from

scouts; to guard the flanks (sides) of trav-

traditions].

Roman

military

eling armies and chase off ambushers; to

Even Norman
western French] horsemen

raid villages; to pursue fleeing enemies,

are considered to have

both mounted and on foot; and occasion-

the

backs of enemy troops during a

battle.

Moreover, evidence suggests that

at cru-

cial

moments

in battle

dismounted and fought on

S.

[north-

who

been among

most accomplished mounted

fighting

men

in

western Europe, far

more often than not dismounted

8
battle in order to fight on foot.

in

Frankish and most

other medieval horsemen

to University of

and attack the flanks and

ally to harass

late

[that they

more frequently
foot.

The purpose of such dismounting, which

transformed light cavalry into heavy

According

Minnesota scholar Bernard

fantry,

Bachrach:

was

against large-scale

enemy

Having dismounted, horsemen fight on foot against attacking infantry at the

valles, fought between the Franks and Basques in 778.

19

in-

to strengthen the regular infantry

attack.

battle

ofRonces-

The Middle Ages

The Age of Heavy Cavalry

taking a firm hold by the eleventh century.

After the

The second major phase of medieval cavalry dates to the later, or High,

Middle

was

which most, but certainly not

units

own

cavalry

social

soldier

in the

nounced

in

battle

in France,

in-

Petty

An

provided nobles with mili-

exchange for land tenure.

who worked

for

and was depen-

dent on a king or other lord was called a

case of earlier, lighter cavalry, the use of

heavy cavalry

who

tary service in

distinct

and landed aristocracy. As

became

character.

small kingdoms or large estates.

freemen

These were heavily armored

mounted warriors who formed a

society

in

important aspect of feudalism involved

were either manned or dominated by

knights.

Rome,

nobles exercised great power over their

the era in
all,

of

localized

kings, princes, dukes, barons, and other

Ages, lasting from the eleventh through

sixteenth centuries. This

fall

creasingly

retainer (or vassal).

was most pro-

Some

although knights ex-

of these soldiers, including

many

descendents of the original Frankish horse

isted all over Europe.

became knights. And some of

became lords with large esand retainers of their own. A number

breeders,

The knights played an important

these knights

role in

the feudal order (or system) that spread

tates

across Europe in early medieval times,

of such retainers might live in and guard

A feudal

lord dubs one of his

his military

men a

knight.

New knights

campaigns.

20

were expected

to serve the lord

on any of

Cavalry Weapons and Tactics

lord's

their

castle

in

mail hood that covered the head;

peacetime: others

might earn manor houses and castles of

had a protective flap

own, complete with servants and

their

even minor

retainers,

usually

foot

Moreover,

in

wartime

it

often

could be drawn

across the lower face. Soon, mail

arm and
were

leg coverings, as well as mail gloves,

sol-

became
customary for a knight to take along some
of these followers to help and support him
when on a military campaign. A unit made
up of a knight and his retainers and other
followers was called a lance. Many knights,
as Hooper and Bennett explain,
diers.

that

added, increasing protection but also the

it

overall weight of the outfit. Starting about

1150, most European knights also began

wearing a loose cloth garment

coat

over

the sur-

the mail suit.

This rapid multiplication of armor

By about

continued apace.

1200,

many

knights wore an iron cap under the coif

were waged

[paid]

members of

to afford greater protection from lethal

blows by broadswords and maces, or

royal, noble, or episcopal [church-

The knight needed

war horse, riding horse and pack
animals, and servants. The principal aide was the esquire [or squire],
run] household.

else

lance consisted of one heavy cav-

most popular version was conical in

shape but numerous other shapes existed. The trend toward solid metal protection continued as metal plates were
riveted to the inside of hauberks and surcoats; and beginning in 1250, rounded
metal plates appeared over the mail on
knees, elbows, and other joints. The nat-

alryman with an armed servant, a

page, and three to six variously

plate armor,

often a mature servant rather than

a

boy apprentice, who had an aux[supporting] combat role.

iliary

From

the late fourteenth century, a

armed

infantry.

single-piece

metal helmet; the

ural culmination of this trend

as well as

was

full

armor for the

horses, as Archer Jones describes:

In the thirteenth century armored

A Rapid
of

Multiplication

men began

Armor

to use [metal] plates to

strengthen their mail armor at par-

The main reason that such a cavalryman

of the High Middle Ages is classified as
"heavy" is that his armor was heavier and
more protective than that of the lighter
horseman of the Carolingian era. Begin-

ticularly vulnerable points,

the shin

cavalry added
.

until

such as

and knee. Gradually heavy

more and more

plate

a complete suit of plate ar-

mor, which protected the wearer

ning in the eleventh century, mail shirts

from the shock of blows and de-

became longer and heavier, for example.

Typical was the hauberk, which stretched

flected

to the

knees and featured a

split

Also

common was

bolts,

became common.

helmet that completely covered the

up the

lower-middle to allow the rider to mount

his horse.

both hand weapons and

crossbow

face had already been adopted.

the coif, a

suit

21

of the

new armor could weigh

The Middle Ages

These sketches show part of the evolution of protective armor. The

seventy pounds, and, together with

its

own armor,

man

at left is clad totally in

wears mainly plate armor.

mail, while the knight at right

had

the horse

ver but the straight-ahead charge.

Dismounted, the rider could walk

to carry

over 100 pounds of metal alone.

only with difficulty and had trouble

With a horse protected from lance

climbing onto his horse and rising

wounds

he

in the chest

and the rider

fell.

if

10

proof against harm, the

virtually

knight became far more formidable.

However,

this alteration

Weapons and

Tactics
of Heavy Cavalry

both raised

mounted man and sereduced his mobility. The

the cost of the

riously

heavier burdened horse found

The increasing weight and

cavalry armor naturally

it

harder to gallop and the rider had

difficulty in executing

inflexibility

made

it

cult for riders to use the fairly

more

of

diffi-

wide array

of weapons wielded by early medieval

any maneu-

22

Cavalry Weapons and Tactics

cavalry.

The spear and bow were aban-

became

doned, therefore. The main weapon was

now
tip,

the

sword

at first

long, with a broad

and designed principally

In the twelfth century, as

heavier,

pointed,

what

is

a formidable offensive tactic. In

referred to as the "couched lance

technique," the back, or butt, of the lance

on

rested

for slashing.

armor grew even

sorbed

tips grew thinner and more

which increased their chance of

sword

late

the saddle's

much

pommel, which abstrike. The

of the shock of a

fourteenth century witnessed the in-

troduction

of a further improvement:

was an

penetrating mail.

Called the arret,

The other main weapon used by European heavy cavalrymen was the lance. At
first it was a simple, relatively light pole

for the lance's butt built into the rider's

about ten to twelve feet long. But over

the shock action of

time

it

grew

thicker, heavier,

and more

in the

back.

was

The key

With such

horseman

effective

armor and weapons,

heavy cavalry

in the

High Middle Ages could be truly formidable. The most effective use of such horsemen was in a combined arms assault

ta-

to the lance's effec-

the ability of the

extra support

metal breastplate.

pered, broadening into a flared hand guard

tiveness

it

against infantry. First, one's

to

own

archers

absorb a great deal of shock and stay

and infantry softened up the opposing

mounted when

provided some

army, inflicting casualties and tiring the

enemy; next the knights lowered their

until the introduction

lances and charged the opposing infantry,

nent.

stability,

it

weapon

the

Although the

stirrup

was not

hit

an oppo-

of larger, wraparound saddles circa 1100

dispersing

them and opening up gaps: then

that cavalry charges with leveled lances

one's

own

infantry rushed into the gaps

group of eleventh-century knights engages

stirrups provide

some

stability; the

knights

in

still

a session offriendly jousting. Although their

wraparound saddles needed for the

lack the

couched lance technique.

23

The Middle Ages

and

inflicted

alry turned

emy's rear

many

that

heavy damage, while the cav-

ten arrogant

around and attacked the en-

especially

lines. (It

late

whose cavalry

should be pointed out

medieval European armies

and proudest

also used light cavalry units to back up

heavy cavalry; because the

major

they

much

could perform certain tasks, such as chas-

ularly

mored
ing

riders

down

were more

fleeing

the heavily

enemy

flexible,

of French

traditions

in

horsemen,

were the oldest

Europe. So

it

is

perhaps

not surprising that the French lost

lightly ar-

their

and overconfident. This was

true

troops, better than

battles

confidence in heavy cavalry, partic-

when unsupported by

infantry.

example occurred

classic

The French

armored ones.)

some

because they placed too

in

1119.

king, Louis VI, led a force of

about four hundred knights into English-

The Dangers of

controlled

Overconfidence

France) and there encountered the Eng-

Heavy cavalry was usually far less effecwhen used alone. This was because

lish

well

who were

ordered,

rested,

well

tightly

inflict

packed and

part of the social elite, they

were

king,

other hundred,

to stand their

who remained mounted.

Then Louis unwisely ordered

heavy casualties on

men

armored horsemen. Also, because knights

were

northwestern

Henry I, with five hundred

Henry ordered four hundred of
his horsemen to dismount and form an armored wall of heavy infantry behind the

armed, fresh and

and brave enough

ground could

(in

knights.

tive

infantrymen

Normandy

to

enemy. His knights managed

of-

all

of his

lower their lances and charge the

to

break

The Introduction
of the Stirrup
The

stirrup,

one of the more important

Europeans began using stirrups. The device

made a mounted horseman more formidable

military innovations of medieval Europe,

appeared in China some time in the

millennium B.C. It was originally
intended to make mounting a horse easier,
not to give the rider better balance and
more secure seating, which ended up being
its most important advantages. From China
the device spread to India, where it came
into use in the first century A.D. By the
fourth century the stirrup had reached
some parts of eastern Europe, where various tribal horsemen, eventually including
the Huns and Avars, adopted it. It was not
until the early eighth century that western
first

because he could be surer of staying seated

late first

while

wielding

his

sword,

shield,

spear,

might stay mounted

even after receiving a heavy nonlethal blow
from an opponent. He could also temporarily increase his height over an opponent by
lance, or bow. Indeed, he

standing in his stirrups. However, the importance of the stirrup alone has been

somewhat exaggerated.
tion

of stirrups

It took a combinaand special saddles and

lances beginning in the eleventh century to

make shock action and jousting on horseback practical.

24

Cavalry Weapons and Tactics

medieval illustration depicts a battle of the Hundred Years War. The English, at left, attack with
a combination of infantrymen wielding longbows and both mounted and dismounted horsemen.

through the

smaller force

Overconfident knights could also fare

of English

horsemen; but just as Henry had

An

slowed the French

charge almost to a halt. Protected by their
heavy armor, the English knights who had
dismounted swarmed around the French
pated,

this

clash

riders, pulling

them from

their horses

either killing or capturing them.

new and

badly against

antici-

lethal

weapons.

important example was the English

longbow, which came to the fore

in the

Hundred Years War, fought between

France and England from 1337 to 1453.

and

In

A combi-

August 1415, England's King Henry

launched an invasion of France, landing

army

mouth of

nation of heavy infantry and heavy cav-

his

had easily defeated heavy cavalry

working alone.

Large numbers of French knights marched

alry

north,

25

at the

vowing

the Seine River.

to crush the intruders;

and

The Middle Ages

in

October the two armies clashed

at

Ag-

on

south of Calais. According to

incourt,

Crispin's Day, October 25, he

St.

gave the order

and former prime minister of

England Winston Churchill's account:
historian

archers

[to

advance].

advanced

The

to within three

hundred yards of the heavy [French

They

cavalry] masses in their front.

The French, whose numbers have

planted their stakes and loosed their

been estimated

arrows.

about twenty thou-

at

drawn up in three lines of

With justifiable confidence

Under

the arrow storm,

sand, were

[the

French mounted knights]

battle.

turn

moved forward down

they awaited the attack of less than a

number, who,

third their

far

home and many marches from

sea,

must win or

die.

from

Still at thirty

[rows] deep they

felt

sure of breaking the [English] line.

the

But

The [Eng-

fore

... the

longbow destroyed

[French] horse [men]

it.

all
.

be-

went

down; a long heap of armored dead

archers were disposed in six

lish]

in their

the slope.

wedge-shaped formations, each sup-

and wounded lay upon the ground,

ported by a body of men-at-arms

over which the reinforcements strug-

The whole English

gled bravely, but in vain. In this

[horsemen].

moment

army, even the King himself, dis-

grand

mounted and

slung their

sent their horses to the

and shortly

rear;

after eleven o'clock

in

hand,

the [English] archers

bows
fell

[aside], and,

upon

sword

reeling

the

Many Knights
Lacked Discipline
Although

heavily

many advantages

tain disadvantages.
flexible,

had

honor. The basic problem was that every no-

they also had cer-

(knights and above in social rank)

thought he was above obeying orders. A
duke or a count had some control over his
knights
but each such noble was less

armored knights

in battle,

Their

for example, so

armor was very

if

ble

in-

they fell to the

ground they had trouble standing up unaided.

As explained here by scholars James

F.

impressed by the royal official, or king himself, in charge of the entire army. Every noble thought he, and his troops, deserved the

Dunni-

gan and Albert A. Nofi (in their Medieval Life

and the Hundred Years War,), arrogance and

Any army

post of honor in the

first rank.

that could detract from a knights overall ef-

commander would

and

fectiveness as a warrior.

ous contingents in such a way that each

would be used to best effect. Most knights

lack of discipline

The

knights

were other disadvantages

believed

their

incompatible

with

noble

line

up

his vari-

whatever rank) simply wanted to get at

it out man to man. This
was the mentality of knights through most
of the medieval period.

own propa-

(of

an enemy and fight

ganda. Foot soldiers were disdained [by

heavy cavalrymen] and discipline was seen
as

try

warrior's

26

Cavalry Weapons and Tactics

squadrons and disordered masses [of
fallen

ful

French knights]."

only in massed charges in large bat-

tles,

which were infrequent. The horse-

men proved
In the

two

more than

to three

ten thousand

Frenchmen

died,

number.

The End of Medieval Cavalry

Still,

when properly

used, heavy cavalry

it

lost;

and it remained a crucial component of

European armies for the rest of medieval
times and even into early modern times.

Changes continued, however. For example, certain factors eventually worked to

reduce the amount and weight of the armor these riders wore. First, their armor
continued to grow increasingly expensive, which severely limited the number
of heavy cavalrymen a general could
field.

be too specialized. "For

foraging,

scouting,

while the English lost less than a tenth that

helped to win more battles than

to

guarding bridges
and crossroads, and other mundane duties of ordinary campaigning," scholar
Thomas F. Arnold points out, "lighter
burdened types of cavalry
and less
proved they could do the job both better
and more cheaply." 12
Also, by the late sixteenth century guns
had come into wide use on the battlefield,
and some bullets could penetrate all but
the thickest and heaviest plate armor. For
a while, the preferred countermove was to
produce even heavier armor. But this
proved impractical. The ultimate solution
was to lighten or eliminate the armor,
abandon the lance, and arm the riders
themselves with guns, which essentially
marked the transition from medieval to
modern cavalry.

hours the battle lasted,

Second, these horsemen were use-

27

Chapter Two

Infantry

Weapons

and Tactics
won battles by themselves. In most of the
few large pitched battles fought during
the period, infantry was most effective
and successful when used in combination
with cavalry. Foot soldiers were more autonomous and important than cavalry
during sieges, which were much more

Infantry played an important role in

warfare throughout the Middle Ages.
Foot soldiers took
archers,

many

forms, including

swordsmen, spearmen, pikemen,

and others. They also played roles of varying kinds and importance, depending on
the situation, as well as following the military

In fact,

common

of the local regions in

traditions

which they

than large

During a

the

siege, infantrymen

battlefield.

some kingdoms and regions

much more

not only surrounded and attacked strong-

holds but also foraged for food and other

stressed the use of infantry

than others. In England, for instance, no

supplies,

strong cavalry tradition evolved in early

and burned enemy

medieval times; so the English had few

other assets.

mounted horsemen and

relied

foot soldiers, especially archers,

came some of
in all

showdowns on

lived.

the

most

engaged

be-

and

fortifications

Whether deployed on

more on

who

ravaged surrounding villages,

the battlefield or

in sieges, infantry

was generally

who

divided into two broad groups: those

effective soldiers

could afford weapons and did the bulk of

of Europe. Similarly, the Scots and

who

Swiss had no cavalry traditions and be-

the fighting; and the very poor,

came famous

menial labor, including carrying equip-

units,

which

for their

effectively

strong infantry
utilized

did

ment, setting up camps, digging trenches,

spears

known about

and pikes.

and so

However, except for the Swiss armies,

which were made up entirely of foot sol-

these laborers, because contemporary ac-

diers,

forth.

Very

little

is

counts were written by upper-class

who

even the best infantry units rarely

28

men

held the peasants in contempt and

Infantry Weapons and Tactics

the following

gency, they collect their weapons, assem-

concerned primarily with the

ble and fight, and then return to their pri-

largely ignored them.

discussion
first

group

is

So

the fighters, mainly in their

vate lives.

About

this general citizen levy,

Bernard Bachrach writes:

battlefield capacity.

Raising Troops

The process of

Local kings and lords required the sen-

civilian population in

So they
numbers of
reasonably quickly and with

rope

needed a way

sumption that

foot soldiers
a

minimum

side,

lived in landed estates

late

the as-

able-bodied

men

lesser service

on

wealth. Thus,

all

A militia is a part-time

were required

to serve in a general

levy, a locally

based militia for the

force

composed of farmers,

the basis of his

able-bodied

men

defense of the region in which they

workers, and other citizens. In an emer-

all

was often a

medieval centuries.
military

militia, especially in the early

or small villages, the solution

temporary

were responsible for defending

their homes. ... In addition, each
man was to provide greater or

of difficulty. In the country-

where people

the

medieval Eu-

was grounded on

ices of such fighters fairly often.

to raise large

militarizing

medieval woodcut shows armored foot soldiers fighting during the siege of a town.
enemy away.

tingent from the town has ventured outside the walls hoping to drive the

29

con-

The Middle Ages

Medieval City Militias

men performed. They

the foot soldiers in rural me-

contrast

to
Indieval militias,

those

many European city

much longer. Evidence

guarded

in

policed a city's streets,

defended those walls during

and protected the trade routes leadcity. Because the city's existence
depended on these soldiers, they needed to be
better trained and experienced than their ru-

militias tended to serve

shows that the militias of the cities of northern Italy and Flanders (located north of
France) were also better equipped and trained
than rural levies. These qualities are attributable to the crucial and rigorous duties these

The Anglo-Saxon

its walls,

a siege,

ing into the

counterparts; and adequate training and

ral

experience required longer terms of service.

[early

exception rather than the rule, since most

English]

version of the general

of those pressed into service were reluc-

levy, for

example, often rather ro-

lived.

tant to leave their

mantically labeled "the nation in

u
arms," was the great

farms and families for

too long.

Although the medieval levies played a

fyrd.

crucial role in supplying infantry to pros-

Norman conquest

After the

of England in

ecute wars, they had several drawbacks.

the eleventh century, the English general

levy

was

command

The French

sheriff.

foot soldiers a king

could raise via a levy was often smaller

the "county force."

under the

number of

First, the

called the Posse Comitatus, or

was

than what he needed. Also, the rural levies

of an official called a

usually produced a large proportion of in-

referred to their

adequately equipped and poorly trained

Each

local unit

citi-

men, most with

zen militia as the Arriere-ban.

Under

the

feudal

system

in

these

little

enthusiasm for serv-

ing.

realms, each manor, or country estate, had

Under these conditions, kings recog-

by supplying a group

nized that they had no choice but to sup-

to support the levy

of soldiers called a retinue. Typically, the

plement

number of

mercenaries,

much

greater than the

In the

ble

foot soldiers in a retinue

number of

was

pay

Talbot had a ret-

inue that included fourteen knights, sixty

squires,

these

and eighty-two archers. All of

men

estate.

likely lived

campaign

and worked on the

lasted longer; but this

militia

with

soldiers

who

their price.

Mercenaries were gener-

ally well

armed, well trained, and battle

hardened.

And

they usually served for as

long as they were needed. So having a

hard core of mercenaries

Usually such soldiers served a term

of forty days. They sometimes stayed on

professional

hired themselves out to anyone willing to

cavalry.

300s, for example, an English no-

named Richard Lord

homegrown

their

in his

army gave

a king definite military advantages.

Eventually, beginning in Switzerland in

if

was the

the

30

early

fourteenth century,

national

Infantry Weapons and Tactics

emerge. But these remained relatively few

wore much less armor than

mounted troops did. For one thing, the av-

of the Middle

erage infantryman could not afford the

standing

in

(permanent) armies began to

number

until the close

diers usually

elaborate armor

Ages. So levies and mercenaries contin-

ued

to

worn by

knights. Also,

heavy armor would have weighed down a

be used to some extent throughout

the remainder of the period.

foot soldier,

making him slower and

less

flexible.

Armor, Weapons, and Tactics

Still,

Whether militia, mercenaries, or national

forces, most medieval European foot solThe foot soldier

many infantrymen wore

at least

some armor. Typical was

a light mail shin

and a metal helmet, often

in the

form of an

wears a metal helmet and leg protectors, as well as some mail armor

at left

beneath his jerkin. The one at right

is

too

poor

to afford

armor and

on several layers of

relies

linen for protection.

x)

X \ Y\\\

\k\

JcS,/ >^^s^

f^s_

\\

^^^

iSr *^mihJ
^<^hvrr|r|u

km\

1LU
A

111

M
la^

Js\
31

The Middle Ages

The Widespread Use

of Mercenaries
Mercenary

Genoa became famous for its hired

crossbowmen. Later, Welsh, Irish, German,
and Swiss mercenaries were widely em-

foot soldiers hailed from nearly

ian city of

every corner of Europe and fought almost

everywhere on that continent. However, certain regions were

known

some

ployed. In the fourteenth century,

for the availability

of

and quality of their hired infantry. From the

these fighters formed small but disciplined

Norway,

and effective mercenary armies, each of

which could be hired as a unit. The first
well-known example was a force of some
six-thousand Germans and Swiss led by
Werner von Urslingen. Various Italian cities
employed this group in the early four-

ninth

to

the

eleventh

centuries,

Denmark, and other Scandinavian regions

were major sources of these warriors. In the
twelfth century, Flanders and its surrounding

areas

known

produced

who were

mercenaries

for their skill

with the spear and

short pike; and in the same period the Ital-

teenth century.

wide brim. Those who

iron cap with a

the question.

Most kings and

lords lacked

could not afford mail wore quilted jerkins

the financial resources to equip

and

train

of linen or leather, sometimes with small

large standing armies in peacetime.

And

metal plates sewn into them. Professional

there

was usually barely enough time

during a campaign to drill even the bestarmed infantry in basic tactics, especially
offensive ones. It was fairly easy to teach
a large group of men to stand in a mass

mercenary foot soldiers often could afford

to

wear metal breastplates and leg armor.

Medieval infantry carried a variety of

weapons

that varied

from place

to place

and

their ground against attack, but

was much more difficult and time consuming to drill them in the complex formations and maneuvers needed to go on

and hold

era to era. These included swords, daggers,

spears, pikes, axes, maces, simple

bows,

it

crossbows, and eventually crude handguns,

as well

as

shields of various

shapes. There

was

rarely

much

sizes

and

the attack themselves.

uniformity,

as soldiers wielded whatever they could af-

ford or what

The poorest

was most

a rather static defensive role

readily available.

foot soldiers sometimes used

often than

tlefield, largely trying to

on

played

the bat-

fend off assaults

by mounted or dismounted cavalry. And

simple farm implements.

These poor farmers almost never

the success of infantry in large battles, at

played a significant role in pitched battles,

More

not, therefore, regular foot soldiers

least in the early

due as much

however. They were not only inade-

Middle Ages, was often

and

to effective generalship

quately equipped but also lacked armor

luck as to the types and qualities of

and training. To provide such men, and

weapons.

indeed most other foot soldiers, with extensive training

was

in

clear

example

is

the

famous Battle

of Hastings, fought in 1066 between the

most cases out of

32

Infantry Weapons and Tactics

English Saxons, led by King Harold,

bered between 5.000 and 11.000.

and the invading Normans, commanded

by Duke William (later called William

position

the Conqueror). Here, both sides

more or

evenly matched

less

were

enemy

strength

as

William opened the

by advancing

his archers.

Pelted with a hail of arrows, the

English line remained immovable.

The heavy

serious tactical mistakes. Archer

this excellent

same

about the

battle

to the

morning and ararmy, which was probathe

in

Harold's.

more efwhile Harold's infantry made

Jones gives

William marched

rayed his

soldiers, especially his archers,

some

bly

in infantry

and either was capable of attaining victory. However, William used his foot
fectively,

account of the

but

infantry attacked next

failed to

sion on the

battle:

Then
Harold arrayed his force of heavy

make an impres-

thick English line.

the

heavy cavalry charged

[but also

made no headway and

Perhaps without or-

infantry in a strong defensive posi-

fell

tion along the hill with his flanks

ders, the English infantry surged

protected by the steepness of the

down

ascent.

Duke William

His

men probably num-

(with raised

sword

back].

the

hill

in

pursuit

and

quickly the alert and resourceful

at center) leads his cavalry in a charge against English foot

soldiers.

33

The Middle Ages

Duke William ...

exhausted

led his middle

of the English.

down

[The]

The Sturdy Longbows

and Yeomen

the infantry that after leaving

any forma-

their position lacked

gave

Norman

and easily cut

quickly

cavalry

army

English

way. 14

division of cavalry against the flank

William's assault proved to be the

Only a few escaped to their

William then
post on the hill.
sent his archers to shower the English with arrows and followed this

last

tion.

successful invasion of England, partly be-

cause the English infantry became

more

much

effective in the three centuries fol-

with an attack of his entire force.

lowing the Norman conquest. In

He

fact, in

alternated missile and shock at-

weaponry, training, and organization, the

tacks, inflicting casualties

and de-

English foot soldiers, called yeomen, were

moralizing a force

had

long second-to-none in Europe. This de-

that

to

receive both forms of assault passively.

tally

Finally, an

velopment can be credited

arrow mor-

wounded King Harold

in the

eye, and the remainder of the

to a

sighted leaders, notably King

and

his

few

far-

Edward

immediate successors.

Pillage and
Plunder Expected
When mercenaries finished a campaign,
who pillaged and
plundered the same realm they had just

only demoralized the

fought to protect. But mercenaries were not

the only soldiers who ransacked manors and
villages. Regular infantry often engaged in the

it.

enemy population, but it

made your troops happy and gave you the opportunity to skip a pay day and get away with

they often became brigands

Plunder was another matter. This was or-

ganized pillage, undertaken when there was a

lot of

wealth concentrated in one place and

and expected warfare tactic, as explained here by historians James F.

Dunnigan and Albert A. Nofi (in Medieval Life

the nobles wanted to make sure they got their

and the Hundred Years

to plunder a

practice as a regular

cut.

Towns and

War,):

most

likely

Not being allowed

yielded tens of millions of ducats worth of

most medieval armies, it was expected

In
that the troops would "live off the land."
This did not mean that they would go hunting
and live off nuts and berries from the forest.
... It meant that any food or other valuable
encountered as the troops moved along was
free for the taking.
Once on the lands of
the enemy, pillage was encouraged. This not
.

town was a big disappointment

Towns and castles often

to the troops.

castles were the

places to find plunder.

coin and treasure. ... In an age

was

when the

av-

on an annual income of 3,000 ducats, this was good

money indeed. And then there was all that
opportunity to abuse the local women. Armies
erage working

stiff

living well

and the people

were never friendly
towns and castles well knew it.
.

34

in

the

Infantry Weapons and Tactics

An

eighteenth-century

tration depicts a

illus-

medieval

English bowman. This

man

was part of an elite unit, as

most archers could not afford mail armor.

These leaders recognized

daggers, and clubs. But these were mainly

that the lack

of standardized infantry weapons and

backup weapons they resorted

was a serious problem. Their solution was to recruit large numbers of

yeomen who owned a specific weapon
the longbow
and to pay them to train
with that weapon during peacetime; that

hand-to-hand fighting that occurred

training

when

English

various

if

and

to penetrate the

Their main tool, the long-

lines.

to stop

most attackers

well before they reached those lines.

The reasons

way, a force of highly trained infantry

yeomen used

enemy managed

bow, was often able

could be called on to fight in wartime. The

English

the

to in the

tive

had

little

longbow was so effecdo with its size; in fact, it

the

to

was not much longer than an ordinary

weapons be-

hunting bow.

sides the longbow, including swords, axes,

35

It

also did not shoot arrows

The Middle Ages

Crossbows and Longbows

Contrasted
In this tract from his Castles: Their Con-

about

struction and History, Sidney Toy, an expert

five arrows while the

crossbow was

dis-

charging one bolt, and he could keep his eye

ness of crossbows and longbows in various

on the foe during the adjustment of a new

missile, while the crossbowman's whole at-

combat

tention was required for this purpose. In the

on medieval

compares the

warfare,

effective-

situations.

defense of fortifications, however, where the

Among

Middle Ages the

a strong position,

bow and arrow

held

bow, with

among the

century crossbow was from 370 to 380 yards.

by the end of

that time to the latter part of the

fifteenth century. In

the

English

open war-

preferred

longbow, which was about 6

the
ft.

longbow

was light
while the crossbow was heavy
and cumbersome. With the longbow the archer could shoot
long.

heavier missile, greater force,

was the favorite [hand] weapon from

in general use [in Europe]

fare

its

and longer range was by far the superior

weapon. The effective range of the longbow
was about 220 yards, that of the fifteenth-

the twelfth century and, except

English,

still

and that long after the inThe crossbow

troduction of the crossbow.

was

crossbowman would have support for his bow

and himself be secure from attack, the cross-

the hand weapons in use during the

The

A medieval German crossbowman aims his weapon.

36

Infantry Weapons and Tactics

crossbow

as far as a

One

did.

crossbow
rapid

in

crossbow
could
write

let

most pitched battles was its

The longbow could fire several

same amount of time

the

troops, mercenary

a stunning victory over

French knights and their supporting

the

yeoman

"[Each]

one.

fired

won

lish infantry

in

fire.

arrows

massed English longbows. The Eng-

tered

factor that

gave the longbow superiority over the

crossbowmen from

the

Italian city of

Genoa. This vivid account

of the battle

from the Chronicles of the

is

fourteenth-century French historian Jean

loose a dozen arrows a minute."

Dunnigan and Nofi. "creating a

Froissart.

steady stream of deadly missiles. Advanc-

The Englishmen, who were

doomed, as their
mounts went down from arrow wounds.
The riders went down also, often with broken bones and other injuries.'* Another
ing horsemen were

factor

was

the

[regiments]

battles

Frenchmen approach.

in three

saw the
The lords

and knights of France [were disor-

'

longbowman's high degree

of training. Dunnigan and Nofi continue:

ganized] ... for

some came before

and some came

after, in

such

evil

order that one did trouble [get in the

The king
favors, to
ing,

yeomen were

skilled at

began

target, representing a

and stepped forward a

to point

common

Then they

thick that

itself repeat-

the French

shall

Perhaps the classic example was in

major

battle

of the war.

346, in which the French

first

at

[like]

felt the

snow.

When

arms and

of them cast
.

one

arrows piercing

French king saw them

of English foot soldiers,

said,

in

seemed

crossbows.

their

arrogance were disas-

the first

it

many

breasts,

whom they held in contempt. And the controus.

Then

arrows so

through their heads,

knights were unprepared for or discounted

this

let fly their

Genoese

the

edly on the battlefield, especially during

sequences of

foot.

Genoese] shot

[the

the English archers stepped forth

This combination of a deadly weapon

abilities

but the

fiercely with their crossbows.

16

Hundred Years War. Often,

little,

Englishmen retreated not one

group of enemy

and effective training proved

and

still

Then the Genoese a second time made a fell cry

stirred not for all that.

The archers

(the

and frighten] the Eng-

lishmen, but these stood

pace and

the

English

[the

[startle

troops) at different ranges.

the

approach

to

abash

in order to land their ar-

rows on a while sheet

Ge-

the

more than

soon learned which angle

bows

When

they uttered a great cry to

concentrated on firing in groups

.

lines]

bow. Their training

of 20 to 100 men.

The

into action.

just handling the

of] another.

noese were assembled together and

train-

and good pay when the yeomen

were called

their

way

offered money, and other

encourage peacetime

down

When
fly

the

away he

"Slay these rascals, for they

.

trouble us without reason."

Ever still the Englishmen shot

where they saw the thickest press [of
.

Crecy

enemy

encoun-

37

soldiers].

The sharp arrows

The Middle Ages

The soldier at

left

wields a halberd (or poleax), while the

ran into the knights and into their

many
and when

horses, and

fell,

men

they were

man

centuries,

to his right carries a long spear.

some armies began

to

emphasize

the spear over other infantry weapons, in

horses and

down

making it longer and more

The three main areas where

the process

they could not rise again."

cialized.

spethis

occurred were Scotland, Flanders (encom-

now Belgium,

passing parts of what are

The Deadly Swiss Pikemen

The other medieval European

pikemen

owed

its

the

dinary six- or seven-foot spears grew into

also

pikes twelve feet long: and the Swiss even-

success to the combination of a

tually

weapon and intensive training and

drilling. Spearmen were common foot soldiers across most of Europe in early me-

wielded pikes eighteen feet long. An-

other similar

lethal

dieval times. In the twelfth

the

and northern France), and

Switzerland. In Scotland and Flanders, or-

infantry that

proved superior on the battlefield

hedge (dense mass) of

Netherlands,

poleax).

weapon was

mounted near

the end,

it

could be jabbed to

penetrate mail armor or

and thirteenth
38

the halberd (or

long spear with an axlike blade

swung with two

Infantry Weapons and Tactics

hands

like a giant ax.

stroke of this

both a horse and

At

first,

One

against the pikemen, who remained largely stationary and open to the
deadly effects of missile barrages. "The
spearmen of this date lacked speed and

well-placed

archers

weapon could bring down

its rider.

such weapons

were used

mainly defensively, as many other medieval infantry

formed

maneuverability," military historian Ter-

weapons were. The men

a tightly

ence Wise points out.

"Although they

were strong on the defensive, they could

packed hedge with the

pikes pointing outward, creating a formi-

not change front or formation easily and

dable barrier that could blunt most cavalry

because of their limitations they could

charges. In this

way

the Scottish

defeated the English cavalry

burn

(in

at

pikemen

rarely

Bannock-

southern Scotland) in 1314. But

enemy made

successful

when

sive.

the mistake of re-

lying on cavalry. Opponents were

to

on

their

own.""

to realize their poten-

needed

to

go on

The Swiss pioneered

this

the offen-

approach

beginning in the early fourteenth century.

more

At

they employed massed

group of blights charge at but fail

battle

the fighters

tial,

such victories were possible mainly because the

win a

For such infantry

first,

they armed their all-infantry

armies with halberds. But eventually they

make a dent

in the

39

mighty Swiss Gewalthaufen.

The Middle Ages

supplemented the halberds with long

level

The Swiss basically revived the ancient Macedonian phalanx. This was a battle formation made up of soldiers standing

head height. This classic defensive

formation could stop any cavalry

rows, one behind the other, and

were deeper and the weapons were

pikes.

in several

mass

that

pine's raised quills.

phalanx the Gewalthaufen.

It

at

held upright, such a forest of close-

resembled a porcu-

The Swiss

it

charge; and where the ranks of pikes

carrying long pikes that projected from the

front in a

and the fourth rank held

packed

called their

staffs

could afford consider-

able protection against the

enemy

was usually

fall

of

arrows. 19

about twenty rows deep. According to

scholar Douglas Miller in his

book about

The Swiss phalanx was even more devwhen it went on the offensive. The

medieval Swiss warfare:

astating

well-drilled

men

could

move

together

The first four ranks of pikemen

would level their weapons to create

swiftly

an impenetrable wall, while the

moment's notice. Meanwhile, supporting

the moving Gewalthaufen were units made
up of men carrying halberds, crossbows,
and by the early fifteenth century, crude
handguns. These weapons usually softened

including changing direction almost at a

fifth

and remaining ranks would hold

their

weapons

upright, ready to

any gaps. Because of

pike

was held

the four ranks.

kneel

down

fill

in

its

length, the

differently

by each of

The

front rank

and perform complex maneuvers,

up the enemy before the pikemen moved

would

with the weapon held

for the

kill.

Not

in

surprisingly, the

Swiss

much

feared,

low, while the second stooped with

armies were very successful,

the butt held under their right foot.

and remained Europe's premiere infantry

The

until

third rank held the pike at waist

40

almost the end of the Middle Ages.

Chapter Three

Siege Warfare:
Castles and
Fortifications
Castles and

fortified

towns dominated

the political and social life of the

of medieval

Mid-

society.

Another expert,

Christopher Gravett, elaborates:

dle Ages, particularly in the period lasting

These were the

Castles controlled the countryside

places that the kings, lords, and other no-

around them: they provided bases

from about 1000

bles lived.

to 1500.

And from

from which

these strongholds

oversaw food

distribution,

made

squadrons of knights

could ride out to attack an enemy.

they set social standards, collected taxes,

laws, and

If

an invader chose to bypass such a

himself open to

dispensed justice to the thousands of ordi-

stronghold, he

nary people living in surrounding farms

constant harassment, and to a threat

and

hanging over his

villages. In the

hands of an

elite

and

powerful few, therefore, castles and other

fortified places
litical

became instruments of po-

was because the kings

and lords who lived in them often did not
get along with one another. Not surprisingly, complex and constantly shifting al-

on and from

"Enemy

castles

if

an invading body was of

inadequate strength,

it

was forced

to

give such strongholds a wide berth,

leading to major inconvenience and

loss of time. In order to secure a

among competing

conquered country, the castles them-

nobles led to periodic attacks and counterattacks

and frequently near junctions;

therefore

tary affairs. This

hostilities

communi-

were often situated on roads or

rivers

Castles also dominated medieval mili-

and

lines of

cation and supply. Further, castles

and social control.

liances

left

selves had to be captured.

21

fortified strongholds.

were major

For these reasons, sieges of fortified

political-

military objectives in themselves,"

20

places were by far the most

write

Joseph and Frances Gies, noted scholars

common form

of large-scale warfare in the Middle Ages.

41

The Middle Ages

king 's tax

men

collect

coins from peasants outside

castle. Castles

were potent

tools for political

and

social

control during medieval

times.

The building of

castles

and

towns and the methods used

them were not new or unique

times.

siege warfare had

to

show

and sieges were

which must be considered

sign

in the ancient

and Romans erected massive fortifications

verita-

was from the Romans that the

medieval kingdoms inherited these

walls. Moreover,

art. It

early

of fortresses,

as

well

as

their

construction.

thousands of years ago. Later, the Greeks

ble

was char-

To ensure that sieges would

fail, builders had to design and install features that would keep enemy soldiers
from getting over, under, or through the

East, including the biblical lands,

and developed siege warfare into a

first,

acterized by the strategic location and de-

that such fortresses

common

two main aspects: de-

fense and offense. The defensive aspect,

medieval

Surviving relief sculptures and

other evidence

Near

Like other kinds of conflict, medieval

fortified

to capture

new and

innovative de-

fensive measures had to be adopted from

time to time in response to the ongoing

concepts.

42

Siege Warfare: Castles and Fortifications

On

development of more effective offensive

the other hand, medieval Europeans

did not begin building individual castles in

siege devices.

the countryside until the onset of the feu-

Early Medieval Castles

The need

for effective defensive

The feudal order depended on a

to amass and maintain a
strong power base from which to control

dal age.

measures

lord's

existed from the beginning of the Middle

Ages. Almost
fortified to
ers.

all

Roman towns had been

ability

his serfs

and

retainers.

And

And this practice carried over into early

The

first

primitive castles, constructed

medieval society, as people continued to

mainly of wood, appeared

enclose their towns with massive walls.

France

This engraving depicts

an impreg-

nable castle provided such a base.

keep out enemies and maraud-

in the late ninth

some of the common defensive measures employed

high stone walls and a water-filled moat.

43

in

northern

and early tenth

in castles, including

The Middle Ages

more formidable,

centuries. Thereafter feudal lords rapidly

fenses were

more powerful. And

by the tenth century, most of the lords of
western Germany, Denmark, and espe-

cause their high vantage gave a clear view

multiplied and grew

Normandy were

cially

building the

A motte

"motte-and-bailey" castles.
conical

hill

of

enemy movements. More

partly be-

importantly,

attackers faced the difficult task of ad-

vancing uphill, while arrows, rocks, and

first

down on them.
However, a motte-and-bailey's best defenses were only effective in the short run,

was a

other missiles rained

varying from ten to one hun-

dred feet in height and from one hundred

three hundred feet in diameter. The
summit of the motte was protected by a

for the people confined in the

wooden stockade,
made of boards or

hold out for long periods of time. As

to

into the earth

or palisade, probably
logs

jammed

cramped

space inside the upper enclosure could not

scholar John Burke describes

vertically

and braced by one or more

it

in

his

study of medieval castles:

rows of horizontal boards running around

Permanent residence

the perimeter.
Just

mound was

below the motte, and also protected

by a stockade, were one or more baileys (or

wards), spacious open areas in which peoas well as horses, pigs,

ple,

able.

at the

top of the

neither easy nor desir-

There was

little

room

to

move

about, sanitary conditions must have

and sheep,

been deplorable, and

when an enemy threatsurrounding territory. The twelfth-

it

was a daunt-

could find shelter

ing task to carry food up from below

ened the

and maintain adequate stocks

century French writer Jean de Colmieu

described other features of these

preparation for an emergency.

forts:

Of course,
custom

in

23

during a siege

it

was impossible

dig a ditch

to acquire fresh supplies, so the prospect

about [the motte] as wide and deep

of starvation no doubt led to surrender on

It is

the

as possible.
is

[to]

a citadel, or keep, which

mands

the

many an

Inside the enclosure

whole

circuit

occasion.

com-

Stone Walls and Shell Keeps

of the de-

The entrance to the fortress

is by means of a bridge, which, rising from the outer side of the moat

The next and much

and supported on posts as

After William the Conqueror crushed the

fenses.

it

larger phase of castle

building began in the eleventh century fol-

lowing the

ascends,

reaches to the top of the mound. 22

Norman conquest of England.

Anglo-Saxons and

killed

King Harold

in

the Battle of Hastings in 1066. further op-

The general design of

position

was minimal and William was

bailey allowed for defenders to fight

first

able to

assert

from behind the outer stockades

that

domination of the country. Normandy had

ringed the baileys. If and

ers

a motte-and-

when such

were breached, they could

the citadel atop the motte.

nearly complete

military

barri-

long been a main focus of castle building in

retreat to

Europe: and William brought the expertise

The upper de-

needed for

44

this art to

England, which had

Siege Warfare: Castles and Fortifications

This sketch shows what England's Windsor Castle looked like in 1350. The original motte-andbailey; erected

about 1080, from which the

few heavily

fortified

this time. In fact,

native

strong

it

on

strongholds before

was

wooden

Normans began

English castles that con-

Norman

that the

were susceptible

the general lack of

tributed to the ease of the

quest.

rest grew, is visible in the center.

gates and stockades

to fire

damage. So the

replacing the

wooden en-

closures with stone walls.

con-

The new type of

Conversely, William's subsequent

structure

was

called a

vigorous campaign of castle building en-

"shell keep," basically a single circular wall

sured that his control of the land would be

enclosing an inner bailey atop a

effective
It is

castles

and permanent.

ically

not surprising that the

on English

soil

first

and-baileys like those in France.

large version

was

Norman

stables,

were timber motte-

built at

The

and storerooms

of the wall, with

bailey.

first

hill. It

typ-

had small living quarters, workshops,

In

its

that lined the inside

doors opening into the

more advanced versions stone

towers, or inner keeps, which were usually

Berkhamsted,

twenty-five miles northwest of London, in

substantially taller than the outer walls,

autumn of 1066, to help secure

London's surrender. But for the most part

were erected

the late

these

structures

proved

to

And

added

be stopgap

measures. Their builders recognized early

in the centers

to increase security

residents during a siege.

45

of the baileys.

several other defensive features

were

and sustain the

The Middle Ages

The

shell

keep

at

Restormel,

in

English

stated.

Without large-scale, effective defen-

Cornwall, of which large sections have

sive measures, the probability of a castle

survived, is an excellent example. The

main shell wall is surrounded by a wide,
deep moat designed to discourage attackers from reaching the walls. Within the

falling into

was

and close supporters. Even worse,

is

kingdom by a rival realm.

The degree to which the nobles took

or the whole

just over eighteen feet. In that

space, cross-walls create separate

might

lines and/or the absorption of their estates

between the two ring

and apartments, most two

it

of their family

result in the eradication

to the first, surrounding a circular inner

walls

enemy hands during wartime

that might well mean the

And

death of the castle's lord and his relatives

shell itself is another ring wall, concentric

court; the distance

high.

rooms

this

threat seriously

revealed by the

is

enormous sums of money they invested

stories high.

According

Originally located on the ground floor

castle construction.

were

gan and Nofi's research:

cellars for storing large quantities of

to

in

Dunni-

food and arms, while the upper floor con-

Even a simple

tained the living quarters.

stone tower could be

incredibly expensive.

plain tower

The High Cost of Security

erected at

The importance of such major

security fea-

land]

Dover [in southern Engbetween 1180 and 1190 cost

tures to the landed nobles cannot be over-

some

2.4 million ducats, at a time

A Norman

The keep is approached

up the steep mound, which investigation has
proved to be a natural hillock [as compared
to those mottes that were artificially con-

In this excerpt from his noted book on castles,

scholar Sidney Toy describes the

Shell Keep

side of the keep.

Norman

shell keep at Launceston, in the southwestern

English district of Cornwall. It was originally

about 1080; the

was added about a century later; and
the inner tower about 1240.

built as a motte-and-bailey in

structed], by a long flight of steps, formerly

shell wall

flanked by walls and covered in by a roof.

The foot of the stairway was guarded by a

round tower, and at the head stood the
.

The

keep at Launceston

is

composed

ovoid-shaped shell and a round tower

entrance to the keep which was later pro-

of an

tected

by

portcullis

inside the shell. Here the shell

strengthened by iron].

thick and 30

ft.

commanding

tered plinth

[course of foundation stones]

... is 12 ft.
high, and has a deep bat-

fense,

and

wooden

grille

Considering

its

magnificent middle platform

when complete must

have been amongst the most formidable

England.

46

its

position, its three lines of de-

[inner tower], this keep

crowned by a round molding. The wall walk

was reached by two mural stairways, one
near the gateway and one on the opposite

[a
.

in

Siege Warfare: Castles and Fortifications

income

lord rallied his supporters and allies. In

England was probably no more

by England's

England and many other areas, many of

the soldiers w ho formed a castle garrison
were retainers and other local men dependent on the local lord. They performed this duty as part of their feudal
obligation to provide him with military
service in exchange for land or other favors. The terms of service in a garrison
varied from place to place, but the average was three months per year. Many
soldiers disliked castle duty, viewing it

Richard the Lionhearted on the Seine

as less prestigious than fighting in the

when crown
in

[i.e..

the king's]

2 million ducats a year.

than

was

fairly

As stone

cheap (one or two ducats

per hundredweight), the principal ele-

ment

in the cost

why

over ten years.

more elaborate
it

in

labor, which is
was stretched
one wanted a

was

construction
If

castle,

and one wanted

a hurry, costs would escalate

rapidly.

Thus. Chateau-Gaillard.

the great bastion erected

[River in France]
single year,

was put up

197-1 198.

at

in a

field.

So they paid the lord a scutage, a

w ith which he hired mercenar-

fee or tax

a cost of

12,721,800 ducats, of which some 75

ies to

guard the

castle.

percent went for labor, representing

some 2,544.436 man-days,

alent of over 6.000

Materials,

on

men

Ideas from the East

the equiv-

Such feudal obligations, along with the

that reinforced and perpetuated

for a year.

the other hand, ran only

castles

about 2.4 million ducats, and trans-

the feudal order,

was only about a

million ducats more. When Edward I of England bound Wales be-

in

portation for such

made

the landed nobles

England. France, and elsewhere quite

powerful in the years immediately

tween 1277 and 1302 with a chain of

power, which rested

ten of the greatest castles ever built,

the quality of castle defenses,

his total investment ran to

fol-

lowing the Norman conquest. Yet their

from reached

something

its

in

limit.

large degree

had

on
far

The design and

approaching 90 million ducats. Of

technology of their defenses continued to

course,

money expended on castles

was well spent, for they were great

improve, which

long-term investments in military se-

velopment of new siege devices, both of

which made siege warfare more prevalent

curity.

2"

in turn

stimulated the de-

and more devastating.

These continued improvements in casdefenses were mainly the result of

Such costs did not cover maintaining

and guarding a castle once it was built,
of course. A lord also had to keep a garrison (manned military installation) of

tle

well-trained soldiers on duty to defend

Especially influential in this regard were

sudden attack; in
such an event, these troops would take

growing

necessary defensive actions while the

distinguished by their long tradition of

new

construction ideas and techniques

filtering

across Europe from the Near

East, the birthplace of stone fortresses.

the place in case of a

Western

contacts

with

the

Byzantine Empire and Palestine, both

47

The Middle Ages

The remains of Chateau Gail lard, completed by English king Richard

I in 1198.

Chateau Gail-

lard remained one of Europe's greatest castles for centuries afterward.

that Christian knights

building elaborate stone fortifications. In

number of European kings and

responded to the pleas of Pope Ur-

were impressed by

copy the

1096, a

and immediately began

lords

ern fortifications they encountered. Ac-

ban

II

to

go

This ignited the

first

called Crusades

that

eleventh through

One

Muslim

control.

Of

of the several so-

spanned the

fourteenth

east-

cording to Frances and Joseph Gies:

Palestine and liberate

to

Christian holy sites from

to

who

Holy Land
and survived the fighting, most
soon returned home. The defense

centuries.

crucial result of these ventures

the peasants and knights

tramped or sailed

late

was
48

to the

Siege Warfare: Castles and Fortifications

Skilled Masons Erect

a Shell Keep

Construction techniques
were

most prominent example was herringbone

for shell keeps

and uncomAlthough the noble owners of

masonry. In such stone work, the material

fairly straightforward

plicated.

making up each course of stones was applied at an angle of about forty-five degrees. The mason tilted the stones in each

these early castles dictated their location

and overall layout, it was the local stonemasons and carpenters who did the actual

succeeding course in the opposite direc-

work; and these craftsmen used methods

tion

based partly on traditions that had been

stone grip and hold one another in place.

passed from one generation of builders to

Two courses of such stones bear

another from earlier cultures. Most com-

resemblance to herring bones, hence the

monly,

flat

rectangular

stones

or

were piled on top of one another

age-old

manner.

However,

some

name

bricks
in

slightly

all

make the

to

This

a strong

method of
Romans

across Europe and the English Saxons

Norman conquest, as well as the

Normans themselves.

masonry styles were

parts of many shell keeps. The

medieval woodcut shows masons laboring

of the technique.

it

construction was employed by the

the

more sophisticated
used for

of the one beneath

before the

to erect

49

a shell keep.

The Middle Ages

was

of the conquered territory

therefore

knights
tary

left

to

handful

primarily the

new

time Greek

experience.

mili-

brotherhoods, the Templars

was

the

same

and

Turkish

their

The

results

own

were an

as-

tonishing leap forward to massive,

and the Hospitallers. Inevitably

their solution

allies

enemies, improved by their

of

intricately

designed fortresses of

solid masonry.

as that

25

of William the Conqueror, but the

castles they built

Among

were from the

the crusaders' principal east-

of complex design, and

ern influences were the enormous and so-

made use

phisticated walls and towers protecting

of the building skills of their some-

the Byzantine cities of Constantinople,

start large,

of stone. The crusaders

Nicaea, and Antioch. As they marched

through Asia Minor, what

on

their

also

way

is

now

Turkey,

Europeans

to Palestine, the

saw seemingly impregnable Byzan-

tine stone castles built at strategic points

in the countryside.

These

forts quartered

garrisons of cavalry and foot soldiers on

a

full-time

Medieval

basis,

forces

could

show the formidable

and Constantinople (be-

illustrations

walls of Nicaea

(left)

low). These mighty bastions

made a

pression on European crusaders.

50

that

strong im-

Siege Warfare: Castles and Fortifications

Feudal Vows Encourage

the Spread of Castles

brief

examination of how the feudal or-

der worked

reveals that

it

pecially

castle's lord

and

his loyal follow-

cemented
bond in a solemn public ceremony of
"homage," a term derived from the French
word for man homme signifying that the
retainer was to become the lord's "man."
The retainer placed his hands in the lord's
hands and swore fealty, or loyalty. This creers, called retainers (or vassals),

their

among others,
own retainers. As time
went on, therefore, many of a lord's retainers ended up with their own substantial
lands. Having become lords in their own
right, some built castles on their newly acdistribute part of his land

who became

ated a pact in which the retainer performed

certain obligations, particularly to defend
and fight for the lord. In return, the lord
promised land use, protection, or financial

swiftly

force

move

out and intercept an

rich

more than enough land to give away to his

retainers. Many of these men, in turn, had
more land than they could effectively exploit. One solution was for a retainer to

the steady and widespread proliferation of

castles.

was esand powerful, he possessed

assistance, or all of these. If a lord

influenced

his

quired lands, strongholds that, ironically,

eventually allowed them

power with their former

enemy

compete

to

for

lords.

gateway door used extensively by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Such doors
were usually made of thick wood rein-

attempting to penetrate imperial

territory.

moved up
and down via chains attached to a winch
that was operated from a small chamber
above the main gates.
Arrow loops were another popular
forced with iron plates and

Murderesses, Moats, and

Preemptive Strikes
In addition to learning strategic lessons

about castles, the crusaders also bor-

rowed design and construction ideas. An

example of a specific feature they copied
from Byzantine models was machicolation, the outward projection of a wall at

feature introduced

the top of the battlements. Missiles or

they shot repeated volleys of arrows at

boiling oil could be dropped onto attack-

approaching enemy troops. In principal,

arrow loops were similar to crenellation,

ers

ing

the

from the East. Bearnickname murderesses, these

narrow vertical wall

slits

allowed castle

archers a high degree of protection while

through openings in the floors of

such projections. Stone machicolation,

the succession of notches (merlons)

which was not susceptible

spaces (crenels)

age,

soon became

throughout Europe.
features that spread

was

the

portcullis,

to fire

dam-

at

and

the tops of battle-

common in castles
Among other castle

ments, a feature already long employed

West

alternated at hiding behind the notches

from East
the heavy

to

in

European

and

vertical

51

firing

castles.

Defending archers

through the spaces. But arrow

The Middle Ages

typical medieval Euro-

pean drawbridge as seen

from both the outside and
inside.

Winches retracted the

chains, pulling the

wooden

bridge into an upright position.

loops had a design advantage that

made

loops on

new

castles

and added them

to

them even more effective than crenellation, namely that on the outside the

existing ones.

loops presented a very narrow, difficult

strengthened European castle defenses

target to attackers, while

Still

included improved versions of two very

on the inside

they flared outward, giving the defenders plenty of

command

room

wide

to

old

move around and

field of fire.

builders

drawbridges and barbicans,

A drawbridge was a wooden platform that spanned the moat and could be
drawn back in an emergency, forcing at-

Through-

employed

ideas:

both designed to defend a castle's main

gate.

out the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

European

other features that improved and

arrow
52

Siege Warfare: Castles and Fortifications

tackers to enter the

gate.

Early

versions

moat

to reach the

simply

outside the castle's

from the moat and remained in a horizontal position on the ground in front of
the gate. Later, chains were attached to
the outer ends of the bridge

means of winches,
ber over the gate.

the

The

tactical

sure

was

its

fortified gate.

advantage of such an enclo-

that attackers first

And once

and, by

and some-

walls;

own

had

to enter

it

main

gate.

inside the barbican they

were

before they could reach the

subjected to a deadly rain of missiles from

chamchains were

retracted into a

When

main

times a barbican had

back

slid

the battlements at the tops of

Some

fully retracted, the bridge stood vertically

its

walls.

of the more elaborate castles had

against the face of the gate, creating an

multiple barbicans.

additional barrier to penetration. Other

Conway

Castle,

notable example

built

by Edward

is

in

Both the eastern and

versions used various arrangements of

northern Wales.

pivots and counterweights to raise and

western gates are screened by lofty barbi-

lower the bridge.

cans, one with

A medieval barbican,
at

like versions

its

own

strong gate and

drawbridge.

seen

Troy (on Asia Minor's western coast)

and numerous other ancient Near Eastern

was an outwork or forward extension of the gate's walls. The barbican's

walls often formed a separate enclosure

Such innovative and imposing defenses

were indeed impressive and afforded a very

sites,

Fortified Base

high degree of security. Yet

it

would be

Formidable Town Defenses

Like castles,

many medieval towns were

staircases inside these towers, the defenders

that

could quickly and safely reach the top of the

and bloody en-

walls and be ready to grapple with an at-

deavor. In this excerpt from Daily Life in the

tacking party. Stones were hurled and boiling

Middle Ages, noted scholars Clara and Richard

water poured down as the attackers strug-

me-

gled up their ladders. The entrances into the

towns were shielded by gates and heavy
metal grills called portcullises. There was
also a drawbridge raised and lowered by pulleys. Walls were further protected by a wide,
deep moat. This could be filled with water

protected

made

by formidable fortifications

besieging them a long

Winston describe such town defenses

in

dieval France.

new walls built around French towns

were well-nigh impregnable. They were

The
very

thick,

with

an

inside

and outside

brought from a nearby stream via a canal or

be left dry and allowed to grow up to rough

course of stone and rubble between. Topping

were battlements tall stone

curbs behind which bowmen could crouch to
shoot their arrows through narrow apertures
[openings]. At intervals the walls were
supplemented by towers. Bounding up the

the

walls

briers.

Perpetual watch was kept from the

high towers flanking the principal gate, and

the town was locked up every night even in

peaceful times.

53

The Middle Ages

mistake to assume that a castle's defenders

planned to just
for the

enemy

sit

castle

was "a

from which armed men could

fortified

on capturing a

base

ride out."

26

cases, the defenders prepared in ad-

vance

to

hopes

that

siege

to attack the

siege.

castle did

make

it

When

intent

to the tarthis oc-

curred, both sides could expect to sustain

launch preemptive strikes on the

in

way

get and initiate a siege.

In

many

their

and thereby prevented a

However, the majority of armies

to attack. Indeed, Gravett

points out, a castle

enemy

group of troops on

behind the walls and wait

casualties. Castle defenses

were often

for-

midable. But the offensive weapons of

could be

avoided. In 1119, for example, the garrison

siege warfare were at times equally formi-

of Tillieres Castle, near Paris, ambushed a

dable and often frighteningly lethal.

54

Chapter Four

Siege Warfare:
Offensive Weapons

and Methods
Castles were

usually the regional strong-

holds, supply depots, and

plies

power centers

site

As Joseph and Frances Gies

point out: "Always ready, requiring

maintenance and

repair,

sometimes months. To carry out these key

demanding scant

senior and junior officers.

taken part in

These men had

formidable fortresses became the prime

and thou-

Such operations

often as they

to

be paid, of course.

they lasted more than a few weeks.

was not unusual

More

ally to

it

of the

come cheap. So sieges were enormously expensive ventures, especially if

succeeded, however, be-

often than not

Many

did not

failed as

cause capturing a castle was no easy task.

required hundreds,

sometimes even thousands, of

sieges.

Also, the food and other logistical supplies

sands of sieges were mounted during the

era.

many

soldiers might also be mercenaries.

not surprising, therefore, that these

medieval

Often these

were professional mercenaries who had

throughout the Middle Ages."21

targets of attack in wartime,

numerous experienced

the siege needed

remained the basic center of power

It is

be gathered, transported to the

organizational tasks, the lord conducting

little

advance notice of impending attack, the castle

to

cused on the main task for weeks and

of medieval kings, lords, and other military

strongmen.

had

of the siege, coordinated, and kept fo-

it

run out of money, forcing him to

abandon

soldiers,

And

for the besieger eventu-

the operation.

"Say an army of

men approached [a castle]** Dunnigan and Nofi write, who were

carpenters, metalsmiths. laborers, missile

1.000

weapons, and siege devices (catapults,

and so forth), as well as

huge amounts of food and other supplies.
All of these people, weapons, and supbattering rams,

mercenaries, costing the attacker, on

a\ erase.

55

170.000 ducats a week to

The Middle Ages

start

The besieger had to dewhen to stop throwing good

money after bad. We may not think

digging tunnels [under the walls].

of medieval warlords as accountants,

By

but they had to pay their

maintain.

weeks

It

would take

several

tryside.

to invest [surround] the place,

build siege machines

this

and

time the cost would already

The army of England's King Henry-

and taking

castles

territory. It

III lays siege to the castle

became both an

bills, too.

to drift away,

leaving you defenseless in hostile

hundred thousand gained

from pillaging the surrounding coun-

tacking

Unpaid troops tended

be up to half a million ducats, with

less than a

cide

art

wasn't

adventure and

of a rebellious lord

and a major goal of warfare.

56

all

in

1224. At-

Siege Warfare: Offensive Weapons and Methods

The battlements of Chepstow Castle, in south Wales, are extremely well preserved. The
was particularly strong because it was built atop a base of solid rock.
glory.

A lot of medieval warfare

nerable points, a stubborn and vigorous

was

on them had

the headaches delivered via a clerk's

enough

report on your current cash posi-

chance of success.

tion.

structure

assault

at least

The most common built-in weakness

many castles was that they were
erected over soft subsoil. The ideal was

28

of

Sapping Operations

for a fortress to rest

Whether an attacker eventually gave up

and went home or continued a siege to its
conclusion, the offensive methods used
were more or less standard throughout
Europe during most of the Middle Ages.

ping of solid rock.

As

The usual procedure was

to dig a long

tunnel, aiming

at a

cluding mighty Chepstow Castle, near

the border of
at

a siege began, the attackers naturally

the

castle's

structural

least

England and Wales.

some of

If not,

a castle's walls

were

vulnerable to sapping, or undermining.

directed their best efforts toward exploiting

on a large outcropa few did, in-

And

if

possible

tower or

corner in a defensive wall. John Burke

weaknesses.

Although there were usually few such vul-

explains:

57

The Middle Ages

Steps in Mounting a Siege

In his informative book about medieval castles,

scholar Philip Warner provides this

the traditional steps,

tackers followed

some

or

of which

all

4.

Set up siege engines within range

5.

Set the miners digging trenches un-

of targets.

of

list

at-

when preparing and executing

der the walls.

the siege of a castle or other fortified place:

6. Fill in

all

ditches and moats, and

bring siege towers up to the walls.

1.

Forment dissension

the surround-

in

7.

by each other.

2. Attract

and

as

many

9.

supporters

local

traitors as possible, luring

up battering rams and begin

work on walls and gateways.
Aim stones from siege engines at
points in walls that appear vulner-

8. Bring

destroyed and potential opponents

killed

Create diversions while ladder parties try to scale walls.

ing district so that crops would be

them

by the promise of plunder.

able.

rary fortified place] a short distance

and slingers to
sweep the battlements with contin-

from the castle under attack.

uous

3. Build a

second motte

10. Arrange for archers

tempo-

[i.e.,

collapsed also a wall tower or a cor-

Driving a passage through dangerously unstable earth,

the

When

which would burn

set ablaze.

30
forces were concentrated there.

and

anything

The operation

whole

the

fairly

29

just

described sounds

easy and straightforward. In

reality,

however, sapping was a slow, painstaking

process.

barrels of

Once such

was packed with branches,

brushwood, rags, grease

Beginning

itself.

breach had been made, the assault

they reached the target area,

the tunnel

mass

ner of the keep

sappers

used timbers to prop up the roof.

fire.

gunpowder were often

When

England's King John be-

sieged Rochester Castle in 1215, for ex-

in the early fifteenth century,

ample, the mine his

substi-

men

dug, although

weeks

tuted for branches and other traditional

ultimately successful, took over six

combustibles. Miners learned to build a

to complete.

few zigzags in a tunnel to protect them

from the blast as they crawled away. "The

and dangerous. Sometimes the diggers'

sappers retired as speedily as miners

ways do when

Sapping was also uncertain

aim was off and they ended up in the

wrong place; while even more often their

al-

a charge has been fired,"

tunnels

prematurely collapsed, burying

The remains of an abandoned

from a siege that took place in the
summer of 1 174, can still be seen at Bun-

them

Burke continues:

alive.

sap,
If all

went

lapsed,

well, the timbers

col-

and into the weakened earth

gay Castle

58

in Suffolk (in eastern England).

Siege Warfare: Offensive Weapons and Methods

ladder was speed." scholar Philip Warner

Scaling Ladders
and Siege Towers

writes:

Sapping was only one of several offensive

A good climber was

methods of assaulting a castle. If the

fortress was poorly manned, or if the attackers greatly

outnumbered

ers, scaling ladders

entry.

'The whole

there

to gain

were usually half a dozen

crossbowmen or

of using a scaling

This nineteenth-centui-y engraving showing medieval siege towers

reality, the

its

hooks from the battlements, and

the defend-

might be used
art

up a ladder be-

fore the defender could dislodge

towers and troop sizes were usually smaller.

Ill

59

is

slingers [fighters

highly exaggerated. In

The Middle Ages

who used

slings to hurl rocks or

Yet siege towers, too, had their disad-

lumps of metal, often with consid-

First, they were extremely

heavy and difficult to move over rough
ground or uphill. And because they were

vantages.

erable accuracy] to give covering

31

fire.

composed mainly of wood,

and

the defend-

However, a great many ladders and men

were needed for such an attack; and the

ers

assault had to be very well coordinated

be wheeled over a moat. To eliminate

and intense. Moreover, even when be-

this barrier, besiegers

met these conditions, they had to

expect heavy casualities. The defenders
used arrows, rocks, and boiling liquids to
knock the attackers off the ladders and
forked sticks to push the ladders away
from the walls. Also, some climbers simply lost their balance and fell off. At an

in the

ters

English siege of a French castle in 1346,

stones dropped from above sometimes

fell

from a scaling

What

ablaze.

is

often

did

set

them

more, towers could not

sometimes filled
moat with debris. While doing so
they were open to a shower of missiles
from the walls, so they approached
slowly in heavily protected wheeled

siegers

an English officer

could

shelters

known

as "cats," "rats," "tor-

"hedgehogs." Yet these shel-

toises," or

were not invulnerable

either.

Huge

penetrated them; and their wheels could

lad-

men

der and landed, badly hurt, in the dry

break, leaving the

moat. The

French on the battlements

near the castle walls. Despite the formi-

quickly threw bundles of burning straw

dable firepower that siege towers deliv-

over him, roasting him

ered, therefore, even the largest

To

alive.

avoid, or at least reduce, the

number

the Kenilworth siege failed,

assault towers, called "belfries,"

"bears." or other colorful names.

were often

some of the

identical

These

tle

many ways to
employed by the
ancient times. The

and the cas-

surrendered only after disease rav-

aged the defenders.

in

siege towers

Greeks and Romans

in

Artillery Engines

towers were almost always assembled

When

from materials gathered from the general

vicinity. They gave the besiegers the ad-

besiegers

vantages of height (since they stood

with

least as

and best

equipped did not guarantee success. For

example, the attack of the great belfry at

of such casualties, attackers often built

wooden

inside trapped

enemy

often

particularly strong,

either

abandoned the

above methods or supplemented them

at

artillery

siege

machines

that

hurled stones and other projectiles at or

high as the castle's walls) and ad-

equate cover from

was

a castle

(because the

over the walls. Several types of sophisti-

sides proved effective shields).

cated artillery engines developed in Eu-

Also, a large tower could deliver an enor-

rope in the eleventh and twelfth centuries

wooden

mous amount of
belfry,

used

in

worth Castle,

fire

offensive

1266

One such

fire.

at the siege

in westcentral

by eastern models, which

inherited from
Greek and Roman times). All were constructed of wood, which meant that the
(influenced

themselves had been

of Kenil-

England, held

two hundred troops and eleven

catapults.

60

Siege Warfare: Offensive Weapons and Methods

A woodcut depicts
the

many

one of

of medieval

styles

catapult.

attacking

many

army had

to bring

along or find

greatly

II

either

the

campaigns, England's King

assembled over five hundred

ing) of wooden levers; the burst of energy

produced by suddenly releasing the ropes

carpenters to build the artillery he needed

or levers sent the projectile on

to attack a rebel castle.

flight.

Among

torsion

(twisting) of ropes or the tension (stretch-

his military

Henry

increasing

During one of

skilled carpenters.

the

most

common

large

mangon could

rocks up to thirteen hundred

artillery en-

its

deadly

hurl
feet.

heavy

Even

gines were the ballista, essentially a giant

more devastating was

crossbow or spear-thrower, and the man-

duced into western Europe in the twelfth

century and here described by scholar

gon,
rocks.

or catapult,

which hurled large

They operated on

Hugh Braun:

the principles of

61

the trebuchet, intro-

The Middle Ages

Walls

Castle's

Bored and Battered

Two

of the more

common

castle's doors or walls.

devices used to

breach walls in medieval times were bores

tering ram

was

and battering rams. A bore was a long, heavy

hung from

wooden beam with a pointed iron tip

end. A group of men placed it against

men

tle wall and,

using handles, turned

at the
a cas-

it like

it

When

possible, the bat-

an iron head and

fitted with

wooden framework

did not have to hold

forward. Of course,

was usually necessary

it

to protect the operators of bores and batter-

it drilled a hole in the maA battering ram was usually a large tree
trunk that many soldiers (up to sixty or more
in some cases) repeatedly smashed against a

screwdriver until

ing rams from missiles rained

sonry.

fenders. The

"At

ber balks [beams] built up into a

wrote

was supported

summit of which

last the large

the

was weighted with a large box of

earth or stones. The longer end,
which held the projectile, was
hauled down in the same fashion as
... the mangon; when released, the

seized with

beam and

erally increased

German

at the fort.

The men

in the

seeing the size of the rocks, were

great

The Germans

built a

33

At another
Henry said:

terror."

siege, at Fellin, in Estonia,

machine, and,

by hurling stones night and day,

they broke

flung

was gen-

and

by the attachment

killed

down

the fortifications

innumerable

imals in the

fort,

men and

an-

since the Estonians

had never seen such things and had

of a long leather sling to the end of

the

machine was put up,"

thirteenth-century

rocks were cast

long balanced

fort,

weight revolved the

de-

chronicler Henry of Livonia, "and great

beam. The shorter end of the beam

the projectile. Its velocity

down by the

most common method was to

place the devices and their operators inside
wheeled wooden structures called penthouses.

This was a huge affair of great tim-

lofty trestle, at the

so that the

up while guiding

it

beam. These trebuchets could

not

throw a projectile weighing perhaps

strengthened

their

against such attacks.

houses

34

half a ton, and ranges of a quarter of

The deadly

fea-

Such siege devices, especially the

ture of the trebuchet, however,

was

buchet, were also used to fling diseased

a mile are recorded.

its

high trajectory, which enabled

to hurl its projectiles

tre-

animals into castles in hopes of infecting

it

over the top of

the defenders.

Combining many

any stockade. 32

different

assault

techniques and machines and pressing

The
siles

frightening and lethal rain of mis-

from these

scribed in

some

the attack relentlessly

and vigorously

of-

de-

ten achieved the desired goal within a

surviving medieval tracts.

few weeks or months. The following

large artillery pieces

is

62

Siege Warfare: Offensive Weapons and Methods

vivid account of a successful siege

taken from a medieval chronicle

duced the old tower.

is

known

the south and one

on

A mangon
the north

on

made

as the

two breaches

eight

them. Besides these, there were two

Annals of Dunstable. In 1224, after

weeks of almost constant offensive
operations, the castle of Lord Falkes de
Breaute's castle

at

of King Henry

wooden machines

fell to

erected

over-

looking the top of the tower and the

Bedford (about forty

miles north of London)

in the walls nearest

castle for the use of the

the forces

men and

III.

crossbow-

scouts. In addition there

were very many engines there

On

was a stonethrowing machine and two mangons which attacked the [new]
tower every day.
side

On

the

Soldiers use scaling ladders to reach

when used

in

men and
tected by

gers

re-

windows

slingers.

was an engine

western

were two mangons which

in

which lay hidden both crossbow-

the eastern side

in

a defensive

Further,

which underground dig-

undermined the tower and

wall.

Such ladders were

large numbers, hut the attackers usually suffered heavy casualties.

63

there

called a cat, pro-

effective

The Middle Ages

castle.

Now

the castle

four assaults. In the

was taken by

few supplies soon faced the prospects of

starvation, malnutrition, and disease.
Desperate defenders were known to resort

the barbi-

first

can was taken, where four or five of

the outer guard

were

to eating their horses

killed. In the

second the outer bailey was taken,

tually mice, rats,

where more were

often

and dogs, and even-

and grass. The attackers

and other things beyond number.

managed to poison the castle's well.

Or the well dried up from overuse; this
was the cause of the fall of Exeter Castle
(170 miles southwest of London) in 1 137

But the buildings with grain and

after a

killed,

and

in this

place our people captured horses

crossbows, oxen, bacon, live pigs

hay

them they burned.

in

trines usually

the miners, the wall fell near the old

where our men got through

foul stench.

amid great danger

inner bailey. Thus em-

Morale was another imporDuring a

the rubble and

tant factor.

occupied the

Donald and Mark Bergin

many of our men

ployed,

set

The

fire

Fiona Mac-

write:

castle defenders lived in a state

of constant uncertainty. They were

under the tower by the min-

smoke broke through

room of the tower where
the enemy were; and the tower split
so that cracks appeared. Then the

cut off

enemy, despairing of their safety

outside

ers

siege,

perished.

... At the fourth assault ... a

was

la-

backed up, increasing the

likelihood of sickness and producing a

third assault, thanks to the action of

tower,

three-month-long siege. Moreover,

under such crowded conditions the

In the

so that

from contact with the outside

world, and so did not

into the

well, or
faring.

how

know how

badly, their allies

were

The enemy forces camped

the walls would do their best
them, by jeering, or by

yielded [surrendered] to the king's

to depress

command. 35

spreading false rumors. 36

Suffering and deprivations like these,

The Defenders' Predicament

coupled with the relentless pounding of

The

the

ability to

withstand a fully mounted

garrison, the

enemy's siege machines, brought

fall of many castles. Still, some
fortresses managed to survive such ordeals. This is partly because many of them
had their own artillery pieces in place on

had stored, and the

the battlements. During the reign of Eng-

overwhelmed Bedford Castle depended on several factors.

Among these were the strength of the cassiege like the one that

tle's

walls, the size of

amount of supplies

it

its

about the

courage and determination of the defenders.

Even

beat back

if

the inhabitants

many

managed

land's

Edward

I,

for example, engineers

added four catapults

to

to

Chepstow

Castle's

assaults, the possibility of

towers. During sieges at various castles,

high. Once surmany people and

buchets. had the added advantage of firing

animals cramped inside and possessing

from a great height; and they often hurled

ultimate defeat

was

such catapults, as well as ballistae and

still

rounded, a castle with

64

tre-

Siege Warfare: Offensive Weapons and Methods

The Dreaded Greek Fire

One of the most feared weapons in mewarfare was a combustible product
known as Greek Fire. Its exact ingredients are
unknown, but it likely consisted of some combination of sulfur, pitch, and other petroleum
products, and possibly quicklime. This excerpt

solid mixtures.

have

dieval

been

difficult

proving useless on

Greek

fire

appears to
water

extinguish,

to

own. The twelfth-

its

century chronicler Geoffrey de Vinsauf, as

well as

believed that

noting the stench,

and that sand

could only lesson its ferocity. Though not
widely used in the West, it was greatly respected. The Moslems in Acre [in Palestine]
only vinegar could quench

from English scholar Christopher Gravett's Medieval Siege Warfare provides more information about Greek Fire.

it,

hurled jars of the stuff at the Frankish bel-

and other structures near the walls and

everything. The French crusader
Joinville vividly describes the roar it made,
and the fiery tail ... it left as it flew
through the air.

was probably evolved by the Byzantines

It
in the seventh century, and is likely to

fries

burned

have reached Europe via contact with the

There were probably several

Crusaders.

versions in use, based on liquid, paste, and

back the same rocks and spear bolts

the attackers

had

earlier

some

that

castles kept a year's supply of

food or even more on hand, and the

lobbed into the

relatively small size of a thirteenth-

strongholds.

century garrison often meant that in

Castle defenders also regularly exploited the firepower of the crossbow,

which had an effective range of between three and four hundred yards. Although besiegers used this weapon too,
it was much more effective in the hands
of the besieged. The latter had the advantage of firing both from a height and
from behind the protection of walls and

rather than the besieged

arrow loops.

chickens brought in

at the

approach might be

far easier than

On

the other hand,

some

warfare,

namely

garrison of sixty

men

could hold

out against an attacking force ten

times

its

number, and feeding sixty

men from

a well-stocked granary

supplemented by

castles avoided

the ratio of the

were con-

fronted with a supply problem.

capture by exploiting a logistical reality of

all

prolonged siege the assailants

feeding 600

amount

and
enemy's

cattle, pigs,

men from a war-ravaged

countryside.'"

of food available to the number of mouths

to feed.

When

a castle

was extremely well

stocked with supplies, ironically the attack-

Many Variables and Outcomes

ers often faced starvation before the de-

Considering these factors, the defenders

fenders. Frances Gies

makes

were often

the point that

65

in a stronger position than

The Middle Ages

might be assumed

when

at

face value, even

the attacking force

An example

was very

tle's

continued strong and heroic resistance,

the French finally gave

large.

of a siege failing in the face

up and

lifted the

siege.

of the defenders' superior firepower, am-

This and other stories of both successful

ple supplies, and sheer courage and de-

and unsuccessful sieges teach an important

termination

occurred in

1216.

lesson about medieval siege warfare.

Louis,

dauphin of France, crossed the English

Channel and

laid siege to

It

was

a costly, complex, and uncertain business.

And

Dover Castle

(on England's southern coast). Louis's

it

involved

logistical,

many

defensive, offensive,

and human variables

that in var-

forces

encountered such massive and

ious combinations could bring about nu-

lethal

defensive

were

merous possible outcomes. Some of these

outcomes were quite unexpected, both to

forced to

move

fire

their

original position.

that

they

camp back from

And

its

thanks to the cas-

the participants

66

and

to

people today.

Chapter Five

Gunpowder,
Cannons, and
Handheld Guns
The

introduction of guns, including ar-

tillery

It

held pieces constituting primitive

rifles,

changed the face of medieval warfare. That

much
that

is

certain.

However, the popular idea

gunpowder and guns

castles, trebuchets,

required a steady series of advances,

from the early fourteenth through early

seventeenth centuries, for both cannons
and handheld guns to reach the point
where they dominated warfare.

pieces like cannons and hand-

rapidly rendered

Origins of Gunpowder

crossbows, pikes, and

and took several centuries. In the years

The exact origins of the substance that

would transform European and world
warfare remain unclear. But based on
various snippets of evidence, most his-

following the introduction of

torians believe that the earliest version

other standard elements of traditional warfare obsolete is a misconception.

In reality, this process

directly

gunpowder

into

Europe

was gradual

of gunpowder was invented in China in

in the early thir-

teenth century, the substance

was not

the ninth century.

was also not very powerful, and it took some time to find the formula that would yield the most explosive
effects. Also, early cannons were crude
and not very effective against castle and
town walls, which were long their main
targets. And because they were heavy,
immobile, and took a long time to load,
they were of little use on the battlefield.
Similarly, early handheld guns were at
first crude and of limited effectiveness.
widespread.

Some

alert individual

noticed that touching a flame to a mix-

It

ture of charcoal,

sulfur,

and saltpeter

(potassium nitrate) caused an explosive

reaction.

Over

the course of the following three

gunpowder
employed it in

centuries, the Chinese used

in firecrackers.

They

also

various weapons, including "fire lances,"

bamboo tubes that expelled a burst of

smoke and fire when the powder packed
inside

67

was

ignited.

Other weapons were

The Middle Ages

This illustration, dating from the late 1600s, shows a Venetian

attackers use cannons

and handheld guns, which

army

assaulting a Turkish fort. The

steadily revolutionized warfare.

ducing efficiency. Moreover, as Dunnigan

which
were grenadelike bombs, and "arrows of
fire," small rockets that flew onto and set
ablaze rooftops. Evidence also suggests
called "heaven-shaking thunder,"

and Nofi point

out:

The proportion of
low

saltpeter is rather

Chinese formulas. So

by the thirteenth century the Chinese

were placing gunpowder inside a vase-

these mixtures were far

shaped metal container, perhaps a very

to

that

way of telling

Although these developments are imthe world's

impurities

leading military power, which they well

might have.

First, early

were added

oil,

the degree of purity of

would tend

the explosive effects.

to

dampen

38

Also, Chinese leaders were highly tradi-

explosions.

This was partly because unneeded sub-

such as

likely

Chinese gunpow-

der produced rather feeble

stances,

more

any of the ingredients. Obviously,

pressive, they did not revolutionize Chi-

make China

all

go off with a "woosh" than a

"bang," the more so as we have no

early version of a cannon.

nese warfare and

in

garlic,

and saw no reason to change the

methods employed by their ancestors. So they did not develop and use
tional

and honey,

fighting

to the basic ingredients, re-

68

Gunpowder, Cannons, and Handheld Guns

gunpowder weapons
effective

in

ignited, this mixture created an impres-

any systematic or

manner; and these devices

mained largely novelties

in

sive flash

re-

and a loud noise. But the ex-

plosion produced was weak. Over the

China.

next several decades, European experi-

Early Gunpowder Weapons

The situation was much different in Europe. Merchants and other travelers
brought gunpowder technology from the
East to the West sometime in the early

menters managed to develop versions

much
peter,

Added

and began experimenting.

In 1267 the English alchemist Roger
Bacon introduced a formula that called
and 29.4 percent charcoal.

to these

salt-

developments was the

progressive, ambitious, and highly

it

com-

European kings and

nobles. Unlike Chinese leaders, they were
willing to try any new idea or device that
gave them an edge over their rivals. So
petitive nature of the

for 41.2 percent saltpeter, 29.4 percent

sulfur,

74.64 percent

11.85 percent sulfur, and 13.51

percent charcoal.

1200s. Various European inventors soon

learned of

closer to the most explosive and

destructive formula

When

Thirteenth-century English

alchemist Roger Bacon con-

ducted important early experiments with gunpowder.

69

The Middle Ages

beginning around

1300,

mented with primitive

weapons in warfare.

they

ploded

experi-

gunpowder

in

mines dug under

effect the first landmines;

petard (French for

These devices were not guns. Rather,

they included handheld grenadelike

metal pot

bombs

filled

castle walls, in

and petards.

"little fart")

with gunpowder.

three soldiers carried

it

was a big

Two

or

to a castle's front

hammered

some

that attackers catapulted into castles or that

door, hurriedly

defenders dropped onto attackers trying to

(while trying to avoid missiles raining

get inside; barrels of

gunpowder

down from

that ex-

in

nails

above), hung the pot on the

Examples of early cannons dating from the mid- to-late fourteenth century. The barrels were
made of copper or brass, metals soft enough to cause them to rupture or explode frequently.

70

Gunpowder, Cannons, and Handheld Guns

Standardizing Cannons
became

cannons of the late Middle Ages came

hundreds of varieties and had numer-

years of the sixteenth century, most gun-

ous names, which people both then and

now have found confusing. The reason was

makers adopted such a system based on the

weight of cannons and the weight of the

The
in

ing artillery guns

that for a long time there was no standard-

Cannons differed widely

ization.

balls

gunmak-

measures of length

and weight and had their own local names

big guns. Eventually, the need for a
more or less standard system of categoriz-

for

the fuse,

and ran for cover.

nails,

lit

went

well, the explosion

the door. But the petard

system, the small-

est

nism, and so forth. Also, Spanish, French,

English, German, Italian and other

fired. In this

the early

cannon, often called a falconet,

weighed five hundred pounds and fired a
ball weighing one pound. A quarter-cannon
weighed thirty-five hundred pounds and
fired a ball weighing sixteen pounds. And a
double-cannon weighed twenty thousand
pounds and fired a ball weighing one hun-

in design,

length, weight, barrel width, firing mecha-

ers often used different

they

clear. In

dred pounds.

use at the siege of the independent city of

If all

knocked down

Metz

was only margin-

(in northern

earliest definite

France) in 1324. The

reference to such can-

sometimes

nons, however, was a 1326 order by the

of

council of the northern Italian city of Flo-

the phrase, "hoisted

by his own petard,"

indicating someone done in by his own

rence for the manufacture of a cannon and

plan backfiring.

that

ally effective, partly

because

exploded prematurely;

The

First

it

this is the origin

A surviving illustration from

same year shows a vaselike device
sitting atop a wooden stand; a soldier has

iron balls.

Guns

touched off a fuse attached to the weapon,

These primitive gunpowder weapons continued to be used for centuries.

And

which
At

deed, the grenade and landmine remain in

use today. (The petard was

from time

to

still

employed

first,

power compared with

apart

from the force of

charges. Also, these

portance in warfare.

their missiles very far

first

open end

relatively pli-

able metals, so they were prone to ripping

guns, which quickly eclipsed them in im-

The

its

these primitive cannons pos-

made of copper or brass, both

time until the end of the nine-

destructive

from

sessed limited military value. They were

teenth century.) But they have relatively

little

fires a large dart

toward a castle gate.

in-

So they had

European guns, crude can-

little

their explosive dis-

weapons could not

fire

and were inaccurate.

effect

on the formidable

may

stone fortifications of castles and towns, as

have appeared as early as 1320. Later me-

evidenced by the description of a cannon

nons designed for siege warfare,

dieval chroniclers

mentioned cannons

attack

in

71

by

the chronicler of the

German

city

The Middle Ages

of Ulm:

"A knight came and besieged

town and shot

at

it

with thunder guns.

It

the

iron. In a

did

rel

no harm." 39

them together by

a series of iron

wound around

the

some gunmakers

vanced. In the mid- 1300s,

had

tougher than copper, utilizing methods

had long been used

to

for Europe's cathedrals.

1

370.

make

as

it

though the

is

fifteen feet long

was

hoops

that

Both the

less likely to

its

practical size.

72

eight

And

al-

was greater in the

this method allowed

risk of rupture

in Scotland. Originally forged in

and weighs

blow apart

but existing casting tech-

iron composite tubes,

of

appears today at Edinburgh Castle,

French duke, the cannon

it

firing;

niques limited

started prostrips

perimeter.

advantages and drawbacks. Be-

solid piece,

Another advance

Gunmakers

their

during

large bells

ducing larger cannons from long

Mons Meg

fitted

cause a bronze cannon tube was cast as one

began casting the tubes from bronze, which

came around

of wood, they

bronze casting and iron composite methods

However, cannon technology rapidly ad-

is

strips

several iron strips edge to edge and held

The Monster Guns

that

process similar to making a bar-

from separate

and a half tons.

1449 by a

Gunpowder, Cannons, and Handheld Guns

for the construction of

much

the even

larger can-

nons. Indeed, in the decades that followed,

as iron

came

cannons became

the late 1300s,

artillery

By

of Chris-

Constan-

the

Ottoman Turks

in 1453. In

words of noted scholar John Julius

Norwich, the sultan subjected the

guns

bombards (from which

word bombardment derives). At first

were referred
the

such large

all

fall

tinople, to the

larger, they be-

regular features of siege warfare.

more impressive

tianity's great eastern bastion,

city's

ancient, majestic, and supposedly impreg-

to as

nable walls

to:

they fired large stones, similar to those

hurled by trebuchets but carefully carved

into a ball shape.

Over time

bombardment unprecedented

in

By

the

day he had

re-

the history of siege warfare.

the stone balls

were replaced by lead and iron ones. The

evening of the

gun crew loaded

duced

the cannonballs into the

first

to rubble a section

near the

The bombardment [continued] uninterruptedly

muzzle, or open front, of the weapon,

Charisius Gate.

hence the term "muzzle-loaded." Loading

was no easy task, since an average cannonweighed between four and five hun-

for the next forty-eight days. Al-

though some of the larger pieces

ball

dred pounds.

[cannons] could be fired only once

would be an understatement to say

that the weapons firing these cannonballs
were huge. A bombard made in 1449 by a
French duke, which was later given to
Scotland's King James II, has survived
and is on display in Scotland's Edinburgh
Castle. The piece is fifteen feet long,

every two or three hours [because

weighs eight and a half tons, and

ceaselessly to repair the

It

bears the

Meg."

name

In fact,

its

makers gave

naming

large

outer wall across the Lycus had col-

lapsed in several places, and

though

"Mons
still

times.

"Great

Devil," "Earthquake," "Kill Cow,"

"Sweet

Lighter,

proliferation of such monster-

precedented event.

And

in the closing stages

German

ited their effectiveness in sieges

English

two days, an unin the late 1440s,

of the Hundred Years

strongholds

in

and kept

them from becoming useful battlefield

weapons. Namely, they were extremely
heavy and immobile. Most of the time
they rested on heavy, stationary wooden
frameworks, or the gun crews dug them
into permanent emplacements in mounds
of earth. Moving these large cannons to

War, French cannons reduced to rubble

the

bom-

bards had a serious disadvantage that lim-

prince demolished the castle of a rebellious retainer in only

it

More Mobile Artillery

Despite their firepower, the large

guns, the lethal effects of cannonfire increased. In 1414, the cannons of a

al-

worked
damage be-

defenders

was already clear that they could not

do so indefinitely. 40

Lips," and "Bumblebee."

With the

the

hind makeshift wooden stockades

Some

include

other

damage they did

was enormous; within a week the

cool down], the

cannons was a

common practice in medieval

known examples

it

the barrels had to be given time to

northern

France with amazing speed. Then came

73

The Middle Ages

How Many

Horses to

Move a Cannon?
move

the lighter medieval cannons were

extremely heavy and required an enor-

Even

mous amount of human and animal power

to move from place to place. Through ex-

how many horses or oxen and how

many wagons would be needed to haul
each cannon and its balls, powder, and
other supplies and equipment. And various
medieval military writers composed manuals listing this information. One such
writer, Marc Antonio Bellone, advised that
two horses or oxen would be needed to

their firing positions required consider-

Saker.

He said that a

at the

same speed

as the

accompanied them, so

labor.

army

that

that

foot,

as an

took twenty-four horses to

integrated unit within

move
enemy

an average-sized bombard through

tory, thus averting the

dangers that

According

to a fifteenth-century

manuscript,
pull

weighing seven thousand pounds, would

require seven of these animals. And a
large culverin weighing fifteen thousand
pounds would need fifteen animals to
move it. An artillery train following an
army was therefore a huge and cumbersome operation. A relatively small one
launched by the Dutch in 1610 to move
only fifteen cannons required 700 horses,
about 220 wagons, and 16 carts.

learned

enormous amounts of

twenty-five hundred pound

called

larger version, often called a half-cannon,

perience, artillery specialists and gunners

able time and

a small

culverin

it

French

horse, and guns could

and in 1477, two Italian

bombards and their cannonballs and gunpowder each required forty-eight wagons.
Moreover, such a cannon train moved at a
snail's pace and could not keep up with its
own army. As a result, renowned military
historian John Keegan points out, such
the countryside;

large artillery

artillery

the marching force or have to be

abandoned

French did the Nor-

man

and land approaches

41

to these problighter,

more

new
weapon had many names, the most common was culverin. Its tube, which was
cast is a whole piece to make it solid and
strong, was longer and narrower than
that of a bombard. A culverin was breech
loaded by stuffing a portable chamber

countryside and the Ottomans

the water

event of a retreat.

The obvious solution

could be brought into action only on

owners already con-

in the

lems was the production of

mobile

trolled, as the

might be captured while

gunners struggled to keep up with

guns

territory their

terri-

to

cannons.

Although

the

Constantinople. For cannons to be-

containing gunpowder,

come

instruments of [military] cam-

iron cannonball, into the weapon's open

paigns they had to be lightened

rear. The use of such removable firing

chambers allowed for much faster re-

enough

to

be transported on wheels

74

along with an

Gunpowder, Cannons, and Handheld Guns

muzzle-loaded bomenough
to make mounting them on mobile twowheeled carriages practical. After 1450
loading than

These technical advances did not hap-

in

bards. Culverins were also light

the

technology for such carriages

pen overnight, however.

in-

These improvements
made the culverin very movable and
flexible; and small versions of it were
the first cannons used in open battle.
Wheeled carriages made
VIII

made

it

to

be

overcome before these guns became practical, so development was slow and spo-

creased rapidly.

King Charles

Many engineering

and manufacturing problems had

radic.

about

Medieval chronicles are unclear

when and how many of the new

can-

nons were produced and where they were

used.

A French gunner at the English

siege

practical to carry cannons onto the battlefield. In 1494, France's

history by fielding a force offorty-four

75

cannons on mobile carriages.

The Middle Ages

may

tage of the latest cannon technology avail-

have had a single, primitive culverin. One

able and at great cost ordered the manufac-

source suggests that two French culverins

ture of four large

broke the English longbow formation

All were

of the French town of Orleans in 1429

and forty smaller culverins.

an-

mounted on two-wheeled mobile

carriages, allowing each weapon to be easily

other reports several culverins on two-

maneuvered by a small gun crew. With these

the Battle of

Formigny

wheeled carriages

in 1450.

in the

And

in

French town of

weapons

Rouen in 1454.
The major breakthrough came in 1494.
France's King Charles VHI took full advan-

in tow,

Charles invaded Italy and

rapidly demolished the northern Italian castle

of Firizzano. Hearing of this event, sev-

eral

nearby Italian city-states promptly

This illustration from a Ger-

man manuscript dated

c a. 1400 shows men loading
gunpowder
gun.

It

into

a handheld

originally bore a cap-

tion reading in part: "If you

want

to

load your gun pro-

fessionally,

powder

76

is

make sure

the

a good one."

Gunpowder, Cannons, and Handheld Guns

surrendered without a
year, the fortress of

fight.

The following

San Giovanni chose

stead to defy Charles and paid dearly

his

mighty cannon

train

pistols held in

gun

in-

when

massed

centrate their

gic location.

on a

fire

known about

Little is

mainly

guns,

held

in

one hand, the term handheld

used here to differentiate them from

modern handguns.

reduced the place to

mere eight hours. Charles

showed European military leaders that the
key to using the new cannons was to conrubble

is

the earliest hand-

medieval

because

The
weapons

chroniclers tended to ignore them.

first

written descriptions of such

date to about 1360; since they refer to de-

single, strate-

John Keegan explains:

vices already in use, these

weapons were

probably invented two or three decades or

The new cannon, because they

more

could be brought rapidly into action

sisted of a

close to a wall, and then handled to

eight and twelve feet long.

fire

transferred

the

mining [digging saps

to

effect

on a pole

of

undermine

base of a wall

in a horizontal pattern

of attack that

in the

lative effect

to fire.

powder

into

rammed

the

stick,

was so heavy

It

gunner had

According

stonework, the cumu-

muzzle of

the

barrel,

tight

with a

into the barrel near the breech.

more

provement dating

quickly

it

would become unstable

and the wider the breach

it

it

left

toppled. Since in falling

it

that

his shoulder or

4:

by a

pearance.

single soldier also

cannons were

made

They had many names

handheld

shorter and

gunner could hold

under his arm when

it

on

firing.

It was still extremely difficult to hold the

gun with one hand and ignite the powder
with the other, so sometimes a second
gunner applied the match. The introduction of the matchlock mechanism in the

developing, guns that could be carried and

fired

weapon became

1400s, the

lighter so that the

the

Handheld Guns
During the same years

in

guns were slow but steady. In the early

its

opening of the breach amounted to

the fall of the fortress also.

advancements

Further

auto-

...

im-

the gunner touched to the hole.

foot with rubble, thus providing pas-

sage for an assault party

An

1400 was the

to circa

"'match," a length of smoldering rope that

when

matically filled up the ditch at

To

red-hot wire through a small hole bored

The higher

the

wood

powder, the gunner inserted a

itself.

wall,

it

German

shot, consisting of a lead ball.

ignite the

of which was to use the

the

powder down

physics of the wall against

the

to rest

to a

then added a small piece of

and the

did not vary in height, rapidly cut a

channel

that the

manuscript of about 1390, he poured gun-

the walls] to artillery. Iron cannonballs, directed at the

gun con-

bronze or brass tube between

and awkward

accurately in a predictable arc of

impact,

before. Initially, such a

latter half

came

their ap-

of the fifteenth century over-

these

difficulties.

metal lever

bolted to the top of the barrel held the

at the time,

When

including hand-bombards, hand-culverins,

smoldering match in place.

and handguns. But because they were not

ner pulled the trigger, a spring snapped the

77

the gun-

The Middle Ages

lever

back so

match touched and

amount of powder in a tiny

that the

ignited a small

The

pan.

ter

powder

and

inside

in the

firing the gun.

By about

mon

infantry

rope.

A longer, heavier, and more powerful

weapon

in

many

came

match

into

stick planted firmly in

or

some

about a

to

an enemy army and

harass

around

to his hook,

opened

and pulled the

trig-

other accident prevented a

ners as they did units of crossbowmen,

it

it

ready to shoot, he

shot. If the

soften

or by

About half of the time the gun

shot.
The other half of the time
his match went out, the powder fell
from his pan, the powder flashed in
the pan without igniting the charge,

the ground. Generals used groups of gun-

mainly

When

it

distance from the

ger.

gunner usually rested the end of

gun on a forked

some

his pan. took aim.

Eu-

parts of

version, the early musket, also

this

air.

fixed his

1500, a portable matchlock,

widely called an arquebus became a com-

use; the

it

burning end and whirling

flash then penetrated a hole in

the barrel, igniting the

loading by blowing upon

grasping

line

of

gun

shot, the

fifty-fifty

men

gunner had

chance of hitting a

standing shoulder to

43
shoulder about 100 yards away.

up for the attack of the cavalry or

infantry phalanx.

The reason

took two centuries for

it

Therefore, early handheld guns were no

more

handheld guns to replace crossbows on the

battlefield

was

that the

ous drawbacks.
to load.

At

First,

best, a

guns had some

effective than

crossbows in pitched

The two main reasons that military

leaders adopted these guns was that they
were cheaper to make than crossbows and

battles.

seri-

they were very slow

gunner could get off only

eight to ten shots per hour. Second, these

required

much

weapons were inaccurate and often

Since

was more economical

able.

According

to

unreli-

Archer Jones:

it

less skill

and training

to use.

to field a

force of gunners than an equal force of

crossbowmen. handheld guns largely

slow work.

While

the

re-

placed crossbows by the early 1600s. But

Shooting a matchlock remained

because they were

gunner

loaded he had both to keep his

lethal than

still

not markedly

more

crossbows, the guns did not, by

match away from the powder and

themselves, change the outcome of most

also to keep

battles or revolutionize warfare at this time.

it

alight.

This he did

af-

78

Chapter Six

Ships and

Naval Warfare
Although

slaughts, a contemporary English chron-

often neglected in discus-

of medieval

sions

played an important role

warfare,

ships

in military

cam-

icler reported:

Never before has such

paigns throughout the Middle Ages. Be-

moved much faster than land

commanders routinely used

cause they
armies,

peared

in Britain as

terror ap-

we have now suf-

fered from a pagan [non-Christian]

ships to transport men, horses, supplies,

race.

and heavy weapons such as catapults and

such an inroad from the sea could be

cannons. Transport vessels could reach a

made. Behold the church of St. Cuth-

strategic location near or

lines

and unload

enemy was

behind enemy

Or

priests

the

ships could bring reinforcements or,

it

bert, spattered

their contents before the

fully prepared to fight.

Nor was

of God. despoiled of all

who

back

to sea.

chief tactic of the Vikings,

In addition, warships gathered into

fleets

This was the

who

were

terror-

Europe beginning

in more formal naval

Such large-scale encounters

and engaged

battles.

relatively rare, however, because

and maintaining large war

was very expensive, and few medieval kingdoms and city-states could

ized the coasts of England and other

parts of northern

44

enemy
sacked

surprised villages and towns and then

safely retreated

or-

than any other in Britain has fallen

gerous situation.

disembarking raiders

its

if

prey to pagans.

Ships also directly attacked

with the blood of the

naments; a place more venerable

necessary, evacuate troops from a dan-

coasts,

thought possible that

building

in the

fleets

eighth century. In describing these on-

79

The Middle Ages

late thirteenth

sailing vessel.

afford

it.

An

century painting shows crusaders traveling to the Holy

Oared Warships

average war fleet consisted

of no more than

fifty ships, paltry

com-

The medieval

some of the huge fleets

mounted in the Greco-Roman era. Occa-

pared

distinct categories of

warships in Europe. The

however, the Middle Ages wit-

Two

centuries witnessed the de-

velopment of two

to

sionally,

Land aboard a small

The most common military use of ships was as troop transports.

first,

which long

dominated the waters on both the southern

of the

and northern European coasts, was the

in stopping invasions

oared ship. In the Mediterranean Sea, the

of England across the English Channel:

main type was a galley similar to those

used by the ancient Greeks and Romans.
A typical medieval galley was a singlemasted vessel principally propelled by
oars. It was more than a hundred feet long
and had one or two banks of oars worked

nessed major sea battles.

largest

at

succeeded

Sluys, near the northern coast of Flan-

1340 (in which England's Edward III defeated the French); and in
mid-Channel in 1588 (in which an English fleet defeated the Spanish Armada).
ders, in

80

Ships and Naval Warfare

The Battle of Sluys

One of the

largest naval battles of medieval

with

As

archers.

the

English

ships

ap-

own

ves-

proached, the French formed their

times took place in 1340 at the outset of

the Hundred Years War between England and

sels into long lines across Sluys's harbor

France. In preparation for an invasion of Eng-

lashed several of the larger ones together,

massed about two hundred

mouth of the Zwijn
River in northern Flanders. Strengthening
these forces were a squadron of warships
commanded by a powerful pirate (who joined
the enterprise hoping to loot English villages) and more than twenty mercenary galleys from the Italian city-state of Genoa. The
English king, Edward III, wisely did not wait

and

land, the French

hoping to create a defensive barrier against

ships at Sluys, in the

the enemy onslaught. But this effort was in

for the

enemy

to

come

About

sun was

a third of his ships

in

sure to attack

when the

the eyes of the French crossbow-

men, which greatly reduced their effectiveness. Meanwhile, the English archers found
their marks, killing and wounding many
French sailors and marines. Then the English
marines boarded the enemy vessels and
quickly got the upper hand. The final toll was
an estimated twenty-four thousand French
dead compared with only forty-five hundred

to him. Instead, he

led his smaller fleet to Sluys

made

vain. Edward

and attacked.

were manned by

units of infantry and the rest were loaded

English killed.

late

medieval illustration

depicts the English naval

victory at Sluys in 1340.

81

The Middle Ages

by about

fifty

rowers, although larger ver-

sions with a hundred and even

porting horses. Called a tarida,

two hun-

dred rowers were known. In addition to

the rowers,

the

ship carried a crew of

and usually a number of marines

sailors

(fighters).

The

large

loaded the animals. The Byzantines bor-

rowed

number of people on

board gave galleys a significant drawback;

namely, there was no
plies

needed

room

century.

had oared ships. For his invasion of

England in 1066, William the Con-

time such ships could not stay at sea very

hug

Cyprus in the tenth

The French and English also

islands of Crete and

for the sup-

longer than a few days. So most of the

had

the idea and used such vessels

extensively during their conquests of the

and maintain them for

to feed

was

it

equipped with a stern (rear) ramp. The

crew maneuvered the ship toward the
shore, then lowered the ramp and un-

the coasts

queror built a fleet of small oared boats

and make frequent stops for supplies,

which limited their effectiveness in mili-

similar to Viking ships. Many of them

were equipped with extra platforms running down the middle to ferry horses

long. Instead, they

to

tary campaigns.

The

larger

rowed warships belonged

across the Channel.

mainly to Mediterranean kingdoms and

city-states with wealth
tions,

and naval

A Rapid

tradi-

such as Byzantium (near the south-

Series of Advances

These oared ships

all

had one thing

in

ern end of the Black Sea); Venice (on

common: The

northeastern coast); and Sicily.

However, the peoples of northern Europe
also produced warships that used oars in
the early Middle Ages. The best known
were the Vikings, whose ships were usually smaller than Mediterranean galleys.

which each was equipped was of limited

It provided only minimal propulsive
power to carry the ship forward, was diffi-

The largest Viking ship found to date

plemented or

Italy's

cult to
erly,

vessels the Vikings used to raid the coasts

of northern Europe.

Other kinds of oared ships became

the

maneuver

to catch the

and could not be used

windless days. So

measured ninety-two feet long,

fifteen feet wide, and had about twenty
benches (or forty rowers, since one rower
sat on each side of a bench). More common were versions with twelve benches
(twenty-four rowers) or fifteen benches
(thirty rowers). These were among the

ited the

square

sail

with

use.

originally

common

single

as well. The Arabs who inhabNear Eastern lands bordering

Mediterranean basin developed a

large oared vessel well suited to trans-

82

it

wind propat all on

often had to be sup-

totally replaced

by the

oars.

Ships and Naval Warfare

Beginning

in

the late thirteenth and

fourteenth

early

centuries,

of

construct higher, wider hulls,

advances allowed for the construction of

One innovawooden spar that

was

The crew could

from

farther forward, al-

ing a "castle." In the old oared ships, cas-

(front) of the ship.

there

attach the bowlines (running

the mast to the

lowing the

bow)

sail to

take fuller advantage of

tles

The added power provided by

vance often caused the ship

provide defensive positions from which to

this ad-

fend off enemy boarders.

to keel (turn

over or lean) more to one side than the

hulls of warships could be

This, in turn, created problems

the castle

with the steering rudders, oarlike derear sides of the vessel.

When

windward rudder

far out of the

Most important,

lifted too

(It

water and the other one

effectively.

The solution

left

and

the

that the

higher,

directly into a

new

sailing ships,

that smaller

which were cheaper

oared

to build

and

maintain, continued to be used to supple-

ment

to these

the larger sailing ships in

war

fleets

throughout the remainder of medieval

times.)

Eliminating the rowers reduced

Roman warships. The main difference between the NorRoman ones below is that the Nornian version has a single mast.

Early medieval galleys resembled ancient

galley at far

the

must be emphasized

vessels,

problems was the adoption of a singlestern rudder in the form of a wide strip

man

made

often called roundships, did not need oars.

the ship

sank too deep into the water to be

worked

was incorporated

Now

ship's structure.

vices that projected outward from the

leaned, the

were makeshift wooden platforms

erected on one or both ends of a vessel to

the wind.

other.

to

the

sturdier and more stable. Also,

was now a clear difference in shape
between the bow and stern (whereas before both ends of a ship had looked the
same). The stern grew in height, becom-

the bowsprit, a

projected almost horizontally from the

bow
now

making

vessels

truly practical sailing ships.

tion

attached like a vertical hinge to

These features allowed shipwrights

of important technical

fairly rapid series

wood

the back of the ship.

however, a

83

The Middle Ages

Roundships had sturdier hulls and could carry more men and equipment than earlier
this

medieval

illustration,

a fleet of roundships prepares

to

land troops

in

enemy

number of men aboard; this factor,

combined with the extra interior space
provided by the rear castle, created more

well, since they could

room

lent

longer voyages. Merchants benefited as

the

faster.

for supplies, so that such ships could

as

campaigns, as well

opened the way for explorers

to

Of

make long journeys

particular note

merchant

were the excel-

fleets turned out in the four-

teenth century by the Hanseatic

stay at sea longer. This increased their

flexibility in military

ships. In

territory.

confederation of northern

make

cities).

84

League

German

(a

trading

Ships and Naval Warfare

As

large, partly

more

dred tons.

Naval Battle Tactics

because larger ships carried

fighters

and supplies

The Christopher was also the first known

European warship to carry cannons.
Along with fourteen other vessels, it was
part of the fleet assembled by King Henry

in wartime.

was a symbol of prestige, the

war fleet, which housed the
king or commander, was typically of unusual size and splendor. King Edward's
royal flagship at Sluys, the Thomas, was
Because

and displaced fourteen hun-

feet wide,

a result of these advances, various

kingdoms and city-states learned to build

roundships. They became increasingly

it

flagship of a

to invade

Normandy

in 1415.

However,

each carried only two or three small can-

And

considering

how

inaccurate and

ninety feet long, twenty-four feet wide,

nons.

and displaced (the nautical equivalent of

slow-loading such guns were

at the time,

"weighed") 240 tons.

they could not have

made an

appreciable

Still

another crucial advance was the

impact in a sea

battle.

introduction of the carrack in the early

For that reason, the big multimasted

more

warships of the High Middle Ages long

1400s. This was a sailing ship with

than one mast and consequently multiple

sails, for

which a complex system of

ging developed.

More

sails

relied

naturally

advantage

in battle.

It

battle tactics that

had

sels for centuries. Essentially, sea battles

meant increased propulsion and speed,

which gave these vessels an important
to

on the same

been used by roundships and oared ves-

rig-

were fought

like land battles.

As one war-

ship approached another, archers opened

also allowed ships

fire

be built even larger than before. The

(like skirmishers

land),

each side trying

English carrack Christopher, built about

damage

1412, was two hundred feet long,

(Fire arrows

fifty

as possible

with bows did on

to inflict as

much

and soften up the

foe.

were used but only rarely

Blinding the Enemy

In

Burgh. The outnumbered English ships took

advantage of the wind. First, they maneuvered themselves behind the French fleet
and bore down on them, moving with the
wind. As his own flagship approached Eustace's flagship, de Burgh had his men toss
lime into the wind and then veered away.
The wind carried the lime to the French ship,
where it blinded the crew and marines. The
English commander then moved in and easily captured the disabled vessel.

addition to the traditional naval tactics

of grappling an

one's

infantry

fighting,

enemy

onto

it

ship and boarding

for

hand-to-hand

commanders sometimes

tried novel,

unexpected approaches to disabling enemies. One of the more memorable examples

occurred in 1217 in the sea battle of Dover.

A mercenary commander, Eustace the Monk,

led a formidable fleet of eighty French war-

ships against a force of only thirty-six English vessels

under the charge of

Sir

Hugh de

85

The Middle Ages

because of the danger of accidentally
ting one's

own

Eventually, one ship

close
the

the

enough

enemy

The following summary of

battles of the tenth and
eleventh centuries, by English scholar Ian
could

set-

managed to get
hook at

to toss a grappling

fire,

sea

Heath, captures the essentials of Euro-

vessel and hold fast. Then, as

archers continued to

fight.

Viking

ship ablaze.)

pean naval

marines

tactics

through most of the

medieval period:

boarded the enemy ship and fought hand

to

hand.

Sometimes a commander

dered several of his ships to be tied

or-

They made every

to-

that a naval action

effort to ensure

was

as

much

gether, forming a formidable battle line,

like a land battle as possible, ar-

men

ranging their fleets in lines and

as well as a

A fleet

wider platform on which

of Viking raiders crosses from continental Europe to England. These oared vessels were
to, though smaller than, Mediterranean galleys.

structurally similar

86

Ships and Naval Warfare

sometimes
customarily roped

wedges; one side

ditions

or

...

the largest of their ships

to

ble, the

flanks and in the rear [of the battle

in the

whose

line],

tasks

were

one

enemy platform

much

emy

in

fore
.

grapple, and board

ship,

and clear

it

it,

with hand weapons be-

moving on

maneuver well,
So if possi-

to

the attack.

opposing ship

tried to place itself

pended a great deal on the vagaries of the

changing winds. So at first they did not
play a major role in naval battles, which
continued to be dominated by armed

wind)

go on

was

swing itself around into the windward.

But though such maneuvers were sometimes effective, they were tricky and de-

at-

The main naval tactic

was simply to row against an enflight.

the

less

it

leeward position

windward position (with the wind)

and strike the enemy before it could

he had

if

and to pursue the enemy

(against

to skirmish

with their opposite numbers; to

tack the

and ingenuity of

skills

difficult for a ship in the

form large floating platforms.

There were usually a number of
additional ships positioned on the
.

and the

captains and crews. For example,

together

both

boarding parties.

to another vessel.

Boarding was usually preceded

by a shower of arrows and,

closer

The Advent of
Artillery Warfare
A more ideal situation was

at

[throwing

range, javelins

and
which each
oarsman was often protected by a
second man, who deflected misspears],

iron-shod

stakes

sailing ship's speed

stones, as a result of

siles

with his shield.

ships

carried

extra

stones and other missiles.

to

combine

ability to utilize

winds with a weapon effective

enough to damage or destroy an enemy
before it could get close enough to
download its marines. The full potential
of warships was finally realized in the
the

Some

of

supplies

and

The

were dropped from highonto (and even

early sixteenth century, in the closing

through) the decks of ships which

ious technical advances, these vessels

largest

sided

years of the medieval era. Thanks to var-

vessels

drew alongside
Although such

to

board/ 5

began to arm themselves with powerful

cannons mounted in rows below their

remained the

decks. Equipped with twenty, thirty, or

staples of naval warfare, the advent of

even more large guns, a warship could

tactics

warships with multiple

new

ones.

Two

sails

now produce an

added some

obvious advantages such

vessels had over oared ships were their

ability to take

their

one vessel with

enemy

barrage capable
vessel from a

distance.

advantage of the wind and

speed. But what happened

artillery

of crippling any

This major development immediately

when

altered naval tactics in

opposed another? In
such a situation victory often depended
on a combination of favorable wind consails

First,

it

two

crucial ways.

dictated that a captain

maneuver

his vessel in a broadside-to-broadside ar-

ray so that his cannons could discharge

87

The Middle Ages

and rake the enemy ship's
rigging.

hull, masts,

and

Second, the advent of massed

plan was to help facilitate an invasion of

England by troops massed

in a

Spanish-

The

naval artillery largely spelled the end of

controlled section of the Netherlands.

combat on ships. (Marines still

boarded an enemy, but usually only after it
had been badly crippled by cannonfire or
had surrendered.)
The major naval campaign signaling the
transition to modern artillery warfare at
sea was the defeat of the Spanish Armada
by the English in 1588. King Philip II of

Spanish ships were large, most displacing

infantry

more than

five

hundred

tons.

They

stone balls with relatively short ranges.

The

shortsighted Philip and

Medina Sido-

on the traditional naval

of boarding and fighting hand to

nia relied instead

tactic

hand; to this end, they

crammed

Spain sent about 130 warships, under the

to nineteen

command

ships, confident that this tactic

of the

Duke of Medina

Sidonia,

northward into the English Channel. The

carried

a few cannons, but these guns fired heavy

eighteen

thousand infantrymen onto the

made them

invincible.

The anatomy of a warship. Late medieval naval advances eventually led

to

warships

early eighteenth-century English vessel equipped with twenty-eight cannons.

like this

Ships and Naval Warfare

Advances

in

Naval Artillery
land, shipwrights solved the problem almost

In this excerpt from his History of Warfare,

noted military historian John Keegan explains
some of the technical problems that had to be
overcome for warships equipped with cannons

was presented to them. The

cannons had been
"castles" built at bow and stern.

as soon as

it

small fifteenth-century

housed

When

to rule the waves.

in

"great guns" were developed at the be-

ginning of the sixteenth century, they were

Since bow-mounted guns

placed

could be brought

quired both

its

own

1513; by 1545 an English ship

sailor,

had more ships

than his opponent.

In

tics,

and seasoned

about 190

many of the

what proved the great showdown bethe English artillery easily

When

the fleets met, the English

had the windward position and ex-

when groups of English

chant vessels hastily pressed into service;

ploited

and they carried a

ships approached the

of only five thou-

sand soldiers. Considering these disadvantages,

Howard was determined

Instead, he planned to

the

enemy

cannonfire.

not to

their

So he

still

them with

at

The Spanish

used the

teristic

armada

in line

the

Spanish

ships,

which

formation charac-

of galley fighting, could

make only an inadequate reply.

The English secured far more

outfitted his fleet with

about two thousand cannons, mostly sleek

and inflicted on the

culverins that fired seventeen-pound metal

balls

broadsides

ships.

outmaneuver

ships and disable

it

ahead and, as they passed, fired

get involved in a traditional infantry battle.

the

one of history's pivotal turning points:

English ships were mer-

total

tac-

won

all

smaller than the Spanish warships. Moreover,

the Great

day. Archer Jones gives this account of

or so

But they were

like

tween the old and new naval warfare

was dramatic. The English

commander, Baron Howard of Effingham,
fleets

officer

is

decks; and by 1588 great fleets of ships so

equipped fought a running battle up the
English Channel lasting seven days [the defeat of the Spanish Armada].

re-

contrast between the English and

a former cavalry

to fire

Harry was mounting heavy artillery on two

and the devising of a new way of handling ships in battle. With an adaptability
akin to that shown by fortress-engineers on

The

rope

generally held to be the English Mary Rose, of

coil,

Spanish

with

"broadside." The first ship so constructed

technology, in the

form of a braking mechanism to absorb

equipped

decks,

when discharged, and positioned

trol

would appear downwind, any artillery

would have to be fired through ports cut in
the ship's sides, an arrangement that re.

below

tackle to prevent their careening out of con-

when the wind was behind,

and there was no guarantee that the enemy
to bear only

and had longer ranges than the Span-

more maneuverable English

89

Spaniards

losses in personnel and morale.

ish artillery.

hits

The

ships

The Middle Ages

The English defeat the Spanish Armada

in 1588.

Following

this great battle

and

the subsequent

voyages of English explorers, England's navy came to dominate the seas.

easily followed

Howard's strategy

weakness

and use
the

their

num... As the

Spaniards engaged in an
duel

locity of the

repeatedly

the

Channel, they had trouble reloading

those

of their guns

clumsy
ter

more than

English

ships.

mounted on

field artillery carriages.

week of combat,

came

close to the

Spaniards and, with the higher ve-

artillery

moving through

while

the English ships

their large

bers of fine infantry.

closed the

boarding their more agile vessels,

boarding tactics and

shock action of

in firepower,

range. Without fear of the Spaniards'

of avoiding Spanish efforts to close

diminished distance,

pierced

During

this

the

combat

Spanish
at short

range, the Spaniards suffered

800 wounded, and

600

the im-

Af-

killed.

the

pairment of the seaworthiness of

many of their

realizing the Spanish

90

vessels.

4*

Ships and Naval Warfare

Medina Sidonia eventually saw
ity

of his situation and retreated.

surviving ships on a torturous

brated their deliverance in a chorus of

led his

homeward

voyage around Scotland and Ireland, a

ful trek in

prematurely. Meanwhile, the English cele-

the futil-

He

thanksgiving that would echo through the

corridors

fate-

which storms destroyed more

than half of what remained of his once

great armada.

The

stress

of history.

Neither the

disap-

pointed Spanish nor proud English had any

inkling at the time that they were witness-

ing the last gasps of what later historians

of these events

would come

caused Medina Sidonia's hair to turn white

91

to call the

Middle Aaes.

Notes
Introduction: Medieval
Warfare: Romance vs. Reality
1.

Middle Ages.

New

York: American Heritage. 1975.

p. 48.

in the

3.

War,

1997, p.

Cambridge
York:

Art of War, pp. 151-52.

S. Churchill. The Birth of
Britain. New York: Bantam Books,

12.

Thomas
at War.

Illustrated Atlas

Chapter

Cambridge University

2:

p. 97.

Infantry
Tactics

Bachrach, "Early Medieval Europe."

Medieval Worlds, pp. 286-87.

Jones, Art of War, pp. 111-12.

14.

5.

Coeur de Lion: Kingship, Chivalry

and War in the Twelfth Century. London: Hambledon Press. 1994, p. 118.
Dunnigan and Nofi. "Logistics," Medieval Life, pp. 2-3.

16.

Archer Jones, The Art of War in the

Western World. New York: Oxford

17.

John Gillingham, Richard

in

15.

War and Society

in the

Ancient and

Dunnigan and Nofi, "Medieval WarMedieval Life, p. 4.

Dunnigan and Nofi, "Medieval Warfare," Medieval Life, p. 4.
fare,"

University Press, 1987. p. 120.

Hooper and Bennett. Middle Ages,

Arnold. The Renaissance

13.

Quoted

7.

F.

London: Cassell, 2001,

Weapons and

4.

6.

Winston

1956, pp. 295-98.

Press, 1996, p. 169.

in

155.

11.

2.

of
Warfare: The Middle Ages, 768-1487.

New

1999, p. 292.

Hooper and Bennett. Middle Ages,

p.

Nicholas Hooper and Matthew Bennett,

and Medieval

10. Jones,

F.

the Hundred Years

www.hyw.com.

the Ancient

sity Press,
9.

Dunnigan and Albert A.

Nofi, "Just War," Medieval Life and

James

in

Worlds. Cambridge: Harvard Univer-

Clara Winston and Richard Winston,

Daily Life

2.

ciety

John

The Chronicles of Enged. G.C.

Macaulay, trans. John Bourchier. New
land,

p. 8.

Froissart,

France and Spain,

York: Collier, 1910, pp. 102-107.

Chapter

1:

Cavalry

Weapons and
8.

Bernard

S.

18.

Tactics

Bachrach, "Early

Me-

19.

dieval Europe,*' in Kurt Raaflaub and

Nathan Rosenstein.

eds.,

Terence Wise, Medieval European

Armies. Oxford: Osprey, 2000.

War and So-

pp. 13-15.

93

p. 24.

Douglas Miller, The Swiss at War:

1300-1500. Oxford: Osprey, 1999,

The Middle Ages

Chapter

3:

Siege Warfare:

33.

Quoted

in

Robert

Bartlett.

The Mak-

Castles and Fortifications

ing of Europe: Conquest, Coloniza-

20. Joseph Gies and Frances Gies, Life in

tion

New York:

a Medieval Castle.

and Row, 1974,

Harper

Press, 1993, p. 74.

p. 187.

21. Christopher Gravett,

34.

Medieval Siege

Warfare. Oxford: Osprey, 2000, p. 3.

22.

Quoted

in

Construction and History.

23.

35.

Sidney Toy, Castles: Their

Dover, 1984,

New York:
36.

p. 53.

John Burke, Life

in the

New

dieval England.

Me-

Castle in

Quoted

in

Europe,

p. 74.

Medieval Castle.

37. Gies

and Gies, Life

Medieval

in

a Medieval

Guns

Medieval Siege Warfare,

38.

p. 25.

Dunnigan and Nofi, "Gunpowder,"

Medieval

Chapter 4: Siege Warfare:

Offensive Weapons and

39.

27. Gies

Quoted

Life, p.

and Gies, Life

in

Dunnigan and Nofi, "Medieval War-

1996, pp. 423-24.

Medieval

England,

New

Medieval

York: Knopf,

A History of Warfare.
Random House, 1993,

York:

42. Keegan, History of Warfare, p 321.

Medieval

43. Jones, Art of War, p. 153.

p. 75.

Philip Warner,

New

pp. 320-21.

p. 75.

30. Burke, Life in the Castle in

England,

Fall.

41. John Keegan,

Life, pp. 6-7.

29. Burke, Life in the Castle in

The Medieval Castle:

a Fortress

in

Hugh Braun. An

Chapter 6: Ships and

Naval Warfare

Peace and War.

London: Barker, 1971,

lish

York: Bal-

40. John Julius Norwich, Byzantium: The

a Medieval

Decline and

Life in

New

lantine Books, 1963, p. 365.

Castle, p. 205.

fare,"

1.

Sprague de Camp, The

in L.

Ancient Engineers.

Methods

32.

York: Peter

p. 42.

Chapter 5: Gunpowder,
Cannons, and Handheld

p. 1.

Castle, p. 20.
26. Gravett,

New

Castle, p. 188.

25. Gies and Gies, Life in a

Fiona MacDonald and Mark Bergin,

Bedrick Books, 1990,

York: Dorset

in

Dunnigan and Nofi, "Sieges," Medieval Life,

28.

The Making of

Bartlett,

Quoted in Gies and Gies, Life

Medieval Castle, pp. 196-97.

Press, 1992, p. 13.

24.

and Cultural Change, 950-1350.

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University

p. 57.

44.

Introduction to Eng-

Medieval Architecture.

Quoted

in

Ian Heath, The Vikings.

Oxford: Osprey, 2001,

New

p. 3.

45. Heath, Vikings, p. 31.

York: Praeger, 1968, pp. 212-13.

46. Jones, Art of War, pp. 21 1-12.

94

Glossary
arquebus: The

was four

to six feet long

matchlock

arrow loop:
vertical

battlefields;

and

coif:

in a castle wall

which defenders

fired

narrow

giant

main

or forward exten-

wooden, wheeled

gate; the

feudalism:

as-

and

in front

of a castle's

common

most

version

by means of chains
in

a small cham-

weapons

to,

and

if

generic

name

system

social

which

in

freemen provide a noble or other

leader with military

possible

service

in

ex-

change for land tenure.

over, a castle's walls.

for any large

galley:

sailing ship with

single-masted ship propelled

mainly by oars;

early medieval cannon.

two or

cient

cat: (also rat, tortoise, or hedgehog):

mines,

in a moat, or operate a bat-

Sea

in an-

phalanx (formation of

spearmen) created by the Swiss

attempting to dig

troops

was used exten-

and medieval times.

Gewalthaufen:

roofed, wheeled shelter used to protect

attacking

it

sively in the Mediterranean

more masts.

fill

lighter,

fealty: Loyalty.

tower used to deliver troops and

An early

for medieval

ber over the gate.

fensive wall.

carrack:

name

were longer,

worked by winches

outer walled enclosure.

that

raised and lowered

battlement: (or parapet): The top of a de-

bombard:

crenels.

generic

spanning a moat

belfry: (or bear):

the

more movable than bombards.

drawbridge: A movable wooden platform

crossbow or spear-

An outwork

offensive

cannons

sion of a gate's walls, often forming an

sault

are

culverin:

thrower.

barbican:

me-

notches

structures;

tween them

arrows and

defensive wall.

effect in the

called merlons, and the openings be-

through

A courtyard, usually enclosed by a

ballista:

The notched

battlements of castles and other

dieval

other missiles at attackers.

bailey:

mail hood that covered a soldier's

crenellation:

utilized a

head.

it

mechanism.

firing

(or "murderess"):
slit

handheld

practical

first

gun used on European

fourteenth

century,

in the

consisting

of

twenty rows of foot soldiers wielding

tering ram.

eighteen-foot-long pikes.

95

The Middle Ages

halberd (or poleax):
axlike blade

hauberk:

long spear with an

mounted near

motte:

the end.

they

homage: The ceremony

tainer

swore loyalty

(or

donjon):

in

which a

inner,

musket:

his retainers

a militia

oak shod with

all

men in his realm to serve in

for a minimum of forty days.

of masonry

An outward
at the

In late medieval times, a hand-

portcullis:

that raised

iron,

and

lowered vertically in a castle's main

able-bodied

machicolation:

as "motte-and-

A very long spear.

A heavy grated door, usually of

pike:

method of con-

which a king called on

scription in

became known

mechanism.

and other followers.

levy: In medieval times, a

early

because most of

long that utilized a matchlock firing

A military unit made up of a knight

and

mound on which

built;

held gun about eight to twelve feet

usually

highly fortified stronghold of a castle.

lance:

were

bailey" castles.

re-

to his lord.

The

earthen

these had an adjoining lower bailey,

mail shirt that stretched to a

soldier's knees.

keep:

An

castles

gateway.

projection

retainer: (or vassal): In the feudal system,

top of a defensive

a follower

whom a lord granted the use

wall, the projection containing holes

of revenue-producing land (a fief or

through which defenders dropped

fee) in return for fealty (loyalty)

stones, fired missiles, and/or poured

military service.

oil

mail:

or other liquids.

Rows

retinue:

of iron rings or scales either

sewn together

riveted or

heavy protective

to

form a

levy in wartime.

ship
in

serfs

and other

When

tax or fee paid

An agricultural

shell keep:

by a

retainer to

worker tied

to a lord's

him for life.

composed of

small castle

single circular wall enclosing an inner

dering piece of rope mounted on the top

bailey, usually built atop a hill.

of the gun made contact with gunpow-

shock action: Direct charges of cavalry

units against either cavalry or infantry.

der in a pan, and the flash ignited the

firing

land and bound to serve

the gunner pulled the trigger, a smol-

weapon,

tunnels (saps)

service.
serf:

A firing mechanism developed

inside the

who dug

his lord as a substitute for military

ous duties and services.

gunpowder

miner

to collapse.

scutage:

in

which they gave him a share

about 1450 for handheld guns.

beneath a castle's walls causing them

arrangement

of their harvests and performed vari-

matchlock:

medieval times.

sapper:

his tenants.

workers to farm portions of his land,

return for

An early single-masted sailing

common across northern Europe

roundship:

shirt.

manorial system: The

whereby a lord allowed

supplied by a

local lord to fulfill a general citizen

mangon: A stone-throwing catapult.

manor: An estate held by a lord and
farmed by

A group of soldiers

and

stockade: (or palisade):

it.

96

fenced enclo-

Glossary
sure

composed of

logs

or

wooden

trebuchet:

large siege

ing of a

example, the enclosure protecting a

ported a long,

motte-and-bailey castle.

short

surcoat:

loose cloth garment

worn by a

An

balanced beam; the

end of the beam was weighted

with a box of stones; the long end,

down

and then released, sending the missile

oared ship used for transport-

ing horses and supplies in the

consist-

that sup-

holding a projectile, was pulled

soldier over his mail suit.

tarida:

machine

wooden framework

planks set vertically in the ground; for

me-

flying in a high arc.

vassal: See retainer.

dieval era.

97

For Further Reading

Biel, The Age of Feudalism.
San Diego: Lucent Books, 1994. A

that heralded the

broad and easy-to-read overview of the

times.

Timothy Levi

political

end of medieval

society and the beginning of

and social aspects of medieval

Christopher Gravett, Knight.

modern

New

York:

times, including lords, serfs, vassals,

Knopf, 1993. Explains what medieval

manors, and knights.

knights wore, their weapons, training,

Carole Lynn Corbin, Knights.

Franklin Watts, 1989.

New

and

York:

A brief, easy-to-

read synopsis of medieval knights,

castles,

and

battle tactics.

Barbara A. Hanawalt, The Middle Ages: An

Illustrated History.

New York:

Oxford

University Press, 1999. This well-

chivalry.

Will Fowler, Ancient Weapons: The Story

organized and well-written overview

of Weaponry and Warfare Through

of the main historical events of the

the Ages.

New

York: Lorenz Books,

Middle Ages, aimed

1999. Written for young people, this

is

is

young

readers,

Highly recommended.

an informative and fascinating jour-

ney through the history of warfare,

at

also very impressively illustrated.

Gallimard Jeunesse

in-

et

al,

Castles.

New

cluding that of medieval times, with

York: Scholastic, 1990. Provides the

hundreds of excellent color drawings

basic facts about medieval castles, in-

and diagrams. Very highly recom-

cluding

mended.

functions, and

Simon Goodenough, The Renaissance.

London: Latimer House, 1979.

how

they

were

built,

their

how they were the focus

of siege warfare.

William W. Lace, The Hundred Years War.

mounted and illustrated

main points
of the European Renaissance, the
last few centuries of the Middle
Ages, in which learning, thinking,
beautifully

San Diego: Lucent Books, 1994. This

book

easy-to-read

new

inventions, explorations of

lands,
all

that explores the

and new

summary of

conflicts that raged

lish

the series of

between the Eng-

and French from 1337

to

1453

provides a broader context for under-

new

standing the political

bloody struggles

scientific discoveries

contributed to sweeping changes

the

98

Middle Ages.

that

intrigues

and

went on during

For Further Reading

Fiona MacDonald and Mark Bergin,

Medieval Castle.

New

Bedrick Books, 1990.

Brenda Stalcup, The 1000s: Headlines

York: Peter

History.

2001.

fine, nicely

San Diego: Greenhaven

An

in

Press,

informative and entertaining

illustrated synopsis of the military

overview of important medieval events

functions of, as well as everyday

and developments, written for young

in,

medieval

Neil Morris et

World

in

al,

adult readers.

Atlas of the Medieval

Europe.

New

Bedrick Books, 1999.

pendium of

life

castles.

facts about

Jay Williams, Life

in the

Middle Ages.

Random House,

New

1966. This

York:

Peter

York:

useful

com-

well-written and lively overview of

Europe

everyday

in the

life in

medieval times with

Middle Ages, with numerous helpful

many

maps and

ductions of old paintings.

pictures.

99

is

colorful illustrations and repro-

Major Works
Consulted
Thomas

Arnold, The Renaissance at

F.

War. London: Cassell, 2001.

somely

illustrated

book

War.

www.hyw.com. This

is

a two-

hundred-thousand-word electronic

hand-

book published

that surveys

in

1997 on the Internet

warfare in the late Middle Ages, with

and readily available

a strong emphasis on gunpowder and

Noted military

artillery.

and Nofi have compiled a great deal of

Charles Boutell,
uity

and

Arms and Armor in Antiq-

the

Middle Ages.

to

everyone.

historians

Dunnigan

information about various aspects of

Con-

medieval warfare and present

shohocken, PA: Combined Books,

a well-organized,

1996. This

that is accessible

is

a reprint of an old classic

written in the 1860s. Although

what dated now,

it

some-

Walter
sity

J.

Medieval Warfare. Trans.

Renfroe

Jr.,

One

Saxon England. Oxford: Os-

prey, 1992. This excellent

the invasion of Britain

Lincoln: Univer-

of Nebraska Press, 1982.

work

to students

and general readers.

Fall of

Delbriick,

and useful

here in

Christopher Gravett, Hastings 1066: The

remains useful to

scholars.

Hans

it

well-written

book covers

by the Nor-

mans, led by William the Conqueror

of

in

the classics of the genre, this massive

1066, in considerable detail, while ex-

volume begins with

plaining the

the age of Charle-

weapons, armor, and

magne and goes on to cover the Normans and Saxons; the Arabs, Turks,

employed by both sides. An

extremely valuable and fascinating

and Byzantines; knighthood; merce-

book that is also beautifully illustrated.

Medieval Siege Warfare. Oxford:

naries;

strategies

archery; sieges; cavalry; and

the organization

phalanxes.

of medieval Swiss

Osprey, 2000.

few of Delbriick's argu-

very well-written

and useful overview of siege warfare

ments are now somewhat dated, but

Middle Ages, supplemented by

numerous helpful drawings, paintings, photos, and maps. Highly recin the

work remains important overall.

James F. Dunnigan and Albert A. Nofi,
Medieval Life and the Hundred Years
his

ommended.
100

Major Works Consulted

Swiss armies that reconstituted the

Ian Heath, The Vikings. Oxford: Osprey,

2001. Another commendable

ancient

entry in

the Osprey military series, this one ex-

amines the Norse warriors

who

the

threat-

of the period.

David Nicholas, The Medieval West,

400-1450: A Preindustrial Civiliza-

during the early Middle Ages. Weapons.

costumes, fighting methods, and ships

are covered in detail.

tion.

Nicholas Hooper and Matthew Bennett.

Cambridge

New
ter

litical,

768-1487.

is

Europe and the Crusader

wars and campaigns and information about

weapons and

and economic

reali-

fare of the period.

of major

sketch

religious,

David Nicolle, Arms and Armor of the

Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Western

of medieval warfare, offering both a

historical

Dorsey Press,

broader context for studying the war-

one of the bet-

general nonscholarly overviews

useful

IL:

of medieval Europe, providing a

ties

Cambridge University

York:

Homewood,

1973. Thoughtfully examines the po-

Illustrated Atlas of War-

Press, 1996. This

stun-

ning color reconstructions of soldiers

ened northern Europe and England

fare: The Middle Ages,

Macedonian phalanx during

High Middle Ages. Features

don: Greenhill Books,

States.

1999.

Lon-

ful-

some, scholarly treatment of weapons

strategies.

High Middle

Also contains an excellent compre-

and armor

hensive bibliography of scholarly

Ages, with hundreds of accurate

books and

construction drawings, each accompa-

articles

about medieval

ern World.
sity Press.

re-

nied by expert commentary.

warfare.

Archer Jones.

in the early

Tlie

Art of War

in the

West-

New York: Oxford Univer1987. An excellent academic,

armor, and battle tactics of the Frank-

though nonscholarly treatment of the

history of Western warfare

by a

The Age of Charlemagne. Oxford:

The soldiers, weapons,

Osprey, 1999.

ish armies of the early

are

re-

examined

Middle Ages

in this richly illustrated

volume.

spected military historian.

Warriors of the Dark

Kurt Raaflaub and Nathan Rosenstein,

Ages. Gloucestershire: Sutton, 2000.

eds., War and Society in the Ancient

and Medieval Worlds. Cambridge:

Jennifer Laing,

This well-researched volume exam-

Harvard University Press. 1999.

ines the soldiers and armies of the

period of transition between

Roman

excellent collection of essays

and medieval times, including the

Franks,

Huns,

Vandals,

military historians, each

Saxons,

fine

methods of

warfare by an ancient people. The essay on medieval Europe

The Swiss at War:

1300-1500. Oxford: Osprey, 1999.

summarizing

the basic approach to and

Danes, and others.

Douglas Miller,

An

by noted

S.

overview of the all-infantry

nesota

101

is

by Bernard

Bachrach. of the University of Minat

Minneapolis.

The Middle Ages

Sidney Toy, Castles: Their Construction

and

History:

One of

New

the best

about castles.

It

at castles

during the Middle Ages has

York: Dover, 1984.

excellent descriptions of various as-

books ever written

pects of sieges, the central focus of

most medieval warfare.

covers the origins of

Terence Wise, Medieval European Armies.

these structures, as well as their construction, defenses, political

and eco-

Oxford: Osprey, 2000.

well-written

nomic importance, and ultimate

discussion of citizen levies, mercenar-

demise. Highly recommended.

ies,

Philip Warner,
in

The Medieval Castle:

a Fortress

in

national armies,

movement and

supply, the English longbow,

Life

Peace and War. Lon-

Swiss

pikemen, and other elements of me-

don: Barker. 1971. This excellent look

dieval armies.

102

Works

Additional

Consulted
Christopher Allmand, The Hundred Years

John Burke, Life

War: England and France at War,

New

1300-C.1450.

Armor.

New York:

Norman

Barnes

Noble,

J.

Reader.

Atchity, ed.,

New

The Renaissance

York:

HarperCollins,

Seafarers

Macmillan, 1963.

The Ancient Mariners:

and Sea Fighters of

Mediterranean

Bartlett,

The Making of Europe:

Princeton,

Conquest, Colonization and Cultural

Change, 950-1350. Princeton, NJ:

H.S. Bennett, Life in the English

Winston

Manor:

L.

Roman

New

York: Ballantine Books,

ed.,

Basic Documents

Van Nostrand, 1959.

York,

Zoroslava Drobna and Jan Durdik,

Peter Brown, The World of Late Antiquity,

New

in

Medieval History. Princeton, NJ: D.

to English

New

York: Harper and Row,

1963.

Norton Downs,

Praeger, 1968.

150-750.

New

Sprague de Camp, The Ancient Engineers.

ough,

Medieval Architecture.

1956.

1951.

Princes Risbor-

UK: Shire, 1989.

Hugh Braun, An Introduction

The Birth of Britain.

Davis, Life on a Medieval

S.

Barony.

University Press, 1960.

Military Equipment.

the

Times.

Princeton University

S. Churchill,

William

Study of Peasant Conditions,

11501400. Cambridge: Cambridge
J.C. Coulston,

Ancient

New York: Bantam Books,

M.C. Bishop and

NJ:

in

Press, 1991.

Princeton University Press, 1993.

A.D.

HarperCollins, 1994.

Lionel Casson,

1996.

Robert

Dorset Press,

The Medieval World: 300-1300.

ed.,

New York:

1995.

Kenneth

York:

Cantor, The Medieval Reader.

F.

New York:

Arms and

&

Castle in Medieval

1992.

University Press, 1988.

Charles H. Ashdown, European

New

England.

York: Cambridge

in the

dieval Costume, Armor,

Trans. Eduard Wagner. Mineola,

York: Harcourt

Dover, 2000.

Brace, 1971.

103

Me-

and Weapons.

NY:

The Middle Ages

The Fall of the Roman EmThe Military Explanation. New

Justine Davis Randers-Pehrson, Barbar-

York: Thames and Hudson, 1986.

Anne Fremantle, Age of Faith. New York:

of Europe, A.D. 400-700. Norman:

Arther

Noble, 1996.

Ferrill,

pire:

Time, 1965.

New York:

Joseph Gies and Frances Gies, Life

New

in

York: Harper

versity Press, 1977.

a Medieval

City.

New

Yale University Press, 1996.

Hans

and War in the

London: Hambledon

Chivalry

Twelfth Century.
Press, 1994.

New

Western Europe.

York:

St.

John Hackett,

ed.,

New York:

cient World.

Facts

On

I:

ed.,

The Middle Ages,

Vol-

Sources of Medieval History.

Knopf, 1970.

The Middle Ages, Volume

ed.,

Readings

Medieval History.

in

II:

New

York: Knopf, 1970.

File,

F.W. Walbank, The Awful Revolution: The

1989.

George Holmes,

ed.,

The Oxford History of

Medieval Europe.

New

Decline of the

New

John Warry, Warfare

World.

House, 1993.

homa

Simon Macdowall, Late Roman Infantrymen, 236-565 A.D. London: Osprey,

From

E.W. Marsden, Greek and Roman Artillery.

York:

Classical

Press, 1995.
ed.,

The Western Tradition:

the Ancient

Lynn White

Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969.

New

the

World

to

Louis XJV.

Boston: D.C. Heath, 1965.

Jr.,

Medieval Technology and

Social Change. London: Oxford Uni-

John Julius Norwich, Byzantium: The DeFall.

in

Norman: University of Okla-

Eugen Weber,

1994.

and

in the

Press, 1969.

History of Warfare.

Random

Roman Empire

West. Toronto: University of Toronto

York: Oxford

University Press, 1989.

John Keegan,

versity Press, 1962.

Knopf,

Clara Winston and Richard Winston, Daily

1996.

The Castles of Medieval England and Wales. New York: Barnes &

Colin

Books, 2000.

Warfare in the An-

Rector. London: Green-

hill

New York:

Mar-

tin's Press, 1971.

cline

Mark

ed.

ume

in

Medieval Combat. Trans,

Talhoffer,

and

Brian Tierney,

V.H.H. Green, Medieval Civilization

York:

Roman Army. New Haven, CT:

Late

John Gillingham, Richard Coeur de Lion:

Sir

York: Cambridge Uni-

Pat Southern and Karen R. Dixon, The

York: Harper and Row, 1969.

Kingship,

New

1193.

and Row, 1974.

in

Viking Press, 1972.

R.C. Smail, Crusading Warfare, 1097-

Collier, 1910.

Medieval Castle.

Press, 1983.

The Portable Medieval Reader.

eds.,

Macaulay. Trans. John Bourchier.

Life

Oklahoma

University of

New York:

Birth Struggle

James B. Ross and Mary M. McLaughlin,

John Froissart, The Chronicles of England, France and Spain. Ed. G.C.

and Romans: The

ians

Life in the

Piatt,

Middle Ages.

American Heritage, 1975.

104

New

York:

Index
61

Acre, 65

ballistas,

Agincourt, 26

Bannockbum, 39

Annals of Dunstable (medieval chronicle),

barbicans,

52-53

battering rams,

63
Antioch, 50

Battle of Formigny,

Arabs, 82
archers, 30,

85-86

Battle of Sluys, 81

Bedford Castle, 64

armor
used by Frankish cavalry, 18-19
used by

infantries,

belfries.

31-34

Arnold,

Bellone,

Thomas R, 27

38

18,

Marc Antonio, 74

Bennett, Matthew, 15, 21

Berkhamsted. 45

arquebus, 78

bombards, 73-74

23

Arriere-ban (French
artillery engines,
artillery train,

See siege towers

Belgium,

used by knights, 21-23

militia),

bombs, 68, 70-71

30

60-64

bores,

74

artillery warfare,

62

bowlines, 83

87-91

bows,

18, 23, 32,

Asia Minor, 50, 53

bowsprits, 83

Avars, 17, 18, 24

Braun, Hugh, 61

axes.

76

Battle of Hastings, 32-34,

armies, 31

arrets,

62

Battle of Dover, 85

32

breastplates,

83

32

Breaute, Falkes de, 63

Bachrach, Bernard

S., 19,

Bumblebee (cannon), 73

29

Bungay

Bacon, Roger, 69
baileys,

Castle,

58

Burke, John, 44, 57-58

44
105

44

The Middle Ages

Byzantine Empire. 47^48, 50

China. 24. 67-69

Byzantium, 82

Christians, 18,

48

Christopher (ship), 85
cannons, 68, 71-76, 85, 87-90

Chronicles (Froissart), 37-38

caps, 21

Churchill, Winston,

Carolingian dynasty, 16, 18

coif,

carpenters, 61

Colmieu. Jean de, 44

carracks, 85

Constantinople. 50, 73-74

Conway

castles

and construction

design

of,

43^46,

26

21

53

Castle,

country forces. See militias

51-54

Crecy. 37

importance

of,

during Middle Ages, 41

crenels, 5

knights hired to guard, 20-2

Crete, 82

reasons for attacks on, 41^42

crossbows, 32, 36-37, 65, 78

security of. 46-48.

sieges

50-51

crusaders, 50, 65

on

with

Crusades, 48

artillery engines,

60-64

difficulties in capturing.

culverins,

55-57

experiences of defenders

of,

64-66

sapping operations, 57-58

scaling

daggers, 32

and siege towers,

ladders

Daily Life

59-^60

83,

Denmark, 32, 44

and History

diseases.

Dover

61-62, 64

drawbridges, 52-53

on

armor, weapons, and tactics used by.

rise

66

of,

knights' lack of discipline,

on money spent

20-27

of Frankish cavalry, 16-18

charcoal, 69

Charlemagne, 18

realities

on

soldiers pillaging

of medieval warfare,

on yeomen's

34
skills,

64

37

Earthquake (cannon), 73

106

46-47
1

and plundering

Chateau-Gaillard, 47
Castle, 57,

26

to build castles,

on

lages. 13,

Charles VIE, 76-77

Chepstow

55-57

gunpowder formulas,

68

on

27

cavalry,

F.

costs to attack a castle.

describes Chinese

18-19

heavy

Castle,

Dunnigan, James

60

cavalries

end

64

36

catapults.
cats,

Middle Ages (Winston and

de Burgh, Hugh, 85

58

89

Castles: Their Construction

(Toy),

in the

Winston), 53

steps in mounting,

on warships,

74-77

Cyprus, 82

vil-

Index
use

Edinburgh Castle, 73

Edward
Edward

I,

34, 47, 53,

weapons

64

that use,

58

69-7

see also cannons; guns

81,85

HI,

of, in castle sieges,

guns, 27, 71-72

England, 25-28, 30, 44-46, 88

English Channel, 66, 80, 88-90

see also handguns

Estonia, 62

38-40

Eustace the Monk, 85

halberds,

Exeter Castle, 67

half-cannons, 74

handguns, 32, 77-78

Hanseatic League, 84

falconets, 7
Fellin,

Harold, 33-34, 44

62

feudal system, 20-21, 30

fire

arrows,

hauberk, 21

85-86

Heath, Ian, 86

heavy cavalry, 20-27

67

firecrackers,

hedgehogs, 60

67

fire lances,

Firizzano, 76

helmets, 31-32

Flanders, 32, 38, 81

Henry n, 61

Florence, 7

Henry

foot soldiers. See infantries

Henry of Livonia, 62

fortified bases,

53-54

Henry

III,

63

V, 25-26, 85

France, 16, 18, 25-27, 38, 44^15, 53

History of Warfare (Keegan), 89

Frankish cavalry, 16-18

homage, 5

Froissart, Jean,

37

Hooper, Nicholas,
horses, 21-22,

galley, 80,

82

Hospitallers,

21

49

Howard of Effingham, 89-90

Gaul, 16-17
see also France

hulls,

83

Hundred Years' War,

Genoa, 32

Germany,

15,

74

18,

44

25, 37, 73, 82

Huns, 24

Gewalthaufen (Swiss phalanx), 40

24

Gies, Frances, 48, 55, 65

India,

Gies, Joseph, 48, 55

infantries

armor, weapons, and tactics used by,

Gravett, Christopher, 41, 54, 65

31-34

Great Devil, 73

Great Harry

Greek

Fire,

(ship),

89

65

effectiveness of

pikemen

effectiveness of

yeomen

Greeks, 42, 51,82

recruiting troops for,

gunpowder

roles of,

origins of,

67-69

Italy,

107

28-29

18,76-77

in,
in,

29-31

38^0
3438

The Middle Ages

Metz, 71

James

II,

jerkins,

73

militias,

32

29-30

Miller, Douglas,

John, 58

40

miners, 58

Jones, Archer, 15, 21, 33, 78, 89

missiles, 51

moats, 51-53, 60

Keegan, John, 74, 77, 89

Mons Meg

Kenilworth Castle, 60

motte-and-bailey castles, 44 46

Kill

Cow

(cannon), 73

knights, 20-27,

mottes,

44

murderesses, 51-53

30

Muslims,
ladders,

59-60

lances, 23,

(cannon), 73

17, 18, 48,

65

muzzles, 73, 77

27

landmines, 70

Near

Launceston, 46

Netherlands, the, 38, 88

Leo

Nicaea, 50

UI, 18

longbows, 25-27, 34-38

East,

47

Nofi, Albert A.

Louis (dauphin of France), 66

on

Louis VI, 24-25

describes Chinese

costs to attack a castle,

55-57

gunpowder formulas,

68

Lycus, 73

on knights' lack of discipline, 26

MacDonald, Fiona, 64

on money spent

maces, 32

on

realities

machiocolation, 51

on

soldiers pillaging

mail,

18,21,23,31-32

malnutrition,

of medieval warfare,

on yeomen's

Normandy, 24, 44, 85

marines, 82, 85, 88

Normans, 33-34, 49

Mattel, Charles, 18

Norway, 32

Mary Rose

Norwich, John

(ship),

89

37

skills,

mangons. See catapults

Julius,

73

matchlocks, 77-78

Medieval Life and the Hundred Years War

oars, 80,

'

Orleans, 76

(Dunnigan and Nofi), 26, 34

Ottoman Turks, 73
overconfidence, 24-27

Medieval Siege Warfare (Gravett), 65

Medina

82

Sidonia, duke of, 88, 91

Mediterranean Sea, 82
mercenaries, 30, 32, 55-56

Palestine,

merlons, 5

penthouses, 62

Merovingian dynasty, 16

Pepin the Short, 18

108

47^18, 50, 65

46-47
1

and plundering

34

lages, 13,

64

to build casdes,

vil-

Index
70-71

petards,

30

sheriffs,

Philip H, 88

shields, 18

pikemen, 38^4-0

ships.

pikes, 32, 38,

pillage, 13,

40

34

Sicily,

82

siege towers,

Spain, 17, 18

Spanish Armada, 78, 88-90

portcullis. 5

Posse Comitatus (English

strikes,

militia),

30

spears, 18, 23, 32,

51-53

starvation,
sterns,

sulfur,

64-65

83

18-19,23-24

stirrups,

rapes, 13

38

30

squires,

quarter-cannons, 7

69

surcoat, 21

60

rats,

59-60

Sluys, 80-81, 85

64

poleaxes. See halberds

preemptive

See warships

shock action, 18-19, 23-24

plunder, 34

poison,

44-46, 49

shell keeps,

phalanx, 40

Sweden, 12

retainers, 5

Sweet Lips (cannon), 73

30

retinue.

Richard the Lionhearted, 47

Switzerland, 30-31,38

Rochester Castle, 58

swords, 18, 23, 32

Roman

Empire,

13, 16, 18

Romans, 42,49, 51,82

roundships, 83-85

tactics

used by Frankish cavalries, 18-19

used by

rowers, 82, 84

infantries,

used by knights, 22-24

rudders, 83

Talbot, Richard Lord,

23

saddles,
sailors,
sails,

tarida,

82

Templars, 50

82

Thomas

82, 87

Saker,

74

(ship),

85

Tillieres Castle,

saltpeter, 68,

69

tortoises,

Tours, 18

sapping operations, 57-58

Toy, Sidney, 36,

Saxons, 49

trebuchets,

scaling ladders,

scutage,

59-60

Troy, 53

Ulm, 72

47

Urban H, 48
109

46

61-62

38-39

Seine River, 25

54

60

San Giovanni, 77

Scotland,

31-34
30

The Middle Ages

Urslingen, Werner von, 32

oared, 80, 82
technical advances in,

vassals, 51

Warner, Philip, 58-59

Venice, 82

warships

Vikings, 82, 86-87

importance

medieval warfare,

in

of,

82-85

79-80

Vinsauf, Geoffrey de, 65

naval battle tactics of, 85-91

oared, 80, 82

warfare
defenses of castles

for,

46-48, 50-54

technical advances

organization and uniformity of, 14-15

romance
sieges

on

with

vs. reality of,

used by

castles

60-64

difficulties in capturing,

of,

see also

64-66

ladders

Winston, Clara,

59-60

10,

Winston, Richard,

techniques used

in,

Wise, Terrence, 39

58

13-14

yeomen, 34-38

by warships
importance

names of individual weapons

82

and siege towers,

steps in mounting,

of,

31-38

William the Conqueror, 33-34, 44-45, 50,

sapping operations, 57-58

scaling

infantries,

used by knights, 22-24

55-57

experiences of defenders

82-85

used by Frankish cavalries, 18-19

10-12, 15

artillery engines,

in,

weapons

79-80

naval battle tactics, 85-91

Zwijn River, 81

110

53

10,

53

Picture Credits
Cover Photo:

Mary Evans Picture Library, 86

Christel Gerstenberg/CORBIS, 76
Historical Picture Archive/CORBIS, 68
Hulton Archive, 45, 69, 70, 75, 90

Archivo Iconografico/

CORBIS

Paul Almasy/CORBIS, 48
Arhivo Iconografico, S.A./CORBIS,

19,

Library of Congress, 25, 36, 38, 43, 63,

84

Bettmann/COPvBIS, 35, 56. 61,

Christie's Images/CORBIS,

72,

80

81

Buddy Mays/CORBIS, 57
North Wind Picture Archives,

Dover

Publications, Inc., 20, 23, 29, 31

(both), 39, 49,

52

(both), 59, 82, 83,

88

22, 33, 42,

111

50 (both)

12, 14, 17,

About
Historian

Don Nardo

the Author

has written numerous volumes about the ancient

and medieval worlds, among them The Assyrian Empire, Games of Ancient Rome, Greek and Roman Science, The Decline and Fall of the Ro-

man

Empire, Life on a Medieval Pilgrimage, and The Black Death. Mr.

Nardo resides with his wife, Christine, in Massachusetts.

112

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describe beliefs about war, strategies, battle

formations, infantry, cavalry, siege, and naval tactics,

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