The chapter on weaponry is descriptive and there are excellent drawings as well as contemporary illustrations. Equally, the final chapter on the conduct of sieges is admirably forthright...the index is particularly good. TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT In medieval warfare, the siege predominated: for every battle, there were hundreds of sieges. Yet the rich and vivid history of siege warfare has been consistently neglected. Jim Bradbury's panoramic survey takes the history of siege warfare in Europe from the late Roman Empire to the 16th century, and includes sieges in Byzantium, Eastern Europe and the areas affected by the Crusades. Within this broad sweep of time and place, he finds, not that enormous changes occurred, but that the rules and methods of siege warfare remained remarkably constant. Included are detailed studies of some of the major sieges including Constantinople and Chateau-Gaillard. Throughout, Bradbury supports his narrative with chronicles and letters. First-hand accounts of danger, famine and endurance bring the acute reality of siege warfare clearly before the reader. JIM BRADBURY is the author of The Medieval Archer; he writes and lectures on battles and warfare in England and France in the middle ages.
By:
Jim Bradbury
Imprint: Boydell & Brewer
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: New edition
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
Spine: 21mm
Weight: 576g
ISBN: 9780851153575
ISBN 10: 0851153577
Pages: 380
Publication Date: 06 August 1992
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Unspecified
Civilization under siege, 450-750; the second onslaught, 750-950; the beginnings of castle warfare, 950-1050; kings, counts and castellans, 1050-1200; the early crusades, 1050-1200; an age of great kings, 1200-1350; trouble in the West, 1350-1500; trouble in the East, 1200-1565; medieval siege weapons; the conventions and laws of siege warfare.
Reviews for The Medieval Siege
Fills a notable gap left by the battle-centric nature of earlier military historiography and by the concentration of castle studies on the evolution of defensive structures to the comparative neglect of the methods of assault which prompted such developments... An informed overview... herein lies the book's great value, mapping broad trends and affording a host of comparative material. HISTORY
