JMMH vol. 4 (2006)

Journal of Medieval Military History

Volume 4

Once again De Re Militari has produced a volume of its annual journal which no student of medieval warfare can afford to ignore. The majority of the contributions deal with issues of broad significance to the field. In combination with the J. F. Verbruggen article (in volume 3) to which it responds, Bernard Bachrach’s energetic argument against viewing medieval warfare as cavalry-dominated addresses head-on one of the great simmering controversies in the discipline. Stephen Morillo’s discussion of “State Formation” and J. F. Verbruggen’s survey of the roles of women in medieval warfare are comparably sweeping in their range. A trio of articles dealing with issues of bravery and cowardice, though based on Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman evidence, advance our knowledge of one of the all-pervasive aspects of the military history of the middle ages. Similarly, Russ Mitchell’s experimentally-based study of the effectiveness of arrows against mail armor reaches conclusions that will cast light on combat from Visigothic Spain to Crusader Outremer to fifteenth-century Bohemia. In addition, the Journal includes more narrowly focused studies dealing with Iberian war-dogs, the naval battle of Zierikzee at the start of the fourteenth century, and (reflecting the editors’ broad understanding of the scope of the field) the war-related activities of Dutch magistrates at the turn of the sixteenth century.

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Contents

  • The Sword of Justice: War and State Formation in Comparative Perspective, by Stephen Morillo
  • Verbruggen’s “Cavalry” and the Lyon-Thesis, by Bernard S. Bachrach
  • Archery versus Mail: Experimental Archaeology and the Value of Historical Context, by Russ Mitchell
  • “Cowardice” and Duty in Anglo-Saxon England, by Richard Abels
  • Cowardice and Fear Management: the 1173-74 Conflict as a Case Study, by Steven Isaac
  • Expecting Cowardice: Medieval Battle Tactics Reconsidered, by Stephen Morillo
  • Naval Tactics at the Battle of Zierikzee (1304) in the Light of Mediterranean Praxis, by William Sayers
  • The Military Role of the Magistrates in Holland during the Guelders War, by James P. Ward
  • Women in Medieval Armies, by J.F. Verbruggen
  • Document: War Dogs
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