Tag Archives: battles

‘The Lord put His people to the sword’: Contemporary perceptions of the Battle of Hattin (1187)

This study will seek to argue that such categories were of secondary importance to both Christian and Muslim contemporaries who either fought in the battle or lived through the summer of 1187 when compared with religious explanations. Continue reading

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Three sources on the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212

One of the most important battles fought on the Iberian peninsula, this was the culmination of a major campaign by Alfonso VIII of Castile against the Almohads. The battle took place on July 16, 1212. The first account comes from … Continue reading

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Historical Invasions/Historiographical Inventions: Snorri Sturluson and the Battle of Stamford Bridge

Historical Invasions/Historiographical Inventions: Snorri Sturluson and the Battle of Stamford Bridge By Elizabeth Ashman Rowe Medievalia: A Journal of Medieval Studies, Vol. 17 (1994)  

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The Battle of the Bannockburn (1314), according to the Vita Edwardi Secundi

The anonymous author of the Vita Edwardi Secundi provides one of the best accounts of the reign of Edward II.  This includes his description of the battle of Bannockburn in 1314, where the Scots under Robert Bruce defeated Edward and … Continue reading

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The Punishment of Pride: Castilian Reactions to the Battle of Aljubarrota

The Punishment of Pride: Castilian Reactions to the Battle of Aljubarrota Thomas M. Izbicki Medieval Iberia: Essays on the History and Literature of Medieval Spain On August 13, 1385, the fate of Portugal was decided at the battle of Aljubarrota. … Continue reading

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The Battle of Lincoln (1217), according to Roger of Wendover

Roger of Wendover (d.1236) was a monk at St.Alban’s monastery in England.  His work, Flores historiarum (Flowers of History) is a chronicle that starts at creation and goes to 1235.  From 1201 to 1235 his work is original.  In the … Continue reading

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The Battle of Gisors, 1198, according to Roger of Hoveden

The Annals of Roger of Hoveden provide an account of the Battle of Gisors between Richard I of England and Philip Augustus of France, which took place in 1198. Hoveden writes down two versions of this battle, and includes a … Continue reading

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Contemporary Views of Edward III’s failure at the Siege of Tournai

Contemporary Views of Edward III’s failure at the Siege of Tournai Kelly DeVries Nottingham Medieval Studies: v.39 (1995) The naval battle of Sluys, the first major conflict of the Hundred years War, was fought on 24 June 1340. By the … Continue reading

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God, leadership, Flemings and Archery: Contemporary Perspectives of Victory and Defeat at the Battle of Sluys 1340

God, leadership, Flemings and Archery: Contemporary Perspectives of Victory and Defeat at the Battle of Sluys 1340 Kelly DeVries American Neptune: v.55 (1995) Most historians of the Hundred Years War see the battle of Sluys, fought on June 24, 1340, … Continue reading

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Byzantine Heavy Artillery: The Helepolis

Byzantine Heavy Artillery: The Helepolis George T. Dennis Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies: v.39 (1998) Abstract The military manual (Strategikon) attributed to the emperor Maurice stipulated that the infantry contingents should be followed by a train of wagons, some of which … Continue reading

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The Byzantines at Battle

The Byzantines at Battle George T. Dennis Byzantium at War (1997) Although the Byzantines were constantly under attack or under threat of attack, they regarded warfare as the least desirable method of defending themselves. Leo VI prefaced his Tactical Constitutions … Continue reading

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The Development of Battle Tactics in the Hundred Years War

The Development of Battle Tactics in the Hundred Years War Matthew Bennett Arms, Armies and Fortifications in the Hundred Years War (1994) It is a common aphorism that the history of war is too important to be left to military … Continue reading

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Fleet Operations in the First Genoese-Venetian War, 1264-1266

Fleet Operations in the First Genoese-Venetian War, 1264-1266 John E. Dotson Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies v. 30 (1999) This brief article is not intended to review the history of the First Genoese-Venetian War over its whole length from 1257 … Continue reading

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Caballus et Caballarius in Medieval Warfare

Caballus et Caballarius in Medieval Warfare Bernard S. Bachrach The Study of Chivalry: Resources and Approaches (1988) The little poem “For Want of a Nail” has for centuries conveyed to children a glimpse of the fundamental technical underpinnings of the … Continue reading

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Medieval siege warfare: A reconnaissance

Medieval siege warfare: A reconnaissance Bernard S. Bachrach The Journal of Military History, vol. 58 no. 1 (January, 1994) Abstract Historians writing during the later nineteenth and the twentieth centuries unambiguously recognized the importance, indeed the central role, played by siege … Continue reading

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The Military Revolution from a Medieval Perspective

The Military Revolution from a Medieval Perspective Andrew Ayton and J.L. Price The Medieval Military Revolution: State, Society and Military Change in Medieval and Early Modern Europe Although there is continuing disagreement concerning the essential nature of the military revolution; … Continue reading

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From Alfred to Harold II: The Military Failure of the Late Anglo-Saxon State

From Alfred to Harold II: The Military Failure of the Late Anglo-Saxon State Richard Abels The Normans and their Adversaries at War: Essays in Memory of C. Warren Hollister (Boydell, 2001) Abstract “It would be a serious error,” Warren Hollister acutely … Continue reading

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The Battle of Hastings according to Gaimar, Wace and Benoit: rhetoric and politics

According to Jean Blacker, the Norman Conquest was ‘the most visible cause of the upsurge in historical writing in twelfth-century England’ and in the continental territories controlled by successive Anglo-Norman and Norman-Angevin rulers. Continue reading

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