Bob Carruthers (ed.) War in Ancient Greece (Pen & Sword, 2012) 576 pp. $19.99 Readers of this book will likely be somewhat surprised that the most notable aspects of this massive book, nearly 600 pages, is what is missing rather than … Continue reading →

Sara Cockerill Eleanor of Castile: The Shadow Queen (Amberley, 2015) 414 pp. £14.99 Medieval queens consort are typically presented, even in medieval chronicles as supporting figures in the greater narratives focusing on their husbands, sons, and fathers. Eleanor of Castile, the … Continue reading →

Guilhem Pépin, Françoise Lainé and Frédéric Boutoulle (eds), Routiers et Mercenaires Pendant la Guerre de Cent Ans; Hommage à Jonathan Sumption (Ausonius, Bordeaux, 2016) 357 pp. €25.00 The Anglophone historiography of the Hundred Years War once focused primarily on the great … Continue reading →

Mike Carr, Merchant Crusaders in the Aegean, 1291-1352 (Boydell, 2015) 214 pp. $99.00 Mike Carr has written a monograph designed to “cut across the sub-genres of economic and crusading history” (p 6). He qualifies and corrects common assumptions about the conduct … Continue reading →

Matthew Lewis Medieval Britain in 100 Facts (Amberley, 2015) 192 pp. $13.00 Although the text on the back cover of the book is a bit misleading in that it promises material “from its formation after the Roman exodus,” when the … Continue reading →

Scott Lomax, Nottingham: The Buried Past Of A Historic City Revealed (Pen & Sword Archaeology, 2013) 176 pp. $24.95 In reading this book, it quickly becomes clear how important it is that the author himself has been involved with the … Continue reading →

Christopher Matthew and Matthew Trundle, eds. Beyond the Gates of Fire: New Perspectives on the Battle of Thermopylae (Pen & Sword, 2013) 228 pp. $22.11 Seeking to capitalize on the contemporary appeal of movies like 300 and the general reputation … Continue reading →

Royal Jousts at the End of the Fourteenth Century, Deeds of Arms Series 1 The Combat of the Thirty, Deeds of Arms Series 2 ed. and trans. by Steven Muhlberger (Freelance Academy Press, 2012) I- viii, 88 pp., $24.95; II- … Continue reading →

Michael Livingston and Kelly DeVries, eds. The Battle of Crécy: A Casebook (Liverpool University Press, 2015) 524 + xiv pp. £75 / $120 (hardcover), £25 / $39.95 (paperback) Nothing quite encapsulates for us the seemingly pervasive wars of the later … Continue reading →

Richard W. Kaeuper Kings, Knights and Bankers: The collected articles of Richard W. Kaeuper, ed. by Christopher Guyol (Brill, 2016) xv + 392 pp. $172 Kings, Knights and Bankers collects a substantial amount of material from the scholarship of Richard … Continue reading →

Hussein Fancy The Mercenary Mediterranean: Sovereignty, Religion and Violence in the Medieval Crown of Aragon (University of Chicago Press, 2016) xv + 310 pp. $40.00/£ 26.00 In 1284 King Pere II of Aragon faced a major crisis. His attempts to … Continue reading →

Noel Fallows The Twelve of England (Freelance Academy Press, 2013) 121 pp. $24.95 Following on two excellent volumes by Steven Muhlberger, Noel Fallows has produced the third volume in Freelance Academy Press’ Deeds of Arms Series. The Twelve of England, a … Continue reading →

Terry Breverton Richard III: The King In The Car Park (Amberley, 2015) 316 pp. $9.99 In the introduction of this book the author, the author makes a strong claim that he began his research of Richard III with a strict sense … Continue reading →

Steve Flanders John de Courcy: Prince of Ulster (Colourpoint, 2016) 128pp.  $8.95 The author of this very brief book is very clear about the purpose of this work: to give the story of John de Courcy, an Anglo-Norman adventurer who … Continue reading →

Toni Mount Dragon’s Blood & Willow Bark: The Mysteries of Medieval Medicine (Amberley, 2014) 304pp.  $34.95 The author of this entertaining and somewhat gossipy book about medieval medicine explains her purpose for writing the book towards the end of this … Continue reading →

Timothy Venning An Alternative History of Britain: The English Civil War (Pen & Sword, 2015) 285pp.  $39.95 The value of the ‘what if’ school of historical research is still much debated among historians and Timothy Venning’s volume belongs firmly in … Continue reading →

Sue Parrill and William B. Robison The Tudors on Film and Television (McFarland, 2013) 352pp.  $75.00 A dense and challenging read, this book provides a focused and intense analysis of representations of Tudors in film and television that demonstrates a … Continue reading →

John France Hattin (Oxford University Press, 2015) 218pp.  £18.99 On the 4th July 1187 one of the most important and well known battles of the middle ages took place. At Hattin, a short distance from the shores of the Sea … Continue reading →

Charles D. Stanton Medieval Maritime Warfare (Pen & Sword, 2015) 359pp.  $39.95 Pen & Sword Books Limited of Yorkshire has come a long way. Having secured a hefty market share of popular military history over the years, the company has … Continue reading →

Adam Chapman Welsh Soldiers in the Later Middle Ages 1282-1422 (Boydell, 2015) 264pp.  $95 From the time of William Shakespeare onwards, the English armies of the Hundred Years War have generated many legends and half-truths (particularly relating to the periods … Continue reading →

John D. Grainger The British Navy in the Baltic (Boydell, 2014) 304pp.  $115 Although the Baltic Sea is not the first area that would come to mind when one thinks of operational areas of great importance to the British Navy, … Continue reading →

Eduardo de Mesa The Irish in the Spanish Armies in the Seventeenth Century (Boydell, 2014) 260pp.  $120 Eduardo de Mesa’s tome on Irish soldiers that served in Habsburg Spain’s armies succeeds on at least five levels. First, it establishes a … Continue reading →

John France Warfare, Crusade and Conquest in the Middle Ages (Ashgate: Variorum Collected Studies Series, 2015) 374pp.  $165 Everybody knows the Variorum series by Ashgate, a series of books that puts together some of the best articles of well-known historians. … Continue reading →

Michael N. Salda Arthurian Animation: A Study Of Cartoon Camelots on Film and Television (McFarland, 2013) 220pp.  $45.00 After spending about two-hundred pages discussing (in often exhaustive fashion) around 170 different animated representations of the Arthurian myth cycle from around … Continue reading →

Hans Lechüchner The Art of Swordsmanship (trans. by Jeffrey L. Forgeng) (Boydell, 2015) 481pp.  $99.99 Despite the survival of a wealth of treatises on the practice of early swordplay, often known collectively as fechtbucher, a notable minority are those which … Continue reading →

Chris Peers Genghis Khan and the Mongol War Machine (Pen & Sword Military, 2015) 194pp.  $39.99 Genghis Khan is a figure who is so well known that he hardly needs an introduction.  In like manner, the military exploits of the … Continue reading →

Richard Kirwan and Sophie Mullins (eds) Specialist Markets in the Early Modern Book World (Brill, 2015) 414 pp.  $188.00 The world of early modern printing was a notably diverse milieu- in some ways as diverse as contemporary publishing, with major … Continue reading →

Rory Cox John Wyclif on War and Peace (Royal Historical Society, 2014) 214pp.  £50 / $90 Medieval writers’ attitudes towards war are relatively understudied. This is especially troubling considering that much of our understanding of the conduct of medieval war … Continue reading →

Terry Breverton Jasper Tudor: Dynasty Maker (Amberly Publishing, 2014) 423pp.  $20.00 Given the widespread interest in the Tudor dynasty of England and its important figures, it is striking that no one had yet written a book on Jasper Tudor, the … Continue reading →

Rhys Morgan The Welsh and the Shaping of Early Modern Ireland 1558-1641, Irish Historical Monographs XI (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2014) xii+ 230pp.  $120.00 Rhys Morgan’s The Welsh and the Shaping of Early Modern Ireland is a welcomed addition to the … Continue reading →

Michael Mallett Mercenaries and their Masters: Warfare in Renaissance Italy (Pen & Sword, 2009) 304pp.  $39.99 Eschewing the common focus of military history books on mere biographical history, this work serves as a particularly excellent example of a book written … Continue reading →

Hunt Janin with Ursula Carson Mercenaries in Medieval and Renaissance Europe (Macfarland, 2013) 220pp.  $39.95 Mercenaries in Medieval and Renaissance Europe by Hunt Janin with Ursula Carson is at best a problematic book. [1] The back of the book tells … Continue reading →

Martin J. Dougherty The Wars of the Roses: The Conflict that Inspired Game of Thrones (Amber, 2015) 226pp.  $34.95 The subtitle of this book gives away its intent, even though there is a disclaimer pointing out that this book has … Continue reading →

Ian Stuart Kelly Echoes of Success: Identity and the Highland Regiments (Leiden: Brill, 2015) 259pp.  $142.00 Ian Stuart Kelly, Echoes of Success: Identity and the Highland Regiments, History of Warfare 104 (Brill 2015). xii + 259 pp. $142.00. Note- In … Continue reading →

Christine Shaw Barons and Castellans: The Military Nobility of Renaissance Italy (Leiden: Brill, 2015) 284pp.  $149.00 Christine Shaw’s Barons and Castellans is the first book-length English language study of the military nobility, an important but often overlooked segment of the … Continue reading →

Laura Ashe and Ian Patterson (eds.) War and Literature (D.S. Brewer, 2014) 254pp.  $50.00 “War was the first subject of literature; at times, war has been its only subject.” (xi) With these words, the editors of this volume begin a … Continue reading →

Georgios Theotokis The Norman Campaigns in the Balkans, 1081-1108 (Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 2014) 262pp.  $99.00 Georgios Theotokis’s The Norman Campaigns in the Balkans is an ambitious study of the clash between two distinct military cultures and their concomitant institutions, … Continue reading →

James Waterson Sacred Swords: Jihad in the Holy Land, 1097-1271 (London, UK: Frontline Books, 2010) 206pp.  £19.99/$39.95 In Sacred Swords, the third work by historian James Waterson dealing with the time of the Crusades from the Muslim perspective, Waterson works … Continue reading →

Gregory I. Halfond (ed.) The Medieval Way Of War: Studies in Medieval Military History in Honor of Bernard S. Bachrach (Ashgate, 2015) 332pp.  $129.95 The most remarkable aspect of this book is the level of sincere and heartfelt praise the authors … Continue reading →

Christopher Matthew A Storm of Spears: Understanding the Greek Hoplite at War (Pen & Sword, 2012) 336pp.  £25.00 This work is one of great importance for the understanding of the ancient Greek hoplite and his gear and overall tactics. The … Continue reading →

Timothy Venning An Alternative History of Britain: The Hundred Years War (Pen & Sword, 2013) 256pp.  £19.99/$39.95 The title of Venning’s series, An Alternative History of Britain, may be somewhat misleading; Venning’s goal is not to create some sort of … Continue reading →

Stephen Turnbull Samurai Women 1184-1877 (Osprey, 2010) 64pp.  $18.95 Books in the Osprey Warrior series are primarily made for war-gamers and can vary quite a bit in quality.  The difficulties with this slim volume are evident from the beginning.  The … Continue reading →

Ignacio and Ivan Lopez The Spanish Tercios 1536-1704 (Osprey, 2012) 48pp.  $13.95 In this 481st offering of the Osprey Men at Arms series, Ignacio and Ivan Lopez, and their illustrators, Gerry and Sam Embleton, have written a useful volume on … Continue reading →

Janet Shirley (tr.) Guillaume de Marchaut, The Capture of Alexandia (Ashgate, 2001) 254pp.  £79.00 The Capture of Alexandria comprises a blank verse translation of Guillaume de Machaut’s La prise d’Alexandre by Janet Shirley, an informative historical introduction and notes by the … Continue reading →

Savvas Kyriakidis Warfare in Late Byzantium, 1204-1453 (Brill, 2011) 254pp.  $144.00 The capture and sacking of Constantinople in 1204 by the Fourth Crusade, the Byzantine Empire split and went into a downward spiral. Although the Empire of Nicea (one of … Continue reading →

John Sadler Towton: The Battle of Palm Sunday Field, 1461 (Pen & Sword, 2011) 186pp.  $39.99 John Sadler’s latest work departs once more from his customary focus on the battles and wars between England and Scotland, turning to an episode … Continue reading →

Noel Fallows Jousting in Medieval and Renaissance Iberia (Boydell & Brewer, 2011) 574pp.  $99.00 This substantial study might almost be called “The Encyclopedia of Iberian Jousting.”  It brings together a wide variety of evidence – textual, artistic and material – … Continue reading →

Donald Featherstone Bowmen of England (Pen & Sword, 2011) 164pp.  $19.95 The late Donald Featherstone’s Bowmen of England is a concise history of the English longbow and the men who used it. The book itself was first published in 1967. … Continue reading →

Marcus Cowper Henry V (Osprey, 2010) 64pp.  $14.95 Marcus Cowper’s Henry V is the eighth book in Osprey Publishing’s “Command” series, each of which summarizes the life of a military commander from history. Like with most of Osprey Publishing books, … Continue reading →

Phillip Matyszak Imperial General: The Remarkable Career of Petellius Cerialis (Pen and Sword Military, 2011) 188pp.  $39.95 If one were to create a list of the most researched periods in Roman history, the Year of the Four Emperors would receive … Continue reading →

Helen Nicholson and David Nicolle God’s Warriors: Crusaders, Saracens and the Battle for Jerusalem (Osprey Publishing, 2005) 224pp.  $29.99 Helen Nicholson and David Nicolle have not written an introductory text.  The book is not large, but packs information into almost … Continue reading →

Chris Peers Offa and the Mercian Wars: The Rise and Fall of the First Great English Kingdom (Pen and Sword, 2012) 198pp.  $39.99 Chris Peers in Offa and the Mercian Wars writes an excellent popular military history of the medieval … Continue reading →

David Nicolle The Fourth Crusade 1202-04: The Betrayal of Byzantium (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2011) 96pp.  $19.95.  ISBN 9781849083195  The eleventh and twelfth century European Crusades to the Near East has been an increasingly discussed controversial topic, both among Historians as … Continue reading →

Bob Carruthers The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: Illustrated and Annotated (Pen & Sword Books Ltd.: Barnsley, 2013) 372pp.  $24.95.  ISBN 9781781591482  Arguably the most important single work to our understanding of the Anglo-Saxon period of English history is The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Without … Continue reading →

Bernard S. Bachrach Charlemagne’s Early Campaigns (768-777) (Brill: 2013) 768pp.  $297 It is difficult to believe that this book is the first full-length treatment of Charlemagne at war, given the fact that the examination of merely 9 years at the … Continue reading →

James Waterson Defending Heaven: China’s Mongol Wars 1209-1370 (Frontline Books: 2013) XXXIV and 236 pp.  $31.59 Defending Heaven is James Waterson’s fourth book. Whereas the Mongols have made cameo appearances in his previous works, they take stage front and center … Continue reading →

James Waterson Defending Heaven: China’s Mongol Wars 1209-1370 (Frontline Books: 2013) XXXIV and 236 pp.  $31.59 The Mongol conquest of China serves as a clear break in Chinese history, helping to determine the character of China’s final two imperial dynasties, … Continue reading →

B. Ann Tlusty The Martial Ethic in Modern Germany (Palgrave Macmillan: 2011) 371pp.  $112.25 B. Ann Tlusty’s The Martial Ethic in Early Modern Germany is one of those books that simultaneously delights and frustrates the reviewer: Delight, for the immense … Continue reading →

Konstantinos Karatolios (trans. by Leonard G. Meachim) Greek Fire and its contribution to Byzantine might (Lulu: 2014) 40pp.  $3.03. In the last years there have been an increasing number of works about medieval naval warfare that try to fill a … Continue reading →

John Hosler John of Salisbury: Military Authority of the Twelfth-Century Renaissance (Brill, 2013) 227pp.  $133.00.    In John of Salisbury: Military Authority of the Twelfth-Century Renaissance John Hosler seeks to raise Salisbury’s profile among historians of the High Middle Ages, … Continue reading →