Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay is one of the most important sources for the Albigensian Crusades. It is likely that he traveled with the Crusader armies of Simon de Montfort, and was an eyewitness to many of the events he describes. … Continue reading
The Origin of the Second Crusade George Ferzoco The Second Crusade and the Cistercians (1992) In seeking to establish the formal origin of the Second Crusade, one finds that in Vetralla on December 1,1145, Pope Eugenius III issued the crusading … Continue reading
Horses and Crossbows: Two Important Warfare Advantages of the Teutonic Order in Prussia Sven Ekdahl The Military Orders, Volume 2: Welfare and Warfare (1998) The thirteenth-century conquest of Livonia and Prussia by the Order of the Swordbrothers and its successor, … Continue reading
Pagan Peverel: An Anglo-Norman Crusader Susan Edgington Crusade and Settlement: Papers read at the First Conference of the Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East and presented to R.C. Smail (1985) Thousands of men participated in the … Continue reading
Foundations of Venetian Naval Strategy from Pietro II Orseoto to the Battle of Zoncho, 1000-1500 John E. Dotson Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies v.32 (2001) For Venetians during the Middle Ages the sea was life. The prosperity, the very existence, … Continue reading
Teenagers at War During the Middle Ages Kelly DeVries (Loyola University, Maryland) The Premodern Teenager: Youth in Society, 1150-1650 (2002) Early in 1212 a young man from western Germany, whose name has come down through history only as Nicholas, became … Continue reading
Following the expulsion of the Crusaders from their last outpost of Acre in 1291, several attempts and plans were made to bring back Christian rule to Jerusalem and the Holy Land. In the following memorandum, Fulk of Villaret, master of the Hospitallers, proposes this invasion plan. Continue reading
Bar Hebraeus (1226-1286) is one the best known Syriac writers of the Middle Ages. His Chronography contains a history of the world from creation until his own time. Most of his information relates to events in the Middle East, including … Continue reading
Robert of Clari was a knight from Picardy who took part in the Fourth Crusade, which ended with the capture of Constantinople in 1204. Robert seems to have returned to France in 1205, since although his work contains references up … Continue reading
Here are several versions of the founding of the Knights Templar, from sources translated by Helen Nicholson Continue reading
A Norman-Italian Adventurer in the East: Richard of Salerno, 1097-1112 George T. Beech Anglo-Norman Studies: v.15 (1993) Abstract The adventures, hardships, and disappointments awaiting the Europeans who went on the crusades have long been well known; indeed enough information has … Continue reading
From Tyrants to Soldiers of Christ: the nobility of twelfth-century Leon-Castile and the struggle against Islam Simon Barton (University of Exeter) Nottingham Medieval Studies: v.44 (2000) On 2 July 1120, Bishop Diego of León made a generous grant of property, … Continue reading
Frontier Warfare in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem: The Campaign of Jacob’s Ford, 1178-79 Malcolm Barber The Crusades and their Sources: Essays Presented to Bernard Hamilton (1998) The construction by the Latins of the fortress of Chastellet at the place … Continue reading
One of the most interesting contemporary accounts of the crusades comes from a twelfth-century resident of Damascus. Ibn Al-Qalanisi was a distinguished scholar in Damascus, and was twice elected the mayor of that city. His Chronicle begins in 1097 with … Continue reading
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
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
On the 26th of August 1071, an army under the command of the Byzantine emperor Romanus IV Diogenes (1068-1071AD) was defeated on the borders of Armenia by the army of the Seljuk Turkish Sultan, Continue reading
A. Bysted, K. V. Jensen, C.S. Jensen, J. Lind (eds.) Jerusalem in the North: Denmark and the Baltic Crusades, 1100-1522 Outremer. Studies in the Crusades and the Latin East 1 (Turnhout, Belg.: Brepols, 2012). xiv+393pp. ISBN: 978-2-503-52325-5. According to the authors of … Continue reading
The Byzantine Background to the First Crusade By Paul Magadalino Published by the Canadian Institute of Balkan Studies (1996) Just over nine hundred years ago, Pope Urban II closed a provincial church council at Clermont Ferrand with a rousing call … Continue reading
The study of medieval warfare has suffered from an approach that concentrates on its social, governmental and economic factors to the detriment of military methods and practice. Continue reading
HS 413: MEDIEVAL MILITARY HISTORY Professor: Dr. Kelly DeVries Objective: The Middle Ages was a bellicose era. From the Germanic Invasions to the Hundred Years War, from the Vikings to the Crusaders, the Middle Ages seem to have been one … Continue reading
If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me… Continue reading
The Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa is considered by scholars to be a primary source of major importance for the history of the Near East during the period of the early Crusades. This work relates events that occurred between the … Continue reading
Peter Purton A History of the Early Medieval Siege c.450-1220. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2009. Pp. xxvii+505. ISBN 978-1-84383-448-9. As the date range in the title implies, this book is only half of the author’s history of medieval siege warfare. … Continue reading
Nirmal Dass (ed. and trans.), The Deeds of the Franks and other Jerusalem-bound Pilgrims: The Earliest Chronicle of the First Crusades. Lanham, MD: The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, 2011. Pp. 154 pages. $24.95. ISBN-13: 9781442204980. Reviewed by Susanna A. Throop, Ursinus College <[email protected]> Available at The … Continue reading
Here are links to other websites that will be of interest to those studying medieval warfare: Internet Medieval Sourcebook – hundreds of translated texts Medievalists.net – hundreds of articles and other resources. See their page on Medieval Warfare for specific resources Medieval News – news … Continue reading
De Re Militari is pleased to present reviews and notices of recent work on medieval military history, whether new books, journal articles, or scholarly appearances in media. For any questions or more information on becoming a book reviewer for De … Continue reading
We are pleased to offer this list of full text of books and articles about medieval military history. We thank the authors and publishers for their permission in republishing this material. Books/Dissertations | Intros/Chapters | Articles Books and Dissertations Ditcham, … Continue reading
We are in the process of re-doing the website after the malware attack, but the old pages from 2011 are available via the WayBack Machine at archive.org: HERE We will be slowly porting the old pages to the new system, … Continue reading
