The Battle of Jerez was fought in 1231 between the forces of Ferdinand III, king of Castile and León, and Ibn Hud, ruler of Murcia and the de facto successor of the Almohads. It took place near the modern city of Jerez … Continue reading
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
The Expression of Power in a Medieval Kingdom: Thirteenth-Century Scottish Castles By Fiona Watson Scottish Power Centres from the Early Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century, Foster, S., Macinnes, A. and MacInnes, R., (eds.) (Glasgow, 1998)
Frederick II and the Rebellion of the Muslims of Sicily, 1200-1224 By James M. Powell Uluslararasi Hacli Seferleri Sempozyumu (1999) In 1999 the Turkish Historical Society/Turk Tarifrh Kurumu published this volume which is devoted to the Crusades in the medieval Middle … Continue reading
“Spurred on by the Fear of Death”: Refugees and Displaced Populations during the Mongol Invasion of Hungary By James Ross Sweeney Nomadic Diplomacy, Destruction and Religion from the Pacific to the Adriatic: Papers prepared for the Central and Inner Asian … Continue reading
The Mongols in the West Denis Sinor Journal of Asian History: v.33 n.1 (1999) The economic and social factors which made conflicts between China on the one hand and the pastoral empires of Mongolia on the other almost inevitable did … Continue reading
The Tower of London and the garderobae armorum Randall Storey Royal Armouries Yearbook: 3 (1998) The history of such a treasured monument as the Tower of London is a famed account full of epic events and infamous deeds. Its place … Continue reading
‘Treachery in the Remotest Territories of Scotland’: Northern Resistance to the Canmore Dynasty, 1130-1230 R. Andrew McDonald (University College of Cape Breton) Canadian Journal of History: vol. 33 (August 1999), pp. 161-192 The Annals of Ulster, a rich source of … Continue reading
The Art of War under Chinggis Qahan (Genghis Khan) Translated by Urgunge Onon The Secret History of the Mongols: The Life and Times of Chinggis Khan, translated by Urgunge Onon (Curzon Press, 2001) In the thirteenth century, all Mongols thought … Continue reading
William Wallace’s Invasion of Northern England in 1297 C.J. McNamee Northern History: v.26 (1990) In the winter of 1297 William Wallace, fresh from his victory over the English at Stirling Bridge, presided over a ferocious and prolonged devastation of northern England. … Continue reading
The Town In Service Of War In The Medieval Crown Of Aragon Donald Joseph Kagay (Albany State College) De Re Militari (1997) It is the purpose of this paper to explore the role of the town in the medieval Crown … Continue reading
The Mongol Siege of Xiangyang and Fan-ch’eng and the Song military Chris Hanson DeRe Militari (2004) The Siege of Xiangyang and Fan-ch’eng was one of the longest sieges of the medieval world lasting almost 5 years, from 1268 until early … Continue reading
Dover Castle and the Great Siege of 1216 John Goodall Chateau Gaillard XIX: Actes du Colloque International de Graz, 1998 (2000) Commanding the shortest sea crossing between England and the Continent, Dover Castle was a vital strategic and communication lynch-pin … Continue reading
The following account is a short journal that describes the expedition of Edward I into Scotland. Starting on March 25, 1296, it runs to September 16th, and describes the various movements and events very tersely. This was Edward’s first expedition … Continue reading
War and Chivalry in the History of William the Marshal By John Gillingham Thirteenth Century England v.2 (1988) Ever since the History of William the Marshal was discovered in the late nineteenth century it has been universally recognized as a document … Continue reading
Oliver of Paderborn and his siege engine at Damietta Dominic Francis Nottingham Medieval Studies: v.37 (1993) In the hot weeks of August 1218, the soldiers of the German and Frisian contingents involved in the Fifth Crusade laboured hard to build an … Continue reading
A Plea Roll of Edward I’s Army in Scotland, 1296 Edited by Cynthia J. Neville From: Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, vol. XI (1990) The following record, classified in the Public Record Office, London, as E39/93/15 is an army … Continue reading
This Norwegian work, written in the mid-13th century, is in the style of a son asking his father various questions, ranging from the reasons for the shorter days in Scandinavian lands to the power and authority of kings. Halfway through chapter 36, … Continue reading
Translated by David Crouch Philip de Remy (d.c.1264) was a poet, novelist and knight from the region of the northern Ile-de France. He was in royal service by the 1230s, being bailiff of the Gatinais from Count Robert of Artois, … Continue reading
Translated by Helen J. Nicholson Sermons 37 and 38 from his sermon collection, Sermones Vulgares, ‘Sermons to the People’, published by J. B. Pitra, ed., Analecta novissima spicilegii Solesmensis: altera continuatio 2, Tusculana (Paris, 1888). This translation is copyright H. … Continue reading
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 flourishing of a dualist heresy in Languedoc at the end of the twelfth century, known as Catharism, led to conflict with the Catholic Church. After the murder of a Papal legate in 1208, Pope Innocent III ordered a crusade … Continue reading
William of Puylaurens covered events relating to the history of Languedoc from the twelfth century to the mid-1270s. The main subject of his history is the Albigensian Crusade, which lasted from 1209 to 1229. Along with the Historia Albigensis of … Continue reading
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
On July 12, 1214, Philip II Augustus, the King of France, defeated the combined forces of emperor Otto IV, the count of Flanders, and King John of England, near Bouvines in northern France. The Marchiennes account of the Battle of … Continue reading
The portion given below gives his account of Phillip’s conquest of Normandy from King John of England from 1201 to 1204. Continue reading
The Battle of Kosovo: Early Reports of Victory and Defeat Thomas A. Emmert Kosovo: Legacy of a Medieval Battle In popular interpretation it was defeat at the Battle of Kosovo which brought about the disintegration of the medieval Serbian empire. … 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
Looking Back on the Second Crusade: Some Late Twelfth-Century English Perspectives Peter W. Edbury The Second Crusade and the Cistercians It was as long ago as 1953 that Giles Constable published his seminal study, “The Second Crusade as seen by … Continue reading
The Struggle over control of Kiev in 1235 and 1236 Martin Dimnik Canadian Slavonic Papers: v.21 (1979) Abstract The years 1235 and 1236 are important in the history or Kievan Rus’ because they witnessed a major reorientation in the status quo between … Continue reading
Bremen Piracy and Scottish Periphery: The North Sea World in the 1440s David Ditchburn Ships, Guns and Bibles in the North Sea and the Baltic States, c.1350-c.1700 (2000) Bremen and Hamburg were the eyes through which medieval Saxony viewed the North … 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
In Little Need of Divine Intervention: Takesaki Suenaga’s Scrolls of the Mongol Invasions of Japan Translated by Thomas D. Conlan This volume, published the East Asian Program at Cornell University, presents a fundamental revision of the thirteenth-century Mongol invasions of … Continue reading
Warrior Neighbours: Alfonso el Sabio and Crusader Valencia: an Archival Case Study in His International Relations Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies v.21 (1990) Abstract The thirteenth century was a turning point in the physical evolution of western European countries. As … Continue reading
The Battle of Sandwich and Eustace the Monk English Historical Review: v.27 (1912) Abstract The battle of Sandwich, 24 August 1217, followed so closely upon the fair of Lincoln, 20 May 1217, that the careful analysis of authorities made some … Continue reading
Adh-Dhababi’s Record of the Destruction of Damascus by the Mongols in 1299-1301 Continue reading
The Crusader kingdom in the Holy Land began to collapse in the later part of the thirteenth-century. The fall (1268) of Jaffa and Antioch to the Muslims caused Louis IX to undertake the Eighth Crusade, Eighth Crusade, 1270, which was cut short by … 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
William the Marshal, earl of Pembroke, was one of the most noteworthy knights of the Middle Ages. After almost being killed by King Stephen when he was a child, William grew up to be a prominent tournament competitor, and then … Continue reading
Robin Hood and Military Service in the Fourteenth Century Andrew Ayton Nottingham Medieval Studies: v.36 (1992) Abstract On 21 November 1338, forty-three archers joined the company of troops entrusted with the security of the Isle of Wight. The garrison pay-roll, … Continue reading
Edward III and the English aristocracy at the beginning of the Hundred Years War By Andrew Ayton Harlaxton Medieval Studies: v.7 (1998) At Ipswich on 17 June 1340, a week before the battle of Sluys, an English knight, William Tallemache, … Continue reading
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
King John’s expedition to Ireland, 1210: the evidence reconsidered Seán Duffy Irish Historical Studies, v.30, n. 117 (1996) The valiant efforts of certain professional historians to redeem the reputation of King John of England have had a limited impact on the … Continue reading
Myra Miranda Bom Women in the Military Orders of the Crusades The New Middle Ages. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Pp. xiv, 230. $85.00. ISBN-13: 9780230114135. Reviewed in The Medieval Review: TMR 13.03.15 The topic of women’s participation in the military orders is one which … Continue reading
David Nicolle European Medieval Tactics (2): New Infantry, New Weapons 1260-1500 Elite189 (Osprey, 2012) 64pp $18.95 978-1-84908-739-1 David Nicolle’s book European Medieval Tactics (2): New Infantry, New Weapons 1260-1500 is from Osprey Publishing in the United Kingdom. Some additional illustration … Continue reading
There are three great clichés in our view of the Albigensian Crusades which most historians find hard to resist. 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
Stuart Reid Battles of the Scottish Lowlands Battlefield Britain series (Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 2004). 160 pp. £11.99. ISBN 184415078X. In Battles of the Scottish Lowlands, Stuart Reid offers a sweeping survey of battles and campaigns occurring around Stirling over … Continue reading
On Saturday the Feast of St. Peter’s Chains (August 1st), there came a messenger from Sir Walter de Langestone, Bishop of Coventre and Lychfeld, and Treasurer to our Lord the King of England, bringing a letter from the said Bishop … Continue reading
An H-Net review from H-Soz-u-Kult, in German, has just been posted: Christopher Allmand. The De Re Militari of Vegetius: The Reception, Transmission and Legacy of a Roman Text in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. 450 S. ISBN 978-1-107-00027-8. — reviewed … Continue reading
After the fall of Acre in 1291, Crusader forces had no remaining outposts in the Holy Land. The various Military Orders and other Crusaders began to make plans for a return almost immediately. In the following text, the Provincial Council … Continue reading
Dino Compagni was a prominent silk merchant and an active member of the Florentine government until 1301. His chronicle, which deals mostly with the internal turmoil of Florence, contains an account of a battle between Arezzo and Florence in 1289. … Continue reading
A multi-book essay review by Sean McGlynn has appeared in the European Review of History/Revue europeenne d’histoire 20.1 (2013): 153-159. For those who have institutional access, you should be able to link to it here. The books reviewed en masse are Medieval Warfare 1000–1300, ed. … Continue reading
The Mongol armies were thought to be unstoppable after they were able to overcome the defences of both Baghdad and Damascus. In 1260 Hulagu sent envoys to Saif ad-Din Qutuz in Cairo demanding his surrender; Quduz responded by killing the … Continue reading
Translated by William Watson. From: Canadian/American Slavic Studies 35 (2001). 1. al-Kāmil fi ‘t-Ta’rīkh, viii, 412-415 “The Rūs Seizure of the Town of Barda’a” (332 A.H./943-944 A.D.) In this year (332) armed bands of Rūs went by sea (the Caspian) to the … Continue reading
The conquest of Baghdad was not the end of the Mongol invasion of the Middle East. The following section relates Hulagu’s invasion of modern-day Syria, where he captured the city of Aleppo and gained the surrender of Damascus. Hulagu Khan … Continue reading
James I, King of Aragon (1208-76), king of Aragón and count of Barcelona (1213-76), was nicknamed the Conquerer because of his many wars and conquests, which included the capture of the Balearic Islands (1229-35) and Valencia (1238) form the Moors, … Continue reading
The History of George Akropolites is one of main sources for the Byzantine world in the 13th century. George Akropolites (c.1217-1282) was an important civil servant of the Byzantine emperors of Nicaea, and was involved in many of the important political … Continue reading
Cristina Tonghini Shayzar I: The Fortification of the Citadel Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2012. 539 pp. This book, an immense assembly of transcribed inscriptions, re-established floor plans, chemical analysis of mortar and construction materials is very much like the building—or rather … Continue reading
Savvas Kyriakidis Warfare in Late Byzantium, 1204-1453 History of Warfare, vol. 67. Leiden: Brill, 2011. 254 pp. $144. ISSN: 1385-7827 The capture and sacking of Constantinople in 1204 by the Fourth Crusade, the Byzantine Empire split and went into a … Continue reading
Aurell, Martin. Le chevalier lettré: Savior et conduite de l’aristocratie aux XIIe et XIIIe siècles. Fayard: Paris, 2011. Pp. 540. EUR 26. ISBN: 978-2-213-66233-6. Reviewed by Amy Livingstone, Wittenberg University, [email protected] Available at The Medieval Review TMR 12.02.22
Marriage as Political Strategy and Cultural Expression: Mongolian Royal Marriages from World Empire to Yuan Dynasty by George Qingzhi Zhao Ph.D., East Asian Studies, University of Toronto, 2001 ABSTRACT This dissertation is a study of the Mongolian royal marriages from the World Empire (1206-1 … Continue reading
What Touches All: Coinage and Monetary Policy in Leon-Castile to 1230 by James J. Todesca Ph.D, History, Fordham University, 1996 Opening of Introduction This present study is concerned broadly with the growth of a monetary economy in the kingdom of León-castile. More … Continue reading
