"War," wrote Gen. William T. Sherman, "is cruelty, and you cannot refine it." Throughout history, noncombatants have always been among the victims of war's violence. In this book, nine distinguished historians examine twenty-five hundred years of human conflicts and their varied impacts on civilian society. Each case study examines not only what military forces did to noncombatants in the area of their operations, but why they did it and how they justified their actions. The focus, however, remains firmly on the practical realities of war, not on normative theories or the prescriptions of the...

This seventh volume of the Journal of Medieval Military History has a particular focus on western Europe in the late middle ages, and specifically the Hundred Years War; however, the breadth and diversity of approaches found in the modern study of medieval military history remains evident. Some essays focus on specific texts and documents, including Jean de Bueil's famous military treatise-cum-novel, Le Jouvencel; other studies in the volume deal with particular campaigns, from naval operations to chevauchees of the mid-fourteenth century. There are also examinations of English military...

This collection of sources and interpretations lays bare the truth about the wars of Edward's reign... Professor Rogers has provided a valuable service to scholars, students and general readers alike in bringing together this fascinating collection. MATTHEW BENNETT When Edward III came to the throne of England in 1327, England's military reputation had reached a low ebb. The young king's first campaign against the Scots was a complete failure, and the next year the "shameful peace" set the seal on Robert Bruce's victory in the First Scottish War of Independence. Twenty-two years later,...

The journal's hallmark of a broad chronological, geographic, and thematic coverage of the subject is underlined in this volume. It begins with an examination of the brief but fascinating career of an armed league of (mostly) commoners who fought to suppress mercenary bands and to impose a reign of peace in southern France in 1182-1184. This is followed by a thorough re-examination of Matilda of Tuscany's defeat of Henry IV in 1090-97. Two pieces on Hispanic topics - a substantial analysis of the remarkable military career of Jaime I -the Conqueror- of Aragon (r. 1208-1276), and a case study...

The tenth anniversary of the Journal includes pieces by some of the most distinguished scholars of military history, including an analysis of tenth-century Ottonian warfare on the eastern frontier of the Empire by David and Bernard Bachrach. As ever, the contributions cover a wide span both chronologically (from an analysis of the careers of Justinian's generals in the sixth century, to a study of intelligence-gathering in the Guelders War at the start of the sixteenth) and geographically (from Michael Prestwich's transcription of excerpts from the Hagnaby chronicle describing Edward I's wars...

The comprehensive breadth and scope of the Journal are to the fore in this issue, which ranges widely both geographically and chronologically. The subjects of analysis are equally diverse, with three contributions dealing with the Crusades, four with matters related to the Hundred Years War, two with high-medieval Italy, one with the Alans in the Byzantine-Catalan conflict of the early fourteenth century, and one with the wars of the Duke of Cephalonia in Western Greece and Albania at the turn of the fifteenth century. Topics include military careers, tactics and strategy, the organization of...

Contemporaries considered Edward III of England "the wisest and shrewdest warrior in the world," but he has not fared so well in the estimation of modern historians, many of whom have argued that he was a fine tactician but a poor strategist. This is despite the fact that by 1360 the English had become the foremost martial nation of Europe; that famous victories had been won at Dupplin Moor, Halidon Hill, Crecy, and Poitiers; and David II of Scotland and Jean II of France were Edward's prisoners, and the French, with the Treaty of Bretigny, had agreed to surrender a third of their kingdom to...

The latest collection of the most up-to-date research on matters of medieval military history contains a remarkable geographical range, extending from Spain and Britain to the southern steppe lands, by way of Scandinavia, Byzantium, and the Crusader States. At one end of the timescale is a study of population in the later Roman Empire and at the other the Hundred Years War, touching on every century in between. Topics include the hardware of war, the social origins of soldiers, considerations of individual battles, and words for weapons in Old Norse literature. Contributors: Bernard S....

This volume has a special focus on the topic of proxy actors and irregular forces in medieval warfare. John France and Jochen G. Schenk offer broad overviews: France addresses the military role of non-noble combatants and the significance of differences between medieval and modern ideas of the -legitimacy- of war-fighters, while Schenk applies a concept originating in political science - Mary Kaldor's idea of -New Wars- - to the conflicts of the Middle Ages, showing that in some ways, what is old is new again. Alex Mallett likewise ties the past to the present, comparing Muslim responses to...

"The Journal of Medieval Military History continues to consolidate its now assured position a"The Journal of Medieval Military History continues to consolidate its now assured position as the leading a