War in the Middle Ages

428 Pages·1991·67.453 MB·English

by  Philippe Contamine

V
BOSTON PUBUCUBRARY
Copley Square
War in
the Middle Ages
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2017 with funding from
China-America Digital Academic Library (CADAL)
https://archive.org/details/warinmiddleagesOOcont
War in
the Middle Ages
PHILIPPE CONTAMINE
Translated by
Michael Jones
B
BLACKWELL
Oxford UK & Cambridge USA
English translation copyright © Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 1984, 1986
First published in French as la Guerre au moyen age
copyright © Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 1980
English translation first published 1984
Reprinted 1985
First published in paperback 1986
Reprinted 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998 (twice), 1999
Blackwell Publishers Ltd
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Oxford 0X4 IJF, UK
Blackwell Publishers Inc.
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Malden, Massachusetts 02148, USA
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of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
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Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition
that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Contamine, Philippe
War in the Middle Ages
Translation of: La guerre au Moyen Age.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Military art and science—Europe—History. 2. Middle Ages—History.
3. Europe—History, Military. 1. Title.
U37.C6513 1984 355’.0094 84-14647
ISBN 0-631-14469-2 ( pbk)
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Typeset by Santype International Ltd, Salisbury, Wilts
rinted in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall
IJ37
.C6513
:i 98B3<
i
Contents
Acknowledgements viii
List of Maps and Figures ix
Translator s Note x
Preface to the English Edition xii
List of Abbreviations xv
Part I The State of Knowledge: General Characteristics
of Medieval Military History 1
1 THE BARBARIANS FROM THE FIFTH TO THE NINTH CENTURY 3
The decline of the Roman Empire in the West: military
problems 3
War and society in the Barbarian kingdoms during the
sixth and seventh centuries 13
The strengths and weaknesses of Carolingian armies in the
eighth and ninth centuries 22
2 THE FEUDAL AGE FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE TENTH
TO THE MIDDLE OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY 30
General characteristics 30
The Holy Roman Empire 32
The kingdom of France 41
England 50
Norman Italy 54
The Iberian world and the Reconqmsta 55
The crusades and the Latin states in the East 59
3 MEDIEVAL SOCIETY IN ITS PRIME FROM THE MID-TWELFTH TO THE
EARLY FOURTEENTH CENTURY 65
Combatants and arms 67
The Orders of Knighthood 74
Obligations and military services 77
Money, paid services and mercenaries 90
Fortifications 101
Conclusion 115
VI CONTENTS
4 FREE COMPANIES, GUNPOWDER AND PERMANENT ARMIES FROM THE
BEGINNING OF THE FOURTEENTH TO THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH
CENTURY 119
The presence of war 119
The Age of the Horse 126
The transformation of the infantry 132
Gunpowder 137
Contracts, salaries and volunteers 150
The first permanent armies 165
Part II Themes and Perspectives 173
5 ARMS AND ARMOUR 175
Barbarian armament 175
The problem of the stirrup 179
Mail shirt, hauberk and haubergeon 184
Collective equipment and uniforms 188
6 ARTILLERY 193
The end of trebuchet artillery 194
Powder and cannon balls 196
The role of gunpowder artillery in pitched battles 198
Siege warfare: attack and defence 200
7 THE ART OF WAR 208
Teaching on the art of war 210
Strategy: the mastery of space and time 219
Tactics: the pitched battle 228
8 WAR, GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY 238
In connection with social structures 239
In connection with political structures 242
9 TOWARDS A HISTORY OF COURAGE 250
Courage among the virtues and vices 250
Motivation, behaviour and hopes 253
The extent of risk 255
10 JURIDICAL, ETHICAL AND RELIGIOUS ASPECTS OF WAR 260
The early Middle Ages: Germanic practices, the church
fathers and Carolingian Christendom 260
The Peace and Truce of God, the chivalric ethic and the
crusade 270
War and scholastic thought 280
The law of arms and justice: relations between ethics and
practice in the wars of the late Middle Ages 284
Medieval pacifism and its limits 292
Integrated war 296
CONTENTS Vll
CONCLUSION 303
Part III Bibliography 309
1 GENERAL 31 1
2 THE ART OF WAR: CONFLICTS, CAMPAIGNS, SIEGES AND BATTLES 311
Sources 311
Secondary works 312
3 INSTITUTIONS, SOCIETIES AND MILITARY ATTITUDES 315
General 315
Sixth-ninth centuries 317
Tenth and eleventh centuries 319
Twelfth and thirteenth centuries 321
Fourteenth and fifteenth centuries 325
4 ARMS, ARMOUR AND WAR ENGINES 337
Sources 337
Catalogues, inventories and lists 337
General studies 338
Particular studies 340
5 CANNONS AND GUNPOWDER ARTILLERY 343
6 CASTLES AND FORTIFICATIONS 345
General accounts 345
The Empire and the Germanic world 346
France and its sphere of influence 347
The British Isles 351
Italy 352
The Latin East 353
The Iberian peninsula 353
7 WAR, ECONOMY AND TAXATION 353
355
8 WAR AND PEACE: LAWS, ETHICS AND CHRISTIANITY
Selected sources 355
War and Christianity: the notion of the Just War 355
The early Middle Ages 357
The Peace and Truce of God 357
The crusade and Holy War 359
Landfriede: the public peace 359
Chivalry and religion 360
The laws of war 360
Index 361
Acknowledgements
The publishers are grateful to the following persons and institutions for
permission to reproduce photographs and other illustrations,
Plate
1 La Ville de Bayeux
2 Le Musee Historique Lorrain, Nancy (photo Gilbert Mangin)
3 Aerofilms
4 Giraudon
5 Aerofilms
6 Gastello Sforzesco, Milan
7 New College, Oxford
8 Giraudon
9 Bibliotheque Sainte-Genevieve, Paris
10 Riksantikvarieambetet, Stockholm
11 Riksantikvarieambetet, Stockholm
12 British Library (Add. MS 42130, fo. 202v)
13 Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris (MS Fr. 22495, fo. 265v)
14 Scala, Florence
15 Mansell Collection
16 The Trustees of the Wallace Collection
17 Bernisches Historisches Museum
18 The Trustees of the Wallace Collection
19 The Trustees of the Wallace Collection
20 Institut Royal du Patrimoine Artistique
21 Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek (Cod. 3033, fo. 34r)
22 Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris (MS Fr. 38, fo. 157v)
23 Burgerbibliothek, Bern (MS hist. helv. 1.3, fo. 757)
24 Bodleian Library (247139 c 1, fo. 53r, v)
Plates appear between page 80 and page 81.