The Art of Warfare in Western Europe During the Middle Ages: From the Eighth Century to 1340 (Warfare in History)

499 Pages·1997·4.69 MB·English

by  Sumner Willard

Page i
Warfare in History
The Art of Warfare in Western
Europe During the Middle Ages
From the Eight Century to 1340
Page ii
Warfare in History
General Editor: Matthew Bennett
ISSN 1358-779X
The Battle of Hastings: Sources and Interpretations
edited and translated by Stephen Morillo
Infantry Warfare in the Early Fourteenth Century:
Discipline, Tactics, and Technology
Kelly DeVries
The Art of Warfare in Western Europe during the Middle Ages
from the Eighth Century to 1340
J.F. Verbruggen
Knights and Peasants:
The Hundred Years War in the French Countryside
Nicholas Wright
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The Art of Warfare in Western
Europe During the Middle Ages
From the Eighth Century to 1340
J. F. Verbruggen
SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED
Translated by
Colonel Sumner Willard, United States Military Academy
and Mrs R. W. Southern
THE BOYDELL PRESS
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Copyright © J.F. Verbruggen 1997
All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation no part of this work may be
photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast,
transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of
the copyright owner
First published 1954 as
De Krijgskunst in West-Europa in de Middeleeuwen,

IXe tot begin XIVe eeuw
Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen,
Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Brussels
Second, revised and enlarged, edition, in English translation 1997 The Boydell Press, Woodbridge
Reprinted in paperback 1998
ISBN 0 85115 630 4 hardback
ISBN 0 85115 570 7 paperback
The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
and of Boydell & Brewer Inc.
PO Box 41026, Rochester NY 14604-4126, USA
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 96-34607
This publication is printed on acid-free paper
Printed in Great Britain
by St Edmundsbury Press Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
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Contents
List of Illustrations vii
General Preface ix
I 1
Historiographical Problems
Weaknesses of modern military historians in discussing medieval 1
warfare
The strength of medieval armies 5
The combat 9
Limitations of the clerical sources 10
Secular and other reliable sources 11
The importance of the vernacular 13
Changes in tactics revealed by lesser-known sources 14
Generalizations from detailed accounts 15
Accounts of battles by eye-witnesses 16
II
The Knights
The knight and his equipment 19
The scara 20
The Marchfield and the Mayfield 22
The knight's training 27
Collective training: private wars 28
Collective training: tournaments 30
The psychology of knights on the battlefield 37
Mass flight and panic 44
Fear in knights facing foot-soldiers 46
Self-interest and profits of war 49
The able commander 51
Sense of honour and duty 54
Rough manners and knightly customs 57
Faith and religious conviction 58
The arming of knights and its influence 61
Solidarity in the knightly families and clans, and a lord's retinue 63
Tactical units in knightly warfare 73
Discipline in camp and on the march 77
Battle discipline 83
Orders by trumpets and banners 84
Commands and evolutions: a comparison with Byzantium 85
The tactical significance of the standard 89
The re-grouping of units and the manoeuvre of feigned flight 91
The importance of order within the formation 97
Tactical aims 103
Protection of the flanks 104
The place of the commanders in battle 105
The knights fighting on foot 106
The course of a battle 108
General conclusion 109
III
The Foot-Soldiers
The foot-soldiers and their remarkable development in the fourteenth 111
century
Historical survey 112
The numerical strength of the foot-soldiers 164
The equipment of the foot-soldiers 169
Solidarity or cohesion of the foot-soldiers 172
The battle psychology of the foot-soldiers 177
The tactics of the foot-soldiers 182
The battle of Courtrai, 11 July 1302 190
The battle of Arques, 4 April 1303 194
The battle of Mons-en-P&acuteev&grave ele,18 August 1304 198
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IV
General Tactics
Choice and exploitation of terrain 204
The march into battle 208
Battle order 209
Co-operation of cavalry and foot-soldiers in battle 211
The position of the supreme commander and the reserve corps 217
Retreat and flight from the field of battle 221
The battle of the lake of Antioch, 9 February 1098 224
The sortie and the battle of Antioch, 28 June 1098 226
The battle of Thielt, 21 June 1128 229
The battle of Arsuf, 7 September 1191 232
The battle of Bouvines, 27 July 1214 239
The battle of Worringen, 5 June 1288 260 204
V
Strategy
The knowledge of strategy 278
Plans for wars 288
Offensive strategy 313
Defensive strategy 319
The influence of the Church on methods of warfare 346
Conclusion 348
General conclusion 349 276
Bibliography 351
Page vii
Illustrations
Figures and plates appear between pages 182and 183
Fig. 1 Plan of the battle of Courtrai.
Fig. 2 Plan of the battle of Mons-en-Pévèle.
Fig. 3 Plan of the battle of Arsuf.
Fig. 4 Plan of the battle of Bouvines.
Fig. 5 Plan of the battle of Worringen.
1. The communal army of Ghent on the march. Illustration from the chapel of SS John and Paul at
Ghent called the Leugemeete, c.1346.
2. The Book of Maccabees. Siege of a fortress, attack on a tower with cavalry and archers shooting
arrows, c.925.
3. The Book of Maccabees. Formations of heavy cavalry in serried ranks, similar to the formations
described by Nithard in the cavalry games at Worms in 842, c.925.
4. The Golden Psalter, second half of the 9th century. Right, the bearer of the dragon standard. On
the foreground the cavalryman wears a nice brunia and carries his long lance under his arm.
5. The Golden Psalter, second half of the 9th century. Siege of a tower by cavalry and foot-soldiers.
6.Battle of Mons-en-Pévèle, 18 August 1304.
7. Flight of the defeated Arabs at Ascalon. Illustration on a window in the church of the abbey of St
Denis, 12th century
8. Duke Robert of Normandy unhorses an enemy on the First Crusade. Window of the church of the
abbey of St Denis.
9. The Courtrai Chest, New College, Oxford. The events of 1302 in Flanders and the battle of
Courtrai.
10.The emperor Henry VI prepares a fleet and army for the invasion of Sicily: foot-soldiers,
Bohemian archers and Bavarian crossbowmen.
11.Cavalry encounter, first half of the 12th century. Three 'battles' of cavalry, consisting of a single
line, are shown charging the enemy with couched lances.
12. Two Welsh archers, from the margin of a Welsh plea roll.