Download or read book Royal and Urban Gunpowder Weapons in Late Medieval England written by Dan Spencer and published by Armour and Weapons. This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First comprehensive study of English artillery in the late Middle Ages, bringing out its full impact on areas beyond the military. One of the most important technological developments of the Middle Ages was the adoption of gunpowder weapons in medieval Europe. From the fourteenth century onwards, this new technology was to eventually transform the conduct ofwarfare beyond all recognition with important implications for European and global history. Guns came to be used in all aspects of military operations, with kings, nobles and burgesses all spending large sums of money on these prestigious weapons. The growing effectiveness of gunpowder artillery prompted major changes in the design of fortifications, the composition of armies, the management of logistics and administrative systems. This book is the first full-length study of the unique English experience of gunpowder weapons, tracing their development from their introduction in the reign of Edward III to the end of the fifteenth century. The rich records of the English Exchequer and urban accounts are used to explore their role in campaigns, in sieges, on the battlefield, at sea and their role in the defence of towns, royal castles and the fortifications of the Pale of Calais. It provides a comprehensive framework for the speed of technological advances and the factors responsible for these changes, as well as an in-depth discussion of individual gun types. DAN SPENCER obtained his PhD from the University of Southampton.

Download or read book Medieval Warfare 1300 1450 written by Kelly DeVries and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-05-15 with total page 534 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: War was epidemic in the late Middle Ages. It affected every land and all peoples from Scotland and Scandinavia in the north to the southern Mediterranean Sea coastlines of Morocco, North Africa, Egypt, and the Middle East in the south, from Ireland and Spain in the west to Russia and Turkey in the east. Nowhere was peaceful for any significant amount of time. The period also saw significant changes in military theory and practice which altered the ways in which campaigns were conducted, battles fought, and sieges laid; and changes in the leadership, recruitment, training, supply and financing of armies. There were changes in the relationship between those waging warfare, from generals to irregular troops, and the society in which they lived and for or against which they fought; the frequency of popular rebellions and the participation in them by townspeople and peasants; changes in the desire to undertake Crusades, and changes in technology, including but not limited to gunpowder weapons. This collection gathers together some of the best published work on these topics. The first section of seven papers show that throughout Europe in the later Middle Ages generals led and armies followed what are usually defined as "modern" strategy and tactics, contrary to popular belief. The second part reprints nine works that examine the often neglected aspects of the process of putting and keeping together a late medieval army. In the third section the authors discuss various ways that warfare in the fourteenth and fifteenth century affected the society of that period. The final sections cover popular rebellions and crusading.

Download or read book Gunpowder Masculinity and Warfare in German Texts 1400 1700 written by Patrick Brugh and published by Changing Perspectives on Early. This book was released on 2019 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How gunpowder technology exploded heroes, heroics, and war stories from 1400 to 1700, and how German writers tried to glue them back together

Download or read book Saltpeter written by David Cressy and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of the science, the technology, the politics and the military applications of saltpeter - the vital but mysterious substance that governments from the Tudors to the Victorians regarded as an 'inestimable treasure'.

Download or read book The Castle in the Wars of the Roses written by Dan Spencer and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2020-12-02 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fascinating study of medieval warfare examines the vital role of castles during the English civil wars of the 15th century. The Wars of the Roses comprise one of the most fascinating periods in medieval history. Much has been written about the leading personalities, bitter dynastic rivalries, political intrigues, and the rapid change of fortune on the battlefields of England and Wales. However, there is one aspect that has been often overlooked, the role of castles in the conflict. Dan Spencer’s original study traces the use of castles from the outbreak of civil war in the 1450s during the reign of Henry VI to the triumph of Henry VII some thirty years later. Using a wide range of narrative, architectural, financial, and administrative sources, Spencer sheds new light on the place of castles within the conflict, demonstrating their importance as strategic and logistical centers, bases for marshaling troops, and as fortresses.

Download or read book Gunpowder Technology in the Fifteenth Century written by Axel Müller and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2024-01-16 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first full edition and English translation of the RA I.34 Firework Book. Produced from the early fifteenth century onwards, Firework Books are, broadly speaking, manuals on how to use gunpowder, witnessing a major development in warfare. Surviving in a corpus of some 65, each text has different content and components, but core elements are present throughout. An important example is a manuscript in the collection of the Royal Armouries (RA I.34), written in Early New High German, and (unlike many other manuscripts) still in what appears to be its original format and binding; it also, unusually, contains a number of illustrations. This volume provides the first full edition and English translation of the material, with a detailed analysis of its content and context. It positions the Firework Books at a crucial stage in the development of gunpowder artillery, offering an unparalleled insight into fifteenth-century gunpowder technology at a critical juncture of military and technological change at the end of the Middle Ages.

Download or read book Medieval Arms and Armour a Sourcebook Volume II 1400 1450 written by Ralph Moffat and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2024-02-06 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Authoritative reference guide, using the documents in which arms and armour first appeared to explain and define them. Medieval arms and armour are intrinsically fascinating. From the smoke and noise of the armourer's forge to the bloody violence of the battlefield or the silken panoply of the tournament, weapons and armour - and those who made and bore them - are woven into the fabric of medieval society. This sourcebook will aid anyone who seeks to develop a deeper understanding by introducing and presenting the primary sources in which these artefacts are first mentioned. Over a hundred original documents are transcribed and translated, including wills and inventories, craft statutes, chronicle accounts, and challenges to single combat. The book also includes an extensive glossary, lavishly illustrated with forty-six images of extant armour and weapons from the period, and contemporary artistic depictions from illuminated manuscripts and other sources. This book will therefore be of interest to a wide audience, from the living history practitioner, crafter, and martial artist, to students of literature, military history, art, and material culture.ence, from the living history practitioner, crafter, and martial artist, to students of literature, military history, art, and material culture.ence, from the living history practitioner, crafter, and martial artist, to students of literature, military history, art, and material culture.ence, from the living history practitioner, crafter, and martial artist, to students of literature, military history, art, and material culture.

Download or read book Technology Violence and War written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2019-02-11 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the importance of technology in war, and to the study of warfare, during the past millennium, across several continents. Authors discuss interactions between politics, strategy, war, technology, and the socio-cultural implementation of new technologies in different contexts.

Download or read book The World the Plague Made written by James Belich and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2022-07-19 with total page 640 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking history of how the Black Death unleashed revolutionary change across the medieval world and ushered in the modern age In 1346, a catastrophic plague beset Europe and its neighbours. The Black Death was a human tragedy that abruptly halved entire populations and caused untold suffering, but it also brought about a cultural and economic renewal on a scale never before witnessed. The World the Plague Made is a panoramic history of how the bubonic plague revolutionized labour, trade, and technology and set the stage for Europe’s global expansion. James Belich takes readers across centuries and continents to shed new light on one of history’s greatest paradoxes. Why did Europe’s dramatic rise begin in the wake of the Black Death? Belich shows how plague doubled the per capita endowment of everything even as it decimated the population. Many more people had disposable incomes. Demand grew for silks, sugar, spices, furs, gold, and slaves. Europe expanded to satisfy that demand—and plague provided the means. Labour scarcity drove more use of waterpower, wind power, and gunpowder. Technologies like water-powered blast furnaces, heavily gunned galleons, and musketry were fast-tracked by plague. A new “crew culture” of “disposable males” emerged to man the guns and galleons. Setting the rise of Western Europe in global context, Belich demonstrates how the mighty empires of the Middle East and Russia also flourished after the plague, and how European expansion was deeply entangled with the Chinese and other peoples throughout the world.

Download or read book A Soldiers Chronicle of the Hundred Years War written by Anne Curry and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2022 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A remarkable and very important unpublished chronicle written by two soldiers, covering in detail the English campaigns in France from 1415 to 1429. It lists many individuals who served in the war, and was written specifically for Sir John Fastolf, the English commander.This previously unpublished chronicle from the mid-fifteenth century covers the English wars in France from 1415 to 1429. It is highly unusual in that it was written by two soldiers, Peter Basset and Christopher Hanson. William Worcester, secretary to the English commander Sir John Fastolf, also had a hand in it, and it was specifically written for Sir John. The content is unusual, as it includes many lists of individuals serving in the war, and records their presence at battles, naming more than 700 in all. Over half these individuals are French or Scottish, so it would seem that the authors had a particularly detailed knowledge of French military participation. The narrative is important for the English campaigns in Maine in the 1420s in which Fastolf was heavily involved and which otherwise receive little attention in chronicles written on either side of the Channel. The progress of the war is well mapped, with around 230 place names mentioned.The chronicle was extensively used in the sixteenth century by several heralds and by Edward Hall. As a result, it had an influence on Shakespeare. The death of the earl of Salisbury at Orleans in ''Henry VI Part I'' Follows the chronicle closely. The ''Mirror for Magistrates'' Salisbury narrative is also derived from the chronicle. Another point of interest is that the chronicle is by a scribe who can be identified, and proves to be the only known fifteenth-century account of the war written in England in French, which adds an important linguistic dimension to its study.ch Fastolf was heavily involved and which otherwise receive little attention in chronicles written on either side of the Channel. The progress of the war is well mapped, with around 230 place names mentioned.The chronicle was extensively used in the sixteenth century by several heralds and by Edward Hall. As a result, it had an influence on Shakespeare. The death of the earl of Salisbury at Orleans in ''Henry VI Part I'' Follows the chronicle closely. The ''Mirror for Magistrates'' Salisbury narrative is also derived from the chronicle. Another point of interest is that the chronicle is by a scribe who can be identified, and proves to be the only known fifteenth-century account of the war written in England in French, which adds an important linguistic dimension to its study.ch Fastolf was heavily involved and which otherwise receive little attention in chronicles written on either side of the Channel. The progress of the war is well mapped, with around 230 place names mentioned.The chronicle was extensively used in the sixteenth century by several heralds and by Edward Hall. As a result, it had an influence on Shakespeare. The death of the earl of Salisbury at Orleans in ''Henry VI Part I'' Follows the chronicle closely. The ''Mirror for Magistrates'' Salisbury narrative is also derived from the chronicle. Another point of interest is that the chronicle is by a scribe who can be identified, and proves to be the only known fifteenth-century account of the war written in England in French, which adds an important linguistic dimension to its study.ch Fastolf was heavily involved and which otherwise receive little attention in chronicles written on either side of the Channel. The progress of the war is well mapped, with around 230 place names mentioned.The chronicle was extensively used in the sixteenth century by several heralds and by Edward Hall. As a result, it had an influence on Shakespeare. The death of the earl of Salisbury at Orleans in ''Henry VI Part I'' Follows the chronicle closely. The ''Mirror for Magistrates'' Salisbury narrative is also derived from the chronicle. Another point of interest is that the chronicle is by a scribe who can be identified, and proves to be the only known fifteenth-century account of the war written in England in French, which adds an important linguistic dimension to its study. in the sixteenth century by several heralds and by Edward Hall. As a result, it had an influence on Shakespeare. The death of the earl of Salisbury at Orleans in ''Henry VI Part I'' Follows the chronicle closely. The ''Mirror for Magistrates'' Salisbury narrative is also derived from the chronicle. Another point of interest is that the chronicle is by a scribe who can be identified, and proves to be the only known fifteenth-century account of the war written in England in French, which adds an important linguistic dimension to its study.

Download or read book The Cambridge History of War Volume 2 War and the Medieval World written by David A. Graff and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-10-01 with total page 854 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Volume II of The Cambridge History of War covers what in Europe is commonly called 'the Middle Ages'. It includes all of the well-known themes of European warfare, from the migrations of the Germanic peoples and the Vikings through the Reconquista, the Crusades and the age of chivalry, to the development of state-controlled gunpowder-wielding armies and the urban militias of the later middle ages; yet its scope is world-wide, ranging across Eurasia and the Americas to trace the interregional connections formed by the great Arab conquests and the expansion of Islam, the migrations of horse nomads such as the Avars and the Turks, the formation of the vast Mongol Empire, and the spread of new technologies – including gunpowder and the earliest firearms – by land and sea.

Download or read book The Artillery of the Dukes of Burgundy 1363 1477 written by Robert Douglas Smith and published by Boydell Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major new exploration of the history and development of gunpowder weapons in the 15th century based on the artillery of the Dukes of Burgundy. The four Valois Dukes of Burgundy created, in little more than a century, a fabulously wealthy and independent state. Their centralised control and chancellery have bequeathed to us a vast treasure trove of documents, including accounts and inventories of the Masters of the artillery under the later Dukes. Although many of these were extracted and transcribed in the late nineteenth century, modern historians have largely ignored their unprecedented insights into fifteenth-century guns and their use. When Charles the Bold, the last Valois Duke, took on the combined Swiss confederate forces in 1476 he lost not just the battles and his personal fortune, but much of his artillerytrain as well. Of the dozens of cannons captured, at least 25 pieces survive in Swiss museums. The documents that survive from the Valois state give us, almost for the first time in medieval Europe, the ability to see the course of history in a period when Europe was undergoing some of the most profound changes before the 20th century. The Artillery of the Dukes of Burgundy is the first attempt to combine all these sources, bringing newand fresh insights into the development and use of artillery in the fifteenth century. Moreover this is the first modern study of medieval cannon, one of the most important discoveries of the post-classical world. KELLY DeVRIES has authored numerous books and articles on medieval warfare. ROBERT DOUGLAS SMITH formerly Head of Conservation in the Royal Armouries, Tower of London, is an acknowledged expert on medieval artillery. This study is thefirst major fruit of their combined researches.

Download or read book Archaeology Economy and Society written by David A. Hinton and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-05-18 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the contribution of archaeology to the study of the social, economic, religious, and other developments in England from the end of the Roman period at the start of the fifth century to the beginnings of the Renaissance at the end of the fifteenth century. The first edition of the book was published in 1990, and remains the only synthesis of the whole spectrum of medieval archaeology. This new edition is completely rewritten and extended, but uses the same chronological approach to investigate how society and economy evolved. It draws on a wide range of new data, derived from excavation, investigation of buildings, metal-detection, and scientific techniques. It examines the social customs, economic pressures, and environmental constraints within which people functioned; the technology available to them; and how they expressed themselves, for example in their houses, their burial customs, their costume, and their material possessions such as pottery. Their adaptation to new circumstances, whether caused by human factors such as the re-emergence of towns or changing taxation requirements, or by external ones such as volcanic activity or the Black Death, is explored throughout each chapter. The new edition of Archaeology, Economy, and Society will be essential reading for students and researchers of the archaeology of Medieval England.

Download or read book The Tower Armoury in the Fourteenth Century written by Thom Richardson and published by Royal Armouries. This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The documents surviving from the privy wardrobe, the department which administrated the Tower armoury under Edward III, Richard II and Henry IV, provide a unique insight into the use of arms and armour in England as the Hundred Years War unfolded. Here, Thom Richardson expertly brings these documents to life. He answers many long-standing questions and challenges a number of assumptions, notably about the use of the longbow and the wearing of armour during that formative period of English history. Richardson shows how the previously peripatetic armoury became established in the Tower of London at the outbreak of the Hundred Years War, and grew into the national arsenal which today forms the basis of the Royal Armouries, the national museum of arms and armour."--Publisher's description.

Download or read book Medieval Arms and Armour A Sourcebook Volume III 1450 1500 written by Ralph Moffat and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2024-08-27 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Authoritative reference guide, using the documents in which arms and armour first appeared to explain and define them. Medieval arms and armour are intrinsically fascinating. From the smoke and noise of the armourer's forge to the bloody violence of the battlefield or the silken panoply of the tournament, weapons and armour - and those who made and bore them - are woven into the fabric of medieval society. This sourcebook will aid anyone who seeks to develop a deeper understanding by introducing and presenting the primary sources in which these artefacts are first mentioned. Over seventy original documents are transcribed and translated, including wills, inventories, letters and chronicle accounts, from a period which saw rapid advances in military technology. The book also includes an extensive glossary, lavishly illustrated with forty images of extant armour and weapons from the period, and contemporary artistic depictions from illuminated manuscripts and other sources. This book will therefore be of interest to a wide audience, from the living history practitioner, crafter, and martial artist, to students of literature, military history, art, and material culture.

Download or read book Medieval Weapons written by Robert D. Smith and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2007-04-20 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fascinating reference covers the weapons and armor used by warriors from the 4th to the 15th century and discusses how and why they changed over time. In the Middle Ages, the lack of standardized weapons meant that one warrior's arms were often quite different from another's, even when they were fighting on the same side. And with few major technological advances in that period, the evolution of those weapons over the centuries was incremental. But evolve they ultimately did, bringing arms, armor, and siege weapons to the threshold of the modern era. From the fall of the Roman Empire to the beginnings of the Renaissance, Medieval Weapons: An Illustrated History of Their Impact covers the inexorable transformation from warrior in the mail shirt to fully armored knight, from the days of spears and swords to the large-scale adoption of the handgun. Medieval Weapons covers this fascinating expanse of centuries in chapters devoted to the early medieval, Carolingian, Crusade, and late medieval periods. Within each period, the book details how weapons and armor were developed, what weapons were used for different types of battles, and how weapons and armor both influenced, and were influenced by, changing tactics in battles and sieges.

Download or read book Journal of Medieval Military History Volume XXII written by Kelly Devries and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2024-06-25 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The leading academic vehicle for scholarly publication in the field of medieval warfare." Medieval Warfare The articles in volume 22 of the Journal of Medieval Military History range widely, not only in chronology but also in geography and approach. Sven Ekdahl looks at the big picture of the role of Swedish castles in the north; L. J. Andrew Villalon focuses on the very particular and culturally significant rewards given by the Catholic Kings to two noble families to celebrate minor victories on the borders of Granada in the far south. Subjects include fighting at the tactical level (the unexpectedly substantial tradition of mounted archery in England, the Low Countries and France, revealed by Sanders Goevarts), the operational level (Emperor Louis II's logistics in Italy, treated by Elijah T. Wallace), and the strategic level (King John's employment of naval power, analyzed by Adam M. McNeil). Vladimir Aleksic and Damnjan Prlinčevic consider military, political, geographical, demographic, and economic factors to contextualize the military history of the rich mining town of Novo Brdo in Serbia as it faced the rising tide of Ottoman conquest in the last century of the Middle Ages. Three contributions draw on the rich resources of the English royal archives to illuminate the material and technological tools of medieval warfare: individual weapons (most significantly both longbows and short bows) described with exceptional detail in a murder case of 1315 (Clifford J. Rogers); the horses of Henry V in the Agincourt campaign of 1415 (Gary P. Baker); and the military equipment stored at Dover Castle as described in inventories dating from 1320 to 1437 (Dan Spencer).