A History of the Early and Late Medieval Siege [2 Volume Set]: Two Volume Set

Name: A History of the Early and Late Medieval Siege [2 Volume Set]: Two Volume Set
Brand: Boydell Press
SKU: 9781843834502
Price: 276.00 USD
Availability: InStock

$276.00

Product Variants

Brief Description:
"Companion volume: A history of the early medieval siege, c. 450-1200"--Jacket flap.

Marc Notes:
Companion volume: A history of the late medieval siege, 1200-1500--Jacket flap.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 413-484) and index.

Table of Contents:
List of maps -- List of plates -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- Maps -- 1. After Rome -- 2. The Arab conquests -- 3. The age of the Carolingian Empire -- 4. The tenth century -- 5. Shifting balances: the eleventh century -- 6. Franks and Saracens: the early crusades -- 7. The twelfth century in Northern and Central Europe and Byzantium -- 8. Consolidation and centralisation -- 9. The developing technology of attack and the response of the defence -- Time line -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index.

Review Quotes:
In Peter Purton's two-volume magisterial work we have a history and analysis which is unlikely to be bettered for decades to come, for it contains a vast amount of information from disparate sources.-- "MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY"

Publisher Marketing:
This 2 volume set contains a magisterial survey of medieval siege warfare in the middle ages, tracing links across continents and linking contemporary historical accounts with archaeological studies.

Sieges were the predominant form of warfare across the medieval world and siege methods and technology developed alongside improvements in defence. This 2 volume set goes back to the original sources to present a comprehensive view of thewhole subject, tracing links across continents and analysing the relationship with changes in the design of town and castle defences, and linking contemporary historical accounts with archaeological studies. It considers the mostimportant questions raised by siege warfare: who designed, built and operated siege equipment? How did medieval commanders gain their knowledge? What were the roles of theoretical texts and the developing science of siege warfare? How did nomadic peoples acquire siege skills? Were castles and town walls built purely of a military purpose, or did they play a symbolic role also?

The first volume begins in 450 AD with the replacement of the westernRoman empire by barbarian successor states, but also examines the development of the Byzantine Empire, the Muslim Caliphate and its successors, and the links with China, through to the early thirteenth century. The second continues with the Mongol conquests in Asia and Europe and the thirteenth-century apogee of pre-gunpowder siege warfare, before examining the slow impact of guns and the cumulatively massive changes in attack and defence of the fifteenthcentury.