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Sieges of the Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages the castle was an important military and administrative center, essentially utilitarian in its design and in the purposes it served. Because it played so central a role in medieval history, and because the wealth of material is so great, the author has concentrated on English seiges undertaken in the period from the Norman Conquest to the War of the Roses. This includes many dramatic actions fought on the continental dominions of the English Crown such as Chateau Gaillard and Rouen. Drawing from contemporary records and his own inspection of sites, Philip Warner's narrative explores the skills of the architect, the engineer and the miner, as well as the courage of troops and their commanders.
214 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
About the author
Philip Warner
91 books9 followersPhilip Warner (1914 - 2000) was an outstanding military historian, and for the last 13 years The Daily Telegraph's peerless Army obituarist. Indeed, he played a vital role in setting the standard for the modern Telegraph obituary. He had a relish for the piquant detail and an understanding that a good story should never be overdressed.
He was a master of the laconic, lapidary phrase. Warner's direct, uncluttered and transparent prose, was a reflection of the man. Above all, he felt deep admiration for the lives he celebrated. His own character, always strong, had been tempered by his terrible experiences at the hands of the Japanese during the Second World War.
One of the Allied soldiers rounded up and imprisoned after the fall of Singapore on February 15 1942, he spent some time in the infamous Changi jail, and worked on the Railway of Death. For every sleeper laid on the 1,000 miles of track through Malaya, Burma and Thailand, a prisoner of war was lost. Philip Warner was saved by his tough-mindedness and by his belief in the virtues of loyalty. To help his fellow prisoners forget their troubles, he organised plays, talks and debates.
Afterwards, he never liked to mention his ordeal. He felt he owed his survival to his physical condition (he performed 30 minutes of exercises every day of his life), his scrupulous hygiene (hard to stick to when one is starving), and to his strong sense of belonging to his family back in Britain. At night he would look at the moon, and think of it passing over Warwickshire.
In 1944 Warner and other able-bodied PoWs were stowed under deck in a troopship (he enjoyed the irony of being almost torpedoed by the Americans), and taken to Japan, where he worked in the copper mines, in dark, hot and dangerous conditions.
As the Americans closed in, he and his fellow PoWs had the unnerving experience of being herded into caves, while the Japanese guards set up machine-guns outside. The atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki probably saved the prisoners from massacre.
At the beginning of the war Warner had weighed 14 stone; in 1945 he was 4.5 stone. In 1,100 days of captivity, he only received half a Red Cross parcel. He was never among those inclined to bestow easy forgiveness upon the Japanese. The maltreatment which he had endured increased his natural reticence. Although he set great store by loyalty, he gave his trust warily.
Once certain that he could rely on someone, he would do anything for them; should anyone abuse his trust, he was slow to forgive. "There are six billion people in the world," he was wont to say, "and when this person gets to the top of the pile again, I will give him another chance." After the war Warner taught at Sandhurst and became a prolific writer, turning out more than 50 books.
He would produce two volumes a year, not to mention up to 200 obituaries and many book reviews - all with an absolute minimum of fuss. He worked on the principle that, once he had covered a page with writing, he could always cross it out. He was a firm believer in the virtues of perseverance - "Stick at the wicket and the runs will come" - and in early starts: "One hour in the morning is worth two in the afternoon, is worth three in the evening."
In the 1970s he was seriously ill, but under his colossal labour he throve as never before. Without it, he used to say, he would have had to play golf every day; and, useful player though he was, that was not his idea of a tolerable life.
Though the last man to preach, Philip Warner set a supreme example of how to tackle old age. While eager to enjoy himself, and, still more, to see that his friends enjoyed themselves, he instinctively understood that pleasure is best courted against a background of disciplined endeavour.
Philip Arthur William Warner was born at Nuneaton on May 19 1914, the last in
He was a master of the laconic, lapidary phrase. Warner's direct, uncluttered and transparent prose, was a reflection of the man. Above all, he felt deep admiration for the lives he celebrated. His own character, always strong, had been tempered by his terrible experiences at the hands of the Japanese during the Second World War.
One of the Allied soldiers rounded up and imprisoned after the fall of Singapore on February 15 1942, he spent some time in the infamous Changi jail, and worked on the Railway of Death. For every sleeper laid on the 1,000 miles of track through Malaya, Burma and Thailand, a prisoner of war was lost. Philip Warner was saved by his tough-mindedness and by his belief in the virtues of loyalty. To help his fellow prisoners forget their troubles, he organised plays, talks and debates.
Afterwards, he never liked to mention his ordeal. He felt he owed his survival to his physical condition (he performed 30 minutes of exercises every day of his life), his scrupulous hygiene (hard to stick to when one is starving), and to his strong sense of belonging to his family back in Britain. At night he would look at the moon, and think of it passing over Warwickshire.
In 1944 Warner and other able-bodied PoWs were stowed under deck in a troopship (he enjoyed the irony of being almost torpedoed by the Americans), and taken to Japan, where he worked in the copper mines, in dark, hot and dangerous conditions.
As the Americans closed in, he and his fellow PoWs had the unnerving experience of being herded into caves, while the Japanese guards set up machine-guns outside. The atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki probably saved the prisoners from massacre.
At the beginning of the war Warner had weighed 14 stone; in 1945 he was 4.5 stone. In 1,100 days of captivity, he only received half a Red Cross parcel. He was never among those inclined to bestow easy forgiveness upon the Japanese. The maltreatment which he had endured increased his natural reticence. Although he set great store by loyalty, he gave his trust warily.
Once certain that he could rely on someone, he would do anything for them; should anyone abuse his trust, he was slow to forgive. "There are six billion people in the world," he was wont to say, "and when this person gets to the top of the pile again, I will give him another chance." After the war Warner taught at Sandhurst and became a prolific writer, turning out more than 50 books.
He would produce two volumes a year, not to mention up to 200 obituaries and many book reviews - all with an absolute minimum of fuss. He worked on the principle that, once he had covered a page with writing, he could always cross it out. He was a firm believer in the virtues of perseverance - "Stick at the wicket and the runs will come" - and in early starts: "One hour in the morning is worth two in the afternoon, is worth three in the evening."
In the 1970s he was seriously ill, but under his colossal labour he throve as never before. Without it, he used to say, he would have had to play golf every day; and, useful player though he was, that was not his idea of a tolerable life.
Though the last man to preach, Philip Warner set a supreme example of how to tackle old age. While eager to enjoy himself, and, still more, to see that his friends enjoyed themselves, he instinctively understood that pleasure is best courted against a background of disciplined endeavour.
Philip Arthur William Warner was born at Nuneaton on May 19 1914, the last in
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 1, 2014
This book wasn't quite what I expected, which may have played into my low rating. I was hoping for a more detailed account of the logistics of siege warfare. There was a little of that early on, but most of the narrative dealt with British medieval history in general, with some attention to the use of sieges to advance political aims. If you can ignore the misogynistic bent and the homophobic comments scattered throughout, it's a fairly interesting read. About 3/4 of the way through I decided I'd gotten pretty much everything I could get from the book. It will remain on my shelf for future reference. Readers of history and medieval history might want to have a look at this, but no guarantees that it will offer you any new insights to the period.
February 25, 2025
This was disappointing in multiple ways. The parts about siege-craft were interesting and presumably informative--they were certainly presented authoritatively. However, about half the book is a meandering history of the English monarchy from the Conquest until the the end of the War of the Roses in 1485. I suspect the author may have lost interest has he went, for the Edwards I-III together don't get as much print as their predecessors despite having stage more sieges in their collective lifetimes. The final hundred years from Richard II to Henry VI is covered in a mere 29 pages. The misogyny is in full force as well, as Eleanor of Aquitaine, while getting several mentions, is not actually referred to as the Queen of England nor is even once noted for any of her regencies of England, nor even acknowledged as Duchess of Aquitaine and Normandy and Countess of Ponthieu. Even her being besieged in Mirebeau Castle for several months after the ascension of John after Henry II's death doesn't warrant a mention. Queen Berengaria's sole mention is becoming Richard I's wife; and, even though Warner talks of Richard conquering Cyprus, he fails to mention that Richard was compelled to go there in the first place because Berengaria's ship ran aground and she was being held prisoner there.
We then run into this nonsense: "Richard was a faithless son and a useless king; by some accounts he had unpleasant vices...". This is so shallow as to not even make it to the level of understatement. Richard I was--in his day--known to rape women taken in sieges and after battles as hostages. He was incredibly cruel during and after battles, even by the standards of the middle ages. Warner then repeats the rumor that Richard was a homosexual despite being no contemporary evidence of that from Richard, from any accusations of his peers or the church, or any recorded act by any historian or scribe of the day.
We then end this misgiving missive of misinformation with this faux pas: "Perhaps the last word on the castle is that is has now gone underground, underseas, and overhead... and the military aircraft, one version of which, the B-29, was not unsuitably named 'The Flying Fortress'". This is a spectacular failure of both authorship and editing, as it was the B-17 that was the Flying Fortress and the bomber that did the lion's share of cracking open fortress Europe and reducing industrial Germany to rubble. However, given that Warner's WWII service was in the Pacific and not Europe, and it was the B-29 that dropped the atomic bombs that ended the war with Japan, perhaps this juxtaposition of personal context with historical fact is enough to waive this off as an unforced, if unfortunate, error.
We then run into this nonsense: "Richard was a faithless son and a useless king; by some accounts he had unpleasant vices...". This is so shallow as to not even make it to the level of understatement. Richard I was--in his day--known to rape women taken in sieges and after battles as hostages. He was incredibly cruel during and after battles, even by the standards of the middle ages. Warner then repeats the rumor that Richard was a homosexual despite being no contemporary evidence of that from Richard, from any accusations of his peers or the church, or any recorded act by any historian or scribe of the day.
We then end this misgiving missive of misinformation with this faux pas: "Perhaps the last word on the castle is that is has now gone underground, underseas, and overhead... and the military aircraft, one version of which, the B-29, was not unsuitably named 'The Flying Fortress'". This is a spectacular failure of both authorship and editing, as it was the B-17 that was the Flying Fortress and the bomber that did the lion's share of cracking open fortress Europe and reducing industrial Germany to rubble. However, given that Warner's WWII service was in the Pacific and not Europe, and it was the B-29 that dropped the atomic bombs that ended the war with Japan, perhaps this juxtaposition of personal context with historical fact is enough to waive this off as an unforced, if unfortunate, error.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 13, 2024
Excellently informative and at the same time entertaining.
If you fancy a break from fiction, this is a possibility for you.
If you fancy a break from fiction, this is a possibility for you.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews