A Brief History of Medieval Warfare

by Peter Reid

For over 150 years, from 1314 to 1485, England fought an almost continuous war with its neighbors. This period saw an unprecedented supremacy of the English army over those of its enemies. Reid proposes that the key to English success lay in its preparations and in its style of warfare, interweaving his analysis with a dramatic telling of the main events on land and at sea.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Military History, War, Medieval, Medieval History, European History

620 pages, Paperback

First published January 24, 2008

Reviews

[Owen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably one of the worst history books I've read. Unfortunately for Peter Reid, I have the breadth of experience to spot just how he manages to miss the mark. It's definitely not the worst piece of scholarship on the subject, but the manner and style of the prose fall flat.

As mentioned in his introduction, Peter Reid held the rank of Major General in the British Army, and I believe that reflects on the shortcomings of his book. Typically, a purely military history will have reams of numbers, troop movements, weather conditions, detailed maps, times, and all manner of orders given and assumptions made on the motivations and skills of the involved parties. In addition, a rigorous academic history will contain copious amounts of citations, references to pipe rolls, letters, census data, and all manner of contemporary commentary with citations to explain the context, give the original translation, and compare to other sources. On the other end of the spectrum, a more 'casual' history novel should be very engaging, emotive, and strive to draw in the reader with pithy comments, and promote and definitive and strong conclusion supported by sources.

The absurd amount of detail above is necessary, because "A Brief History of Medieval Warfare" attempts to be all three at once, reaching none of the potential of the individual types.

The most notable problem with this take on the English military is the lack of good maps and clear, coherent troop information when describing important battles. The maps themselves are woefully inadequate to convey any significant detail. Most importantly, there is a severe disjointed presentation to the various marches over France. Reid references towns and cities on the way, but lacks maps to explain to anyone not well-read in medieval French geography. While Reid does at some points detail the logistics and difficulties of war, such as supplying arrows, how many arrows are fired in how long etc, it never reaches the point of a cohesive military telling. I suppose 'Brief' is apt for this, but it doesn't forgive the confusing prose.

For a rather long history book, passages from primary sources are very seldom cited and explained. In addition no mention of particular chroniclers stood out as important, and quite often contemporary records were dismissed offhand as implausible without mentioning why. Clearly, it would not be practical to present the reams of data available, but at least the sources should be cited to support major arguments.

Overall, while full of many interesting details, such as how guns first became used in sieges, how baggage trains worked, and the details of the War of the Roses, I found myself constantly thinking of just how boring and uninteresting the material was. As someone who normally takes great interest in this subject, to be put off by the writing style and presentation is significant. I have been reading some exceptionally high quality books lately, so my perception is skewed, and I can admit that this book covers the subject material quite well, just not to the standard I'm accustomed.

As a final note, I know some authors try to inject a little humor or dry wit into their writings, but the frequent use of exclamation marks in several places seemed extremely out of place.

[Janrae · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the clearest studies I have read of the rise and fall of the English longbowman as a decisive force in European warfare.

Don't let the word 'brief' in the title fool you, this is a big thick book and best read in snatches.

I learned a lot about military tactics by reading it and working out on paper the movements described in it.

It's a must for fantasy authors.

[Jacob Lehman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite readable for a long (and occasionally dry) text. A more honest title would mention that it's particularly focused on the wars of the English against Scotland, France, and internally during the Wars of the Roses. Some of the maps are helpful, though there are extensive references to French geography that are nowhere near a map with the right level of detail to really understand the parties' actions. Nevertheless, the more that I read about the era (and the Wars of the Roses in particular) the easier it is to see where George R. R. Martin got his inspiration for numerous details in Game of Thrones (including a noble family named the Tyrells)...

I read this book as a part of my project to read one book from every aisle in Olin Library. You can read more about the project, find reactions to other books, and (eventually) a fuller reaction to this one here: https://jacobklehman.com/library-read

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book but very dry and with chapters that feel they roll on for a long time, it just didn't capture a spark in me to keep reading for long periods of time. In total it took me 15 years to finally finish reading this book after putting it down time after time.

[Catherine Fitzsimmons · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another clearance rack find, and again mostly for writing reference, I would again direct your attention more carefully to the subheading of this book: “The Rise and Fall of English Supremacy at Arms, 1314-1485.” The focus is strictly on England, with information only on France as it applies to England’s role in the Hundred Years War, and even then, I found the range of information too narrow to be of any general use. As also with A Brief History of Life in the Middle Ages, the writing was very dry – even more so, as I started reading this one before several others and was only able to finish it after I got through Life in the Middle Ages – and the information provided really didn’t seem to provide a good overall view of what the book was supposed to be about. It read quite more like an English history lecture than a treatise on Medieval warfare, and even seemed so strict in its coverage that I could find no overlap between the information provided in this book and that in Life in the Middle Ages.

Again, the book did provide some good information; the detailed descriptions of how battlefields were prepared and men arrayed and the tactics used give a good idea of how battles were set up, and won, in that time period. However, it just seemed to be too narrow in range to really give me what I was looking for, and what I expected from the book’s main title. And again, it’s certainly not one I would pick as a starting point for the topic.

[Billy Bachelor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting book, I love it