Warfare in Medieval Europe c.400-c.1453

Warfare in Medieval Europe, now in its second edition,offers considerably more attention to the transition from the later Roman Empire to the early Middle Ages, the composition of the armies of the opponents of the West, and the experience of commanders and individual combatants on the battlefield. 
This second revised and expanded edition provides a more in-depth thematic discussion of the nature and conduct of war, with an emphasis on its overall impact on society, from the late Roman Empire to the end of the Hundred Years’ War. The authors explore the origins of the institutions, physical infrastructure, and intellectual underpinnings of warfare, with chapters on military topography, military technology, logistics, combat, and strategy. Bernard and David Bachrach have also added a new chapter, which provides two detailed campaign narratives that highlight the themes treated throughout the text. The geographical scope of the volume encompasses Latin Europe, the Slavic World, Scandinavia, and the eastern Mediterranean, with a particular focus on the conflict between Western Christianity and the Islamic Near East. 
Written in an accessible and engaging way, Warfare in Medieval Europe is the ideal resource for all students of the history of medieval warfare.

History

Bachrach, Bernard S.

Bachrach, David S.

Europe

Routledge

Writing the Military History of Pre-Crusade Europe (Variorum Collected Studies)

Writing the Military History of Pre-Crusade Europe brings together fourteen articles by eminent historians David S. Bachrach and Bernard S. Bachrach. 
Crucial to the writing of medieval military history is a thorough understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the available source materials. Just as important is a broad conception of the range of sources which scholars can draw upon to ask and answer questions about the organization and conduct of war. The studies collected in this volume provide insights regarding many of the most important narrative works from pre-Crusade Europe, with a particular emphasis on the ways in which they can be used to write military history, as well as the pitfalls facing historians who read these texts transparently without regard for the authors’ various parti pris and limitations. In addition to their treatment of narrative works, several of the studies in this volume highlight the importance of treating historiographical texts within the broader range of source materials that illuminate the conduct and organization of war in pre-crusade Europe, particularly material sources developed through excavations, as well as contemporary images, most prominently the Bayeux Tapestry. 
The book will appeal to scholars and students of medieval history, as well as those interested in military history. (CS1097).

Brings together fourteen articles by eminent historians David S. Bachrach and Bernard S. Bachrach / Provides insights into the most important narrative works from pre-Crusade Europe / Draws on a broad range of source material, including material sources developed through excavations, and contemporary images

Deeds of the Bishops of Cambrai, Translation and Commentary

First commissioned by Bishop Gerard I of Cambrai (1012-1051) in 1023 or 1024, the Gesta episcoporum Cameracensium was the work of two authors, the second of whom completed the text shortly after the death of Bishop Gerard. The three books of the Gesta shed considerable light on the policies and actions of many of the key political and religious figures in an economically and intellectually vibrant region on the frontier between the German and French kingdoms. The Deeds of the Bishops of Cambrai, translated in this volume into English for the first time, provides unique insights into the relationship between the German king and the bishops within the context of the so-called imperial church system, the rise of both secular and ecclesiastical territorial lordships, the conduct of war, the cult of the saints, monastic reform, and evolving conceptions of the proper social order of society. Including extensive commentary, apparatus of explanatory notes, maps, genealogies, this text will be of considerable value both in undergraduate and graduate courses as well as to scholars.

LEESE, MICHAEL

World

This is the first comprehensive biography of Fulk Nerra, an important medieval ruler, who came to power in his teens and rose to be master in the west of the French Kingdom. Descendant of warriors and administrators who served the French kings, Fulk in turn built the state that provided a foundation for the vast Angevin empire later constructed by his descendants. Bernard Bachrach finds the terms "constructed" and "built" more than metaphorical in relation to Fulk's career. He shows how Fulk and the Angevin counts who followed him based their long-term state building policy on Roman strategies and fortifications described by Vegetius. This creative adaptation of Roman ideas and tactics, according to Bachrach, was the key to Fulk's successful consolidation of political power. Students of medieval and military history will find here a colorful, impressively researched biography.

Fulk Nerra, the Neo-Roman Consul 987-1040: A Political Biography of the Angevin Count

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

University of California Press

This is the first translation into English of Ralph of Caen's Gesta Tancredi. This text provides an exceptionally important narrative of the First Crusade and its immediate aftermath, covering the period 1096-1105, but is often neglected, due in no small part to the difficulties of its Latin. A native of the Norman city of Caen where he was a student of Arnulf, the future patriarch of Jerusalem, in 1107 Ralph joined Bohemond of Taranto's army as a military chaplain. After arriving in the East, Ralph took service with Bohemond's nephew Tancred, who ruled the principality of Antioch from 1108 to 1112.Although dedicated to Arnulf, the Gesta Tancredi focuses on the careers of Bohemond and, especially, of Tancred. It is one of the most important sources - indeed the most important Latin source - for the Norman campaigns in Cilicia (1097-1108), and for the early Norman rule of Antioch. The work as a whole has a striking Norman point of view and contains details found in no other source, providing a corrective to the strong northern focus of most of the other narrative sources for the First Crusade.

The Gesta Tancredi Of Ralph Of Caen: A History Of The Normans On The First Crusade (Crusade Texts in Translation)

RAOUL

Ashgate Pub. Co

Without the complex military machine that his forebears had built up over the course of the eighth century, it would have been impossible for Charlemagne to revive the Roman empire in the West. Early Carolingian Warfare is the first book-length study of how the Frankish dynasty, beginning with Pippin II, established its power and cultivated its military expertise in order to reestablish the regnum Francorum, a geographical area of the late Roman period that includes much of present-day France and western Germany. Bernard Bachrach has thoroughly examined contemporary sources, including court chronicles, military handbooks, and late Roman histories and manuals, to establish how the early Carolingians used their legacy of political and military techniques and strategies forged in imperial Rome to regain control in the West.
Pippin II and his successors were not diverted by opportunities for financial enrichment in the short term through raids and campaigns outside of the regnum Francorum; they focused on conquest with sagacious sensibilities, preferring bloodless diplomatic solutions to unnecessarily destructive warfare, and disdained military glory for its own sake. But when they had to deploy their military forces, their operations were brutal and efficient. Their training was exceptionally well developed, and their techniques included hand-to-hand combat, regimented troop movements, fighting on horseback with specialized mounted soldiers, and the execution of lengthy sieges employing artillery. In order to sustain their long-term strategy, the early Carolingians relied on a late Roman model whereby soldiers were recruited from among the militarized population who were required by law to serve outside their immediate communities. The ability to mass and train large armies from among farmers and urban-dwellers gave the Carolingians the necessary power to lay siege to the old Roman fortress cities that dominated the military topography of the West.
Bachrach includes fresh accounts of Charles Martel's defeat of the Muslims at Poitiers in 732, and Pippin's successful siege of Bourges in 762, demonstrating that in the matter of warfare there never was a western European Dark Age that ultimately was enlightened by some later Renaissance. The early Carolingians built upon surviving military institutions, adopted late antique technology, and effectively utilized their classical intellectual inheritance to prepare the way militarily for Charlemagne's empire.

Early Carolingian Warfare: Prelude to Empire (The Middle Ages Series)

University of Pennsylvania Press

Winner of the 2001 Goodzeit Book Award of the New York Military Affairs Symposium. Without the complex military machine that his forbears had built up over the course of the eighth century, it would have been impossible for Charlemagne to revive the Roman empire in the West. Early Carolingian Warfare is the first book-length study of how the Frankish dynasty, beginning with Pippin II, established its power and cultivated its military expertise in order to reestablish the regnum Francorum, a geographical area of the late Roman period that includes much of present-day France and western Germany. Bernard Bachrach has thoroughly examined contemporary sources, including court chronicles, military handbooks, and late Roman histories and manuals, to establish how the early Carolingians used their legacy of political and military techniques and strategies forged in imperial Rome to regain control in the West. Pippin II and his successors were not diverted by opportunities for financial enrichment in the short term through raids and campaigns outside of the regnum Francorum; they focused on conquest with sagacious sensibilities, preferring bloodless diplomatic solutions to unnecessarily destructive warfare, and disdained military glory for its own sake. But when they had to deploy their military forces, their operations were brutal and efficient. Their training was exceptionally well developed, and their techniques included hand-to-hand combat, regimented troop movements, fighting on horseback with specialized mounted soldiers, and the execution of lengthy sieges employing artillery. In order to sustain their long-term strategy, the early Carolingians relied on a late Roman model whereby soldiers were recruited from among the militarized population who were required by law to serve outside their immediate communities. The ability to mass and train large armies from among farmers and urban-dwellers gave the Carolingians the necessary power to lay siege to the old Roman fortress cities that dominated the military topography of the West. Bachrach includes fresh accounts of Charles Martel's defeat of the Muslims at Poitiers in 732, and Pippin's successful siege of Bourges in 762, demonstrating that in the matter of warfare there never was a western European Dark Age that ultimately was enlightened by some later Renaissance. The early Carolingians built upon surviving military institutions, adopted late antique technology, and effectively utilized their classical intellectual inheritance to prepare the way militarily for Charlemagne's empire.

In the late sixth century Gundovald, a Frank of royal blood, returned from a lengthy exile in Italy and Constantinople to establish a regnum in the southwestern part of Gaul. His half brother, Guntram, who ruled the neighboring Burgundian region, vigorously opposed this intrusion. In this fascinating narrative, Bernard Bachrach provides a comprehensive reinterpretation of the dramatic attempt by Gundovald to succeed to the Merovingian throne with the help of the Byzantine Empire. Gundovald, a Merovingian prince, was rejected by his father, King Chlotar I, and declared not to be of royal blood. His association with the Byzantine Empire led Guntram to regard him as an "imperial puppet."In addition to examining the highly controversial diplomatic machinations behind Gundovald's bid for power, Bachrach breaks new ground with a thorough assessment of the strategy, tactics, and military technology of the "little war" fought between Gundovald's supporters and the armies of King Guntram. This conflict ended with the siege of the old Roman fortress city of Convenae in the foothills of the Pyrenees.

The Anatomy Of A Little War: A Diplomatic And Military History Of The Gundovald Affair (568-586)

Americas

Westview Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Bachrach, Bernard S.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Bachrach, Bernard S.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Bachrach, Bernard S.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Warfare in Medieval Europe c.400-c.1453

Warfare in Medieval Europe c.400-c.1453

Writing the Military History of Pre-Crusade Europe (Variorum Collected Studies)

Writing the Military History of Pre-Crusade Europe (Variorum Collected Studies)

Deeds of the Bishops of Cambrai, Translation and Commentary

Fulk Nerra, the Neo-Roman Consul 987-1040: A Political Biography of the Angevin Count

The Gesta Tancredi Of Ralph Of Caen: A History Of The Normans On The First Crusade (Crusade Texts in Translation)

Early Carolingian Warfare: Prelude to Empire (The Middle Ages Series)

Early Carolingian Warfare: Prelude to Empire (The Middle Ages Series)

The Anatomy Of A Little War: A Diplomatic And Military History Of The Gundovald Affair (568-586)