Medieval Reading List

[Mithrandir]

Moved.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Trial by Fire and Trial by Battle, the first two parts of the history of the Hundred Years War by Jonny Sumption. Tremedous reads

[Hurin_Rules]

I can't recommend reading Keegan's "A History of Warfare". Keegan may be the most famous military historian in the world (and he's a great speaker-- I saw him give a lecture in Toronto once), but his knowledge of the medieval period is sub-par.

Much better, together with Contamine as noted above, is J. F. Verbruggen's The Art of Warfare in Western Europe during the Middle Ages from the Eighth Century (Warfare in History). It's in a new translation (the old one was abridged and many of the notes were cut out, so get this new translation: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/085...lance&n=283155 ).

C. W. C. Oman's work is quite famous, but not particularly accurate, IMHO; it is also very dated now. For the older works, I prefer Delbruck: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/083...lance&n=283155

I've read Keen's Medieval Warfare: A History, and I can say it is quite good. It's more a collection of essays than a real history, but many senior medieval military historians contribute essays, and some of them are excellent.

If you're of a more scholarly bent, you should note two new academic journals: The Crusades and the Journal of Medieval Military History. The latter is edited by Kelly DeVries (nice guy-- we gave papers at a conference together once) and Bernard Bachrach, probably the two most prominent north american Medieval military historians.

So, lots of good stuff. But for introductions, I'd stick with Contamine, Verbruggen and Keen.

[HighLord z0b]

Medieval Warfare Sourcebook, I can't remember who it was edited by but I'll have a look at it when I get home and get back to you.

[Hurin_Rules]

For sources on the web, the society for medieval military history (the De re militari society) runs a great website with tons and tons of both primary and secondary sources, including translated medieval chronicles, articles, books and even dissertations on medieval military history. I highly recommend it:

http://www.deremilitari.org/

[Mount Suribachi]

Medieval Warfare Sourcebook, I can't remember who it was edited by but I'll have a look at it when I get home and get back to you.

Its by David Nicolle - I know cos I was given volume 1 for free by a mate at the weekend (he had more than one copy). Just scanned it quickly so far, but looks a very good if a little technical read. I'm not expecting Churchillian prose, but there's lots of info on things like armour, tactics etc.