Customer Reviews

The Medieval Siege

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The battles of the Middle Ages are well known, but the medieval siege has long been a neglected subject. Bradbury's central theme is that sieges, and not battles, were decisive in medieval warfare. Looking at siege warfare from the early Middle Ages to the beginnings of the Renaissance, he shows that siege warfare was lengthy, brutal and unchivalrous, with conventions and a morality all of its own. His subject is breathtaking; the beautiful stone castles of Europe were built for war, and he shows them facing siege engines, assault towers, starvation and disease. Above all, this book is accessible; far from being the specialist book that its title suggests, it is an excellent introduction to medieval military history, looked at from a new and intriguing perspective. If this book has a fault, it is that it fails to relate the medieval siege to other aspects of warfare, especially logistics. Nevertheless, for its great scope in time and geography, and its detailed description of the practices and weapons of siege warfare, this book is a valuable contribution to medieval military history.

This could have been a first-rate book. The author has researched a wide variety of sources, collecting many examples of events that took place during sieges. These stories, ranging from amusing to horrifying, are told in a very readable way. Unfortunately, the book is weak on systematic analysis. Not until page 241 does the author begin describing siege weapons and techniques in a comparative way. Many of the illustrations from the medieval period are small and not well-reproduced, making it difficult for the reader to see details. There are not enough plans of castles and fortresses to illustrate the author's points. The book also follows the unfortunate modern trend of using inadequate maps composed of lines and dots, with no indication of terrain features. Michael Michaud, an American living in Vienna, Austria

This is a comprehensive social and military history of siege warfare and its development and affects throughout Medieval times. It deals in detail with the various 'ages' of Siege warfare and eleoquently demonstrates that sieges and counter sieges were the predominant form of warfare which shaped the social, military and political landscape in Europe and the Middle East for almost a millenia in the period from 450 CE to 1565 CE. The pages are crammed with historical detail and the work finishes with two fascinating chapters on the Weapons of Siege Warfare and the Conventions and Laws of Siege Warfare. A real must for those interested in the serious study of military and social history in Medieval times when sieges affected almost all aspects of daily life for those from peasants and soldiers to princes and popes.