LEARNHUB

A Handbook of
Medieval Tech
For Personal Purposes
Herot Gernan
3/26/2013
This is copied from he hisor! of A"e of Empires con#uerors e$panion%
Handbook on Medieval Technology

Armies of the Middle Ages
The first medieval armies were tribal war bands carried over from
ancient times. These evolved into feudal armies made up of a lord's
vassals and their respective retainers. Fief holders were required to
provide a period of military service each year. This began as weeks or
months of service by the vassal accompanied by professional soldiers he
retained personally. The armies of later kings and wealthy lords
consisted of a higher proportion of professionals and mercenaries. ate
in the period! vassals sent money instead of actually serving in armies!
and this "martial ta#" helped kings to support armies year$round.
%ervice in feudal armies was a matter of duty and honor for the knights.
&n a warrior society! knights lived for the opportunity to fight. %uccess
in battle was the main path to recognition and wealth. For professional
soldiers! often the sons of the aristocracy left with little when the eldest
began inheriting everything! fighting was a 'ob. &t was duty for peasants
also! when they were called up! but certainly not an honor.
(y the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries! many commoners 'oined the
ranks for pay that was often much better than that for more peaceful
employment. A strong attraction for a commoner to become a soldier
was the prospect of loot. Tribal warriors stayed loyal to their warrior
chief and fought for him so long as he provided them with a living and
loot. These ideals of the war band carried over into the feudal age.
ow$ranking knights and professional foot soldiers longed for the
opportunity to take part in the assault against a rich town or castle
because strongholds that resisted were traditionally looted. A soldier
could gather up many times his year's pay during the sack of a city.
)itched battles also offered opportunities for gain. The armor and
weapons of the dead could be sold and captured knights could be
ransomed.
*rgani+ation
The organi+ation of feudal armies was kept simple in comparison to the
large national armies of more modern time. There were no permanent
regiments! divisions! or corps until the very end of the age. ,hen a
feudal army was summoned! each vassal traveled to the meeting point
with any knights! archers! and footmen that he was required to bring.
At the meeting point! the contingents would be reassembled by role.
The knights and their squires kept and marched together! as did the
archers and footmen.
%pecial units! such as engineers and the operators of siege artillery!
were usually professionals hired for the campaign. -hristian
mercenaries! for e#ample! operated the artillery employed by the Turks
against -onstantinople.
(eing a mercenary soldier was a respected profession in the late Middle
Ages. ,arrior entrepreneurs formed mercenary companies that allowed
a rich lord or city to hire a ready$made competent fighting force.
Mercenary companies e#isted that were all of one skill. For e#ample!
./// 0enoese crossbowmen served in the French army at the (attle of
-r1cy in 2345. *ther mercenary companies were mi#ed forces of all
arms. These were often described in terms of the number of lances they
contained. 6ach lance represented a mounted man$at$arms plus
additional mounted! foot! and missile troops. A company of 2// lances
represented several hundred fighting men. This system was the origin of
the word "freelance."
-ommand hierarchy within a feudal army was flat. 7ot much
maneuvering was anticipated so there was little provision of large staffs
to support the commander and pass orders.
&n 2438 -harles 9&& of France raised :oyal *rdinance -ompanies. These
companies were filled with either knights or infantry and were paid
from ta# revenues. 6ach company had a fi#ed complement of men; their
armor and weapons were chosen by the king rather than left to personal
choice. This was the beginning of modern standing armies in the ,est.
%upply
There was little provision for food and medical supplies. Medieval
armies lived off the land! to the detriment of everyone residing in an
area they occupied or passed through. Having a friendly army march
through was no better than having the enemy pass. Medieval armies did
not linger in one area for long because local supplies of food and forage
were quickly e#hausted. This was a particular problem during sieges. &f
an army laying siege did not make arrangements to have food and
supplies brought in! it might have to lift its siege to avoid starvation
long before the defenders had to surrender.
%anitation was also a problem when an army stayed in one place. A
medieval army brought along many animals! in addition to the horses
of the knights! and sewage problems led to dysentery. Feudal armies
tended to waste away to disease and desertion. <uring his campaign in
France! Henry 9 of 6ngland lost an estimated 2= percent of his army to
disease at the siege of Harfleur and more on the march leading up to
Agincourt. At the battle itself! he lost only = percent. Henry 9 died of
disease related to poor sanitation at another siege.
<eployment for (attle
Most battles were set$piece affairs where the two sides arranged
themselves before the fighting began. -ampaigns of maneuver and
meeting engagements were rare.
)rior to battle! commanders divided their forces into contingents with
specific tasks in mind for each. The first separation might be into foot
soldiers! archers! and cavalry. These groups might be divided further
into groups to be given individual missions or to be held in reserve. A
commander might arrange several "battles" or "divisions" of knights! for
e#ample. These could be launched individually as desired or held in
reserve. Archers might be deployed in front of the army with blocks of
infantry in support. *nce the army had been arranged! the only ma'or
decisions were when to send in the prearranged pieces. There was little
provision for pulling back! reforming! or rearranging once the fighting
started. A force of knights! for e#ample! could rarely be used more than
once. After they had been committed to action! they were usually
reinforced or withdrawn. A full charge by heavy cavalry caused such
disruption! lost equipment! and loss of horses that the force was
essentially spent. The 7orman knights at Hastings were reformed for
further attacks! but they did not launch a full charge because they could
not penetrate the %a#on shield$wall.
%uperior commanders made use of the terrain to their advantage and
conducted reconnaissance to evaluate the enemy's strength and
weaknesses.
:ansom
The ultimate rewards from successful battle included honors and grants
of fiefs. The pro#imate rewards included booty from looting bodies!
ransacking captured towns and castles! selling the armor and weapons
of the dead! and ransoming high$ranking prisoners. >nights were
e#pected to pay ransoms to save their lives. *ne of the highest recorded
ransoms was more than ?% @./ million paid to a 0erman prince for the
release of :ichard & of 6ngland! captured during his return from the
-rusades.
At Agincourt the 6nglish were holding a large group of French knights
at the rear for ransom. <uring the battle! a French contingent raided
toward the rear of the 6nglish and briefly panicked Henry 9. He
ordered the e#ecution of the held French knights to prevent their
release! thereby forgoing a fortune in ransoms.
The capture of knights was recorded by heralds who kept a tally of
which soldiers were responsible and thereby due the bulk of the
ransom. The heralds then notified the prisoner's family! arranged the
ransom payment! and obtained the prisoner's release.
The popularity of ransoms seems remarkably civil but masks a darker
story. ow$ranking prisoners of no value might be killed out$of$hand to
eliminate the problem of guarding and feeding them.
%trategy
Medieval military strategy was concerned with control of the economic
basis for wealth and! thus! the ability to put armies in the field. At the
start of the era this meant primarily ravaging or defending the
countryside because all wealth originated in the fields and pastures. As
the age progressed! towns became important control points as centers of
wealth from trade and manufacturing.
Holding and taking castles was a key element of war because they
defended the farmland. The warrior occupants of the castle controlled
the neighborhood. As towns grew they were fortified also. <efending
and taking them gradually became more important than fighting for
castles.
Field armies maneuvered to take the key fortified points and ravage the
countryside! or to prevent the enemy from conducting such a campaign.
)itched battles were fought to end the destruction of enemy invasions.
The (attle of Hastings in 2/55! for e#ample! was fought by the
Anglo$%a#ons to stop an invasion by the 7ormans. The Anglo$%a#ons
lost and the 7ormans under ,illiam spent the ne#t several years
establishing control of 6ngland in a campaign of conquest. The (attle of
echfield in 8== was fought between the 0ermans and Magyar raiders
from the 6ast. The decisive victory of the 0ermans under *tto & brought
an end to further Magyar invasions. The defeat of the Moors in A3. by
-harles Martel ended Muslim raids and e#pansion out of %pain.
The battles of -r1cy! )oitiers! and Agincourt! all fought during the
Hundred Bears ,ar between the 6nglish and French! were all attempts
by the French to stop 6nglish incursions. The French lost all three
battles and the 6nglish raids carried on. &n this case! however! the raids
did not establish permanent control for the 6nglish and the French
eventually won the war.
The -rusades were attempts to take and hold key strong points in the
Holy and from which control of the area could be maintained. (attles
in the -rusades were fought to break the control of one side or the
other. The victory at Hattin in 22CA by the %aracens under %aladin
made possible the recapture of Derusalem.
(attle Tactics
Medieval battles evolved slowly from clashes of poorly organi+ed war
bands into battles where tactics and maneuvers were employed. )art of
this evolution was in response to the development of different types of
soldiers and weapons and learning how to use these. The early armies
of the <ark Ages were mobs of foot soldiers. ,ith the rise of heavy
cavalry! the best armies became mobs of knights. Foot soldiers were
brought along to devastate farmlands and do the heavy work in sieges.
&n battle! however! foot soldiers were at risk from both sides as the
knights sought to engage their enemies in single combat. This was
mainly true of foot soldiers early in the period who were feudal levies
and untrained peasants. Archers were useful in sieges as well! but also
at risk of being rundown on the battlefield.
(y the late 24//'s commanders were making better progress in
disciplining their knights and getting their armies to work as a team. &n
the 6nglish army! knights gave their grudging respect to the
longbowmen after the archers demonstrated their value on so many
battlefields. <iscipline improved also as more and more knights fought
for pay and less for honor and glory. Mercenary soldiers in &taly became
well known for long campaigns during which no appreciable blood was
spilt. (y that time soldiers of all ranks were assets not to be discarded
lightly. Feudal armies seeking glory evolved into professional armies
more interested in living to spend their pay.
-avalry Tactics
-avalry was divided typically into three groups! or divisions! to be sent
into battle one after another. The first wave would either break through
or disrupt the enemy so that the second or third wave could break
through. *nce the enemy was running! the real killing and capturing
could take place.
&n practice! knights followed personal agendas to the detriment of any
commander's plan. The knights were interested primarily in honor and
glory and 'ockeyed for positions in the first rank of the first division.
*verall victory on the field was a secondary concern to personal glory.
&n battle after battle! the knights charged as soon as they saw the
enemy! dissolving any plan.
-ommanders dismounted their knights on occasion as a way to better
control them. This was a popular option with the smaller army that had
little hope in a contest of charges. <ismounted knights bolstered the
fighting power and morale of common foot troops. The dismounted
knights and other foot soldiers fought from behind stakes or other
battlefield constructions designed to minimi+e the impact of cavalry
charges.
An e#ample of undisciplined behavior by knights was the (attle of
-r1cy in 2345. The French army greatly outnumbered the 6nglish
E4/!/// to 2/!///F! having many more mounted knights. The 6nglish
divided into three groups of longbowmen protected by stakes driven
into the ground. (etween the three groups were two groups of
dismounted knights. A third group of dismounted knights was held in
reserve. 0enoese mercenary crossbowmen were sent out by the French
king to shoot into the dismounted 6nglish army while he tried to
organi+e his knights into three divisions. The crossbows had gotten wet!
however! and were ineffective. The French knights ignored their king's
efforts at organi+ation as soon as they saw the enemy and worked
themselves into a fren+y! shouting! ">illG >illG" over and over. &mpatient
with the 0enoese! the French king ordered his knights forward and they
trampled down the crossbowmen in their way. Although the fighting
went on all day! the dismounted 6nglish knights and longbowmen Ewho
had kept their bowstrings dryF defeated the mounted French who
fought as an undisciplined mob.
(y the end of the Middle Ages! heavy cavalry had been reduced to
roughly equal value on the battlefield in comparison to missile and foot
troops. (y this time! the futility of charging well$emplaced and
disciplined infantry was well understood. The rules had changed.
%takes! horse traps! and trenches were routinely employed by armies to
protect against cavalry charges. -harges against massed ranks of
pikemen and archersHgunners left only a pile of broken horses and men.
>nights were forced to fight on foot or wait for the right opportunity to
charge. <evastating charges were still possible! but only when the
enemy was in flight! disorgani+ed! or out from behind his temporary
battlefield defenses.
Missile Troop Tactics
For most of this era missile troops were archers using one of several
types of bow. At first this was the short bow! then the crossbow and
longbow. Archers had the advantage of being able to kill and wound
enemies at range without 'oining in hand$to$hand combat. The value of
these troops was well known in ancient times! but the lessons were
temporarily lost in the <ark Ages. The land$controlling warrior knights
were supreme in the early Middle Ages and their code demanded
hand$to$hand combat with a worthy enemy. >illing with arrows at a
distance was dishonorable to the knights so the ruling class did little to
develop this weapon and use it effectively.
&t became apparent gradually! however! that archers were effective and
very useful! both in sieges and in battle. More and more armies made
room for them! if grudgingly. The decisive victory of ,illiam & at
Hastings in 2/55 may have been won by archery! although his knights
traditionally get the most credit. The Anglo$%a#ons held a hillside and
were so packed into their shield$wall that the 7orman knights had great
difficulty penetrating. The fighting flowed back and forth all day. The
Anglo$%a#ons ventured out of their shield$wall! partly to get at the
7orman archers. ,hen the Anglo$%a#ons came out! they were easily
run down. For some time it seemed that the 7ormans must fail! but
many believe that 7orman archery was winning the battle. A lucky shot
mortally wounded Harold! the Anglo$%a#on king! and the battle ended
soon thereafter.
Foot archers fought in massed formations of hundreds or even
thousands of men. ,hen within a hundred yards of the enemy! both
crossbow and longbow shots could penetrate armor. At this range!
archers shot at individual targets. &t was maddening for the enemy to
take this damage! especially if they could not respond. &n the ideal
situation! the archers disrupted the enemy formation by shooting into it
for some time. The enemy might be safe from cavalry behind stakes! but
it could not block all the arrows or bolts coming in. &f the enemy left its
protection and charged the archers! friendly heavy cavalry would
respond! hopefully in time to save the archers. &f the enemy formation
'ust stood its ground! it might waver eventually to the point that cavalry
could charge effectively.
Archers were actively encouraged and subsidi+ed in 6ngland because
the 6nglish were at a population disadvantage when waging war on the
mainland. ,hen the 6nglish learned how to use large contingents of
bowmen! they began winning battles! even though they were usually
outnumbered. The 6nglish developed the arrow barrage! taking
advantage of the range of the longbow. &nstead of firing at individual
targets! the longbowmen fired into the area occupied by the enemy.
Firing up to 5 shots a minute! 3/// longbowmen could put 2C!///
arrows into a massed enemy formation. The effect of this barrage upon
horses and men was devastating. French knights in the Hundred Bears
,ar spoke of the sky being black with arrows and of the noise of these
missiles in flight.
-rossbowmen became prominent in mainland armies! especially in the
militia and professional forces raised by towns. ,ith a minimum of
training! a crossbowmen became an effective soldier.
(y the fourteenth century the first primitive handguns were appearing
on the battlefield. ,hen these worked! they were even more powerful
than bows.
The difficulty in using archers was protecting them while they shot. To
be effective they had to be fairly close to the enemy. 6nglish
longbowmen carried stakes onto the battlefield that they pounded into
the ground with mallets in front of the spot from which they wished to
shoot. These stakes gave them some protection from enemy cavalry.
They relied on their firepower to fight off enemy archers. They were at
a disadvantage if attacked by enemy foot soldiers. -rossbowmen carried
a large pavise shield into battle. This came with supports and could be
set up in walls! from behind which the men could shoot.
(y the end of the era! crossbowmen and pikemen were working
together in combined formations. The pikes kept enemy hand$to$hand
troops away while the missile troops Ecrossbowmen or handgunnersF
fired into the enemy formations. These mi#ed formations learned how
to move and actually attack. 6nemy cavalry had to withdraw in the face
of a disciplined mi#ed force of pikemen and crossbowmenHgunners. &f
the enemy could not respond with missiles and pikes of their own! the
battle was probably lost.
&nfantry Tactics
The tactic of foot soldiers in the <ark Ages was simply to close with the
enemy and start chopping. The Franks threw their a#es 'ust before
closing to disrupt the enemy. ,arriors relied on strength and ferocity to
win.
The rise of knights put infantry into a temporary eclipse on the
battlefield! mainly because disciplined and well$trained infantry did not
e#ist. The foot soldiers of early medieval armies were mainly peasants
who were poorly armed and trained.
The %a#ons and 9ikings developed a defensive posture called the
shield$wall. The men stood ad'acent and held their long shields together
to form a barrier. This helped to protect them from archers and cavalry!
both of which their armies lacked.
&nfantry underwent a revival in those areas that did not have the
resources to field armies of heavy cavalry$hilly countries like %cotland
and %wit+erland and in the rising towns. *ut of necessity! these two
sectors found ways to field effective armies that contained little or no
cavalry. (oth groups discovered that horses would not charge into a
barrier of bristling stakes or spear points. A disciplined force of
spearmen could stop the elite heavy cavalry of the richer nations and
lords! for a fraction of the cost of a heavy cavalry force.
The schiltron formation was a circle of spearmen that the %cots began
using during their wars for independence around the end of the
thirteenth century Efeatured in the motion picture (raveheartF. They
learned that the schiltron was an effective defensive formation. :obert
(ruce offered battle to the 6nglish knights only in swampy terrain that
greatly impeded the heavy cavalry charge.
The %wiss became renowned for fighting with pikes. They essentially
revived the 0reek phalan# and became very proficient at fighting with
the long pole arms. They formed a square of pikemen. The outer four
ranks held their pikes nearly level! pointing slightly down. This was an
effective barrier against cavalry. The rear ranks used bladed pole arms
to attack enemies that closed with the formation. The %wiss drilled to
the point that they could move in formation relatively quickly. They
turned a defensive formation into an effective attacking formation also.
The response to massed pikemen was artillery that plowed through the
ranks of dense formations. The %panish appear to have first done this
effectively. The %panish also fought the pikemen effectively with sword
and buckler men. These were lightly armed men who could get in
among the pikes and fight effectively with short swords. Their buckler
was a small and handy shield. At the end of the Middle Ages! the
%panish also first e#perimented with the combination of pikemen!
swordsmen! and handgunners in the same formation. This was an
effective force that could take on all arms in varying terrain! on both
defense and attack. At the end of this era the %panish were the most
effective fighting force in 6urope.
-astle <efense
The basic principal of castle defense was to ma#imi+e the danger and
e#posure of any attackers while minimi+ing the same for defenders. A
well$designed castle could be defended effectively by a small force and
hold out for a long period. A stout defense allowed well$supplied
defenders to hold out until the besiegers could be driven away by a
relief force or until the attacker was forced to fall back by lack of
supplies! disease! or losses.
>eep
The keep was a small castle often found within a large castle comple#.
This was a fortified building that often served as the castle lord's
residence. &f the outer walls fell! the defenders could withdraw into the
keep for a final defense. &n the case of many castles! the comple# began
with the keep! which was the original fortification on the site. *ver
time! the comple# might have been e#panded to include an outer wall
and towers as a first line of defense for the keep.
,alls
%tone walls were fireproof and protection against arrows and other
missiles. An enemy could not climb sheer walls without equipment such
as ladders or siege towers. <efenders on top of the walls could shoot
down or throw ob'ects down against attackers. Attackers wholly
e#posed in the open and shooting up were at a great disadvantage
against defenders largely protected and shooting down. The strength
and protection value of castle walls was increased where possible by
building on cliffs or other elevations. 0ates and doors in castle walls
were minimi+ed and given heavy protection.
Towers
At the corners of and perhaps at intervals along a long wall! towers
were placed as strong points. Towers e#tended out beyond the vertical
plane of the wall face! allowing defenders in a tower to shoot along the
face. From a corner tower! defenders could shoot along two different
wall faces. A gate might be protected by towers on each side. %ome
castles began as simple towers and evolved into a greater comple# of
walls! an inner keep! and additional towers.
(attlements
,alls and towers were often improved to provide greater protection for
defenders. A platform behind the top of the wall allowed defenders to
stand and fight. 0aps were built into the upper wall so defenders could
shoot out or fight while partially covered. These gaps might have
wooden shutters for additional protection. Thin firing slits might be
placed in the upper walls from which archers could shoot while almost
completely protected.
<uring an assault! covered wooden platforms Ecalled hourdsF were
e#tended out from the top of the walls or from towers. These allowed
defenders to shoot directly down on enemies below the walls! or drop
stones or boiling liquids on them! while being protected. Hides on top
of the hourds were kept wet to prevent fire. %tone versions of hourds!
called machicolations! might be built over gates or other key points.
<itches! Moats! and <rawbridges
To accentuate the height advantage of the walls! a ditch might be dug
at their base! completely around the castle. ,here possible! this ditch
was filled with water to form a moat. (oth ditches and moats made
direct assaults against walls more difficult. Armored men risked
drowning if they fell into even relatively shallow water. Moats made
undermining a castle's walls difficult because of the risk of the mine
collapsing during construction and drowning the miners. &n some cases!
attackers had to first drain the moat before moving forward with an
assault. Then the ditch had to be filled in places to allow siege towers or
ladders to go up against the wall.
<rawbridges across a moat or ditch allowed the castle occupants to
come and go when necessary. &n time of danger! the drawbridge was
raised! reestablishing the ditch and sealing the walls. (ridges were
raised by a mechanism within the castle that was protected from the
attackers.
)ortcullis
A portcullis was a strong grating that slid down the walls of the castle
gate passageway to block the entrance. The gate of a castle was inside a
gatehouse! which was a strong point in the castle defense. The
passageway of the gate might be through a tunnel in the gatehouse. The
tunnel was blocked by one or more portcullises! in the middle or at the
ends. The winding mechanism that raised the portcullis was in the top
of the gatehouse and heavily guarded. The portcullis itself was usually a
grating of heavy timbers or iron. <efenders and attackers could both
shoot or stab through the grating.
(arbican
A strong castle had both an outer gate and inner gate. (etween the two
was an open area called the barbican. This was surrounded by walls and
designed to be a trap for any attackers who got through the outside
gate. *nce inside the barbican! attackers could only go back out the
outer gate or fight their way through the inner gate. &n the meantime
they would be targets for arrows and other missiles in the open.
<efenders
A relatively small number of men could guard a castle in peacetime. At
night any drawbridge was raised and the portcullis was lowered!
effectively locking the door. ?nder threat of an assault! a much larger
force was needed to defend a castle.
-ompetent archers and crossbowmen were needed to shoot from the
walls and towers at attackers making an assault or 'ust preparing for
one by attempting to drain the moat or fill the ditch. 6ach attacking
casualty lowered the morale and fighting power of the attackers. Heavy
losses from missile fire could cause the attackers to break off.
&f the attackers managed to actually close for hand$to$hand fighting! a
strong fighting force of swordsmen was needed to hold them off. Men
were needed to throw down rocks or pour hot liquids from the hourds.
Men were needed to make repairs to damaged wall sections or put out
fires started by flaming missiles. An aggressive defense looked for
opportunities to sortie out from the castle and raid the besieging army.
A quick raid that burned a siege tower or trebuchet under construction
delayed an assault and lowered the morale of the attackers.
&n times of emergency! local peasants were enlisted to help with the
defense. Although untrained as soldiers and not skilled usually with the
bow or sword! they could help with many of the other tasks.
The -astellation of 6urope
(eginning in the ninth century! local strongmen began dotting the
landscape of 6urope with castles. These were first of simple design and
construction but evolved into stone strongholds. Many of these
belonged to kings or the vassals of kings! but the ma'ority appear to
have been built out of self$interest by local nobles. They were 'ustified
by barbarian threats! but the nobles employed them to establish local
control. This was possible because 6urope had no strategic defenses and
no strong central authorities at the time.
An e#ample of the castellation of 6urope was the )oitou region of
France. There were three castles there before 9iking raids began in the
ninth century and 38 by the eleventh century. This pattern was
repeated across 6urope. -astles could be built quickly. ?ntil the
appearance of cannon! castle defenders had a great advantage over any
attackers.
,idespread castle construction and the maintenance of large bodies of
soldiers for their defense resulted not in peace and mutual defense
against invaders but incessant warfare.
The 6volution of the -astle
The earliest castles were of a type called the "motte and bailey." The
motte was a broad! leveled mound of earth! typically =/ feet high. A
large wooden tower was built atop the motte. (elow the motte was an
enclosure within a wooden palisade called the bailey. Here were placed
storehouses! stock pens! and huts. (oth the motte and bailey were small
islands surrounded by a water$filled ditch! e#cavated to construct the
motte. A bridge and steep narrow path connected the two parts of the
castle. At a time of danger! the defensive forces withdrew into the tower
if the bailey could not be held.
&n the eleventh century! stone began replacing earth and wood in castle
construction. The wooden tower atop the motte was replaced with a
round stone fortification called a shell keep. This grew into a tower or
keep. A curtain wall of stone enclosed the old bailey and the keep! and
was in turn surrounded by a ditch or moat. A single fortified gate
protected by a drawbridge and portcullis led into the castle. The
best$known e#ample of a basic keep$type castle is the original Tower of
ondon! built by ,illiam the -onqueror. This large square structure
stood by itself at first and was whitewashed to draw attention. ater
kings improved this castle with the curtain walls and other
improvements seen today.
-astle design advanced when crusaders to the 6ast returned with news
of the fortifications and siege engines they had encountered in their
travels. -oncentric castles were designed that enclosed a central keep
within two or more rings of walls. ,alls were strengthened first with
square towers and then with round towers. The angled corners on
square towers were easy to shear off! making the whole tower very
vulnerable. :ound towers were more resistant to attack. 6mbattlements
were added at the top of walls and towers to make fighting from above
more effective.
-annon appeared in 6urope in the early fourteenth century! but
effective siege artillery was not used until the middle fifteenth century.
-astle designs changed in response to the power of cannon. High
perpendicular walls were replaced by low sloping walls. (y the middle
of the fifteenth century castles were in decline because of the rising
power of kings. &n the eleventh century ,illiam the -onqueror claimed
ownership of all castles in 6ngland to get them out of the hands of
nobles. (y the thirteenth century it was necessary to ask a king's
permission to build a castle or strengthen an e#isting one. >ings worked
to demilitari+e castles to minimi+e their usefulness to potential rebels.
-astles were abandoned as living quarters for nobles and fell into ruin.
Fortified towns were increasingly important because the wealth of the
land had shifted to the cities.
-astle -onstruction
-onstruction of a castle might take less than a year or up to ./ years to
complete. For several centuries castle$building was an important
industry. :enowned master masons were in high demand and gangs of
castle builders moved from site to site. Towns wishing to build
cathedrals had to compete for skilled workers with lords wishing to
build castles.
-onstruction of (eaumaris -astle in 7orth ,ales began in 2.8=. The
design was symmetrical! with no weak points. At the height of its
building! it required the effort of 3/ blacksmiths! 4// masons! and .///
laborers. aborers did most of the e#cavation! carrying! lifting!
well$digging! and stone$breaking. This particular castle was never
completed. The massive castle at -onway! built in ,ales by 6dward & of
6ngland! took 4/ months to build.
-astle walls were masonry shells filled with stone rubble and flint
mi#ed with mortar. ,all width ranged from 5 to 25 feet.
-astles
Fortifications and earthworks had been employed for defense since the
%tone Age. True castles did not appear in 6urope until the ninth
century! however! partly in response to 9iking raids and partly as a
manifestation of decentrali+ed feudal political power. From the ninth
through the fifteenth century! thousands of castles were constructed
throughout 6urope. A 28/= census in France counted more than 2/!///
castle remains in that nation alone.
<uring the feudal period! local nobles provided law and order! as well
as protection from marauders like the 9ikings. -astles were built by the
nobles for protection and to provide a secure base from which local
military forces could operate. The obvious defensive value of a castle
obscures the fact that it was primarily an offensive instrument. &t
functioned as a base for professional soldiers! mainly cavalry! which
controlled the nearby countryside. At a time when the centrali+ed
authority of kings was weak for a number of reasons! a network of
castles and the military forces they supported provided relative political
stability.
-apturing -astles
-apturing or defending strongholds was a common military activity
during the late Middle Ages because of the proliferation of castles and
fortified towns and their strategic importance. Although a small force
could hold a castle! it took a large force to take one. The attacker had to
have a sufficiently large army to control the countryside around a
castle! fight off any relieving force! and assault the stronghold directly
or at least hold the siege tight. This was an e#pensive proposition.
As an army approached the castle! the locals usually withdrew inside!
taking anything of value with them! especially food and weapons. &f the
siege was e#pected to be a long one! however! peasants not capable of
fighting might be refused entrance to conserve food. There were many
recorded instances of people being thrown out of towns under siege to
preserve food. ,hen 6nglish king Henry 9 besieged the city of :ouen!
the defenders e#pelled the weak and the poor to conserve food. The
6nglish refused to allow these unfortunates through their lines. *ld
men! women! and children huddled between the city and the 6nglish
army for months! scrabbling for scraps and dying of starvation! until
surrender was negotiated.
As an army approached! the possibility of surrender and terms might be
negotiated immediately! especially if the castle or town was
undermanned. The attackers weighed carefully the chance of assaulting
the stronghold if negotiations failed. &f a quick assault was thrown back
or was 'udged too risky! the attackers sealed off the castle and began a
siege. *nce siege artillery had fired at the city! the siege was officially
underway. To withdraw without good reason was dishonorable and
unacceptable in most cases.
A large siege was something like a social event. The fifteenth$century
siege of 7euss lasted only a few months! but the attackers built up a
large camp that included taverns and tennis courts. 7obles taking part
in sieges made themselves comfortable! often bringing along wives and
their households. Merchants and craftsmen from neighboring towns
rushed forward to set up shop and provide services.
%iege Formalities
The reality of warfare during this period was that castles and towns
were very rarely captured by assault. Assaults were usually an act of
desperation or made much easier by acts of treachery or stealth. ?nless
the garrison was greatly under strength! it was 'ust too costly in lives to
assault. &t was much more typical to orchestrate a siege according to the
prevailing rules of warfare and honor and take the castle with relatively
little loss. &t would be treason for the defenders to surrender without a
fight so the siege was maintained and the castle walls were battered. &f
the castle's owner was not inside! his deputy in charge! called a
castellan or constable! could surrender the castle with honor after so
many days if no relief force had appeared. -astellans often requested a
contract that specified e#actly what were their obligations and under
what circumstances they would not be punished for surrendering.
&n those rare instances where surrender was not an option or an option
disdained! it was the accepted policy that little mercy was shown after a
successful assault. -ommon soldiers and even civilians inside might be
massacred and the castle or town was looted. -aptured knights were
kept alive! usually! and held for ransom. All attackers received a share
of the spoils. )ractical application of this policy was a further
inducement for defenders to negotiate surrender after a reasonable
period of siege. >ing Henry 9 of 6ngland took the city of -aen after a
long siege in 242A. He then allowed his army to sack the city from one
end to the other in payment for the defender's stout resistance. 6very
man in the city who was not a priest was killed. At his ne#t stop! the
castle of (onneville! the defenders agreed to surrender the keys after
seven days with no relief! even though both sides understood there was
no prospect for relief.
The >rak des -hevaliers was the most famous of the -rusader castles in
the Middle 6ast and still stands impressively in modern %yria. &t was
defended by the >nights Hospitaller during the era of the -rusades and
withstood over a do+en sieges and attacks over 23/ years before falling
finally to 6gyptian Arabs in 2.A2. The story of its capture was unusual
but typical in the sense that the defenders did not fight to the death.
The Arabs disdained an attack on the main gate of the >rak des
-hevaliers because breaking through there led into a series of deadly
narrow passages and on to a second! even stronger gate. They attacked
the south wall instead by undermining the great tower at the southwest
corner. This got them inside the outer curtain wall. (efore attacking the
even stronger central keep! however! they tried a ruse. A carrier pigeon
was sent into the castle with a message from the Hospitaller's grand
master! ordering the garrison to surrender. *utnumbered and with no
hope of relief! the defenders accepted the command of the message!
understanding it was a fake! and surrendered the great castle with
honor.
Mines
The key problem to taking a castle or fortified town was overcoming
the walls that prevented entry and protected the defenders. *ne
solution to this problem was undermining a section of the wall so that it
collapsed. This was only possible before castles had moats or after the
moat had been drained. &t was not possible to undermine when the wall
was built on solid stone.
The miners dug a tunnel up to the wall and then along it under its
foundation. The tunnel was supported by timber supports that gradually
took on the load of the wall overhead from the earth that was dug out
and removed. At a prearranged time! the timbers in the tunnel were set
on fire. As the timbers burned the support for the wall overhead
disappeared gradually and a section of the wall collapsed! if all went as
planned. The collapsed wall created an opening for a direct assault by
soldiers into the castle.
Mines were laborious and time$consuming. <efenders who became
aware of the tunneling reinforced the threatened wall with a secondary
wall so that the collapse did not completely open the defenses.
<efenders were also known to countermine! digging their own tunnels
under the walls trying to intercept the enemy tunnel. ,hen the tunnels
encountered each other! actual fighting broke out underground.
%iege
The besieging army set up positions around the castle to prevent escape
or sorties by the soldiers inside. The nearby farms and villages were
taken over by the besiegers. )atrols were set to bring notice of any
relieving army approaching and to forage for food. The leaders of the
attackers e#amined the situation and decided whether to simply besiege
the castle or to actively prepare to attack it. &f the castle was to be
simply starved into surrender! the attackers concentrated on keeping
the defenders caged in and preventing any relief force from lifting the
siege. -hoosing how best to attack a castle might involve any of the
following optionsI
J ?ndermining a part of the wall.
J %electing a wall section to breach by battering it
with hurled stones Eor with cannons! although
these were not effective until around 24=/!
near the end of this periodF.
J %electing a part of the ditch Eand moat! if
presentF to fill.
J (uilding siege towers and ladders to scale the
walls.
J -hoosing a gate or other section to batter with
a ram.
The speed of work on assault preparations was in proportion to the
urgency for taking the castle! the prospects of surrender! and the
manpower available. &f the attackers had ample supplies of food! no
relief was e#pected! and the defenders were likely to surrender after
their honor had been satisfied! work on assault preparations might be
little more than a show. &f the attacker's supplies were short! relief was
e#pected any day! or the defenders were obstinate! preparations might
go forward day and night.
,hen preparations were complete! the defenders were given one last
chance to surrender before the assault.
%iege 6quipment
%iege equipment was used to get past the walls and other defenses of
the castle so that the superior strength of the attacking army could be
brought to bear against the defenders at a minimum disadvantage. Most
equipment was designed to knock down or breach the walls. &n addition
to the simple scaling ladder! siege equipment most commonly used
during the Middle Ages included the trebuchet! the mangonel! the siege
tower! the battering ram! and the pavise.
*nce a breach was made or a siege tower put in place! a volunteer force
of soldiers led the assault. This force came to be known as the "forlorn
hope!" because of the casualties they were e#pected to take. (ut the
successful survivors of this force were usually the most highly rewarded
with promotion! titles! and loot.
The trebuchet was a large catapult powered by a heavy counterweight!
usually a large bo# of rocks. The long throwing arm was pulled down
against the mass of the counterweight and a large stone was loaded.
,hen the arm was released! the heavy weight dropped down! pulling
the throwing arm up! and flinging the large stone missile in a high
arcing tra'ectory. Missiles thrown by this weapon plunged downward
and were best used to smash the tops of towers! embattlements! and
hourds. &t was difficult to damage sheer vertical walls with the
trebuchet unless the missiles came down right on top of the wall. The
trebuchet was assembled out of bow shot and defended against a
possible sortie by the defenders seeking to burn the weapon. The
trebuchet was useful for smashing wooden roofs and then setting the
rubble on fire with incendiary missiles.
The mangonel was a different type of catapult powered by twisted ropes
or strips of hide. A ratchet gear twisted the ropes! building up tension.
,hen released! the ropes spun! flinging the throwing arm forward.
,hen the arm hit a heavy restraining bar! any missile in the basket at
the end of the arm was thrown forward. The restraining bar could be
ad'usted to change the tra'ectory of the missile. Mangonels had a flat
tra'ectory! in comparison to the trebuchet! but could generate the same
power. &t could take a large number of mangonel shots to do any
appreciable damage to a wall. The thrown missiles and pieces of the
broken wall helped to fill in the ditch! however! creating rubble pile
which attackers could climb.
%iege towers were moved close to the walls and then a gangplank was
dropped from the tower to the top of the wall. %oldiers in the tower
could then advance across the gangplank and engage the defenders in
hand$to$hand combat. %uch a tower was often huge. &t had to be
protected with wet hides to prevent being burned. &t was ponderous to
move because of its weight. &t had to be either pushed forward or pulled
forward against pulleys previously mounted on stakes near the base of
the castle wall. The ground had to be prepared ahead of time! usually
with a roadway of flat wooden planking on heavily packed earth to ease
the tower's movement. A fighting area on top of the tower let archers
shoot down into the castle as the tower approached. %oldiers mounted
the stairs inside the tower once it was close. Assaults from a siege tower
were never a surprise to the defender because so much preparation had
to be done. The defenders took steps to build up the threatened part of
the wall or prevent the gangplank from dropping. They attempted to
grapple the tower as it approached and pull it onto its side. ?p to the
last moment of the assault! siege engines would fire on the target
section of wall to disrupt the defender's preparations to receive the
assault. &f the first group of attackers from the tower got over! a steady
stream of men would follow over the gangplank to complete the capture
of the castle.
A battering ram had a large pole with an iron head that was slung
inside a moveable housing and rolled up to a wall section or gate. *nce
up to the wall! the pole was swung back and forth against the wall. The
force of the blows broke through the wooden planking of the door or
stone wall! creating an opening for attack. The roof of the ram was
covered with wet hides to prevent burning. *perating battering was
dangerous work. 6nemies above dropped large rocks! boiling water! or
burning fat on the ram! attempting to destroy it or kill the men
operating it. 6ven when a gate or drawbridge was smashed! there were
usually several portcullises and the gatehouse to be fought through. At
the siege of Tyre during the winter of 2222$222.! the defending Arabs
came up with an ingenious defense against the ram. They threw down
gappling hooks! grabbed the ram! and pulled it away from the wall.
Time after time they were able to disrupt the use of the ram.
Attacking archers and crossbowmen took shelter on the ground behind
large wooden shields called pavises. A narrow firing slit at the top of
the pavise allowed the man behind to shoot up at the defenders.
6ngland's >ing :ichard &! the ionheart! received a mortal shoulder
wound from a crossbow bolt when looking around the side of a pavise.
Armies of the <ark Ages
The 0ermanic tribes that overran the :oman 6mpire at the start of the
Middle Ages fought primarily on foot with a#es and swords! while
wearing little armor other than perhaps helmets and shields. They were
organi+ed into war bands under the leadership of a chief. They were
fierce warriors but fought in undisciplined mobs. The disciplined
:oman legions had great success against the 0ermanic tribes for
centuries! in part because emotional armies are usually very fragile.
,hen the :oman legions declined in quality at the empire's end!
however! the 0ermanic tribes were able to push across the frontier.
7ot all 0ermanic tribes fought on foot. 6#ceptions were the 0oths! who
had adapted to horses when they settled previously north of the (lack
%ea. (oth the 9isigoths and *strogoths learned about cavalry by being
in contact with the 6astern :oman 6mpire south of the <anube and
barbarian horsemen from Asia. The 6astern :oman armies put a greater
emphasis on cavalry because of their conflicts with mounted barbarians!
the )arthians! and the )ersians.
Following the fall of :ome! most fighting in 6urope for the ne#t few
centuries involved clashes of foot soldiers. *ne e#ception might have
been the battles of (ritain's Arthur against the invading %a#ons!
although we have no evidence that his success was due to using cavalry.
Arthur may have halted %a#on progress in (ritain for =/ years! perhaps
because of cavalry or the use of disciplined troops. Another e#ception
was the (y+antine army that recaptured 7orth Africa from the 9andals
and almost restored &taly to 6astern :oman control in the si#th century.
The strength of the (y+antine army of this period was cavalry. The
(y+antines benefited also from both superior leadership and an
understanding of tactics that the barbarians lacked.
Fighting in these first centuries rarely involved groups that could be
described as armies. They were the same war bands as before! small by
(y+antine or Asian standards and employing limited tactics or strategy.
The main military activities were raids to obtain loot in the form of
food! livestock! weapons! and slaves. Aggressive tribes e#panded by
devastating the food production of enemies! starving them out! and
enslaving the survivors. (attles were mainly clashes of war bands!
fighting hand to hand with a#es and swords. They fought as mobs! not
the disciplined formations typical of the :omans. They used shields and
helmets and wore some armor. eather armor was common; only
chieftains and elites wore chain mail.
&n the early eighth century! 9isgothic %pain fell to the warriors of &slam!
many of whom fought as light cavalry. At the same time! nomadic
Magyars from the Hungarian plains increased their mounted raids on
western 6urope. &n A3. a Frankish infantry army was able to defeat a
Muslim cavalry raid near )oitiers! ending Muslim northward e#pansion.
-harles Martel! warlord of the Franks! was impressed by the Moorish
cavalry and began mounting part of his army. This conversion
continued later in the century under the great king of the Franks!
-harlemagne. Frankish heavy cavalry was the genesis of the mounted
knight that came to typify medieval warfare.
Annually for 3/ years! -harlemagne conducted military campaigns that
e#tended the si+e of his empire. The Frankish army consisted of both
infantry and armored cavalry! but the cavalry was his most valuable
force and the part that got the most notice. &t could move quickly and
strike hard against foes fighting mainly on foot. -harlemagne's
campaigns were economic raids! burning! looting! and devastating
enemies into submission. He fought very few battles against organi+ed
opposition.
The 9ikings fought e#clusively on foot! e#cept that it was their habit to
gather horses upon landing and use them to raid farther inland. Their
raids began in the late eighth century and ended in the eleventh
century. The descendants of 9iking raiders that became the 7ormans of
northwestern France adapted quickly to the use of horses and became
some of the most successful warriors of the late Middle Ages.
&n the early tenth century! the 0ermans began developing the use of
cavalry under *tto &! both as a rapid response force against 9iking raids
and to repel mounted barbarian raids from the 6ast.
(y the end of the tenth century! heavy cavalry was an important
component of most 6uropean armies e#cept in Anglo$%a#on 6ngland!
-eltic lands E&reland! ,ales! and %cotlandF! and %candinavia.
6conomic :evitali+ation
At the start of the <ark Ages! 7orthern 6urope was deeply forested. (y
2/// A<! much of the forest was gone and most of the rest was going!
replaced by farmland and pasture. The soil was generally e#cellent! a
loess of finely ground rock deposited during the last receding &ce Age.
Two key inventions accelerated the deforestation of 6urope and led to
increasing food production. The first was the horse collar that
originated in -hina and gradually came west. The improved collar fit
across a horse's breast! rather than its windpipe! allowing it to pull
much heavier loads without choking. The second invention was the
heavy wheeled plow! which was needed to cut into the deep soils and
e#tensive root systems of the old forests. <ramatic increases in food
production were the foundation of population growth and economic
revitali+ation in 6urope.
&ncreasing population! no longer needed on the manors! migrated to the
towns that were already growing in response to the needs for larger
markets. Food surpluses and the products of new industries
Ecloth$making! shipbuilding! and tool$making! for e#ampleF traded in
the new markets and trade fairs. >ings encouraged the growth of towns
because residents were usually allied with the central authority rather
than local feudal lords. -iti+ens of towns paid ta#es! not feudal service.
,ithin towns there appeared a new middle class that supported itself by
trade! industrial production! and lending money. Merchants came to
dominate the town governments! growing both rich and powerful.
-raftsmen and merchants organi+ed themselves into associations that
were called guilds. These associations controlled prices and production!
ensured a high standard of service or manufacturing! and organi+ed the
training of crafts through apprenticeships. These controls ensured both
a high$quality product and a high$quality of life for guild members.
0uild members often concentrated in one part of town! such as
Threadneedle %treet and &ronmongers ane in ondon. 0uilds formed an
important power block within the political structure of the towns.
&ncreased trade led to a new boom in manufacturing. (oth led to the
rise of banking! centered mostly in northern &taly in the thirteenth
century. Fledgling businesses needed money to get started and to
function efficiently. Money acted as a medium of e#change and
standard of value and was necessary for moving beyond an inefficient
barter economy. &taly had cash surpluses from its lucrative
Mediterranean trade! especially with the evant. The gold florin of
Florence became the most popular coin of the late Middle Ages.
The Feudal -ontract
Feudalism was an agreement between two nobles! one the lord and one
the vassal. The vassal pledged an oath of fealty EfaithfulnessF to the lord
and agreed to carry out duties in his behalf. The most important duties
were usually military service Enormally limited to 4/ days per yearF!
providing soldiers to the lord's army! and providing revenue to the lord.
The lord agreed to protect the vassal with the army at his command and
to provide the vassal with the means of making a living. The vassal was
given control of a fief that was usually a large holding of land! but he
could also be assigned the 'ob of ta# collector! coiner! customs agent! or
some other responsibility that created revenue. A lord with many
vassals thus had steady sources of revenue and an army. A feudal
contract was made for life. A lord could take back a fief if the vassal
failed in his duties. &t was much harder for a vassal to leave a lord.
<uring the early Middle Ages fiefs were not inherited! which was to the
advantage of the lord. The more fiefs he had to give out! the harder his
vassals would work to earn them. As the Middle Ages progressed!
vassals found opportunities to make their fiefs inheritable! leaving the
lords fewer fiefs to pass out as rewards.
*nly nobles and knights were allowed to take the oath of fealty. &n
practice most nobles were both vassals and lords! fitting in somewhere
between the king and the lowest knight of rank. Feudalism was never
neatly organi+ed! however. 9assals might be more powerful than lords.
The dukes of 7ormandy! controlling much of France and all of 6ngland!
were more powerful than the kings of France who were their lords.
9assals might have several lords! causing problems when different lords
wanted the vassal to provide a service. The senior lord! or liege lord!
was usually given preference. 7obles also discovered that if they were
strong enough they could ignore the rules of feudalism and attack
neighbors to get what they wanted. %uch private wars were endemic
throughout the late Middle Ages
Feudalism
The predominant economic and political structure of the Middle Ages
was feudalism. This system evolved in response to a breakdown in
central authority and a rise in social chaos following the end of :oman
rule. A hierarchy of strongmen in allegiance replaced the :oman system
of emperor! senate! province! city! and town.
The <ecline of Feudalism
)olitical -hanges
(y the beginning of the late Middle Ages! western 6urope had been
divided into feudal holdings of various si+es. >ings atop feudal
hierarchies did not e#ercise a strong central authority and nations
e#isted as cultural groups! not political entities. (y the end of the late
Middle Ages! strong central authority controlled 6ngland! %pain!
)ortugal! and France. )olitical power in those areas had been wrested
away from the local feudal lords.
,illiam the -onqueror established the first of the strong 6uropean
monarchies after winning the throne of 6ngland in 2/55. Following his
victory at Hastings and five more years of fighting to break remaining
resistance! he began taking steps to consolidate his power. He kept
one$si#th of 6ngland as royal land. Half of the rest was given as fiefs to
7orman barons who were his direct vassals. He gave one$quarter of the
land to the -hurch and the remainder was divided among the
Anglo$%a#ons. The entire feudal hierarchy was forced to swear fealty to
him as liege lord. He claimed ownership of all castles! prohibited wars
between lords! and made royal coinage the only legal money. These
were important first steps in the decline of feudalism! although they
could not always be enforced! especially by later kings of lesser ability
than ,illiam.
&n the twelfth century! 6ngland's >ing Henry && created the chancery
and e#chequer! the beginnings of a civil service. The chancery kept
records of laws and royal transactions; the e#chequer was the treasury.
(oth offices were not hereditary! making it easy to remove unwanted
officials. The staffs of the new civil service were paid a salary rather
than given a fief! making them dependent only on the king.
&n 2.2= the unpopular >ing Dohn of 6ngland was forced to sign the
Magna -arta! a feudal document that made the king sub'ect to the laws
of the land and required that the barons have a voice in the king's
decision through a 0reat -ouncil. ,ording of the Magna -arta led to
important interpretations in later centuries! including the concept of "no
ta#ation without representation." ,hen a later 6nglish king ignored the
Magna -arta! the barons sei+ed power in 2.54 and ruled temporarily
through an e#panded 0reat -ouncil called the )arliament. The new
)arliament included not only the barons and high$ranking churchmen
but also representatives from the large towns.
Although this parliamentary government was short$lived E2= monthsF!
)arliament itself could not be suppressed or ignored. From this period
on! only )arliament could repeal laws it had passed. 7o ta#es could be
imposed without its approval. ,hen kings needed money in the short
term Eduring the Hundred Bears ,ar! for e#ampleF they were often
forced by )arliament to concede more power in e#change. )arliament
and the civil service continued to grow in importance! and they proved
capable of running the country! regardless of the current king's ability
or any temporary rebellion by the nobility.
,hile the king! civil service! and )arliament were pushing down on the
power of barons from above! pressure was also rising from the bottom
of the feudal hierarchy. %everal factors worked toward freeing the serfs
from their contracts with the lords! including increasing town
populations! cessation of barbarian raids! and a fearful plague that
struck 6urope in the fourteenth century.
The (lack <eath
The plague that became known as the (lack <eath struck 6urope
suddenly and with devastating effect in the middle fourteenth century.
&t moved west from -entral Asia! appearing in the (lack %ea area in
2345. &t spread southwest into the Mediterranean and then up and
around the 7orth Atlantic -oast and into the (altic. (y 234C it was in
%pain and )ortugal! by 2348 in 6ngland and &reland! by 23=2 in
%weden! and by 23=3 in the (altic %tates and :ussia. *nly remote and
sparsely populated areas were spared. (etween a third and a half of the
population of 6urope! the Middle 6ast! 7orth Africa! and &ndia died!
based on modern estimates of the loss.
The (lack )lague was probably a variety of the bubonic plague! a
bacterial infection still encountered today and still dangerous. The
bacteria were carried in the saliva of fleas that had sucked the blood of
infected rats. The fleas 'umped to human hosts when infected rats died
and the bacteria spread rapidly in the human blood stream. The plague
took its name from its most hideous symptom$large black and painful
swellings that oo+ed blood and pus. 9ictims developed a high fever and
became delirious. Most died within 4C hours! but a small minority were
able to fight off the infection and survive.
6ntire towns were depopulated and the social relation between serf and
lord fell apart. )eople who could farm or make things were valuable.
The move to cities accelerated once the plague had passed.
The Advent of 0unpowder
The -hinese had gunpowder by the eleventh century and made some
military use of it to propel rockets. These were more weapons of terror
than useful missile weapons! however. The -hinese also e#perimented
with fireworks. They did not reali+e the potential of gunpowder as an
e#plosive or propellant for missile weapons.
0unpowder gradually worked its way to the west where 6uropeans
found much more destructive uses for it. The oldest surviving artwork
from 6urope that portrays a gunpowder weapon appeared in 23.5. This
primitive cannon was loaded with a spear of some sort! not a
cannonball. 6uropeans had been e#perimenting with gunpowder for the
previous half$century. The oldest surviving description of the formula
for gunpowder appeared in 2.5/ and was attributed to an 6nglish friar
named :oger (acon. (y 234/ cannonballs of lead! iron! and stone were
being used. The 6nglish had cannons on the battlefield at -r1cy in
2345! but there is no mention in the battle accounts of their usefulness.
-annons
&t took several centuries of e#perimentation before gunpowder weapons
became truly useful. *ne difficulty was developing gunpowder that
ignited quickly! uniformly! and powerfully. Another was designing
suitable cannons that would not burst. )oor manufacturing techniques
plagued early cannons! and it was almost as dangerous to serve them as
to be shot at by them. >ing Dames && of %cotland! for e#ample! was
killed by an e#ploding cannon in 245/.
-annon and gunpowder technologies were sufficiently advanced by the
middle of the fifteenth century that they were recogni+ed as important
weapons. This was made clear in 24=3 when huge siege bombards
firing massive stone cannonballs battered the walls of -onstantinople.
Although the pro#imate cause of the fall of -onstantinople was a small
gate being left open! the bombardment would have eventually made a
direct assault possible.
-annons of the Middle Ages were used in sieges to batter walls and on
battlefields to fire into massed ranks of the enemy. Their ability to
batter sheer vertical walls led to refinements in castle$building. ow
sloping walls replaced high vertical walls. The usefulness of cannon on
the battlefield was limited during this period because the cannons were
so ponderous. &t was difficult to move them into new positions during
the action.
Handguns
&llustrations of various types of handguns appeared around 23=/. These
were primitive weapons consisting of a hollow tube blocked at one end
and a hole in the side near the blocked end for igniting the powder. A
slow match Ea slow$burning cordF was placed in the hole to ignite the
powder and fire the ball previously loaded down the barrel. There was
little use in attempting to aim the early handguns. They were effective
only when fired in volleys by many men at massed targets. (y 24=/
handguns were being used by most of the advanced 6uropean armies.
(ows and crossbows continued in use as infantry missile weapons
through the si#teenth century! however! because they were still
ine#pensive and effective.
The :ise of >nights
(y the time of -harlemagne! mounted warriors had become the elite
military units of the Franks and this innovation spread across 6urope.
Fighting from a horse was most glorious because the mounted man rode
into battle! moved quickly! and trampled down lower$class enemies on
foot. ,hen cavalry faced cavalry! the charge at speed and resulting
violent contact was e#hilarating. Fighting while mounted was most
prestigious because of the high cost of horses! weapons! and armor.
*nly wealthy individuals! or the retainers of the wealthy! could fight
mounted.
>ings of the late <ark Ages had little money with which to pay for large
contingents of e#pensive cavalry. ,arriors were made vassals and given
fiefs of land. They were e#pected to use their profits from the land to
pay for horses and equipment. &n most cases! vassals also supported
groups of professional soldiers. At a time when central authority was
weak and communications poor! the vassal! aided by his retainers! was
responsible for law and order within the fief. &n return for his fief! the
vassal agreed to provide military service to his lord. &n this way! high
lords and kings were able to raise armies when desired. The elites of
these armies were the mounted vassals.
As the Middle Ages progressed! the elite mounted warriors of western
6urope became known as knights. A code of behavior evolved! called
chivalry! which detailed how they should conduct themselves. They
were obsessed with honor! both at war and at peace! although mainly
when dealing with their peers! not the commoners and peasants who
constituted the bulk of the population. >nights became the ruling class!
controlling the land from which all wealth derived. The aristocrats were
noble originally because of their status and prestige as the supreme
warriors in a violent world. ater their status and prestige were based
mainly on heredity! and the importance of being a warrior declined.
-hivalry
,hen first used! the term "chivalry" meant horsemanship. The warrior
elite of the Middle Ages distinguished themselves from the peasants and
clergy and each other by their skill as horsemen and warriors. Fast and
strong horses! beautiful and efficient weapons! and well$made armor
were the status symbols of the day.
(y the twelfth century! chivalry had come to mean an entire way of life.
The basic rules of the chivalric code were the followingI
J )rotect women and the weak.
J -hampion 'ustice against in'ustice and evil.
J ove the homeland.
J <efend the -hurch! even at the risk of death.
&n practice! knights and aristocrats ignored the code of chivalry when it
suited them. Feuds between nobles and fights over land took precedent
over any code. The 0ermanic tribal custom that called for a chieftain's
property to be split among his sons! rather than pass to the eldest! often
triggered wars among brothers for the spoils. An e#ample of this was
the conflict between -harlemagne's grandsons. The Middle Ages were
plagued with such civil wars in which the big losers were usually the
peasants.
&n the late Middle Ages! kings created orders of chivalry! which were
e#clusive organi+ations of high$ranking knights that swore allegiance to
their king and each other. (ecoming a member of chivalric order was
e#tremely prestigious! marking a man as one of the most important of
the realm. &n 234A during the Hundred Bears ,ar! 6dward &&& of
6ngland founded the *rder of the 0arter! still in e#istence today. This
order consisted of the .= highest$ranking knights of 6ngland and was
founded to ensure their loyalty to the king and dedication to victory in
the war.
The *rder of the 0olden Fleece was established by )hilip the 0ood of
(urgundy in 243/ and became the richest and most powerful order in
6urope. ouis K& of France established the *rder of %t. Michael to
control his most important nobles. The *rders of -alatrava! %antiago!
and Alcantara were founded to drive the Moors out of %pain. They were
united under Ferdinand of Aragon! whose marriage to &sabella of -astile
set the foundation for a single %panish kingdom. He eventually became
master of the three orders! although they remained separate.
(ecoming a >night
At the age of A or C! boys of the noble class were sent to live with a
great lord as a page. )ages learned basic social skills from the women of
the lord's household and began basic training in the use of weapons and
horsemanship. Around the age of 24 the youth became a squire! a
knight in training. %quires were assigned to a knight who continued the
youth's education. The squire was a general companion and servant to
the knight. The duties of the squire included polishing armor and
weapons Eprone to rustF! helping his knight dress and undress! looking
after his belongings! and even sleeping across his doorway as a guard.
At tournaments and in battle! the squire assisted his knight as needed.
He brought up replacement weapons and horses! treated wounds!
brought a wounded knight out of danger! or made sure of a decent
burial if needed. &n many cases the squire went into battle with his
knight and fought at his side. A knight avoided fighting a squire on the
other side! if possible! seeking instead a knight of rank similar to or
higher than his own. %quires! on the other hand! sought to engage
enemy knights! seeking to gain glory by killing or capturing an enemy
knight of high rank.
&n addition to martial training! squires built up their strength through
games! learned to at least read! if not write! and studied music! dancing!
and singing.
(y the age of .2! a squire was eligible to become a knight. %uitable
candidates were "knighted" by a lord or other knight of high standing.
The ceremony for becoming a knight was simple at first! usually being
"dubbed" on the shoulder with a sword and then buckling on a sword
belt. The ceremony grew more elaborate and the -hurch added to the
rite. -andidates bathed! cut their hair close! and stayed up all night in a
vigil of prayer. &n the morning the candidate received the sword and
spurs of a knight.
>nighthood was usually attainable only for those who possessed the
land or income necessary to meet the responsibilities of the rank.
&mportant lords and bishops could support a si+able contingent of
knights! however! and many found employment in these circumstances.
%quires who fought particularly well might also gain the recognition of
a great lord during battle and be knighted on the field.
Tournaments
Mock battles between knights! called tournaments! began in the tenth
century and were immediately condemned by the second -ouncil of
etrLn! under )ope &nnocentius &&! and the kings of 6urope who
ob'ected to the in'uries and deaths of knights in what they considered
frivolous activity. Tournaments flourished! however! and became an
integral part of a knight's life.
Tournaments began as simple contests between individual knights but
grew more elaborate through the centuries. They became important
social events that would attract patrons and contestants from great
distances. %pecial lists Etournament groundsF were erected with stands
for spectators and pavilions for combatants. >nights continued to
compete as individuals but also in teams. They dueled against each
other using a variety of weapons and held mock mMl1e battles with
many knights on a side. Dousts! or tilts! involving two charging knights
fighting with lances! became the premier event. >nights competed like
modern$day athletes for pri+es! prestige! and the eyes of the ladies who
filled the stands.
%o many men were being killed in tournaments by the thirteenth
century! that leaders! including the pope! became alarmed. %i#ty
knights died in a 2.4/ tournament held in -ologne! for e#ample. The
pope wanted as many knights as possible to fight on the -rusades in the
Holy and! rather than be killed in tournaments. ,eapons were blunted
and rules attempted to reduce the incidence of in'ury! but serious and
fatal in'uries occurred. Henry && of France was mortally wounded! for
e#ample! in a 'oust at a tournament held to celebrate his daughter's
wedding.
-hallenges were usually issued for a friendly contest! but grudges
between two enemies might be settled in a fight to the death.
Tournament losers were captured and paid a ransom to the victors in
horses! weapons! and armor to obtain their release. Heralds kept track
of tournament records! like modern baseball bo# scores. A low$ranking
knight could amass wealth through pri+es and attract a wealthy wife.
Military *rders
<uring the -rusades military orders of knights were created to support
the -hristian goals of the movement. They became the fiercest of the
-rusaders and the most hated enemies of the Arabs. These orders
carried on after the -rusades in )alestine ended in failure.
The first of these orders were the >nights of the Temple! or the
Templars! founded in 22/C to protect the Holy %epulcher in Derusalem.
The Templars wore a white surcoat supplanted with a red cross and
took the same vows as a (enedictine monk$poverty! chastity! and
obedience. The Templars were among the bravest defenders of the Holy
and. They were the last -rusaders to leave the Holy and. &n the
following years they grew wealthy from donations and by lending
money at interest! attracting the envy and distrust of kings. &n 23/A
>ing )hilip &9 of France accused them of many crimes! including
heresy! arrested them! and confiscated their lands. *ther 6uropean
leaders followed his lead and the Templars were destroyed.
The >nights of %t. Dohn of Derusalem! or the Hospitallers! were set up
originally to tend to sick and poor pilgrims visiting the Holy %epulcher.
They converted shortly into a military order. They wore a red surcoat
with a white cross and also took the vows of %t. (enedict. The
Hospitallers set a high standard and did not allow their order to become
rich and indolent. ,hen forced out of the Holy and following the
surrender of their great castle! the >rak des -hevaliers! they retreated to
the island of :hodes! which they defended for many years. <riven from
:hodes by the Turks they took up residence on Malta.
The third great military order was the Teutonic >nights! founded in
228/ to protect 0erman pilgrims traveling to the Holy and. (efore the
end of the -rusades they had turned their efforts toward converting the
heathens in )russia and in the (altic %tates.
Heraldry
To distinguish knights on the battlefield! a system of badges called
heraldry was developed. A special badge was designed for each
nobleman to be shown on his shield! surcoat! flags! and seal. A surcoat
decorated with a knight's badge became known as a coat$of$arms and
this term came to describe the badges themselves. An independent
organi+ation known as the -ollege of Heralds designed the individual
badges and ensured that each was unique. (adges were recorded by the
heralds in special books under their care.
-oats$of$arms were handed down from one generation to the ne#t and
would be modified by marriage. -ertain designs were reserved for
royalty in different countries. (y the late Middle Ages towns! guilds!
and even prominent nonnoble townsmen were granted coats$of$arms.
*n the battlefield! combatants used coats$of$arms to distinguish friend
and foe and to choose a worthy opponent in a mMl1e. Heralds made lists
of knights about to fight based on their badges. Heralds were also
considered neutrals and would act as intermediaries between two
armies. &n this manner they might pass messages between the defenders
of a castle or town and its besiegers. After a battle! heralds identified
the dead by their coats$of$arms.
The ate Middle Ages

The <ark Ages witnessed widespread disruption throughout 6urope and
the replacement of the previously predominant :oman culture with
0ermanic tribal culture. For =// years 6urope had suffered repeatedly
from invasion and war. The life of the average peasant was rarely
affected! however! and social stability and culture gradually recovered!
although in new formats. (y roughly the year 2///! 6uropeans were
creating a new medieval civili+ation that surpassed the ancients in
almost every way.
The Middle Ages
The e#pression "Middle Ages" has been employed by ,estern
civili+ation to define the 2/// years that span 6uropean history from
roughly =// to 2=// A<. The beginning of the Middle Ages is marked
by the fall of the ,estern :oman 6mpire! the generally accepted end of
classical ancient history. The end of the Middle Ages is noted by the
beginning of the :enaissance Ethe "rebirth" of 6uropeF. 6vents marking
the end of the period include the fall of -onstantinople in 24=3! the first
use of the printing press in 24=5! the 6uropean discovery of the
Americas in 248.! the )rotestant :eformation! triggered by Martin
uther in 2=2A! and the flowering of the arts in &taly. The Middle Ages
thus fall in the middle between ancient and modern history.
Historic periods in Asia and the Middle 6ast do not fit easily into the
concept of a 6uropean Middle Age. -hina evolved gradually from
prehistoric times up to the advent of ,estern modern history without
the great disruptions that befell 6urope. -hina passed under the control
of several dynasties and suffered from invasion! but the basic culture
progressed steadily. Dapan progressed steadily! as well! and was left
largely alone. The history of the Middle 6ast fits together more closely
with the 6uropean Middle Ages because these two regions were
ad'acent and shared many interactions.
7aval ,arfare
The need for warships in the Mediterranean %ea largely faded after the
:omans gained complete control of the surrounding lands. There was
no other empire with a navy to offer competition! and piracy was all
but eliminated. Following the collapse of the ,estern :oman 6mpire!
new civili+ations sprang up from the ruins of the empire and piracy
reappeared. ,arships were needed again to defend against invasion!
pro'ect military power! and protect sea trade routes.
(y+antine %hips
The (y+antines were the great Mediterranean naval power of the early
Middle Ages. 7aval power was critical to their survival and to their
e#tended empire. The land defenses of -onstantinople were e#cellent
and made outright assault of the city very difficult! but the city had to
keep its sea supply open to prevent a successful siege. %o long as the
navy could bring in supplies! the city was assured of survival.
The main (y+antine warship of the early Middle Ages was the dromen!
an evolution of the ancient oared warships! such as the trireme. A
typical dromen was long and narrow for speed. )ower was supplied by
=/ to .// rowers and lateen sails. A mast was placed in the middle of
the front half and rear half of the ship. The dromen carried a beak at
the bow for pinning enemy vessels prior to boarding. :ams were rarely
seen. )latforms were built in the center! bow! and stern. From these
platforms archers and catapults could fire at enemy ships and crews. A
typical battle involved attempts to ram or disable enemy ships! then
grappling and boarding by marines.
The (y+antines effectively used a secret weapon called 0reek fire. This
was a mi#ture of chemicals that burned fiercely upon contact with air.
&t was pumped out of hoses against enemy ships or thrown in bombs. &t
was a devastating weapon against wooden ships and decisive for the
(y+antines in their naval battles against the Arabs. The secret of 0reek
fire was so important and so closely guarded that it was eventually lost
and we do not know today e#actly what it was.
Mediterranean %hips
*ar$powered warships! called galleys! remained the principal warships
of the Mediterranean beyond the end of the Middle Ages because the
waters were relatively protected from fierce gales. At the same time! the
&talian city$states of 0enoa and 9enice gradually became naval powers
in proportion to the increasing importance of their trade with the
evant. The Arabs also built navies to influence trade and support their
conflict with the (y+antines and other -hristians for control of the
Mediterranean. The beginning of the -rusades in the eleventh century
brought ships from 7orthern 6urope that had evolved very different
designs.
6uropean %hips
The 0ermanic tribes that occupied 7orthern 6urope around =//
developed several new ship types. The typical trading ship was
wide$bodied and of deep draft. &t mounted a single mast at first and
later more as it grew in si+e. The 7orse called this type of ship a knarr.
,e know a lot about this ship today because one was recovered from
the bottom of a harbor in <enmark in the 285/s. Much of the trade and
e#ploration of the Anglo$%a#ons and 9ikings was carried on in this type
of ship. &t evolved into the cog! the principal merchant ship of the later
Middle Ages. This deep$draft ship was designed for easy sailing and
high cargo capacity.
%hip fighting in northern 6urope was mainly an e#tension of land
combat. Towers were built on the bow and stern of the cog for
protection and as firing platforms for archers. -rews fired at each other
with arrows as they closed! but the intent was only to disable enemy
crewmen and soldiers. %hips came together and attempted to capture
each other in hand$to$hand combat. %ailing ships in these waters had no
ability to ram. There was no weapon with which to do great structural
damage to another ship or sink it until cannon appeared in the
fourteenth century. %ome 4// 6nglish and French cog$type warships
carrying large contingents of archers and foot soldiers engaged in a
naval battle at %luys in 234/ typical of the later Middle Ages. They
simply 'ammed together for archery fire and close combat.
The first cannon were mounted in the bow or stern of ships. %mall
cannon mounted on the side rails were used against enemy crews. The
6nglish ship -hristopher of the Tower of 24/5 was the first built
purposely to carry guns. %hips began to mount broadsides of cannon
with the ability to puncture enemy hulls only at the very end of the
Middle Ages.
The 9iking longship was more of a transport than a warship. 9ikings
rarely fought from their longships. ,hen they did! there are reports of
boats being lashed together to provide a platform for hand$to$hand
fighting. The longship was powered by oars until the eighth or ninth
century when sails appear to have been added. Although they looked
fragile and unlikely vessels for ocean travel! modern replicas proved to
be very seaworthy. The additional range provided by sails e#plains
partially why the 9ikings began reaching out to raid in the ninth
century.
The &rish curragh was a small boat used mainly for coastal trading and
travel but capable of deep ocean sailing also. This boat was built of
animal hides stretched over a wooden frame. The hide skin was sealed
with pitch for waterproofing. These incredibly light boats were powered
with a small sail or could be rowed. &n rough weather the hide covering
could be closed to make the boat watertight and relatively unsinkable.
&rish monks e#plored the 7orth Atlantic in these boats and reached
&celand long before the 9ikings. There are unsubstantiated tales that
monks sailed to the 7ew ,orld as well.
The -rusades brought northern ships into the Mediterranean and
contact between the sailors and shipbuilders of north and south. The
southerners began adopting features of the cog! including its big hull
and square sail. The northerners learned about the compass! stern
rudder! and lateen sail.
-hinese %hips
The greatest shipbuilders of the Middle Ages were probably the
-hinese. The familiar -hinese 'unk was a better ship than anything
available in the ,est for many centuries. &t was an e#cellent
combination of cargo space! sailing ability! and seaworthiness. &n 24/=!
-hinese Admiral -heng Ho built a huge navy manned by .=!/// men
and e#plored much of the %outhwest )acific and &ndian *ceans. The
rulers of -hina disdained this feat and its discoveries. The greatest ships
in the world at the time were beached and allowed to rot.
The 7ew )olitical andscape
The :oman government and courts were swept away with most of the
:oman culture. Tribal war bands were the new government. A strong
leader surrounded himself with loyal warriors that were paid with
booty from raiding. Tribal law! based on trial by combat or by the
swearing of oaths! replaced :oman law. %mall kingdoms arose
gradually based on tribal loyalties! but governing was difficult because
literate civil servants were scarce! communications were poor! trade
was at a standstill! and there was little or no money in circulation. The
people survived on a subsistence agriculture. ife at this time was
described as nasty! brutish! and short. The average life e#pectancy was
3/ years! skewed by a very low survival rate for children and a high
mortality of women in childbirth.
At the start of the <ark Ages! the list of 6uropean powers read as
followsI
J FranksI much of modern France and parts of
0ermany along the :hine.
J *strogothsI northern &taly! %wit+erland! and
the (alkans.
J 9isigothsI %pain and )ortugal.
J 9andalsI ,estern 7orth Africa! %icily! and
southern &taly.
J 9arious 0ermanic tribes! including %a#ons and
ombardsI 0ermany.
J Anglo$%a#onsI 6ngland.
J -eltsI ,ales! &reland! %cotland! and (rittany.
J MagyarsI Hungary.
J %lavsI )oland and western :ussia.
J (y+antinesI Turkey! )alestine! 6gypt! %yria! and
much of the (alkans! including 0reece.
&n succeeding centuries! the list saw the following changesI
J 9andalsI destroyed and replaced by the
(y+antines.
J 9isigothsI destroyed and replaced by Franks
in France and Muslims in %pain and )ortugal.
J *strogothsI attacked and eventually absorbed by
the ombards E&talyF and (y+antines
E(alkansF.
The <ark Ages are considered to cover the years from =// to 2///. The
three most important forces that shaped this period and brought the
relative darkness to an end were the spread of new religions! the rise of
the Frankish 6mpire! and the predations of the 9ikings.
:eligion
)ilgrims
-hristians proved their faith by going on pilgrimages to :ome! %antiago
de -ompostela! and even Derusalem. )ilgrims who had visited %antiago
de -ompostela wore cloth cockleshells on their clothing as a badge of
distinction.
-athedrals
The prosperity of the twelfth century and later was increasingly
e#pressed in the arts! especially architecture. The enduring symbol of
Middle Ages architecture was the cathedral. Magnificent church
buildings were erected in thanks to 0od for the blessings bestowed on
the people. Towns competed to build the most glorious cathedral and
the loftiest spire reaching toward heaven. -athedrals were the largest
capital investments of the period! taking as much as a century to build
and costing a fortune.
The predominant building material for cathedrals was stone! which
minimi+ed the ha+ard of fire. There was little steel at the time! and iron
was too soft to hold up the immense buildings of unprecedented height.
Architects evolved new solutions to old problems! devising the pointed
arch and flying buttress to spread the weight load from vaulted ceilings
onto massive stone supports. The new building technologies made
possible great open cathedrals! large windows Eoften of beautifully
stained glassF! and high spires. The French pioneered the new
cathedrals. 7otre <ame of )aris was begun in 2253 and finished A.
years later. The cathedral at -hartres was begun in 22./ and completed
in 2..4 after burning twice during construction.
-athedrals were a great source of civic pride and prestige. )ilgrims and
new churchgoers brought increased revenues to the cathedral town.
The :enaissance
(eginning in fourteenth$century &taly! 6urope went through a transition
over 4// years from medieval to modern times known today as the
:enaissance! meaning a "rebirth" or "revival." The :enaissance is a
nebulous concept for which there is no clear beginning or end. &t does!
however! usefully mark the complete recovery from the barbarism of
the <ark Ages to the new advancement in all fields that transcended the
achievements of the great ancient civili+ations.
Many different factors at work in the Middle Ages contributed to this
revival and new advancement. *ne was the renewed interest in
learning. The first college at *#ford ?niversity was founded in 2.54. (y
24// there were more than =/ universities in 6urope. 6ducation and
debate were stimulated by access to ancient te#ts preserved by the
Arabs and freshly translated into atin. 6uropeans had made contact
with the Arabs in the Holy and! in %icily! and in %pain. The
rediscovered works of the ancient 0reek mathematician 6uclid! for
e#ample! became the standard for teaching mathematics into the
nineteenth century. The Arabs also transmitted a new system for
numbers! the concept of the decimal point! and the concept of +ero! all
invented in &ndia. The spread of learning accelerated rapidly following
the invention of the printing press around 24=/.
A second factor was the rising standard of living! especially in the great
commercial cities of &taly. The -rusades had opened 6uropean eyes to
the wealth of the 6ast! especially silks! spices! and cotton. The
merchants of 9enice! 0enoa! Florence! and other cities came to
dominate the trade between 6urope and the 6astern Mediterranean.
,ith the e#cess wealth they accumulated in business! these merchants
began embellishing their homes and cities with art. %culpture! painting!
architecture! music! poetry! and literature found new e#pression!
e#hibiting an interest in sub'ects beyond the religious themes that
dominated previously in the Middle Ages. )opular depictions of
everyday life! romance! and adventure revealed that 6uropean culture
was becoming more humanistic and less focused on religion.
The revival was also due to technological progress that led to more
efficient production of goods and services. Manufacturing! farming! and
trade all improved past the abilities of the ancients. The drive for profits
encouraged inventiveness and e#ploration. A middle class of merchants
and craftsmen began grasping political power commensurate with their
economic power! at the e#pense of a declining nobility.
(y roughly 2=// the nations of 6urope were leading the world in many
important technologies. 6nergies unleashed by the e#ploration of the
world! the search for trade routes! the )rotestant :eformation! and
continued political competition in 6urope itself would make 6urope the
dominant region of the world within a few centuries.
Technology
(y the late Middle Ages! science in 6urope had caught up with the
ancients and passed them by. The technology that interested the people
was practical! not theoretical. They sought better ways to do things!
both to make life more comfortable and to improve business. They were
interested in understanding the natural world because they had
increasingly more leisure time for contemplation.
The rudiments of mathematics and science were acquired from the
Muslims of the &berian )eninsula and %icily when -hristians retook
those areas. The Muslims had been actively studying the ancients and
new ideas from Asia since the early Middle Ages. The Muslims passed
on the Arabic numerals used today and the concept of the +ero!
invented in &ndia.
)ractical research began challenging logic in the quest to understand
the laws of nature. The value of observation! e#perimentation! and
empirical EcountableF evidence as support and proof of theory was
recogni+ed. This led to the scientific method of the later :enaissance!
which is the basis for all modern scientific research. Ancient 0reeks had
suggested the scientific method! but it fell out of favor and had been
forgotten.
:ome (efore the Fall
The :oman 6mpire of the fourth century A< e#tended entirely around
the basin of the Mediterranean %ea! including modern Turkey! &srael!
6gypt! and 7orth Africa. Modern France Ecalled 0aulF and modern
%pain and )ortugal E&beriaF were entirely :oman. Modern 6ngland was
:oman! but modern %cotland and &reland were barbarian Enon$:oman!
or noncivili+edF. The northern borders of the empire were the :hine
and <anube :ivers. The lands north of these rivers were occupied by a
variety of tribes of %candinavian origin that the :omans called the
0ermans.
:ome was engaged in border skirmishes with the tribes north of the
great 6uropean rivers. %trong emperors occasionally e#tended the
empire over the rivers while weak emperors tended to lose those lands.
The largest organi+ed rival of the :omans was the )ersian 6mpire to the
east! occupying modern %yria! &ran! &raq! and Afghanistan. The )ersians
were the political descendants of the )arthians who had revolted away
from 0reek rule following Ale#ander's conquests and thereafter resisted
successfully :oman invasions.
The :omans had e#isted as an important power for over 2/// years.
They had brought stability! prosperity! and order to the civili+ed ,est.
6#cellent roads connected the far reaches of the empire with the capital
at :ome. These were built originally for military purposes but improved
all communications and trade. :oman law kept the internal peace and
./ to 3/ :oman legions defended the frontiers.
All was not perfect! however. 6mperors held absolute authority. This
worked well with good emperors! but incompetent ones could do great
harm. The rules for succession to the throne were never clear! and
debilitating civil wars often resulted. The bureaucracy that managed the
empire on a daily basis grew more corrupt! increasing the
dissatisfaction of the common citi+en. The wealth of the empire
gradually concentrated in the hands of a minority while a large slave
population did most of the work. The borders of the empire were
immense and put a strain on military resources E=//!/// soldiers
defended a frontier that required 3 million or more to be secureF.
:oman conquests had ceased in the second century A<! bringing an end
to massive inflows of plunder and slaves. Ta#es increased and
production fell as the workforce declined. A plague may have killed ./
percent of the empire's population in the third and fourth centuries!
further reducing trade and production.
&n the late third century! the :oman 6mpire was split into eastern and
western halves in an attempt to make for easier rule and better control.
&n 3.3 -onstantine became emperor after a civil war and established his
eastern capital at (y+antium! which he renamed -onstantinople. <uring
the ne#t century the eastern and western parts of the empire gradually
established separate identities! although nominally the same empire.
These identities were partially due to the different pressures brought to
bear on them from the outside and the local culture. The ,estern
6mpire was predominately atin; the 6astern 6mpire was
predominately 0reek Ealthough they referred to themselves as :omansF.
The 6astern 6mpire survived the cataclysm of the third and fourth
centuries because it had a larger population EA/ percent of the empire's
totalF! better emperors! more money! and a far better army and navy.
The Manor
The most common fief was a land holding called a manor. <uring the
Middle Ages nine families worked on a manor producing food to feed
themselves and provide food for a tenth family to do something else. E&n
the modern ?nited %tates! the relationship is perhaps 2// to 2 in the
other direction.F
A typical manor was a great house or castle! surrounded by fields!
cottages! pastures! and woodlands. The manor was largely
self$sufficient. %urpluses of a few commodities were traded with other
manors for commodities in shortage. As the Middle Ages continued and
the markets of towns grew! manors became more speciali+ed because
they were more efficient at producing only a few commodities. %ome
manors speciali+ed in cheese! pigs! wine! grain! or vegetables! for
e#ample.
The lord of the manor ElandlordF occupied the manor house or castle
with his family! servants! and retainers. :etainers were usually knights
and professional soldiers on hand to provide defense and be ready to
fulfill any feudal military obligations to a senior lord. The larger the
manor! the greater the number of retainers.
The population of a manor consisted mainly of peasants Enonnoble and
nonprofessionalF. The farmhands were mostly serfs who spent up to half
of their week working the lord's lands in return for his protection. 6ach
serf family owned several rows in each of the manor's fields from which
it obtained a living. %erfs were not slaves! but they were not free either.
They could not marry! change 'obs! or leave the manor without the
lord's permission. (ut a serf had some rights! unlike a slave. His position
was hereditary and passed down in his family. His land could not be
taken so long as he fulfilled his obligations. ,hile the relationship
between vassal and lord seems comparable to serf and landlord! a clear
distinction was made in the Middle Ages between an honorable contract
to provide military service versus mere manual labor.
Farming technology gradually changed the lives of serfs as the Middle
Ages progressed. Food production increased and surpluses were sold!
providing serfs with the money to buy their freedom. (y the end of the
period! there were few serfs in western 6urope.
,arfare in the Middle Ages
The traditional and popular understanding of 6uropean warfare in the
Middle Ages held that mounted knights dominated 6uropean
battlefields during the years C// to 24//. >nights were encased in plate
armor and charged with lances! scattering! skewering! and riding down
any foot troops in the way as they closed with each other to decide the
battle. The era of the knight came to an end when infantry reestablished
a prominent battlefield role with new weapons EfirearmsF and revived
skills Eformations of massed pikemanF. This view was fostered by the art
and limited accounts of the era that featured the mounted nobility
while ignoring the commoners and peasants who fought on foot. The
perception that knights dominated and that warfare consisted mainly of
cavalry charges is false.
Foot troops were an important component of all armies in the Middle
Ages. They fought in hand$to$hand mMl1es and as missile troops Ebows
of various types and later handgunsF. Foot soldiers were critical for both
sides in sieges against castles and fortified towns.
,arfare in the Middle Ages was dominated actually by sieges of one
sort or another. (attles on open ground between armies were
infrequent. Armies played a sort of chess match! maneuvering to take
important castles and towns! while avoiding engagements where a large
and e#pensive force might be lost.
*n those occasions where pitched battles did occur! knights could be
devastating. A determined charge by armored knights was a powerful
force. &t was more likely! however! that victory went to the side making
best use of the three ma'or army components together$mMl1e infantry!
missile troops! and cavalry. Also important were the factors that have
always influenced battle! such as intelligent use of terrain! troop
morale! leadership! discipline! and tactics.
,eapons of the Middle Ages
For most of the Middle Ages! the technology of weapons was little
changed from that of the ancient world! remaining primarily variants of
the club! knife! spear! a#e! and arrow. An important innovation was the
heavy mounted horseman using the lance. The mounted knight was
significantly more potent than any cavalry of the ancient world. The
closest ancient equivalent may have been the -ompanion cavalry of
Ale#ander the 0reat.
(y the tenth century 6urope had bypassed the ancients in most areas!
including weaponry. The evolution of the heavy horseman triggered
corresponding innovation to defend against him. This resulted in new
pole arms to ward off or engage knights.
The longbow and crossbow were innovations in the ,est. The crossbow
was known to the ancient -hinese! however.
The revolutionary technology of the Middle Ages was the development
of gunpowder weapons! both cannons and hand weapons! discussed
later.
-avalry ,eapons and 6quipment
%ince the first appearance of cavalry around 2/// (-! mounted troops
have fulfilled several important roles in battle. They acted as scouts!
skirmishers! a shock force for mMl1e combat! a rear guard! and the
pursuit of a retreating enemy. -avalry were divided into several
different categories depending on equipment and training! and some
categories were better suited for certain roles than others. ight cavalry
wore little or no armor and was best suited for scouting! skirmishing!
and acting as a rear guard. Heavy cavalry wore armor and was better
suited for use as a shock force that charged the enemy. All types of
cavalry e#celled at pursuit.
>nights of the Middle Ages were heavy cavalry! and the code of
chivalry emphasi+ed their role as shock troops charging enemy cavalry
and infantry. From the thirteenth century on! the term man$at$arms was
used to describe armored warriors fighting on horse and on foot. The
new term applied to knights as well as squires! gentry! and professional
soldiers.
The advantages of knights in battle were speed! intimidation! power!
and height. As the Middle Ages progressed! the equipment of knights
improved to enhance these advantages.
,eapons
The spear! and later the larger lance! was the weapon with which
cavalry opened a battle. &t was ideal for stabbing opponents on foot!
especially those in flight. The presentation of the spear in front of a
mounted horseman added greatly to the intimidation caused by an
approaching charge. Much of the force of the horse could be
transmitted through the spear point at the moment of impact. The
charging knight became a thundering missile.
Historians disagree on the importance of the stirrup to the rise of
knights. The stirrup first appeared in Asia and reached 6urope in the
eighth century. %ome believe that it was critical to the rise of knights
because it allowed the rider to brace himself and his lance! thereby
transmitting the entire force of the charging horse through the lance
point. 7o one argues with the advantage of this force multiplication!
but others suggest that the high saddle developed in :oman times
allowed riders to transmit this power before the stirrup appeared. The
(ayeu# Tapestry! which depicts ,illiam's conquest of 6ngland in 2/55!
shows the highly regarded 7orman knights using their spears mainly as
overhand stabbing or throwing spears! not as couched lances. (y this
time the stirrup had been known in 6urope for at least two centuries.
For the remainder of the Middle Ages! the mounted charge by knights
holding couched lances was the epitome of combats for knights. &t was
not always the correct tactic! however.
The initial charge by knights often resulted in the loss of spears or
lances! or the charge ended in a general mMl1e. &n either case! knights
switched to another weapon. This was usually their sword. The cavalry
sword evolved into the saber! a wide! heavy blade that a man standing
in his stirrups could swing down with tremendous force on the head
and upper body of opponents. %words were the weapons that knights
pri+ed most highly because they could be carried on the person!
prominently displayed! and personali+ed. They were the most common
weapons for hand$to$hand combat between knights. 0ood swords were
also e#pensive! so ownership was another distinction of the nobility.
*ther choices of mMl1e weapon included the hammer and mace
Eevolutions of the clubF! the a#e! and the flail. Hammers and maces
were popular with fighting churchmen and warrior monks trying to
obey the letter of the (ible's admonition about shedding blood! which
edged weapons were prone to do.
?nder no circumstances did knights use missile weapons of any kind.
>illing an opponent at range with an arrow! bolt! or bullet was
considered dishonorable. >nights fought worthy foes of the same rank
when possible and killed face to face or not at all.
Armor
-hain mail armor was worn by the late :omans and by some of the
invading 0ermanic tribes! including the 0oths. -hain mail remained
popular with the nobility of medieval 6urope until more protective
plate armor came into use in the thirteenth century. The change was
made in part because an arrow or sharp sword point could pierce chain
mail. A cloth tunic! called a surcoat! was worn over the chain mail!
especially during the -rusades to reflect the sun.
Helmets also evolved from simple conical designs! to large metal
buckets! to large sculpted pieces designed to deflect arrows. ater!
helmets could be bolted to the armor worn on the body.
Full suits of armor weighing up to 5/ pounds appeared in the
fourteenth century. )late armor was well designed and knights retained
a surprising amount of agility. An armored knight on the ground was
not helpless and could easily stand up. There are accounts and
depictions of armored men doing handstands and other gymnastics in
lighter moments. ater suits put increased emphasis on deflecting
missiles and reinforced areas most e#posed to blows. 6laborate full suits
of engraved plate armor appeared late during the age and were more
ceremonial and prestigious than practical.
Armor was a large e#pense for a knight who equipped himself and a
squire. An important lord had to provide armor for many knights. The
making of armor was an important business! and a large market in used
armor developed during the Middle Ages. -ommon soldiers on the
victorious side of a battle could make a substantial sum by stripping
dead knights of their armor and selling it.
Horses
>nights took special pride in their horses! which were bred for speed
and strength. They required e#tensive training! as well! to be
manageable during a charge and mMl1e. Horses were trained to charge
with minimal guidance! freeing the knight to hold his shield and lance.
Historians disagree as to whether the horses of knights were the heavy
horse thought necessary to carry the weight of a fully equipped knight
or a smaller horse valued for its speed and agility.
Horsemanship was another characteristic by which the elite knights
distinguished themselves from the commoners. &t was practiced while
hunting! a popular leisure activity of the nobles that carries on today in
the traditional fo#hunt.
Hand ,eapons
Foot soldiers armed with hand weapons were the third principal
component of medieval armies! along with cavalry and missile troops.
MMl1e infantry fought hand to hand and were important both in pitched
battles and during sieges. &nfantry consisted of peasants! common
soldiers! and dismounted knights.
Hand ,eapons
The Franks of the <ark Ages fought with a throwing a#e called the
francisca! from which their tribe took its name. Their neighbors! the
%a#ons! fought with a large! one$sided knife called a scramasa#! from
which they took their name.
,ith the development of the heavy cavalryman came the heavy sword!
which was used in hand$to$hand fighting on foot as well. 9ariants of the
sword included a two$handed version that required a lot of space to
wield. Men$at$arms employed a variety of weapons on foot! including
a#es Eboth one$handed and two$handedF! maces! flails! and hammers. A
variant of the mace was a spiked ball fastened to a shaft by a chain. As
armor improved to reduce the effect of sword blows! crushing and
puncturing weapons became more favored.
)ole Arms
The basic spear was a useful weapon throughout the Middle Ages
because it was cheap to make and simple to use. -ommon foot soldiers
and peasants could be armed with it and pressed into battle service. &n
most cases such an e#pedient was of little use! but with e#perience and
some training large bodies of spearmen could be effective.
)ole arms evolved through the medieval period and eventually reached
a point where formations of foot troops skilled in their use were
e#tremely effective. Advanced pole arms consisted of a spear point with
one or more weapon faces below the point. This additional weapon
might be a large long blade! an a#e! a billhook! a hammer! or a spike.
ong pole arms evolved in response to the mounted knight and resulted
in a revival of a formation something like the ancient 0reek phalan#.
Horses would not charge a disciplined formation of men that bristled
with e#tended pole weapons. A dense formation of pole arms held high
also served as some protection from arrows.
Foot soldiers first learned to stand behind wooden stakes set in the
ground to ward off cavalry. They then learned to deploy spears! pikes!
and other pole arms to ward off cavalry. This allowed the formation to
move and take its anti$cavalry stakes with it! in effect. &n a mMl1e! the
various attachments at the end of the pole were used to pull horsemen
off their mounts! push them off! or cause wounds to the rider or horse.
Although armored men were not helpless when prone on the ground! as
some have thought! they were at a disadvantage! at least temporarily! to
men wearing little or no armor before they could rise.
As the towns grew in the second half of the Middle Ages! they built up
their own militias of troops for defense and for feudal military service.
)ole arms were popular weapons with the town militias because they
were relatively cheap to provide and effective for the cost. Town
militias trained with these weapons and developed useful battlefield
tactics. &n time! formations of pole$armed men learned to be aggressive!
not simply defensive. Massed formations of pikeman could physically
attack other infantry and even cavalry. The %wiss lacked the
pastureland to support horse armies but became famous as pikemen.
They often served as mercenaries in other continental armies. The
lowland cities of Flanders and the highlands of %cotland also fielded
pike units that were highly regarded.
Missile ,eapons
(ows of one type or another played an important role in battle
throughout the Middle Ages. They were used as direct fire weapons
against individual targets on battlefields and during sieges. &n some
cases they were used as area fire weapons.
Missile fire allowed men to cause casualties at range. Archers were used
as light troops to cause casualties and weaken enemy morale due to
losses before mMl1e combat. &f the enemy force could be weakened or
shaken! the chances of winning the mMl1e were enhanced.
(ows
(ows used during the Middle Ages were of various types! including the
short bow! the composite bow! and the longbow. The short bow was 3
to 4 feet long and rather easy to make and use. &t was employed widely
and the most common bow encountered. &t had medium range! power!
and accuracy and required substantial e#perience and training for
effective use.
The composite bow was of Asiatic origin. &t was made from a composite
of wood or bone strips bonded together. The lamination created a more
powerful bow! but one that required more strength and training than
the common bow. This relatively short bow was the preferred weapon
of horse archers! especially the Mongols and other horse peoples from
Asia. A variant of the composite bow was curved forward at the tips
during manufacture Eby steaming and bending the laminateF. This
recurved bow generated more power and required a high degree of
strength and skill.
The longbow originated in ,ales and spread to 6ngland. &t was a 5$foot
bow made from a single piece of wood! usually from the yew tree. The
longbow shot a 3$foot arrow Ecloth yardF. These were fitted with broad
tips for use against infantry Efor piercing leather armor and causing
lacerationsF and narrow tips for use against armored men Eto pierce
mail or plate armorF. %hooting the longbow required e#tensive training
and practice; men e#perienced with the weapon could get off si#
well$aimed shots in a minute. ongbows had a long range and were
quite powerful. arge contingents of e#perienced longbowmen were a
devastating force on many battlefields of the Middle Ages. They could
fire individually aimed shots or rain down a barrage of arrows into an
area.
The 6nglish encouraged the use of the longbow by sponsoring archery
tournaments throughout the land. All other sports were banned on
%undays. This created a large pool of e#perienced bowmen from which
they could recruit. 6ach 6nglish shire was required by law to provide a
number of bowmen each year. There was usually no shortage of
applicants because the pay of soldiers was so good relative to other
work.
-rossbows
The crossbow was known in ancient -hina but seems to have been
reinvented in 6urope around 8//. &t had good range and was more
powerful than most bows! but it took much more time to load. An
average crossbowman fired . shots per minute.
The bow of the crossbow was held hori+ontally and fired with a trigger
that released the taut bowstring. To load! the front of the weapon was
pointed to the ground and held in place by foot. The bowstring was
pulled up and back with both hands or with the help of cranks. The
crossbow fired a quarrel! or bolt! which was much shorter than a typical
arrow. The quarrel did have flights EfeathersF for stabili+ation in flight
and had a sharpened metal point.
-rossbowmen often carried a pavise shield into battle to provide cover
while they loaded. This was a tall shield with wooden braces attached.
A force of crossbowmen set up a wall of such shields and bent down
behind the wall to load. ,hen they shot! only the crossbows and their
helmeted heads appeared over the wall of shields. &f forced to fight in
the open against a comparable force of longbowmen! they were usually
forced to withdraw.
The crossbow was a deadly weapon and was very popular for the simple
reason that it took little training to operate. :elatively raw soldiers
could become proficient with a crossbow very quickly! and a
well$aimed shot could kill a knight in armor who had spent a lifetime in
combat training. The crossbow was considered unfair in some circles
Ethose of the knights! primarilyF because it took so little skill. :ichard &
of 6ngland! the ionheart! was wounded twice by crossbow bolts. The
second proved fatal. The idea of such great men being killed easily by
common soldiers or worse was appalling to the nobility. &n the twelfth
century a pope tried to get the crossbow banned for being inhumane.