Authors Research

7/29/2019 Authors Research

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LEARNHUB

A Handbook of Medieval

TechFor Personal PurposesHerot Gernan

3/26/2013

This is copied from the history of Age of Empires conquerors expantion.


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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


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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. Late in the period, vassals sent money

instead of actually serving in armies, and this "martial tax" helped kings tosupport armies year-round.

Service in feudal armies was a matter of duty and honor for the knights. In

a warrior society, knights lived for the opportunity to fight. Success 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 job. It was duty for peasantsalso, when they were called up, but certainly not an honor.

By the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, many commoners joined 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. Theseideals of the war band carried over into the feudal age. Low-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. Pitched battles also offered

opportunities for gain. The armor and weapons of the dead could be sold

and captured knights could be ransomed.


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Organization

The organization 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. When 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.

Special units, such as engineers and the operators of siege artillery, were

usually professionals hired for the campaign. Christian mercenaries, for

example, operated the artillery employed by the Turks against

Constantinople.

Being a mercenary soldier was a respected profession in the late Middle

Ages. Warrior entrepreneurs formed mercenary companies that allowed a

rich lord or city to hire a ready-made competent fighting force. Mercenary

companies existed that were all of one skill. For example, 2000 Genoese

crossbowmen served in the French army at the Battle of Crcy in 1346.


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Other mercenary companies were mixed forces of all arms. These were

often described in terms of the number of lances they contained. Each lance

represented a mounted man-at-arms plus additional mounted, foot, and

missile troops. A company of 100 lances represented several hundred

fighting men. This system was the origin of the word "freelance."

Command hierarchy within a feudal army was flat. Not much maneuvering

was anticipated so there was little provision of large staffs to support the

commander and pass orders.

In 1439 Charles VII of France raised Royal Ordinance Companies. Thesecompanies were filled with either knights or infantry and were paid from

tax revenues. Each company had a fixed 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 West.

Supply

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

exhausted. This was a particular problem during sieges. If an army laying

siege did not make arrangements to have food and supplies brought in, itmight have to lift its siege to avoid starvation long before the defenders had

to surrender.


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Sanitation 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. During his campaign in France,

Henry V of England lost an estimated 15 percent of his army to disease atthe siege of Harfleur and more on the march leading up to Agincourt. At the

battle itself, he lost only 5 percent. Henry V died of disease related to poor

sanitation at another siege.

Deployment for Battle

Most battles were set-piece affairs where the two sides arranged

themselves before the fighting began. Campaigns of maneuver and meeting

engagements were rare.

Prior 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 intogroups to be given individual missions or to be held in reserve. A

commander might arrange several "battles" or "divisions" of knights, for

example. 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. Once the army had been arranged, the only major

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 example, could rarely be used more thanonce. 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 Norman knights at Hastings were reformed for further attacks,


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but they did not launch a full charge because they could not penetrate the

Saxon shield-wall.

Superior commanders made use of the terrain to their advantage and

conducted reconnaissance to evaluate the enemy's strength and

weaknesses.

Ransom

The ultimate rewards from successful battle included honors and grants of

fiefs. The proximate rewards included booty from looting bodies,

ransacking captured towns and castles, selling the armor and weapons of

the dead, and ransoming high-ranking prisoners. Knights were expected to

pay ransoms to save their lives. One of the highest recorded ransoms was

more than US $20 million paid to a German prince for the release of

Richard I of England, captured during his return from the Crusades.

At Agincourt the English were holding a large group of French knights at

the rear for ransom. During the battle, a French contingent raided toward

the rear of the English and briefly panicked Henry V. He ordered the

execution 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 whichsoldiers 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.


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The popularity of ransoms seems remarkably civil but masks a darker

story. Low-ranking prisoners of no value might be killed out-of-hand to

eliminate the problem of guarding and feeding them.

Strategy

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. Defending 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.

Pitched battles were fought to end the destruction of enemy invasions. The

Battle of Hastings in 1066, for example, was fought by the Anglo-Saxons to

stop an invasion by the Normans. The Anglo-Saxons lost and the Normans

under William spent the next several years establishing control of England

in a campaign of conquest. The Battle of Lechfield in 955 was fought

between the Germans and Magyar raiders from the East. The decisivevictory of the Germans under Otto I brought an end to further Magyar

invasions. The defeat of the Moors in 732 by Charles Martel ended Muslim

raids and expansion out of Spain.


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The battles of Crcy, Poitiers, and Agincourt, all fought during the Hundred

Years War between the English and French, were all attempts by the

French to stop English incursions. The French lost all three battles and the

English raids carried on. In this case, however, the raids did not establish

permanent control for the English and the French eventually won the war.

The Crusades were attempts to take and hold key strong points in the Holy

Land from which control of the area could be maintained. Battles in the

Crusades were fought to break the control of one side or the other. The

victory at Hattin in 1187 by the Saracens under Saladin made possible the

recapture of Jerusalem.

Battle Tactics

Medieval battles evolved slowly from clashes of poorly organized war

bands into battles where tactics and maneuvers were employed. Part 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 Dark Ages were mobs of foot soldiers. With 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. In 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.

By the late 1400's commanders were making better progress in

disciplining their knights and getting their armies to work as a team. In the

English army, knights gave their grudging respect to the longbowmen after

the archers demonstrated their value on so many battlefields. Discipline

improved also as more and more knights fought for pay and less for honor


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and glory. Mercenary soldiers in Italy became well known for long

campaigns during which no appreciable blood was spilt. By 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.

Cavalry Tactics

Cavalry 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.Once the enemy was running, the real killing and capturing could take

place.

In practice, knights followed personal agendas to the detriment of any

commander's plan. The knights were interested primarily in honor and

glory and jockeyed for positions in the first rank of the first division.

Overall victory on the field was a secondary concern to personal glory. Inbattle after battle, the knights charged as soon as they saw the enemy,

dissolving any plan.

Commanders 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. Dismounted knights bolstered the

fighting power and morale of common foot troops. The dismounted knightsand other foot soldiers fought from behind stakes or other battlefield

constructions designed to minimize the impact of cavalry charges.


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An example of undisciplined behavior by knights was the Battle of Crcy in

1346. The French army greatly outnumbered the English (40,000 to

10,000), having many more mounted knights. The English divided into

three groups of longbowmen protected by stakes driven into the ground.

Between the three groups were two groups of dismounted knights. A thirdgroup of dismounted knights was held in reserve. Genoese mercenary

crossbowmen were sent out by the French king to shoot into the

dismounted English army while he tried to organize his knights into three

divisions. The crossbows had gotten wet, however, and were ineffective.

The French knights ignored their king's efforts at organization as soon as

they saw the enemy and worked themselves into a frenzy, shouting, "Kill!

Kill!" over and over. Impatient with the Genoese, the French king ordered

his knights forward and they trampled down the crossbowmen in theirway. Although the fighting went on all day, the dismounted English knights

and longbowmen (who had kept their bowstrings dry) defeated the

mounted French who fought as an undisciplined mob.

By 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. By

this time, the futility of charging well-emplaced and disciplined infantrywas well understood. The rules had changed. Stakes, horse traps, and

trenches were routinely employed by armies to protect against cavalry

charges. Charges against massed ranks of pikemen and archers/gunners

left only a pile of broken horses and men. Knights were forced to fight on

foot or wait for the right opportunity to charge. Devastating charges were

still possible, but only when the enemy was in flight, disorganized, or out

from behind his temporary battlefield defenses.

Missile Troop Tactics


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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 joining in hand-to-hand combat. The value of these troops

was well known in ancient times, but the lessons were temporarily lost inthe Dark 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. Killing with arrows at a distance was dishonorable to the

knights so the ruling class did little to develop this weapon and use it

effectively.

It became apparent gradually, however, that archers were effective andvery useful, both in sieges and in battle. More and more armies made room

for them, if grudgingly. The decisive victory of William I at Hastings in 1066

may have been won by archery, although his knights traditionally get the

most credit. The Anglo-Saxons held a hillside and were so packed into their

shield-wall that the Norman knights had great difficulty penetrating. The

fighting flowed back and forth all day. The Anglo-Saxons ventured out of

their shield-wall, partly to get at the Norman archers. When the Anglo-

Saxons came out, they were easily run down. For some time it seemed thatthe Normans must fail, but many believe that Norman archery was winning

the battle. A lucky shot mortally wounded Harold, the Anglo-Saxon king,

and the battle ended soon thereafter.

Foot archers fought in massed formations of hundreds or even thousands

of men. When within a hundred yards of the enemy, both crossbow and

longbow shots could penetrate armor. At this range, archers shot atindividual targets. It was maddening for the enemy to take this damage,

especially if they could not respond. In 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. If the enemy left its protection and charged


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the archers, friendly heavy cavalry would respond, hopefully in time to

save the archers. If the enemy formation just stood its ground, it might

waver eventually to the point that cavalry could charge effectively.

Archers were actively encouraged and subsidized in England because the

English were at a population disadvantage when waging war on the

mainland. When the English learned how to use large contingents of

bowmen, they began winning battles, even though they were usually

outnumbered. The English developed the arrow barrage, taking advantage

of the range of the longbow. Instead of firing at individual targets, the

longbowmen fired into the area occupied by the enemy. Firing up to 6

shots a minute, 3000 longbowmen could put 18,000 arrows into a massedenemy formation. The effect of this barrage upon horses and men was

devastating. French knights in the Hundred Years War spoke of the sky

being black with arrows and of the noise of these missiles in flight.

Crossbowmen became prominent in mainland armies, especially in the

militia and professional forces raised by towns. With a minimum of

training, a crossbowmen became an effective soldier.

By the fourteenth century the first primitive handguns were appearing on

the battlefield. When these worked, they were even more powerful than

bows.

The difficulty in using archers was protecting them while they shot. To beeffective they had to be fairly close to the enemy. English 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


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attacked by enemy foot soldiers. Crossbowmen 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.

By 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 (crossbowmen or handgunners) fired into the

enemy formations. These mixed formations learned how to move and

actually attack. Enemy cavalry had to withdraw in the face of a disciplined

mixed force of pikemen and crossbowmen/gunners. If the enemy could not

respond with missiles and pikes of their own, the battle was probably lost.

Infantry Tactics

The tactic of foot soldiers in the Dark Ages was simply to close with the

enemy and start chopping. The Franks threw their axes just before closing

to disrupt the enemy. Warriors 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 exist. The foot

soldiers of early medieval armies were mainly peasants who were poorly

armed and trained.

The Saxons and Vikings developed a defensive posture called the shield-wall. The men stood adjacent 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.


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Infantry underwent a revival in those areas that did not have the resources

to field armies of heavy cavalry-hilly countries like Scotland and

Switzerland and in the rising towns. Out of necessity, these two sectors

found ways to field effective armies that contained little or no cavalry. Both

groups discovered that horses would not charge into a barrier of bristlingstakes 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 Scots began

using during their wars for independence around the end of the thirteenth

century (featured in the motion picture Braveheart). They learned that theschiltron was an effective defensive formation. Robert Bruce offered battle

to the English knights only in swampy terrain that greatly impeded the

heavy cavalry charge.

The Swiss became renowned for fighting with pikes. They essentially

revived the Greek phalanx and became very proficient at fighting with the

long pole arms. They formed a square of pikemen. The outer four ranksheld 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 Swiss 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 theranks of dense formations. The Spanish appear to have first done this

effectively. The Spanish 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 Spanish also first


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experimented 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 Spanish were the most effective fighting force in Europe.

Castle Defense

The basic principal of castle defense was to maximize the danger and

exposure of any attackers while minimizing 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 theattacker was forced to fall back by lack of supplies, disease, or losses.

Keep

The keep was a small castle often found within a large castle complex. This

was a fortified building that often served as the castle lord's residence. Ifthe outer walls fell, the defenders could withdraw into the keep for a final

defense. In the case of many castles, the complex began with the keep,

which was the original fortification on the site. Over time, the complex

might have been expanded to include an outer wall and towers as a first

line of defense for the keep.

Walls

Stone 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. Defenders on top of the walls could shoot down or


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throw objects down against attackers. Attackers wholly exposed 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. Gates and doors in castle walls were minimized and given heavyprotection.

Towers

At the corners of and perhaps at intervals along a long wall, towers were

placed as strong points. Towers extended out beyond the vertical plane ofthe 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. Some castles began as simple

towers and evolved into a greater complex of walls, an inner keep, and

additional towers.

Battlements

Walls 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. Gaps 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 completelyprotected.

During an assault, covered wooden platforms (called hourds) were

extended out from the top of the walls or from towers. These allowed


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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. Stone versions of hourds, called

machicolations, might be built over gates or other key points.

Ditches, Moats, and Drawbridges

To accentuate the height advantage of the walls, a ditch might be dug at

their base, completely around the castle. Where possible, this ditch was

filled with water to form a moat. Both ditches and moats made direct

assaults against walls more difficult. Armored men risked drowning if theyfell 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. In 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.

Drawbridges across a moat or ditch allowed the castle occupants to come

and go when necessary. In time of danger, the drawbridge was raised,

reestablishing the ditch and sealing the walls. Bridges were raised by a

mechanism within the castle that was protected from the attackers.

Portcullis

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


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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. Defenders and attackers could both shoot or stab

through the grating.

Barbican

A strong castle had both an outer gate and inner gate. Between 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.Once inside the barbican, attackers could only go back out the outer gate or

fight their way through the inner gate. In the meantime they would be

targets for arrows and other missiles in the open.

Defenders

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. Under threat of an assault, a much larger force

was needed to defend a castle.

Competent archers and crossbowmen were needed to shoot from the walls

and towers at attackers making an assault or just preparing for one byattempting to drain the moat or fill the ditch. Each attacking casualty

lowered the morale and fighting power of the attackers. Heavy losses from

missile fire could cause the attackers to break off.


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If 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 opportunitiesto 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.

In 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 Castellation of Europe

Beginning in the ninth century, local strongmen began dotting the

landscape of Europe 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 majority appear to have been built outof self-interest by local nobles. They were justified by barbarian threats,

but the nobles employed them to establish local control. This was possible

because Europe had no strategic defenses and no strong central authorities

at the time.

An example of the castellation of Europe was the Poitou region of France.

There were three castles there before Viking raids began in the ninthcentury and 39 by the eleventh century. This pattern was repeated across

Europe. Castles could be built quickly. Until the appearance of cannon,

castle defenders had a great advantage over any attackers.


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Widespread 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 Evolution of the Castle

The earliest castles were of a type called the "motte and bailey." The motte

was a broad, leveled mound of earth, typically 50 feet high. A large wooden

tower was built atop the motte. Below the motte was an enclosure within a

wooden palisade called the bailey. Here were placed storehouses, stock

pens, and huts. Both the motte and bailey were small islands surroundedby a water-filled ditch, excavated 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.

In the eleventh century, stone began replacing earth and wood in castle

construction. The wooden tower atop the motte was replaced with a roundstone 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 example of a

basic keep-type castle is the original Tower of London, built by William the

Conqueror. This large square structure stood by itself at first and was

whitewashed to draw attention. Later kings improved this castle with the

curtain walls and other improvements seen today.

Castle design advanced when crusaders to the East returned with news of

the fortifications and siege engines they had encountered in their travels.

Concentric castles were designed that enclosed a central keep within two


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or more rings of walls. Walls 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. Round towers

were more resistant to attack. Embattlements were added at the top of

walls and towers to make fighting from above more effective.

Cannon appeared in Europe in the early fourteenth century, but effective

siege artillery was not used until the middle fifteenth century. Castle

designs changed in response to the power of cannon. High perpendicular

walls were replaced by low sloping walls. By the middle of the fifteenth

century castles were in decline because of the rising power of kings. In the

eleventh century William the Conqueror claimed ownership of all castles inEngland to get them out of the hands of nobles. By the thirteenth century it

was necessary to ask a king's permission to build a castle or strengthen an

existing one. Kings worked to demilitarize castles to minimize their

usefulness to potential rebels.

Castles were abandoned as living quarters for nobles and fell into ruin.

Fortified towns were increasingly important because the wealth of the landhad shifted to the cities.

Castle Construction

Construction of a castle might take less than a year or up to 20 years to

complete. For several centuries castle-building was an important industry.Renowned 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.


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Construction of Beaumaris Castle in North Wales began in 1295. The

design was symmetrical, with no weak points. At the height of its building,

it required the effort of 30 blacksmiths, 400 masons, and 2000 laborers.

Laborers did most of the excavation, carrying, lifting, well-digging, and

stone-breaking. This particular castle was never completed. The massivecastle at Conway, built in Wales by Edward I of England, took 40 months to

build.

Castle walls were masonry shells filled with stone rubble and flint mixed

with mortar. Wall width ranged from 6 to 16 feet.

Castles

Fortifications and earthworks had been employed for defense since the

Stone Age. True castles did not appear in Europe until the ninth century,

however, partly in response to Viking raids and partly as a manifestation of

decentralized feudal political power. From the ninth through the fifteenth

century, thousands of castles were constructed throughout Europe. A 1905

census in France counted more than 10,000 castle remains in that nationalone.

During the feudal period, local nobles provided law and order, as well as

protection from marauders like the Vikings. Castles 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. Itfunctioned as a base for professional soldiers, mainly cavalry, which

controlled the nearby countryside. At a time when the centralized

authority of kings was weak for a number of reasons, a network of castles

and the military forces they supported provided relative political stability.

Capturing Castles


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Capturing 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 acastle, 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 expensive proposition.

As an army approached the castle, the locals usually withdrew inside,

taking anything of value with them, especially food and weapons. If thesiege was expected 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. When English king Henry V besieged the city of Rouen, the

defenders expelled the weak and the poor to conserve food. The English

refused to allow these unfortunates through their lines. Old men, women,

and children huddled between the city and the English 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. If a quick assault was thrown back or was judged too

risky, the attackers sealed off the castle and began a siege. Once siege

artillery had fired at the city, the siege was officially underway. To

withdraw without good reason was dishonorable and unacceptable in most

cases.


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A large siege was something like a social event. The fifteenth-century siege

of Neuss lasted only a few months, but the attackers built up a large camp

that included taverns and tennis courts. Nobles taking part in sieges made

themselves comfortable, often bringing along wives and their households.

Merchants and craftsmen from neighboring towns rushed forward to setup shop and provide services.

Siege 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 desperationor made much easier by acts of treachery or stealth. Unless the garrison

was greatly under strength, it was just too costly in lives to assault. It 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. It would

be treason for the defenders to surrender without a fight so the siege was

maintained and the castle walls were battered. If 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 hadappeared. Castellans often requested a contract that specified exactly what

were their obligations and under what circumstances they would not be

punished for surrendering.

In 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. Common soldiers and even civilians inside might bemassacred and the castle or town was looted. Captured knights were kept

alive, usually, and held for ransom. All attackers received a share of the

spoils. Practical application of this policy was a further inducement for

defenders to negotiate surrender after a reasonable period of siege. King

Henry V of England took the city of Caen after a long siege in 1417. He then


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allowed his army to sack the city from one end to the other in payment for

the defender's stout resistance. Every man in the city who was not a priest

was killed. At his next stop, the castle of Bonneville, 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 Krak des Chevaliers was the most famous of the Crusader castles in the

Middle East and still stands impressively in modern Syria. It was defended

by the Knights Hospitaller during the era of the Crusades and withstood

over a dozen sieges and attacks over 130 years before falling finally to

Egyptian Arabs in 1271. 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 Krak des Chevaliers

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. Before attacking the even stronger

central keep, however, they tried a ruse. A carrier pigeon was sent into thecastle with a message from the Hospitaller's grand master, ordering the

garrison to surrender. Outnumbered 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. One 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


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drained. It 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. Defenders who became aware

of the tunneling reinforced the threatened wall with a secondary wall so

that the collapse did not completely open the defenses. Defenders were

also known to countermine, digging their own tunnels under the walls

trying to intercept the enemy tunnel. When the tunnels encountered each

other, actual fighting broke out underground.

Siege

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. Patrols were set to bring notice of any relieving army

approaching and to forage for food. The leaders of the attackers examinedthe situation and decided whether to simply besiege the castle or to

actively prepare to attack it. If 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. Choosing how best to

attack a castle might involve any of the following options:


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* Undermining a part of the wall.

* Selecting a wall section to breach by battering it

with hurled stones (or with cannons, although

these were not effective until around 1450,

near the end of this period).

* Selecting a part of the ditch (and moat, if

present) to fill.

* Building siege towers and ladders to scale the

walls.

* Choosing a gate or other section to batter with

a ram.

The speed of work on assault preparations was in proportion to theurgency for taking the castle, the prospects of surrender, and the

manpower available. If the attackers had ample supplies of food, no relief

was expected, and the defenders were likely to surrender after their honor

had been satisfied, work on assault preparations might be little more than

a show. If the attacker's supplies were short, relief was expected any day,

or the defenders were obstinate, preparations might go forward day and

night.

When preparations were complete, the defenders were given one last

chance to surrender before the assault.


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Siege Equipment

Siege 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. In 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.

Once a breach was made or a siege tower put in place, a volunteer force ofsoldiers led the assault. This force came to be known as the "forlorn hope,"

because of the casualties they were expected to take. But 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 box of rocks. The long throwing arm was pulled downagainst the mass of the counterweight and a large stone was loaded. When

the arm was released, the heavy weight dropped down, pulling the

throwing arm up, and flinging the large stone missile in a high arcing

trajectory. Missiles thrown by this weapon plunged downward and were

best used to smash the tops of towers, embattlements, and hourds. It 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 defendersseeking to burn the weapon. The trebuchet was useful for smashing

wooden roofs and then setting the rubble on fire with incendiary missiles.


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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. When

released, the ropes spun, flinging the throwing arm forward. When 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 adjusted to change thetrajectory of the missile. Mangonels had a flat trajectory, in comparison to

the trebuchet, but could generate the same power. It 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.

Siege towers were moved close to the walls and then a gangplank wasdropped from the tower to the top of the wall. Soldiers in the tower could

then advance across the gangplank and engage the defenders in hand-to-

hand combat. Such a tower was often huge. It had to be protected with wet

hides to prevent being burned. It was ponderous to move because of its

weight. It 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. Afighting area on top of the tower let archers shoot down into the castle as

the tower approached. Soldiers 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. Up to the last moment of the assault, siege engines

would fire on the target section of wall to disrupt the defender'spreparations to receive the assault. If 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.


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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. Once 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 wethides to prevent burning. Operating battering was dangerous work.

Enemies above dropped large rocks, boiling water, or burning fat on the

ram, attempting to destroy it or kill the men operating it. Even 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 1111-1112, 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 theuse 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. England's

King Richard I, the Lionheart, received a mortal shoulder wound from a

crossbow bolt when looking around the side of a pavise.

Armies of the Dark Ages

The Germanic tribes that overran the Roman Empire at the start of the

Middle Ages fought primarily on foot with axes and swords, while wearing

little armor other than perhaps helmets and shields. They were organized

into war bands under the leadership of a chief. They were fierce warriors

but fought in undisciplined mobs. The disciplined Roman legions had great

success against the Germanic tribes for centuries, in part because

emotional armies are usually very fragile. When the Roman legions

declined in quality at the empire's end, however, the Germanic tribes were

able to push across the frontier.


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Not all Germanic tribes fought on foot. Exceptions were the Goths, who had

adapted to horses when they settled previously north of the Black Sea.

Both the Visigoths and Ostrogoths learned about cavalry by being incontact with the Eastern Roman Empire south of the Danube and barbarian

horsemen from Asia. The Eastern Roman armies put a greater emphasis on

cavalry because of their conflicts with mounted barbarians, the Parthians,

and the Persians.

Following the fall of Rome, most fighting in Europe for the next few

centuries involved clashes of foot soldiers. One exception might have beenthe battles of Britain's Arthur against the invading Saxons, although we

have no evidence that his success was due to using cavalry. Arthur may

have halted Saxon progress in Britain for 50 years, perhaps because of

cavalry or the use of disciplined troops. Another exception was the

Byzantine army that recaptured North Africa from the Vandals and almost

restored Italy to Eastern Roman control in the sixth century. The strength

of the Byzantine army of this period was cavalry. The Byzantines 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

Byzantine 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 expanded by devastating

the food production of enemies, starving them out, and enslaving the

survivors. Battles were mainly clashes of war bands, fighting hand to hand

with axes and swords. They fought as mobs, not the disciplined formations

typical of the Romans. They used shields and helmets and wore some


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armor. Leather armor was common; only chieftains and elites wore chain

mail.

In the early eighth century, Visgothic Spain fell to the warriors of Islam,

many of whom fought as light cavalry. At the same time, nomadic Magyars

from the Hungarian plains increased their mounted raids on western

Europe. In 732 a Frankish infantry army was able to defeat a Muslim

cavalry raid near Poitiers, ending Muslim northward expansion. Charles

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, Charlemagne. Frankish heavy

cavalry was the genesis of the mounted knight that came to typify medievalwarfare.

Annually for 30 years, Charlemagne conducted military campaigns that

extended the size 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. It could move quickly and strike hard

against foes fighting mainly on foot. Charlemagne's campaigns wereeconomic raids, burning, looting, and devastating enemies into submission.

He fought very few battles against organized opposition.

The Vikings fought exclusively on foot, except 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 Viking raiders that became the Normans of northwesternFrance adapted quickly to the use of horses and became some of the most

successful warriors of the late Middle Ages.


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In the early tenth century, the Germans began developing the use of cavalry

under Otto I, both as a rapid response force against Viking raids and to

repel mounted barbarian raids from the East.

By the end of the tenth century, heavy cavalry was an important

component of most European armies except in Anglo-Saxon England, Celtic

lands (Ireland, Wales, and Scotland), and Scandinavia.

Economic Revitalization

At the start of the Dark Ages, Northern Europe was deeply forested. By1000 AD, much of the forest was gone and most of the rest was going,

replaced by farmland and pasture. The soil was generally excellent, a loess

of finely ground rock deposited during the last receding Ice Age. Two key

inventions accelerated the deforestation of Europe and led to increasing

food production. The first was the horse collar that originated in China 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 tocut into the deep soils and extensive root systems of the old forests.

Dramatic increases in food production were the foundation of population

growth and economic revitalization in Europe.

Increasing 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 (cloth-making,shipbuilding, and tool-making, for example) traded in the new markets and

trade fairs. Kings encouraged the growth of towns because residents were

usually allied with the central authority rather than local feudal lords.

Citizens of towns paid taxes, not feudal service. Within towns there

appeared a new middle class that supported itself by trade, industrial


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production, and lending money. Merchants came to dominate the town

governments, growing both rich and powerful.

Craftsmen and merchants organized themselves into associations that

were called guilds. These associations controlled prices and production,

ensured a high standard of service or manufacturing, and organized the

training of crafts through apprenticeships. These controls ensured both a

high-quality product and a high-quality of life for guild members. Guild

members often concentrated in one part of town, such as Threadneedle

Street and Ironmongers Lane in London. Guilds formed an important

power block within the political structure of the towns.

Increased trade led to a new boom in manufacturing. Both led to the rise of

banking, centered mostly in northern Italy in the thirteenth century.

Fledgling businesses needed money to get started and to function

efficiently. Money acted as a medium of exchange and standard of value

and was necessary for moving beyond an inefficient barter economy. Italy

had cash surpluses from its lucrative Mediterranean trade, especially with

the Levant. The gold florin of Florence became the most popular coin of thelate Middle Ages.

The Feudal Contract

Feudalism was an agreement between two nobles, one the lord and one the

vassal. The vassal pledged an oath of fealty (faithfulness) to the lord and

agreed to carry out duties in his behalf. The most important duties wereusually military service (normally limited to 40 days per year), 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


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assigned the job of tax 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. It was much

harder for a vassal to leave a lord. During the early Middle Ages fiefs werenot 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.

Only nobles and knights were allowed to take the oath of fealty. In practice

most nobles were both vassals and lords, fitting in somewhere between theking and the lowest knight of rank. Feudalism was never neatly organized,

however. Vassals might be more powerful than lords. The dukes of

Normandy, controlling much of France and all of England, were more

powerful than the kings of France who were their lords. Vassals 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. Nobles also discovered that if they were strong enough they

could ignore the rules of feudalism and attack neighbors to get what theywanted. Such 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 Roman rule. A

hierarchy of strongmen in allegiance replaced the Roman system of

emperor, senate, province, city, and town.

The Decline of Feudalism


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Political Changes

By the beginning of the late Middle Ages, western Europe had been divided

into feudal holdings of various sizes. Kings atop feudal hierarchies did not

exercise a strong central authority and nations existed as cultural groups,

not political entities. By the end of the late Middle Ages, strong central

authority controlled England, Spain, Portugal, and France. Political power

in those areas had been wrested away from the local feudal lords.

William the Conqueror established the first of the strong European

monarchies after winning the throne of England in 1066. Following hisvictory at Hastings and five more years of fighting to break remaining

resistance, he began taking steps to consolidate his power. He kept one-

sixth of England as royal land. Half of the rest was given as fiefs to Norman

barons who were his direct vassals. He gave one-quarter of the land to the

Church and the remainder was divided among the Anglo-Saxons. 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 thedecline of feudalism, although they could not always be enforced, especially

by later kings of lesser ability than William.

In the twelfth century, England's King Henry II created the chancery and

exchequer, the beginnings of a civil service. The chancery kept records of

laws and royal transactions; the exchequer was the treasury. Both offices

were not hereditary, making it easy to remove unwanted officials. Thestaffs of the new civil service were paid a salary rather than given a fief,

making them dependent only on the king.


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In 1215 the unpopular King John of England was forced to sign the Magna

Carta, a feudal document that made the king subject to the laws of the land

and required that the barons have a voice in the king's decision through a

Great Council. Wording of the Magna Carta led to important interpretations

in later centuries, including the concept of "no taxation withoutrepresentation." When a later English king ignored the Magna Carta, the

barons seized power in 1264 and ruled temporarily through an expanded

Great Council called the Parliament. The new Parliament included not only

the barons and high-ranking churchmen but also representatives from the

large towns.

Although this parliamentary government was short-lived (15 months),Parliament itself could not be suppressed or ignored. From this period on,

only Parliament could repeal laws it had passed. No taxes could be imposed

without its approval. When kings needed money in the short term (during

the Hundred Years War, for example) they were often forced by Parliament

to concede more power in exchange. Parliament 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.

While the king, civil service, and Parliament were pushing down on the

power of barons from above, pressure was also rising from the bottom of

the feudal hierarchy. Several 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 Europe in the

fourteenth century.

The Black Death


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The plague that became known as the Black Death struck Europe suddenly

and with devastating effect in the middle fourteenth century. It moved west

from Central Asia, appearing in the Black Sea area in 1346. It spread

southwest into the Mediterranean and then up and around the North

Atlantic Coast and into the Baltic. By 1348 it was in Spain and Portugal, by1349 in England and Ireland, by 1351 in Sweden, and by 1353 in the Baltic

States and Russia. Only remote and sparsely populated areas were spared.

Between a third and a half of the population of Europe, the Middle East,

North Africa, and India died, based on modern estimates of the loss.

The Black Plague was probably a variety of the bubonic plague, a bacterial

infection still encountered today and still dangerous. The bacteria werecarried in the saliva of fleas that had sucked the blood of infected rats. The

fleas jumped 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 oozed

blood and pus. Victims developed a high fever and became delirious. Most

died within 48 hours, but a small minority were able to fight off the

infection and survive.

Entire towns were depopulated and the social relation between serf and

lord fell apart. People who could farm or make things were valuable. The

move to cities accelerated once the plague had passed.

The Advent of Gunpowder

The Chinese 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 Chinese also experimented with

fireworks. They did not realize the potential of gunpowder as an explosive

or propellant for missile weapons.


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Gunpowder gradually worked its way to the west where Europeans found

much more destructive uses for it. The oldest surviving artwork from

Europe that portrays a gunpowder weapon appeared in 1326. Thisprimitive cannon was loaded with a spear of some sort, not a cannonball.

Europeans had been experimenting with gunpowder for the previous half-

century. The oldest surviving description of the formula for gunpowder

appeared in 1260 and was attributed to an English friar named Roger

Bacon. By 1340 cannonballs of lead, iron, and stone were being used. The

English had cannons on the battlefield at Crcy in 1346, but there is no

mention in the battle accounts of their usefulness.

Cannons

It took several centuries of experimentation before gunpowder weapons

became truly useful. One difficulty was developing gunpowder that ignited

quickly, uniformly, and powerfully. Another was designing suitable

cannons that would not burst. Poor manufacturing techniques plaguedearly cannons, and it was almost as dangerous to serve them as to be shot

at by them. King James II of Scotland, for example, was killed by an

exploding cannon in 1460.

Cannon and gunpowder technologies were sufficiently advanced by the

middle of the fifteenth century that they were recognized as important

weapons. This was made clear in 1453 when huge siege bombards firingmassive stone cannonballs battered the walls of Constantinople. Although

the proximate cause of the fall of Constantinople was a small gate being left

open, the bombardment would have eventually made a direct assault

possible.


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Cannons 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. Low sloping walls

replaced high vertical walls. The usefulness of cannon on the battlefield

was limited during this period because the cannons were so ponderous. Itwas difficult to move them into new positions during the action.

Handguns

Illustrations of various types of handguns appeared around 1350. These

were primitive weapons consisting of a hollow tube blocked at one end anda hole in the side near the blocked end for igniting the powder. A slow

match (a slow-burning cord) 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. By 1450 handguns were being

used by most of the advanced European armies. Bows and crossbows

continued in use as infantry missile weapons through the sixteenth

century, however, because they were still inexpensive and effective.

The Rise of Knights

By the time of Charlemagne, mounted warriors had become the elite

military units of the Franks and this innovation spread across Europe.

Fighting from a horse was most glorious because the mounted man rode

into battle, moved quickly, and trampled down lower-class enemies onfoot. When cavalry faced cavalry, the charge at speed and resulting violent

contact was exhilarating. Fighting while mounted was most prestigious

because of the high cost of horses, weapons, and armor. Only wealthy

individuals, or the retainers of the wealthy, could fight mounted.


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Kings of the late Dark Ages had little money with which to pay for large

contingents of expensive cavalry. Warriors were made vassals and given

fiefs of land. They were expected to use their profits from the land to pay

for horses and equipment. In most cases, vassals also supported groups of

professional soldiers. At a time when central authority was weak andcommunications poor, the vassal, aided by his retainers, was responsible

for law and order within the fief. In return for his fief, the vassal agreed to

provide military service to his lord. In 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 westernEurope 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. Knights 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. Later their status and prestige were based mainly on heredity, andthe importance of being a warrior declined.

Chivalry

When first used, the term "chivalry" meant horsemanship. The warrior

elite of the Middle Ages distinguished themselves from the peasants andclergy 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.


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By the twelfth century, chivalry had come to mean an entire way of life. The

basic rules of the chivalric code were the following:

* Protect women and the weak.

* Champion justice against injustice and evil.

* Love the homeland.

* Defend the Church, even at the risk of death.

In practice, knights and aristocrats ignored the code of chivalry when itsuited them. Feuds between nobles and fights over land took precedent

over any code. The Germanic 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 example of this was the

conflict between Charlemagne's grandsons. The Middle Ages were plagued

with such civil wars in which the big losers were usually the peasants.

In the late Middle Ages, kings created orders of chivalry, which were

exclusive organizations of high-ranking knights that swore allegiance to

their king and each other. Becoming a member of chivalric order was

extremely prestigious, marking a man as one of the most important of the

realm. In 1347 during the Hundred Years War, Edward III of England

founded the Order of the Garter, still in existence today. This order

consisted of the 25 highest-ranking knights of England and was founded to

ensure their loyalty to the king and dedication to victory in the war.

The Order of the Golden Fleece was established by Philip the Good of

Burgundy in 1430 and became the richest and most powerful order in

Europe. Louis XI of France established the Order of St. Michael to control


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his most important nobles. The Orders of Calatrava, Santiago, and

Alcantara were founded to drive the Moors out of Spain. They were united

under Ferdinand of Aragon, whose marriage to Isabella of Castile set the

foundation for a single Spanish kingdom. He eventually became master of

the three orders, although they remained separate.

Becoming a Knight

At the age of 7 or 8, boys of the noble class were sent to live with a great

lord as a page. Pages learned basic social skills from the women of the

lord's household and began basic training in the use of weapons andhorsemanship. Around the age of 14 the youth became a squire, a knight in

training. Squires 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 (prone to

rust), 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. In

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. Squires,

on the other hand, sought to engage enemy knights, seeking to gain glory

by killing or capturing an enemy knight of high rank.

In 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.


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By the age of 21, a squire was eligible to become a knight. Suitable

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 Church added to the rite.

Candidates bathed, cut their hair close, and stayed up all night in a vigil of

prayer. In the morning the candidate received the sword and spurs of a

knight.

Knighthood was usually attainable only for those who possessed the landor income necessary to meet the responsibilities of the rank. Important

lords and bishops could support a sizable contingent of knights, however,

and many found employment in these circumstances. Squires 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 Council of Letrn,

under Pope Innocentius II, and the kings of Europe who objected to the

injuries 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.


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Special lists (tournament grounds) were erected with stands for spectators

and pavilions for combatants. Knights continued to compete as individuals

but also in teams. They dueled against each other using a variety of

weapons and held mock mle battles with many knights on a side. Jousts,

or tilts, involving two charging knights fighting with lances, became thepremier event. Knights competed like modern-day athletes for prizes,

prestige, and the eyes of the ladies who filled the stands.

So many men were being killed in tournaments by the thirteenth century,

that leaders, including the pope, became alarmed. Sixty knights died in a

1240 tournament held in Cologne, for example. The pope wanted as many

knights as possible to fight on the Crusades in the Holy Land, rather than bekilled in tournaments. Weapons were blunted and rules attempted to

reduce the incidence of injury, but serious and fatal injuries occurred.

Henry II of France was mortally wounded, for example, in a joust at a

tournament held to celebrate his daughter's wedding.

Challenges were usually issued for a friendly contest, but grudges between

two enemies might be settled in a fight to the death. Tournament loserswere 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 box scores. A low-ranking knight could amass wealth

through prizes and attract a wealthy wife.

Military Orders

During the Crusades military orders of knights were created to support the

Christian goals of the movement. They became the fiercest of the Crusaders

and the most hated enemies of the Arabs. These orders carried on after the

Crusades in Palestine ended in failure.


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The first of these orders were the Knights of the Temple, or the Templars,

founded in 1108 to protect the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The Templars

wore a white surcoat supplanted with a red cross and took the same vowsas a Benedictine monk-poverty, chastity, and obedience. The Templars

were among the bravest defenders of the Holy Land. They were the last

Crusaders to leave the Holy Land. In the following years they grew wealthy

from donations and by lending money at interest, attracting the envy and

distrust of kings. In 1307 King Philip IV of France accused them of many

crimes, including heresy, arrested them, and confiscated their lands. Other

European leaders followed his lead and the Templars were destroyed.

The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, or the Hospitallers, were set up

originally to tend to sick and poor pilgrims visiting the Holy Sepulcher.

They converted shortly into a military order. They wore a red surcoat with

a white cross and also took the vows of St. Benedict. The Hospitallers set a

high standard and did not allow their order to become rich and indolent.

When forced out of the Holy Land following the surrender of their great

castle, the Krak des Chevaliers, they retreated to the island of Rhodes,

which they defended for many years. Driven from Rhodes by the Turks

they took up residence on Malta.

The third great military order was the Teutonic Knights, founded in 1190

to protect German pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land. Before the end of

the Crusades they had turned their efforts toward converting the heathens

in Prussia and in the Baltic States.

Heraldry


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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 organization known asthe College of Heralds designed the individual badges and ensured that

each was unique. Badges were recorded by the heralds in special books

under their care.

Coats-of-arms were handed down from one generation to the next and

would be modified by marriage. Certain designs were reserved for royalty

in different countries. By the late Middle Ages towns, guilds, and evenprominent nonnoble townsmen were granted coats-of-arms.

On the battlefield, combatants used coats-of-arms to distinguish friend and

foe and to choose a worthy opponent in a mle. 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. In this

manner they might pass messages between the defenders of a castle ortown and its besiegers. After a battle, heralds identified the dead by their

coats-of-arms.

The Late Middle Ages

The Dark Ages witnessed widespread disruption throughout Europe and

the replacement of the previously predominant Roman culture withGermanic tribal culture. For 500 years Europe 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. By roughly the year 1000, Europeans were creating a new

medieval civilization that surpassed the ancients in almost every way.


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The Middle Ages

The expression "Middle Ages" has been employed by Western civilization

to define the 1000 years that span European history from roughly 500 to

1500 AD. The beginning of the Middle Ages is marked by the fall of the

Western Roman Empire, the generally accepted end of classical ancient

history. The end of the Middle Ages is noted by the beginning of the

Renaissance (the "rebirth" of Europe). Events marking the end of the

period include the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the first use of the

printing press in 1456, the European discovery of the Americas in 1492,

the Protestant Reformation, triggered by Martin Luther in 1517, and the

flowering of the arts in Italy. The Middle Ages thus fall in the middlebetween ancient and modern history.

Historic periods in Asia and the Middle East do not fit easily into the

concept of a European Middle Age. China evolved gradually from

prehistoric times up to the advent of Western modern history without the

great disruptions that befell Europe. China passed under the control of

several dynasties and suffered from invasion, but the basic cultureprogressed steadily. Japan progressed steadily, as well, and was left largely

alone. The history of the Middle East fits together more closely with the

European Middle Ages because these two regions were adjacent and

shared many interactions.

Naval Warfare

The need for warships in the Mediterranean Sea largely faded after the

Romans 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 Western Roman Empire, new

civilizations sprang up from the ruins of the empire and piracy reappeared.


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Warships were needed again to defend against invasion, project military

power, and protect sea trade routes.

Byzantine Ships

The Byzantines were the great Mediterranean naval power of the early

Middle Ages. Naval power was critical to their survival and to their

extended empire. The land defenses of Constantinople were excellent and

made outright assault of the city very difficult, but the city had to keep its

sea supply open to prevent a successful siege. So long as the navy could

bring in supplies, the city was assured of survival.

The main Byzantine 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. Power was supplied by 50 to 200

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. Rams were rarely seen. Platforms werebuilt 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 Byzantines effectively used a secret weapon called Greek fire. This was

a mixture of chemicals that burned fiercely upon contact with air. It waspumped out of hoses against enemy ships or thrown in bombs. It was a

devastating weapon against wooden ships and decisive for the Byzantines

in their naval battles against the Arabs. The secret of Greek fire was so

important and so closely guarded that it was eventually lost and we do not

know today exactly what it was.


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Mediterranean Ships

Oar-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 Italian

city-states of Genoa and Venice gradually became naval powers in

proportion to the increasing importa

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