European Medieval Tactics (2) New Infantry, New Weapons 1260–1500

by Nicolle, David; Hook, Adam

• ISBN13: 9781849087391
• ISBN10: 1849087393
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-09-18
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Summary

By about 1260 the steady rise of the European heavily armoured mounted knight to the predominant role in most pitched battles was complete. But though he dominated the actual day of battle, he did not dominate warfare - there were plenty of vital though unglamorous tasks for which footsoldiers were still necessary, 'cleaning up round the edges'. With the development in the 13th century of co-operative tactics using crossbowmen and heavy spearmen, deployed together to compensate for each others' vulnerabilities, circumstance began to arise in which the charge by Muslim horse-archers, and then by European armoured knights, could be defied. Infantry were far cheaper and easier to train than knights, and potentially there were far more of them. Slowly, tactics emerged by which more numerous and more varied infantry played an increasing part in battles. The best-known examples of this 'democratization of the battlefield' are the English longbowmen who won battles against French knights in the Hundred Years' War, and the massed Swiss spearmen and halberdiers who did the same in wars against the Dukes of Burgundy. Illustrated with specially commissioned full-colour artwork depicting the tactical formations of the era, this book traces these and other examples of this 'jerky' and uneven process through its regional differences, which were invariably entwined with parallel cavalry developments - the balanced army of 'mixed arms' was always the key to success. By the time serious hand-held firearms appeared on battlefields in large numbers in about 1500, the face of medieval warfare had been transformed.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 4
The 13th-14th Century Infantry Revival	p. 10
From feudal militias to 'mercenaries'
Italian armies and tactics
The British Isles
The Empire and Scandinavia
France
The Challenge of Bow & Crossbow	p. 21
The 14th to mid-15th centuries: Italian urban militias and condottieri - Venice
France: indentured troops - urban forces
The British Isles: coastal militias
The Empire and Scandinavia: local forces - urban militias - leagues - 'free knights' - crossbowmen
Diversity of troop types and tactics: elite infantry - professional men-at-arms - Flemish mixed-arms infantry - archers - Scottish and Swiss spearmen
From Knight to Man-at-Arms	p. 34
The 14th to mid-15th centuries: France: the arrière ban and indentured companies
England: mixed indentured companies - 'hoblear' light cavalry
Italy: mercenary knights - the Venetian army - Angevin and Spanish southern Italy
The Empire and Eastern Europe: Western and Eastern influences
Strategy and tactics: French defensiveness and English aggression
Fortifications & Firearms	p. 41
Up to the mid-15th century: Defensive co-operation between French regional networks - blockades and canvoys
Field fortifications: bastides, stakes, and 'wagon forts'
Firearms: effectiveness and limitations of artillery - cost - the spread of handguns
The Dawan of Modern Warfare	p. 48
The second half of the 15th century: Infantry development
Attitudes to war: Italy - France
Continuing importance of armoured cavalry - skill-at-arms
Italian tactics
Firearms
External Challenges	p. 58
Warfare on the frontiers of Western Christendom: The Baltic
Hungary
Spain
Bibliography	p. 62
Index	p. 64
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