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In the Middle Ages, the lack of standardized weapons meant that one warrior's arms were often quite different from another's, even when they were fighting on the same side. And with few major technological advances in that period, the evolution of those weapons over the centuries was incremental. But evolve they ultimately did, bringing arms, armor, and siege weapons to the threshold of the modern era. From the fall of the Roman Empire to the beginnings of the Renaissance, Medieval Weapons: An Illustrated History of Their Impact covers the inexorable transformation from warrior in the mail shirt to fully armored knight, from the days of spears and swords to the large-scale adoption of the handgun.
Medieval Weapons covers this fascinating expanse of centuries in chapters devoted to the early medieval, Carolingian, Crusade, and late medieval periods. Within each period, the book details how weapons and armor were developed, what weapons were used for different types of battles, and how weapons and armor both influenced, and were influenced by, changing tactics in battles and sieges.
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MEDIEVAL WEAPONS Other Titles in ABC-CLIO’s WEAPONS AND WARFARE SERIES Aircraft Carriers, Paul E. Fontenoy Ancient Weapons, James T. Chambers Artillery, Jeff Kinard Ballistic Missiles, Kev Darling Battleships, Stanley Sandler Cruisers and Battle Cruisers, Eric W. Osborne Destroyers, Eric W. Osborne Helicopters, Stanley S. McGowen Machine Guns, James H. Willbanks Military Aircraft in the Jet Age, Justin D. Murphy Military Aircraft, 1919–1945, Justin D. Murphy Military Aircraft, Origins to 1918, Justin D. Murphy Pistols, Jeff Kinard Rifles, David Westwood Submarines, Paul E. Fontenoy Tanks, Spencer C. Tucker MEDIEVAL WEAPONS AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THEIR IMPACT Kelly DeVries Robert D. Smith Santa Barbara, California • Denver, Colorado • Oxford, England Copyright 2007 by ABC-CLIO, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data DeVries, Kelly, 1956– Medieval weapons : an illustrated history of their impact / Kelly DeVries and Robert D. Smith. p. cm. — (Weapons and warfare series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-10: 1-85109-526-8 (hard copy : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 1-85109-531-4 (ebook) ISBN-13: 978-1-85109-526-1 (hard copy : alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-1-85109-531-5 (ebook) 1. Military weapons—Europe—History—To 1500. 2. Military art and science—Europe—History—Medieval, 500-1500. I. Smith, Robert D. (Robert Douglas), 1954– II. Title. U810.D48 2007 623.4094'0902—dc22 2006102102 11 10 09 08 07 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Production Editor: Vicki Moran Editorial Assistant: Sara Springer Production Manager: Don Schmidt Media Editor: J. R. Withers Media Resources Coordinator: Ellen Brenna Dougherty Media Resources Manager: Caroline Price File Management Coordinator: Paula Gerard This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit abc-clio.com for details. ABC-CLIO, Inc. 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116–1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Manufactured in the United States of America CONTENTS Introduction to Weapons and Warfare Series, Spencer C. Tucker vii Introduction to Medieval Weapons ix Acknowledgments xiii chapter one The Early Middle Ages, 376–750 1 chapter two The Carolingian Era, 750–1050 49 chapter three The Crusades, 1050–1300 89