The nature and practice of medieval warfare

The knight — an armoured warrior on a heavy warhorse, whose mass mounted charge could shatter enemy foot soldiers.

A tight line of armoured horsemen galloping into the enemy at speed, using weight and terror to break their formation.

Unpaid military service nobles owed a king for their land. Its weakness: service was limited (about 40 days), so armies dissolved during long campaigns.

Levies served briefly, unpaid, and were often untrained. Mercenaries fought for pay, stayed as long as paid, and were skilled — but expensive, tying war to royal money.

A castle let a small garrison control a whole region, so attackers had to capture strongholds rather than leave them behind — sieges decided who held territory.

Blockade (starve them out), battering ram (smash the gate), trebuchet (bombard with stones), and mining (tunnel under a tower to collapse it).

A counterweight siege engine that hurled heavy stones — over 100 kg — to crack walls and crush defenders; the artillery of its age.

It fired ten or more armour-piercing arrows a minute; massed volleys broke cavalry charges, so cheap archers could defeat expensive knights.

Crécy (1346) and Agincourt (1415) in the Hundred Years' War, where French heavy cavalry were destroyed by massed arrows.

Cannon smashed castle walls once thought unbreakable, and firearms needed little training — undermining both the stone castle and the armoured knight.

Ottoman cannon battered down its ancient walls, proving gunpowder had ended the age of the invincible fortress.

Transporting armies and supplies, controlling the sea to protect supply routes, and coastal raiding — usually supporting land campaigns rather than fighting fleet battles.

With heavy armoured cavalry (knights) charging in a mass, backed by infantry — powerful in a head-on clash but slow and heavy.

With light, fast mounted archers who fired arrows and wheeled away, using speed and distance to harass and exhaust the enemy.

Crusaders relied on the shock of a heavy charge; Turks relied on mobile hit-and-run archery. Whoever controlled the pace usually won.

Holding the Holy Land meant capturing the walled cities that controlled roads, ports and land — so winning sieges, not field battles, won the war.

The crusaders besieged it for eight months, got in by treachery, then were themselves besieged inside by a relief army before winning a desperate victory.

The crusaders built siege towers from sea-supplied timber, stormed the walls in July 1099, captured the city, and massacred its inhabitants.

Their huge concentric walls let a small garrison hold territory against far larger forces, helping settlers control the Levant for nearly two centuries.

The long march, fierce heat, lack of water, disease (like dysentery) and feeding men and horses — these killed more crusaders than battle did.

These Italian city-states provided fleets to transport and supply the armies and blockade ports, in return for trading privileges in captured cities.

Genoese ships were broken up so their timber could be hauled inland to build the siege towers that finally cracked the walls in 1099.

The Muslim leader who united Egypt and Syria, defeated the crusaders at Hattin in 1187, and recaptured Jerusalem.

He lured the crusaders across a waterless plateau in fierce heat, surrounded the exhausted army, and destroyed it — then retook Jerusalem.

A tall (about 6 ft) wooden bow that shot 10–12 arrows a minute over 200 metres, creating an 'arrow storm' that broke cavalry charges.

Longbow archers on the flanks plus dismounted men-at-arms in the centre, fighting defensively on chosen ground.

Heavily armoured knights and soldiers who, in the English system, fought on foot to give the line a steady core.

French cavalry charged uphill into massed longbow fire and were slaughtered — the first great proof of the English method.

The English won again with defensive tactics and captured the French king, John II, who was ransomed for a huge sum.

Henry V's outnumbered army fought on a narrow, muddy field where packed French knights got stuck and were killed by arrows.

A fast, destructive mounted raid deep into enemy land, burning crops and towns to wreck the economy and morale.

The levy served only about 40 days a year; paid, contracted (indentured) armies could campaign overseas for whole seasons.

A written contract by which a captain agreed to supply paid soldiers for a set time and wage.

Later in the war and mainly in sieges, where cannon could batter down stone walls; the longbow decided the big open battles.

England destroyed the French fleet, winning control of the Channel so it could move armies to France and avoid invasion.

Levy: unpaid, land-based, about 40 days, hard to send far. Paid: waged contracts, professional, could serve a whole campaign anywhere.