Medieval Siege Warfare (Elite, 28)

by Christopher Gravett

Book Overview

During the Middle Ages siege warfare played a vital role in military strategy. Sieges were far more numerous than pitched battles, ranging from small-scale affairs against palisaded earthworks to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0850459478
• Release Date: May 1990
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing
• Length: 64 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.7" x 0.1" x 7.2"

Customer Reviews

Good overall look at the whole world of Medieval siege warfare

This is a good look at the whole world of siege warfare in the Middle Ages. Without being scholarly it takes an interesting look at the many aspects of siege from weapons like catapults and trebuchets to digging tunnels, siege towers and more. It looks at how castles and fortifications changed over time to defend against siege and attack. Just a good introductory book with lots of pictures and prints. Plenty of pictures taken from old manuscripts and a whole series of modern drawings. If you want to learn about the whole arms race of Medieval sieges, the weapons and some of the famous ones that occurred this is a great place to start. It's peppered with many examples of real sieges and pictures and drawings of real castles. Did lords ever pay mercenaries to guard their strongholds? Yep, and the book takes examples from history and even tells you how much they paid. What was one of the weakpoints of a castle or stronghold and what did the builders do to strenghten it? Moats? Drawbridges? Gatehouses? Just a good book if you want to learn about siege warfare in the middle ages how it really happened but you don't want something overly scholarly and dry.

A great introduction to medieval siege warfare techniques

I bought this book since I am interested in medieval history, rather than a specific interest in medieval warfare. The book is quite short, but it is well illustrated both with drawings and color pictures which also include works done circa the period in question. The short book is very informative both from a general historical and military perspective. The book describes medieval castles and fortresses and how their design is based on military defensive needs. The book then discusses sieges as well as various machines created to overcome castle defences. Various artillery including canons and catapults are also covered. The book is well done, and though it is short, it wets the appetite for further reading.