What to read after The Journal of Medieval Military History?

The broad topic of medieval warfare is here explored across the full chronological range of the Middle Ages, using a wide variety of approaches, including literary, prosopographical, technological, and narrative-based analysis. A key feature of the journal is its commitment to fostering debate on the most significant issues in medieval military history; that tradition is continued here with Bernard Bachrach's argument against the idea that early medieval military structures and practices were sharply different from Late Antique ones. Individual battles, the Hattin campaign of 1187 and Byzantine war against Bulgaria in 1254-1256, are the focus of two other chapters; an article by Richard Kaeuper (based on his De Re Militari special lecture at the International Congress of Medieval Studies) emphasizes the value of chansons de geste and other "romance" material for understanding the mentalit of the martial lay aristocracy of medieval Christendom; and there are further articles on the factors that motivated gentlemen to fight, in both open warfare, and individual combat. Weapons of warfare are not neglected, with chapters casting light on the development of the crossbow and the trebuchet. CONTRIBUTORS: BERNARD S. BACHRACH, MICHAEL EHRLICH, MICHAEL BASISTA, NICHOLAS S. KANELLOPOULOS, JOANNE K. LEKEA, RICHARD W. KAEUPER, MARK DUPUY, MALCOLM MERCER, STEVEN C. HUGHES