1st Edition

Warriors and their Weapons around the Time of the Crusades Relationships between Byzantium, the West and the Islamic World

By David Nicolle Copyright 2002
    340 Pages
    by Routledge

    The technological relationship between the three main civilizations of the Western world - Byzantium, the Islamic world and the West - most particularly in the area of arms, armour and military technology is a field of research for which Dr Nicolle is noted. This volume deals principally with Western Europe and Byzantium, which for many centuries learnt from the Muslims in these matters; several articles also focus on military interactions in the Crusader states. The work draws upon both written and archaeological sources, but above all makes use of the depictions of war and military equipment in contemporary art to examine the interconnections across the medieval world.

    Contents: Introduction; Medieval warfare: the unfriendly interface; Byzantium and Islamic arms and armour: evidence for mutual influence; No way overland? Evidence for Byzantine arms and armour on the 10th-11th century Taurus frontier; The impact of the European couched lance on Muslim military tradition; Armes et armures dans les Épopées des Croisades; Arms and armour illustrated in the art of the Latin east; Wounds, military surgery and the reality of crusading warfare: the evidence of Usamah's memoires; 'Ain al-Habis: the cave de Sueth; The Monreale capitals and the military equipment of later Norman Sicily; The Capella Palatina ceiling and the Muslim military inheritance of Norman Sicily; Arms, armour and horse harnesses in the Parma Baptistery painted ceiling; Index.
    'Students of medieval arms and armor will welcome this collection of reprints culled from the prodigious output of a recognized expert.' Choice 'No serious library should be without the two volumes of [David Nicolle's] Arms and Armours of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350.' The Historian '... a very useful volume whose central worth derives from Nicolle's amazing knowledge of the arms and armour of Asia, the Middle East and Europe.' Crusades