Covering the ten centuries following the fall of Rome, War in the
Middle Ages engages all aspects of its subject, including the
military customs and conditions of the various Western European
states; armor and weaponry recruitment; and rules of combat
developed to limit bloodshed.
Philippe Contamine writes with an awareness that, in both theory
and fact, medieval warfare was constantly evolving. He opens with a
chapter on Roman military disintegration and the practice of
warfare in the barbarian kingdoms erected on the empire''s ruins.
He then shows how feudalization multiplied conflicts, and describes
the resulting growth of the "great stone civilization" of the
castle. In the area of military method, he emphasizes three
innovations: gunpowder, standing armies and the increased use of
infantry, supplying in each case a wealth of data and
documentation.
Contamine traces the rise of a new literature of strategy and
changes in the concept of courage which he puts in the context of
actual risk. He points out that the chivalric ideals of the later
Middle Ages operated within narrow limits, outside which
aristocrats and commoners freely slaughtered each other. Contamine
also analyzes the theories of just and unjust war that developed at
this time, and illustrates a phenomenon more typical of the period;
the religious glorification of the warrior.
Ever mindful of the chaos and devastation that war brings, War
in the Middle Ages nonetheless offers a clear and consistent
picture of the military ethos of a millennium.