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But today, compared with the libraries of books devoted to battlefield engagements, grand strategy or tactical manoeuvres, the siege as a theme of specialized interest seems to be comparatively underwritten.

In their experience, the siege was still an integral part of warfare and the mathematical principles of fortifications and land defences of all kinds an essential part of the professional military commander’s repertoire of expertise. The co-authors of the article, both senior officers in the British Army, were clearly practical men for whom medieval operations would probably seem irrelevant as a subject of highly topical interest. Nevertheless, that nineteenth-century edition of the famous work of reference did not have a separate headword for ‘siege’ instead, the topic was treated in the main article on ‘Fortification’ – and that article, extending over some fifty double format pages with a wealth of diagrams and engravings, has nothing to say about the subject of this book, medieval siege warfare.

The quotation above would seem to justify the assertion. ‘A siege being one of the most arduous undertakings in which an army may be employed – one in which the greatest fatigue, hardship and personal risk are encountered, and in which the prize can only be won by complete victory – it is obvious that upon the success or failure of such an enterprise may depend the fate of a campaign or of an army and perhaps the existence of a state.’Įncyclopaedia Britannica, 9th edition (1879)įor anyone interested in the history of war and armed conflict, the concept and practice of siege warfare might be expected to be a topic of special interest. Normandy Introduction Siege Craft: The Basis of Medieval Warfare

Mount and blade viking conquest strange ruins