Medieval Warfare Magazine 2021-04-05 Vol.XI Iss.01.pdf

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IN THIS ISSUE:
DEBATING TECHNOLOGICAL DETERMINISM IN WARFARE DURING THE MIDDLE AGES (500-1500)
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Medieval Warfare
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VOLUME
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ATOMIC BOMBS
Technology and warfare in the Middle Ages
BATTLE OF BRYN GLAS
Welsh hero Owain Glyndŵr's
attempt to lead a revolt
against the English.
THE VANDALS
How Germanic wanderers
established their own king-
dom in North Africa.
MEDIEVAL SLOVENIA
The challenges faced from
defending a frontier land with
empires all around.
CRUSADER CASTLES
The factors that determined
the locations of these Near
Eastern fortifications.
7
Medieval Warfare
magazine
Editor-in-chief: Jasper Oorthuys
Editor: Peter Konieczny
Proofreader: Naomi Munts
Image researcher: Alice Sullivan
Design & Media: Christy Beall
Design © 2020 Karwansaray Publishers
Contributors: Ruth R. Brown, Sidney E. Dean, Kelly
DeVries, Michael S. Fulton, Tomaž Lazar, Michael Liv-
ingston, Vicky McAlister, Randall Moffett, Kay Smith,
Dan Spencer, Steven A. Walton, David Zimmerman
Illustrators: Zvonimir Grbasic, Illya Kudryashov,
Julia Lillo, Angel García Pinto, Marek Szysko
Print: Grafi Advies
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Medieval Warfare
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Medieval Warfare
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ISSN: 2211-5129
Printed in Slovakia.
mw
THEME:
MEDIEVAL MILITARY TECHNOLOGY
In this issue, we try to understand the effect of technology on medieval
warfare. What impact did guns, stirrups, and other innovations actually have?
18
From stirrups to longbows
Technology and medieval warfare
36
Astral magic and warfare
Gettings Mars on your side
20
Catapults aren't atomic bombs
Military technology in the Middle Ages
38
Neither catapults nor bombs
A modern perspective on military tech
24
Transformative tech that wasn't
58
Further reading
The stubbornness of the stirrup thesis
Books & articles on military technology
28
England's home away from home
FEATURES
6
The Battle of Bryn Glas, 1402
Owain Glyndŵr takes on the English
44
At the crossroads of empires
Frontier warfare in medieval Slovenia
10
The hundred-year kingdom
The rise and fall of the Vandals in Africa
50
Control and defend
The location of Crusader castles
DEPARTMENTS
4
Marginalia
Opinions and medieval news
42
The early handgun
54
The tower house
16
The mounted crossbowman
The advantages of mobility
10
44
THE VANDALS
The move from Northern Europe to
North Africa in the Early Middle Ages.
SLOVENIA ON THE EDGE
A land at the crossroads of the Holy Ro-
man, Ottoman, and Habsburg Empires.
Medieval Warfare XI-1
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CONTENTS
Marginalia
BY PETER KONIECZNY
Editorial
One topic much discussed by military histo-
rians is that of the influence of technologi-
cal change on warfare. How much do new
inventions or improvements to weapons or
other equipment change how war is fought?
It is a topic that pertains very much to the
Middle Ages as well as other eras of history.
This issue features our first ever debate,
with Kelly DeVries and David Zimmerman
taking on the question of technological de-
terminism. We also have other pieces re-
lated to the role of technology in medieval
warfare, including stirrups, fortifications,
and even magical items.
In the pages of this issue, you will find arti-
cles that take you from North Africa to Slovenia
and deal with topics such as tower houses, cru-
sader castles, and the early use of guns.
Peter Konieczny
Editor,
Medieval Warfare
Thomas Becket at the British Museum
A new exhibition at the British Museum will
focus on the life, death, and legacy of Thomas
Becket, whose brutal murder inside Canterbury
Cathedral in 1170 shook the Middle Ages.
Thomas Becket: Murder and the mak-
ing of a saint
(22 April–22 August 2021) will
chart over 500 years of history, from Thomas
Becket’s remarkable rise from ordinary be-
ginnings to become one of the most power-
ful figures in England, through to his endur-
ing but divisive legacy in the centuries after
his death. The story will be told through an
array of over 100 stunning objects brought
together for the first time, including rare
loans from across the UK and Europe.
The exhibition’s centrepiece will be
the extraordinary loan of an entire medieval
stained-glass window from Canterbury Ca-
thedral. It is one of the surviving famed Mira-
cle Windows, which were made in the early
1200s to surround Becket’s now-lost shrine in
the Cathedral’s Trinity Chapel. This is the first
time one of these windows has ever been lent,
and the first time the glass has ever left the
Cathedral, since their creation 800 years ago.
This exhibition was supposed to take
place in 2020 but was delayed by the COV-
ID-19 pandemic. It marks the 850th anniver-
sary of Becket’s murder, which took place on
29 December 1170 by knights who believed
they were carrying out the orders of his bitter
rival and former friend King Henry II.
“Thomas Becket is one of Europe’s most
enduring and controversial figures even to-
day, yet his story has never been told on
this scale in a UK exhibition before,” said
Hartwig Fischer, Director of the British Mu-
seum. “The British Museum holds some of
the world’s greatest medieval objects and so
we’re uniquely placed to tell this shocking
chapter in history. We are grateful to those
who are contributing loans, including Can-
terbury Cathedral whose loan of a Miracle
Window will be the stunning centrepiece.”
Dating to the late
fifteenth century, this al-
abaster panel depicting
the murder of Thomas
Becket is just one of the
objects on display in the
upcoming exhibit.
© The Trustees of the
British Museum
© Polish Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sports
A boy’s armour
An unique suit of armour will have a new
permanent home in Krakow, Poland, after
being given by the Hungarian government
to counterparts in Poland. Made in 1533, it
was originally given to the future Polish king
Sigismund II August (1548–1572) as an en-
gagement gift from Ferdinand I, King of Bo-
hemia and Hungary (1526–1564).
This suit of armour, designed to fit a
thirteen-year-old boy, was made by Jörg
Seusenhofer. It found its way to the Imperial
Viennese collections, and then into the col-
lections of the Hungarian National Museum.
It will now be on display at Wawel Castle.
The childhood armour of Sigismund II August on display in Wawel Castle.
4
Medieval Warfare XI-1
Report on the Bayeux Tapestry
A new report has revealed the current condi-
tion of the Bayeux Tapestry, which will help
determine how the famous artefact should
be restored and exhibited in the future.
A team of eight restorers, all specialists
in antique textiles, carried out the detailed
inspection in January 2020, a period when
the Bayeux Tapestry Museum was closed to
visitors. The whole 68.38 metre length of the
Tapestry was examined closely. Each day,
each restorer studied approximately 1 me-
tre in length of the embroidery and its linen
cloth background in order to analyse every
element of deterioration.
Among their findings were that the tap-
estry has 24,204 stains, 16,445 wrinkles,
9,646 gaps in the cloth or the embroidery, 30
non-stabilized tears, and significant weaken-
ing in the first few metres of the work. Some
of this damage took place long ago, such as
nail holes from successive hangings or wax
stains caused by candles used to light Bayeux
Cathedral where it was originally displayed.
The report will be used by conserva-
tion experts to make necessary repairs to
the tapestry and prepare it for a new exhibi-
tion space when the museum is rebuilt in
the mid-2020s.
A team of textile restorers carefully
examine the Bayeux Tapestry.
© Ville de Bayeux
Medieval finds in British gardens
Lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pan-
demic have sometimes restricted the abilities of
archaeologists and metal detectorists to go out
searching the British countryside for historical
artefacts. However, some people have explored
closer to home, leading to interesting discover-
ies in their own backyards and gardens.
The British Museum’s Portable Antiquities
Scheme has reported a boost in finds from back
gardens in 2020. Nearly 50,000 objects have
been recorded in their database, including
some very special and intriguing discoveries.
Among medieval finds is a lead-alloy me-
dieval seal matrix that was discovered in
Gloucestershire. It bears the Latin in-
Lead alloy seal matrix
belonging to the Bishop
of St Andrews, David de
Bernham (r. 1239-53).
scription: “David, God’s messenger, bishop of
St Andrews”, identified as David de Bernham
(r. 1239–53)., The pointed-oval matrix shows
the bishop standing in his vestments, with a
crozier in his left hand. While seal matrices
are usually made of copper-alloy or even sil-
ver, this item was made of relatively low-qual-
ity material, leading researchers to conclude
it is a contemporary forgery, perhaps used to
authenticate copied documents.
Other finds include 63 gold coins and
1 silver coin, dating back to the reigns of Ed-
ward IV through to Henry VIII and deposited
in about 1540, which were uncovered in the
New Forest area.
Two of the symbols of warfare —
the 'old' knight on horseback and
the 'modern' soldier wielding a
gun — clash in this image.
© Angel García Pinto
π
ON THE COVER
x
©
The Portable Antiquities Scheme
Medieval Warfare XI-1
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