HIST2310 Warfare in the Medieval West
Semester 1 (2023-2024)
Lecture TimeTuesday, 14:30 - 16:15
VenueRoom 304, Lee Shau Kee Building(LSK 304)
LanguageEnglish
Lecturer James MORTON (james.morton@cuhk.edu.hk)
Teaching Assistant ZOU Ningning (zouningning@link.cuhk.edu.hk)
Introduction
‘War, comrades, is a great locomotive of history.’
– Leon Trotsky (1922)
From the beginning of recorded history, states, rulers, and warlords have resorted to violent conflict in order to enforce their will on others. Nonetheless, while war has been a constant fact of life for human society, the methods of war have changed greatly over time. Wars have also driven immense changes in human society itself, often far beyond the original intentions of political and military leaders. This dynamic has had a powerful historical effect, shaping the development of Western states as we know them today.
This course will introduce students to the military history of the medieval West (c. AD 500–1500), focusing on Europe and surrounding regions of North Africa and Western Asia. Through weekly lectures, readings, and discussions, you will learn about key developments in military technology and tactics, as well as the decisive wars and battles in which they were tested.
Learning Goals
This course has three main learning goals:
- To teach you the basic facts and details of Western military history in the period c. AD 500–1500.
- To show how changes in medieval Western societies drove changes in military strategy and tactics, and vice versa.
To help you develop the fundamental skillset and sensibility of a historian: how to understand academic arguments, think critically about historical narratives, and effectively communicate an analysis to others.
Course Schedule
|
5 Sep |
1. Introduction: Barbarians and the Late Roman Army Wolf Liebeschuetz, ‘Warlords and Landlords’, in A Companion to the Roman Army, ed. Paul Erdkamp (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007), 479–494. Timo Stickler, ‘The Foederati’, in A Companion to the Roman Army, ed. Paul Erdkamp (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007), 495–514. |
|
12 Sep |
2. Black Banners from the East: The Islamic Conquests Hugh Kennedy, The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State (London: Routledge, 2001), ch. 1: ‘The Conquests and After’; ch. 2: ‘The Armies of the Marwanid Period’. |
|
19 Sep |
3. A New Roman Army: The Byzantine Theme System John Haldon, Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World 560–1204 (London: UCL Press, 1999), ch. 3: ‘Protect and Survive: A Brief History of East Roman Strategic Arrangements’. |
|
26 Sep |
4. Milites: Carolingian Military Reforms Timothy Reuter, ‘Carolingian and Ottonian Warfare’, in Medieval Warfare: A History, ed. Maurice Keen (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 13–35. Simon Coupland, ‘Carolingian Arms and Armor in the Ninth Century’, Viator 21 (1990): 29–50. Thorsten Lemm, ‘Saxon Warriors, Carolingian and Ottonian Cavalry: A Southern Perspective on Danish Equestrian Graves’, in Horse and Rider in the Late Viking Age, ed. Anne Pedersen and Merethe Schifter Bagge (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2021), 281–297. |
|
3 Oct |
5. The Rise of Cavalry: Knighthood and Chivalry David Edge and John M. Paddock, Arms & Armor of the Medieval Knight: An Illustrated History of Weaponry in the Middle Ages (New York: Crescent Books, 1988), Introduction: ‘The Origins of the Knight’; ch. 1: ‘The Eleventh Century – Adventurers to Aristocrats’. Richard W. Kaeuper, Medieval Chivalry (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016), ch. 3: ‘Phase One: Knighthood Becoming Chivalry’. |
|
10 Oct |
6. Castles and Siege Engineering John France, Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades, 1000–1300 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1999), ch. 7: ‘The Nature of the Castle’; ch. 8: ‘Castles and War’; ch. 9: ‘Fortifications and Siege’. |
|
17 Oct |
7. East vs West: The Crusades Steve Tibble, The Crusader Armies, 1099–1187 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018), ch. 2: ‘The “Eastern Front” of Medieval Warfare’; ch. 6: ‘The Frankish Army in the Field’. |
|
24 Oct |
8. Warfare and Religious Ideology Richard W. Kaeuper, Medieval Chivalry (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016), ch. 9: ‘Chivalry in Dialogue with Religious Ideals’. |
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31 Oct |
9. Mongol Invasions: The Scourge of God Gerard J. Tellis and Stav Rosenzweig, How Transformative Innovations Shaped the Rise of Nations: From Ancient Rome to Modern America (New York: Anthem, 2018), ch. 3: ‘Swift Equine Warfare and the Rise of Mongol Power’. Kate Raphael, Muslim Fortresses in the Levant: Between Crusaders and Mongols (London: Routledge, 2011), ch. 2: ‘Mongolian Siege Warfare and the Defense of Mamluk Fortresses’. |
|
7 Nov |
10. Conflict at Sea: Naval Warfare Helen Nicholson, Medieval Warfare: Theory and Practice of War in Europe 300–1500 (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2004), ch. 6: ‘Naval Warfare’. John Dotson, ‘Venice, Genoa and Control of the Seas in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries’, in War At Sea In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, edd. John B. Hattendorf and Richard W. Unger (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2003), 119–136. Timothy J. Runyan, ‘Naval Power and Maritime Technology During the Hundred Years War’, in War At Sea In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, edd. John B. Hattendorf and Richard W. Unger (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2003), 53–68. |
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14 Nov |
11. The Rise of Infantry: Late Medieval Tactics and Professionalisation J.F. Verbruggen, The Art of Warfare in Western Europe During the Middle Ages: From the Eighth Century to 1340, 2nd ed. (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1997), 111–112, 164–203. Kelly DeVries, Infantry Warfare in the Early Fourteenth Century: Discipline, Tactics, and Technology (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1996), 191–197. |
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21 Nov |
12. Origins of Modern Warfare: Guns and Gunpowder Kelly DeVries and Robert Douglas, Medieval Military Technology, 2nd ed. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012), ch. 5: ‘Gunpowder Artillery’. Alexander Querengässer, Before the Military Revolution: European Warfare and the Rise of the Early Modern State 1300–1490 (Oxford: Oxbow, 2021), ch. 6: ‘Guns and Pike Squares: Revolutions of Medieval Warfare?’ |
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28 Nov |
13. The Art of War: Advances in Military Science and Doctrine Helen Nicholson, Medieval Warfare: Theory and Practice of War in Europe 300–1500 (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2004), ch. 1: ‘The Theory of Warfare’. Alexander Querengässer, Before the Military Revolution: European Warfare and the Rise of the Early Modern State 1300–1490 (Oxford: Oxbow, 2021), ch. 7: ‘A Revolution of Knowledge’. |
|
11 Dec |
After-Action Report Due |
Assessment
Your performance in the course will be assessed on the cumulative basis of different types of assignment (described in more detail below) and your attendance. There will not be an exam or quiz component. The weighting of the assignments is as follows:
After-Action Report 50%
Reading Summaries (x6) 30%
Discussion Participation 20%
Your final letter grade will be determined by your overall course percentage. You will not be graded on a curve. Grades will be assigned according to the following set thresholds:
A 90% C+ 65%
A- 85% C 60%
B+ 80% C- 55%
B 75% D 50%
B- 70% F <50%
Grade Descriptions
A Exceptional: Exceeds expectations. Demonstrates impressive knowledge, clarity, analytical ability, and a firm grasp of course material.
A- Strong: Has most of the qualities of A-grade work but has some minor areas for improvement.
B (+/-) Good: Shows a solid understanding of course material. Has some flaws in writing or argumentation and may contain minor errors or misunderstandings.
C (+/-) Satisfactory: Demonstrates an acceptable level of knowledge but suffers from lack of clarity, misunderstandings, historical errors, or weak argumentation.
D Unsatisfactory: Achieves the minimum passing grade but fails to meet most expectations of knowledge and argumentation.
F Fail: Does not meet basic expectations of knowledge, understanding, and/or timeliness in submission.
Course Readings
Each week you will be assigned approximately 50 pages of reading. This will consist of short pieces of academic literature – mainly journal articles and book chapters – that explore important aspects of the week’s theme. All required course readings will be posted on the Blackboard course website at the beginning of the semester.
For a general introduction to the subject and wider reading, I can recommend the following (non-compulsory) books, all of which are available in the CUHK library or online:
David Abulafia et al. (edd.), The New Cambridge Medieval History, 8 vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995–2005).
Philippe Contamine, War in the Middle Ages (Oxford: Blackwell, 1984).
Anne Curry and David A. Graff (edd.), The Cambridge History of War. Volume 2: War and the Medieval World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020).
Richard Holmes et al., The Oxford Companion to Military History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).
John Keegan, The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme (London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1988).
Christ Wickham, Medieval Europe. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016.
Reading Summaries (x6)
After each lecture, you will complete the readings assigned for that week and then write a short summary (approx. 250–500 words) that you will submit in hard copy at the end of the next week’s lecture (e.g. you submit the summary of Week 4’s readings in Week 5’s lecture, etc.). This is a reading comprehension exercise that will help to develop your skills in analysing and explaining texts. It will also help you remember the readings during tutorial discussions.
You should describe both the content of the readings (what they are about) and the authors’ central arguments. You can find sample reading summaries and a short how-to guide on Blackboard. I will only ask you to write summaries for six out of the thirteen weeks of readings. This means that you can skip seven reading summaries of your choice.
After-Action Report
The final assignment of the course will be an ‘After-Action Report’ (AAR) of 2,500–3,000 words. As the name suggests, this is a report that is produced after an action: modern militaries will often produce an AAR in the aftermath of a battle or military campaign to analyse their performance, assess the reasons for success or failure, and draw lessons for future conflicts. For your AAR, I will ask you to choose a battle or military campaign from medieval Western history and write an analysis from the perspective of either the winning or losing side. I will give you more technical details about how to write an AAR in the lecture in Week 10.
You should submit your AAR before 11:59pm on 11th December by uploading it to the relevant section of the Blackboard course website along with a signed declaration of academic honesty from VeriGuide (which you can find at https://academic2.veriguide.org/portalcuhk/). If possible, please upload your After-Action Report in MSWord .docx format (the VeriGuide receipt can be uploaded in .pdf format).
Tutorials and Participation
Active participation in class discussions is an important part of the course and your learning experience. Whenever you engage in discussion in either lectures or tutorials, it will count towards your course participation score. To be clear, participating in discussions means that you will actually have to speak. Sitting in silence is not participation and will not count. But don’t worry! You don’t have to be an expert (or even knowledgeable) about a topic to join in the discussion. Any kind of contribution, even if it is just a simple comment or a question, will count as participation and will thus add to your course grade. So don’t be shy!
World History Seminar
This term, the History department will be holding the fourth series of its ‘New Approaches to World History’ seminar. This will take place online on Zoom every Wednesday for a lecture by a leading world historian. At the end of the lecture, members of the audience will have the chance to engage in a Q&A with the speaker.
Since this seminar has a clear relevance to our course, I would like you to attend no fewer than three meetings of the New Approaches to World History Seminar. You should also ask at least one question during one of the Q&A sessions. Your attendance and participation in this seminar will form part of your overall participation grade for this course.
Extensions and Lateness Penalties
Scheduling conflicts and unforeseen circumstances can sometimes make it difficult to meet deadlines. If you are unable to submit your work on time, please contact me as soon as possible and I will be happy to grant you an extension if you have a legitimate reason to require one.
If you fail to submit work on time and I have not granted you an extension, you will incur a daily lateness penalty of 1 percentage point. For example, if you submit your AAR (worth 50%) 3 days after the deadline, you will lose 3 of the 50% available for that assignment; if you submit it 5 days late, you will lose 5 of the 50%, etc. I will not accept any further submissions after 7 days have passed unless I have granted special permission.
Attendance and Absences
You are expected to attend all lectures and tutorial sessions. For every class that you miss without my approval, 1% will be deducted from your final course grade. If you have a valid reason for being absent from a seminar or tutorial (such as a doctor’s appointment, a family emergency, or similar), please contact me as soon as possible to ask for permission.
TBC
Course Readings
Each week you will be assigned approximately 50 pages of reading. This will consist of short pieces of academic literature – mainly journal articles and book chapters – that explore important aspects of the week’s theme. All required course readings will be posted on the Blackboard course website at the beginning of the semester.
For a general introduction to the subject and wider reading, I can recommend the following (non-compulsory) books, all of which are available in the CUHK library or online:
David Abulafia et al. (edd.), The New Cambridge Medieval History, 8 vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995–2005).
Philippe Contamine, War in the Middle Ages (Oxford: Blackwell, 1984).
Anne Curry and David A. Graff (edd.), The Cambridge History of War. Volume 2: War and the Medieval World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020).
Richard Holmes et al., The Oxford Companion to Military History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).
John Keegan, The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme (London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1988).
Christ Wickham, Medieval Europe. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016.
Attention is drawn to University policy and regulations on honesty in academic work, and to the disciplinary guidelines and procedures applicable to breaches of such policy and regulations. Details may be found at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/.
With each assignment, students will be required to submit a signed declaration that they are aware of these policies, regulations, guidelines and procedures.
- In the case of group projects, all members of the group should be asked to sign the declaration, each of whom is responsible and liable to disciplinary actions, irrespective of whether he/she has signed the declaration and whether he/she has contributed, directly or indirectly, to the problematic contents.
- For assignments in the form of a computer-generated document that is principally text-based and submitted via VeriGuide, the statement, in the form of a receipt, will be issued by the system upon students’ uploading of the soft copy of the assignment.
Assignments without the properly signed declaration will not be graded by teachers.
Only the final version of the assignment should be submitted via VeriGuide.
The submission of a piece of work, or a part of a piece of work, for more than one purpose (e.g. to satisfy the requirements in two different courses) without declaration to this effect shall be regarded as having committed undeclared multiple submissions. It is common and acceptable to reuse a turn of phrase or a sentence or two from one’s own work; but wholesale reuse is problematic. In any case, agreement from the course teacher(s) concerned should be obtained prior to the submission of the piece of work.
