This work briefly highlights the main points in the development of the army in the Middle Ages in Western Europe: changes in the principles of its recruitment, organizational structure, basic principles of tactics and strategy, and social status.

A detailed description of this battle has come down to us in the presentation of Jordanes.
Of greatest interest to us is Jordan's description of the battle formations of the Roman troops: the army of Aetius had a center and two wings, and on the flanks Aetius placed the most experienced and proven troops, leaving the weakest allies in the center. Jordanes motivates this decision of Aetius by taking care that these allies do not leave him during the battle.

Shortly after this battle, the Western Roman Empire, unable to withstand the military, social and economic cataclysms, collapsed. From that moment, the period of the history of the barbarian kingdoms began in Western Europe, and in the East the history of the Eastern Roman Empire continued, which received the name of Byzantium from the historians of modern times.

Western Europe: From the Barbarian Kingdoms to the Carolingian Empire.

In the V-VI centuries. a number of barbarian kingdoms are formed on the territory of Western Europe: in Italy, the kingdom of the Ostrogoths, ruled by Theodoric, on the Iberian Peninsula, the kingdom of the Visigoths, and on the territory of Roman Gaul, the kingdom of the Franks.

At that time, complete chaos reigned in the military sphere, since three forces were simultaneously present in the same space: on the one hand, the forces of the barbarian kings, which were still poorly organized armed formations, consisting of almost all the free men of the tribe.
On the other hand, there are the remnants of the Roman legions, led by the Roman governors of the provinces (a classic example of this kind is the Roman contingent in Northern Gaul, led by the governor of this province, Siagrius, and defeated in 487 by the Franks under the leadership of Clovis).
Finally, on the third side, there were private detachments of secular and ecclesiastical magnates, consisting of armed slaves ( antrustions), or from warriors who received land and gold from the magnate for their service ( buccellaria).

Under these conditions, a new type of army began to form, which included the three components mentioned above. A classic example of a European army VI-VII centuries. can be considered an army of the Franks.

Initially, the army was recruited from all the free men of the tribe who were able to handle weapons. For their service, they received from the king land allotments from the newly conquered lands. Every year in the spring, the army gathered in the capital of the kingdom for a general military review - the “March fields”.
At this meeting, the leader, and then the king, announced new decrees, announced campaigns and their dates, and checked the quality of the weapons of their soldiers. The Franks fought on foot, using horses only to get to the battlefield.
Battle formations of the Frankish infantry "...copied the shape of the ancient phalanx, gradually increasing the depth of its construction...". Their armament consisted of short spears, battle axes (francisca), long double-edged swords (spat) and scramasaxes (a short sword with a long handle and with a single-edged leaf-shaped blade 6.5 cm wide and 45-80 cm long). Weapons (especially swords) were usually richly decorated, and the appearance of the weapon often testified to the nobility of its owner.
However, in the eighth century Significant changes are taking place in the structure of the Frankish army, which entailed changes in other armies in Europe.

In 718, the Arabs, who had previously captured the Iberian Peninsula and conquered the kingdom of the Visigoths, crossed the Pyrenees and invaded Gaul.
The actual ruler of the Frankish kingdom at that time, Major Karl Martell, was forced to find ways to stop them.

He faced two problems at once: firstly, the land reserve of the royal fiscal was depleted, and there was nowhere else to take land to reward soldiers, and secondly, as several battles showed, the Frankish infantry was unable to effectively resist the Arab cavalry.
To solve them, he carried out the secularization of church lands, thus obtaining a sufficient land fund to reward his soldiers, and announced that from now on, not the militia of all free Franks was going to war, but only people who were able to purchase a full set of horseman weapons: a war horse , spear, shield, sword and armor, which included leggings, armor and a helmet.

Damn the gods, what a power, Tyrion thought, even knowing what his father had brought to the battlefield more people. The army was led by captains on horses clad in iron, riding under their own banners. He saw the Hornwood elk, the Karstark thorny star, Lord Cerwyn's battle axe, the Glovers' mail fist...

George Martin, Game of Thrones

Usually fantasy is a romanticized reflection of Europe during the Middle Ages. Cultural elements borrowed from the East, from Roman times and even from history ancient egypt, also occur, but do not define the “faces” of the genre. Still, swords in the "world of sword and magic" are usually straight, and the main magician is Merlin, and even dragons are not multi-headed Russian, not mustachioed Chinese, but certainly Western European.

A fantasy world is almost always a feudal world. It is full of kings, dukes, counts, and, of course, knights. Literature, both artistic and historical, gives a fairly complete picture of the feudal world, fragmented into thousands of tiny possessions, to varying degrees dependent on each other.

militia

The basis of the feudal armies in the early Middle Ages were the militias of free peasants. The first kings did not bring knights into battle, but many foot soldiers with bows, spears and shields, sometimes in light protective equipment.

Whether such an army would be a real force, or whether it would become food for the crows in the very first battle, depended on many reasons. If the militiaman came with his own weapons and did not receive any prior training, then the second option was almost inevitable. Wherever the rulers seriously counted on the people's militia, weapons in peacetime were not kept by the soldiers at home. So it was in ancient rome. It was the same in medieval Mongolia, where shepherds brought only horses to the khan, while bows and arrows were waiting for them in warehouses.

In Scandinavia, a whole princely arsenal was found, once carried away by a landslide. At the bottom of the river were a fully equipped forge (with an anvil, tongs, hammers and files), as well as over 1000 spears, 67 swords and even 4 chain mail. There were no axes. They are, apparently, dwarfs(free peasants) kept at home, using on the farm.

The supply chain worked wonders. So, the archers of England, who constantly received new bows, arrows from the king, and most importantly - officers who could lead them into battle, distinguished themselves more than once in the fields. Hundred Years War. French free peasants, more numerous, but not having any material support, nor experienced commanders, did not show themselves in any way.

An even greater effect could be achieved by military training. The most striking example is the militia of the Swiss cantons, whose fighters were called up for training camps and were well able to act in the ranks. In England, the training of archers was provided by archery competitions introduced into fashion by the king. Wanting to stand out from the others, each man stubbornly practiced free time.

Since the 12th century in Italy, and since the beginning of the 14th century in other regions of Europe, the militias of cities, much more combat-ready than the peasants, have become increasingly important on the battlefields.

The militias of the townspeople were distinguished by a clear guild organization and cohesion. Unlike the peasants who came from different villages, all the inhabitants of the medieval city knew each other. In addition, the townspeople had their own bosses, often experienced infantry commanders, and better weapons. The richest of them patricians, even performed in full knightly armor. However, they often fought on foot, knowing that real knights outnumber them in mounted combat.

Detachments of crossbowmen, pikemen, and halberdiers deployed by cities were a common occurrence in medieval armies, although they were noticeably inferior in number to knightly cavalry.

Cavalry

Between the 7th and 11th centuries, as saddles and stirrups became more widespread in Europe, dramatically increasing the fighting power of cavalry, kings had to make a difficult choice between infantry and cavalry. The number of foot and horse warriors in the Middle Ages was in inverse proportion. The peasants did not have the opportunity to simultaneously participate in campaigns and support the knights. The creation of numerous cavalry meant the release of most of the population from military service.

Kings invariably favored cavalry. In 877 Karl the Bald ordered every Frank to find himself a lord. Isn't it strange? Of course, a mounted warrior is stronger than a foot warrior - even ten foot soldiers, as it was believed in the old days. But there were few knights, and every man could march on foot.

In fact, the ratio was not so unfavorable for the cavalry. The number of militias was limited by the need to include in the warrior's equipment not only weapons, but also food supplies and transport. For every 30 people ship's rati"should have accounted for the str, ( river and lake flat-bottomed rowing vessel) and for 10 foot soldiers - a cart with a driver.

Only a small part of the peasants went on a campaign. According to the laws of the Novgorod lands, one lightly armed warrior (with an ax and a bow) could be put up from two yards. A fighter with a riding horse and chain mail was already equipped with 5 yards in a clubbing. Each "yard" at that time had an average of 13 people.

At the same time, 10, and after the introduction of serfdom and the tightening of exploitation, even 7-8 yards could contain one equestrian warrior. Thus, each thousand people of the population could provide either 40 archers or a dozen well-armed "huscarlov", or 10 riders.

In Western Europe, where the cavalry was "heavier" than the Russian one, and the knights were accompanied by foot servants, there were half as many horsemen. Nevertheless, 5 mounted fighters, well-armed, professional and always ready to march, were considered preferable to 40 archers.

Large masses of light cavalry were paramilitary classes common in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, similar to the Russian Cossacks. The Magyars in Hungary, the stratiots in Northern Italy, the warriors of the Byzantine themes occupied vast allotments of the best land, had their own chiefs and did not carry out any duties other than military service. These advantages allowed them to field from two yards, not a foot, but a mounted lightly armed warrior.

The issue of supply in the feudal armies was extremely acute. As a rule, the warriors themselves had to bring both food and fodder for the horses with them. But such reserves were depleted quickly.

If the campaign dragged on, then the supply of the army fell on the shoulders of traveling merchants - sutlers. Delivery of goods in the war zone was a very dangerous business. The marketers often had to defend their wagons, but they also charged exorbitant prices for the goods. Often, it was in their hands that the lion's share of military booty settled.

Where did the marketers get food? They supplied it marauders. Of course, all the soldiers of the feudal armies were engaged in robbery. But it was not in the interests of the command to let the best fighters go on unprofitable raids on the surrounding villages - and therefore this task was assigned to volunteers, all kinds of robbers and vagabonds, acting at their own peril and risk. Operating far on the flanks of the troops, the marauders not only supplied the marauders with captured provisions, but also fettered the enemy militias, forcing them to concentrate on protecting their own homes.

Mercenaries

The weakness of the feudal army, of course, was its "patchwork". The army was divided into many small detachments, the most diverse in composition and numbers. The practical costs of such an organization were very high. Often during the battle, two-thirds of the troops - part of the knightly " copies» infantry - remained in the camp.

Knights accompanying the knight - archers, crossbowmen, revelers with battle hooks - they were fighters, well trained and well armed in their time. In peacetime, the feudal servants defended castles and performed police functions. In the campaign, the servants protected the knight, and before the battle they helped to put on armor.

As long as the "spear" acted on its own, the knights provided their master with invaluable support. But only servants in full knightly armor and on appropriate horses could take part in a major battle. Riflemen, even horsemen, immediately lost sight of "their" knight and could no longer get through to him, as they were forced to keep a respectful distance from the enemy. Left without any leadership (after all, the knight was not only the main fighter of the “spear”, but also its commander), they immediately turned into a useless crowd.

Trying to solve this problem, the largest feudal lords sometimes created detachments of crossbowmen from their servants, numbering tens and hundreds of people and having their own foot commanders. But the maintenance of such units was expensive. In an effort to get the maximum number of cavalry, the ruler distributed allotments to the knights, and the infantry to war time hired.

Mercenaries usually came from the most backward regions of Europe, where a large number of free people still remained. Often these were Normans, Scots, Basque-Gascons. Later great fame groups of townspeople began to use - Flemish and Genoese, for one reason or another, who decided that a pike and a crossbow are dearer to them than a hammer and a loom. In the 14-15 centuries, hired cavalry appeared in Italy - condottieri, consisting of impoverished knights. The "soldiers of fortune" were accepted into the service by entire detachments, led by their own captains.

Mercenaries demanded gold, and in medieval armies they were usually 2-4 times inferior in number to knightly cavalry. Nevertheless, even a small detachment of such fighters could be useful. Under Buvin, in 1214, the Count of Boulogne lined up 700 Brabant pikemen in a ring. So his knights, in the midst of battle, had a safe haven, where they could rest their horses and find new weapons.

It is often assumed that "knight" is a title. But not every equestrian warrior was a knight, and even a person of royal blood might not belong to this caste. Knight - the junior commanding rank in the medieval cavalry, the head of its smallest unit - " spears».

Each feudal lord arrived at the call of his lord with a personal "team". The poorest single shield» The knights managed on the campaign with the only unarmed servant. The knight of the "middle hand" brought with him a squire, as well as 3-5 foot or horse fighters - knechts, or, in French, sergeants. The richest appeared at the head of a small army.

The "spears" of large feudal lords were so great that, on average, only 20-25% of horse spearmen turned out to be real knights - owners of family estates with pennants on peaks, coats of arms on shields, the right to participate in tournaments and golden spurs. Most of the riders were just serfs or poor nobles armed at the expense of the overlord.

Knights in battle

A heavily armed rider with a long spear is a very powerful combat unit. Nevertheless, the knightly army was not without a number of weaknesses that the enemy could take advantage of. And enjoyed. No wonder history brings to us so many examples of the defeat of the "armored" cavalry of Europe.

There were, in fact, three significant flaws. First, the feudal army was undisciplined and unruly. Secondly, the knights often did not know how to act in the ranks at all, and the battle turned into a series of fights. In order to attack with a stirrup to stirrup gallop, a good preparation of people and horses is required. Buy it at tournaments or by practicing in the courtyards of castles with quintana (a scarecrow for practicing a horse strike with a spear) was impossible.

Finally, if the enemy guessed to take a position impregnable for the cavalry, the absence of combat-ready infantry in the army led to the most sad consequences. And even if there was infantry, the command could rarely dispose of it correctly.

The first problem was solved relatively easily. In order for orders to be carried out, they simply had to be ... given. Most medieval commanders preferred to personally participate in the battle, and if the king shouted something, then no one paid attention to him. But real generals like Charlemagne, Wilgelm the conqueror, Edward the Black Prince, who really led their troops, did not encounter difficulties in carrying out their orders.

The second problem was also easily solved. Knightly orders, as well as squads of kings, numbering hundreds in the 13th century, and in 14 (in the largest states) 3-4 thousand cavalry warriors each, provided the necessary training for joint attacks.

Things were much worse with the infantry. For a long time, European commanders could not learn how to organize the interaction of military branches. Oddly enough, quite natural from the point of view of the Greeks, Macedonians, Romans, Arabs and Russians, the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bputting cavalry on the flanks seemed outlandish and alien to them.

Most often, knights, as the best warriors (similar to how leaders and combatants did on foot, hird) strove to stand in the first row. Fenced off by a wall of cavalry, the infantry could not see the enemy and bring at least some benefit. When the knights rushed forward, the archers standing behind them did not even have time to shoot arrows. But then the infantry often died under the hooves of their own cavalry, if they took flight.

In 1476, at the battle of Grandson, the Duke of Burgundy Karl the Bold led the cavalry forward to cover the deployment of bombards, from which he was going to bombard the Swiss battle. And when the guns were loaded, he ordered the knights to part. But as soon as the knights began to turn around, the Burgundian infantry, located in the second line, mistaking this maneuver for a retreat, fled.

The infantry, placed ahead of the cavalry, also did not give noticeable advantages. At Courtray and at Cressy, rushing to the attack, the knights crushed their own shooters. Finally, the infantry was often placed ... on the flanks. So did the Italians, as well as the Livonian knights, who placed the soldiers of the Baltic tribes allied to them on the sides of the "pig". In this case, the infantry avoided losses, but the cavalry could not maneuver either. The knights, however, did not mind. Their favorite tactic was the short-range direct attack.

Fight with other races

It must be admitted that the mentioned shortcomings of the organization rarely created serious difficulties for the knights, since, as a rule, another feudal army became their opponent. Both armies had the same strengths and weaknesses.

But in fantasy, anything can happen. Knights may face a Roman legion, elven archers, a foothill hird, and sometimes a dragon on the battlefield.

In most cases, you can safely count on success. A frontal attack by heavy cavalry is difficult to repulse, even if you know how. The enemy, drawn by the will of the author from a different era, will hardly be able to fight cavalry - you just need to accustom the horses to the appearance of monsters. Well, then ... Knight's spear lance, in the force of impact of which the weight and speed of the horse are invested, will break through anything.

Worse, if the enemy has already dealt with cavalry. Archers can take a hard-to-reach position, and you can’t take a dwarf hird in a hurry. The same orcs, judging by " Lord of the Rings » Jackson, in some places they know how to walk in formation and carry long peaks.

It is better not to attack the enemy in a strong position at all - sooner or later he will be forced to leave his shelter. Before the battle of Courtray, seeing that the Flemish phalanx was covered from the flanks and front by ditches, the French commanders considered the possibility of simply waiting until the enemy left for the camp. By the way, Alexander the Great was also recommended to do the same when he met the Persians, who settled on a high and steep bank of the river Garnik.

If the enemy himself attacks under the cover of a pike forest, then a counterattack on foot can bring success. At Sempach in 1386, even without the support of the shooters, the knights with cavalry lances and long swords managed to push the battle. Peaks that kill horses against infantry are virtually useless.

* * *

Almost everywhere in fantasy human race seems to be the most numerous, and others - endangered. Quite often, an explanation is given for this state of affairs: people develop, while non-humans live in the past. What is characteristic - someone else's past. Their military art always becomes a tracing-paper from this or that genuine human tactics. But if the Germans once invented the hird, they by no means stopped there.

Until now, there are many errors and speculations around the issue of the structure and number of medieval European armies. The purpose of this publication is to bring some order to this issue.

During the period of the classical Middle Ages, the main organizational unit in the army was the knightly "Spear". It was a combat unit, born of the feudal structure, which was organized by the lowest level of the feudal hierarchy - the knight as a personal combat unit. Since in the Middle Ages the main fighting force of the army was the knights, it was around the knight that his combat detachment was lined up. The number of spears was limited by the financial capabilities of the knight, which, as a rule, were rather small and more or less equalized, since the distribution of feudal fiefs proceeded precisely on the basis of the knight’s ability to assemble a combat detachment that meets certain basic requirements

This detachment, which in everyday life was called - Spear in the XIII-beginning of the XIV century. consisted of the following soldiers in France:
1. knight,
2. squire (a person of noble birth who served as a knight before his own knighting),
3. cutie (auxiliary equestrian warrior in armor who does not have knighthood),
4. 4 to 6 archers or crossbowmen,
5. 2 to 4 foot soldiers.
In fact, the spear included 3 mounted warriors in armor, several archers mounted on horses and several foot soldiers.

In Germany, the number of the Spear was somewhat smaller, so in 1373 the Spear could be 3-4 riders:
1. knight,
2. squire,
3. 1-2 archers,
4. 2-3 foot warrior servants
In total, from 4 to 7 warriors, of which 3-4 are mounted.

The spear thus consisted of 8-12 warriors, 10 on average. That is, when we talk about the number of knights in the army, we must multiply the number of knights by 10 to get its estimated strength.
The spear was commanded by a knight (a knight-bachelier in France, a knight-bachelor in England), the distinction of a simple knight was a flag with a forked end. Several Spears (under King Philippe-August of France at the beginning of the 13th century, from 4 to 6) were united into a detachment of a higher level - the Banner. The banner was commanded by a knight-banneret (his distinction was a square flag-banner). A banneret knight differed from a simple knight in that he could have his own knightly vassals.
Several Banners were united in a regiment, which, as a rule, was led by titled aristocrats who had vassals.

There could be cases where the Banner Knight did not lead several Spears, but formed one large Spear. In this case, the Lance included additionally several knights-baschels who did not have their own vassals and their own Lance. The number of ordinary warriors also increased, after which the number of spears could be up to 25-30 people.

The structure of military monastic orders was different. They did not represent the classical feudal hierarchy. Therefore, the order structure was arranged as follows: the Order consisted of commanders, each of which included 12 knight brothers and one commander. Komturia was based in a separate castle and disposed of the resources of the surrounding lands and peasants on a feudal basis. Up to 100 auxiliary soldiers were assigned to the commander. Also, pilgrim knights, who, not being members of the order, voluntarily participated in its campaigns, could join the Komturia for a while.

In the XV century. The spear turned out to be the subject of regulation by European rulers in order to streamline the formation of the army. So, under the French king Charles VII in 1445, the number of spears was set as follows:
1. knight,
2. squire,
3. reveler,
4. 2 mounted arrows,
5. foot warrior
Only 6 warriors. Of these, 5 horse.

A little later, the composition of the Spear was codified in the Duchy of Burgundy. By decree of 1471, the composition of the Spear was as follows:
1. knight,
2. squire
3. reveler
4. 3 mounted archers
5. crossbowman
6. cooler shooter
7. foot spearman
There are 9 warriors in total, 6 of them are mounted.

We now turn to the consideration of the question of the strength of the Middle Ages armies.

In the 15th century, the largest feudal lords provided the imperial German army: the Count Palatinate, the Duke of Saxony and the Margrave of Brandenburg from 40 to 50 Copies. Large cities - up to 30 copies (such an army was exhibited by Nuremberg - one of the largest and richest cities in Germany). In 1422, the German emperor Sigismund had an army in 1903 Spears. In 1431, for a campaign against the Hussites, the army of the Empire of Saxony, the Brandenburg Palatinate, Cologne put up 200 Spears each, 28 German dukes together - 2055 Spears (an average of 73 Spears per duchy), the Teutonic and Livonian Orders - only 60 Spears (must be taken into account, that this was shortly after the heavy blow inflicted on the Order at Tannenberg in 1410, therefore the number of the order's troops turned out to be very small), and in total one of the largest armies of the late Middle Ages was assembled, consisting of 8300 spears, which, according to available information, was almost impossible to maintain and which was very difficult to manage.

In England during the War of the Roses in 1475, 12 banneret knights, 18 knights, 80 squires, about 3-4 thousand archers and about 400 warriors (man-at-arms) took part in hostilities in the army of Edward IV in France, but in England, the structure of the spear was practically not used; instead, companies were created according to the types of troops, which were commanded by knights and squires. The Duke of Buckingham during the War of the Roses had a personal army of 10 knights, 27 squires, the number of ordinary soldiers was about 2 thousand, and the Duke of Norfolk had a total of about 3 thousand soldiers. It should be noted that these were the largest armies of individual feudal lords of the English kingdom. So, when in 1585 the English royal army included 1000 knights, it must be said that it was a very large army in Europe.

In 1364, under Philip the Bold, the army of the Duchy of Burgundy consisted of only 1 banneret knight, 134 baschel knights, 105 squires. In 1417, Duke John the Fearless formed the largest army of his reign - 66 knights-bannerets, 11 knights-bacheliers, 5707 squires and revelers, 4102 horse and foot soldiers. The decrees of Duke Charles the Bold from 1471-1473 determined the structure of the army in 1250 copies of a unified composition. As a result, the differences between the knights of the banneret and the bachelier disappeared, and the number of spears became identical for all knights in the army of the duke.

In Russia in the 13th-14th centuries, the situation was very close to Western European, although the term Spear itself was never used. The princely squad, which consisted of senior and junior squads (the senior about 1/3 of the population, the junior about 2/3 of the population) actually duplicated the scheme of knights and squires. The number of squads was from a few dozen in small principalities, up to 1-2 thousand of the largest and richest principalities, which again corresponded to the armies of large European kingdoms. The cavalry detachment was joined by the militia of the cities and contingents of volunteers, the number of which approximately corresponded to the number of auxiliary troops in the knightly cavalry army.

A. Marey

This work briefly highlights the main points in the development of the army in the Middle Ages in Western Europe: changes in the principles of its recruitment, organizational structure, basic principles of tactics and strategy, and social status.

1. Dark Ages (V-IX centuries)

The collapse of the army of the Western Roman Empire is traditionally associated with two battles: the battle of Adrianople in 378, and the battle of Frigidus in 394. Of course, it cannot be argued that after these two defeats the Roman army ceased to exist, but it must be admitted that in the 5th century the process of barbarization of the Roman army acquired unprecedented proportions. The fading Roman Empire withstood another, the last battle for itself, in which, however, in the ranks of the Roman army there were already mainly detachments of barbarians. We are talking about the battle on the Catalaunian fields, in which the combined army of Romans and barbarians under the command of the “last Roman” Aetius stopped the advance of the Huns, led by their previously invincible leader, Attila.

A detailed description of this battle has come down to us in the account of Jordanes. Of greatest interest to us is Jordan's description of the battle formations of the Roman troops: the army of Aetius had a center and two wings, and on the flanks Aetius placed the most experienced and proven troops, leaving the weakest allies in the center. Jordanes motivates this decision of Aetius by taking care that these allies do not leave him during the battle.

Shortly after this battle, the Western Roman Empire, unable to withstand the military, social and economic cataclysms, collapsed. From that moment, the period of the history of the barbarian kingdoms began in Western Europe, and in the East the history of the Eastern Roman Empire continued, which received the name of Byzantium from the historians of modern times.

Western Europe: From the Barbarian Kingdoms to the Carolingian Empire.

In the V-VI centuries. on the territory of Western Europe, a number of barbarian kingdoms are formed: in Italy - the kingdom of the Ostrogoths, ruled by Theodoric, on the Iberian Peninsula - the kingdom of the Visigoths, and on the territory of Roman Gaul - the kingdom of the Franks.

At that time, complete chaos reigned in the military sphere, since three forces were simultaneously present in the same space: on the one hand, the forces of the barbarian kings, which were still poorly organized armed formations, consisting of almost all the free men of the tribe; on the other hand, the remnants of the Roman legions, led by the Roman governors of the provinces (a classic example of this kind is the Roman contingent in Northern Gaul, led by the governor of this province, Syagrius, and defeated in 487 by the Franks under the leadership of Clovis); finally, on the third side, there were private detachments of secular and ecclesiastical magnates, consisting of armed slaves (antrustions), or of soldiers who received land and gold from the magnate for service (buccellarii).

Under these conditions, a new type of army began to form, which included the three components mentioned above. A classic example of a European army VI-VII centuries. can be considered an army of the Franks. Initially, the army was recruited from all the free men of the tribe who were able to handle weapons. For their service, they received from the king land allotments from the newly conquered lands. Every year in the spring, the army gathered in the capital of the kingdom for a general military review - the “March fields”. At this meeting, the leader, and then the king, announced new decrees, announced campaigns and their dates, and checked the quality of the weapons of their soldiers. The Franks fought on foot, using horses only to get to the battlefield. The battle formations of the Frankish infantry "...copied the shape of the ancient phalanx, gradually increasing the depth of its construction ...". Their armament consisted of short spears, battle axes (francisca), long double-edged swords (spata) and scramasaxes (a short sword with a long handle and with a single-edged leaf-shaped blade 6.5 cm wide and 45-80 cm long). Weapons (especially swords) were usually richly decorated, and the appearance of the weapon often testified to the nobility of its owner.

However, in the eighth century Significant changes are taking place in the structure of the Frankish army, which entailed changes in other armies in Europe. In 718, the Arabs, who had previously captured the Iberian Peninsula and conquered the kingdom of the Visigoths, crossed the Pyrenees and invaded Gaul. The actual ruler of the Frankish kingdom at that time, Major Karl Martell, was forced to find ways to stop them. He faced two problems at once: firstly, the land reserve of the royal fiscal was depleted, and there was nowhere else to take land to reward soldiers, and secondly, as several battles showed, the Frankish infantry was unable to effectively resist the Arab cavalry. To solve them, he carried out the secularization of church lands, thus obtaining a sufficient land fund to reward his soldiers, and announced that from now on, not the militia of all free Franks was going to war, but only people who were able to purchase a full set of horseman weapons: a war horse , spear, shield, sword and armor, which included leggings, armor and a helmet. Such a set, according to Ripuarskaya Pravda, was very, very expensive: its full cost was equal to the cost of 45 cows. Very, very few could afford to spend such an amount on weapons, and people who could not afford such expenses were obliged to equip one warrior from five households. In addition, the poor were called to serve, armed with bows, axes and spears. Karl Martell distributed allotments to horsemen for service, but not in full ownership, as it was before, but only for a lifetime, which created an incentive for the nobility to serve further. This reform of Charles Martel was called beneficial(benefits - i.e. beneficence - the so-called piece of land given for service). At the Battle of Poitiers (10/25/732), a new army of the Franks under the leadership of Charles Martel stopped the Arabs.

Many historians consider this battle a turning point in the military history of the Middle Ages, arguing that from that moment the infantry lost its decisive importance, passing it on to heavy cavalry. However, this is not entirely true, both militarily and socially. Although it is from this moment that the separation of the layer of horsemen begins, not only as an elite combat unit, but also as a social elite - the future of medieval chivalry - but it must still be borne in mind that this was a long process, and for quite a long time the cavalry played only a supporting role with the infantry, which took on the main blow of the enemy and exhausted him. The change in the situation in favor of the cavalry, both in Western Europe and in Byzantium, was facilitated by the fact that in the 7th century. Europeans borrowed from the nomadic people of the Avars a previously unknown stirrup, which the Avars, in turn, brought from China.

The Carolingian army took its finished form under Charlemagne. The army was still convened for the spring review, however, postponed from March to May, when there is a lot of grass that served as food for the horses. The entire size of the army, according to historians, did not exceed ten thousand soldiers, and more than 5-6 thousand soldiers never went on campaigns, since already such an army “... was stretched along with the convoy for a distance of a day’s march of 3 miles” . In the border area and major cities there were scars - permanent detachments created from professional warriors, similar scars accompanied the emperor and counts. The grandson of Charlemagne, Emperor Charles the Bald, issued an edict in 847, obliging every free person to elect a lord and not change him. This consolidated the vassal-seigneurial system of relations already established in society, and in the field of manning and commanding the army, it led to the fact that now each seigneur brought his detachment to the battlefield, recruited from his vassals, trained and equipped by him. The united army was formally commanded by the king, in fact, each seigneur himself could give orders to his people, which often led to complete confusion on the battlefield. Such a system reached its apogee later, in the era of developed feudalism.

2. Armies of the High Middle Ages (X-XIII centuries)

A) Western Europe in the X-XI centuries.

After the division of the Frankish Empire under the terms of the Verdun Treaty of 843, signed between the grandchildren of Charlemagne, the political development of the French lands was determined by two main factors: the constantly growing external threat from the Norman pirates and the decline in the importance of royal power, unable to organize the defense of the country, which directly entailed an increase in the influence of local authorities - counts and dukes and their separation from the central government. The transformation of counts and dukes into sovereign hereditary rulers resulted in the progressive feudal fragmentation of the French lands, an increase in the number of granted land holdings, proportional to the decrease in the area of ​​\u200b\u200beach specific allotment, and the transformation of the beneficiary, complained for service, into hereditary landed property. In the conditions of the extreme weakening of royal power, the old custom of electing the king on the council of the nobility is resurrecting. Counts from the family of Robertins of Paris became kings, famous for their struggle with the Normans.

These political changes are closely related to the changes in military affairs of that era. The decrease in the importance of the common infantry and the coming to the fore of the heavily armed knightly cavalry led to a sharp social stratification of Frankish society; it was during this period that the idea of ​​dividing society into three classes was finally formed and gained particular popularity: “prayers” (oratores), “warriors” (bellatores) and “workers” (laboratores). In turn, the progressive feudal fragmentation could not but affect the reduction in the size of the army, which now rarely exceeded two thousand people. A detachment of one and a half thousand people was already considered a large army: “Thus, nine hundred knights were recruited. And [Cid] recruited five hundred hidalgo foot squires, not counting the rest of the pupils of his house.<…>Sid ordered to leave his tents and went to settle in San Servan and around it in the hills; and every person who saw the camp that Sid set up said later that it was a large army ... ".

The battle tactics have also changed. Now the battle began with a well-coordinated blow with the spears of the heavy cavalry, which split the enemy's line. After this first attack, the battle broke up into single duels between knight and knight. In addition to the spear, the obligatory weapon of each knight is a long double-edged sword. The defensive equipment of the Frankish knight consisted of a long shield, a heavy shell and a helmet worn over a neck cover. The infantry, which played an auxiliary role in battle, was usually armed with clubs, axes, and short spears. Archers in the West Frankish lands were for the most part their own, while those in the East Frankish were hired. In Spain, instead of a shell, chain mail borrowed from the Moors with long sleeves and a chain mail hood was often used, over which a helmet was worn: a helmet and a chainmail hood, and half a skull…” .

A distinctive feature of the weapons of the Italian chivalry was its lightness - short stabbing swords, light flexible spears with narrow tips equipped with additional hooks, daggers were in use here. Of the protective weapons in Italy, light, usually scaly shells, small round shields and helmets that fit the head were used. These features of the weapons also determined the differences in the tactics of the Italian knights from their French and German counterparts: the Italians traditionally acted in close contact with the infantry and archers, often performing not only the attacking function, traditional for knights, but also the infantry support function.

It is impossible not to say about the main opponents of the Western Franks in the period under review - the Normans (Vikings, Varangians). It was the Normans who were one of the most daring and knowledgeable sailors of medieval Europe. Unlike most continental countries, they used the fleet not only for the transport of goods and people, but for military operations on the water. The main type of the Norman ship was the drakkar (several such ships were found, the first of them was found in Oseberg in 1904 and exhibited in the museum in Oslo) - a sailing and rowing ship 20-23 m long, 4-5 m wide in the middle part. It is very stable due to a well-developed keel, thanks to a small draft it can approach the shore in shallow water and penetrate into rivers, thanks to the elasticity of the structure it is resistant to ocean waves.

The pirate raids of the Normans instilled such horror in the hearts of Europeans that at the end of the 10th century, a request to God for deliverance “from the fury of the Normans” (“De furore Normannorum libera nos, Domine”) was included in the church prayer for deliverance from disasters. In the land army of the Normans, the main role was played by the “mounted infantry”, i.e. infantry, making transitions on horseback, which gave them a significant gain in mobility. hallmark The weapons of the Normans were a helmet pointed upwards with a nosepiece, a tight-fitting shell and a long shield elongated downwards. The heavy infantry of the Normans was armed with heavy long spears, axes and the same long shields. Of the throwing weapons, the Normans preferred the sling.

If mainly squads of the Scandinavian nobility (the so-called “sea kings”) went on campaigns to Western Europe, then at home, a distinctive feature of the Scandinavian social structure and military affairs was the preservation of the free peasantry (bonds) and the significant role of the peasant militia (especially in Norway ). The Norwegian king Hakon the Good (d. c. 960), according to the saga, streamlined the collection of the naval militia: the country was divided into ship districts as far from the sea “as salmon rises” and it was established how many ships each district should put up during the invasion to the country. For notification, a system of signal lights was created, which made it possible to transmit a message throughout Norway in a week.

Another distinguishing feature of military affairs in the 10th-11th centuries is the flourishing of castle fortifications. In the French lands, the construction initiative belonged to local lords, who sought to strengthen their power in their possessions, in the German regions, where royal power was still strong, the king was actively building fortifications during the period under review German lands built a whole series of fortified towns - burgs). However, it cannot be said that during this period there was a flourishing and take-off of the siege skills of the Western European armies - siege weapons increase quantitatively, but practically do not change qualitatively. Cities were taken either by starvation or by digging under the walls. Frontal assaults were rare, as they were associated with heavy losses for the attackers and were crowned with success only in a small number of cases.

Summing up the development of the army and military affairs in the countries of Western Europe during this period, one more important feature of this process can be noted: at the time under consideration, tactical and strategic techniques, parts of armor or weapons from the military art of other peoples began to be actively borrowed into Western military art, more often of all - the peoples of the East. This process will take on a much greater scope in the next period of European history - the period of the Crusades.

B) Western Europe in the XII-XIII centuries: the Crusades.

End of the 11th century in Western Europe was marked by the beginning of the Crusades, i.e. campaigns for the liberation of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. It is generally accepted that the crusades began in 1096, when the first campaign of Christian knights in Palestine began, which led to the conquest of Jerusalem, and ended in 1291 with the loss of the city of Acre, the last fortress of the crusaders in Palestine. The crusades had a huge impact on the entire history of Christian medieval Europe, but their influence was especially noticeable in the military sphere.

Firstly, in the East, Christian knights faced a previously unknown enemy: the lightly armed Turkish cavalry calmly evaded the attack of an armored knightly armada and showered Europeans with bow arrows from a safe distance, and the Turkish infantry, who used crossbows still unknown to Europeans in battle, the cores of which pierced knightly armor, produced significant damage in the ranks of the Christian cavalry. Moreover, the Turks, who were inferior to the knights in single combat, outnumbered the Christians and attacked all at once, and not one by one. Much more mobile, since their movements were not constrained by armor, they circled around the knights, striking from different directions, and quite often succeeded. It was obvious that it was necessary to somehow adapt to the new methods of warfare. The evolution of the Christian army in the East, its structure, weapons, and, hence, the tactics of warfare followed two main paths.

On the one hand, the role of infantry and archers in military operations is increasing (the bow, of course, was known in Europe long before the Crusades, but Europeans encountered such a massive use of this weapon for the first time in Palestine), the crossbow is borrowed. The massive use of archers and infantry by the Turks makes such an impression that the English king Henry II even carries out a military reform in England, replacing military service many feudal lords by tax collection (the so-called "shield money") and creating a military militia from all free people who are obliged to appear in the army at the first call of the king. Many knights, trying to catch up with the Turks in mobility, borrow light weapons from them: chain mail, a light helmet, a round cavalry shield, a light spear and a curved sword. Naturally, the knights armed in this way were no longer self-sufficient, and were forced to act in active cooperation with the infantry and rifle units.

On the other hand, the armament of the vast majority of knights is evolving towards weighting: the size and thickness of the spear increases so that it becomes impossible to control it with a free hand - now, in order to strike, it had to be rested against the notch of the shoulder pad, the weight of the sword increases. A helmet-pot appears in the armor, covering the entire head and leaving only a narrow slit for the eyes, the shell becomes noticeably heavier, and even more than before, it hinders the movements of the knight. A horse with great difficulty could carry such a rider, which led to the fact that, on the one hand, the Turk with his light weapons could not cause any harm to the iron-clad knight, and on the other hand, the knight loaded with armor could not catch up with the Turk. With this type of weaponry, the famous knightly spear strike was impossible - each individual knight, firstly, took up too much space, and secondly, was too clumsy - and, thus, the battle immediately broke up into many fights in which each the knight chose his opponent and sought to grapple with him. This direction in the development of weapons became the main one for European military affairs throughout the 13th century.

Secondly, the crusades had a strong influence on increasing the group solidarity of the European chivalry, which suddenly realized itself as a single army of Christ. This awareness has manifested itself in several basic forms, among which are education and wide use military monastic orders and the emergence of tournaments.

Military monastic orders were organizations of the monastic type, which had their own charter and residence. The orders were headed by Grand Masters. Members of the orders took monastic vows, but at the same time they lived in the world and, moreover, fought. The order of the Knights Templar arose first in 1118, at about the same time the order of the Johnnites or Hospitallers appeared, in Spain in 1158 the Order of Calatrava appeared, and in 1170 the Order of Santiago de Compostela, in 1199 the Teutonic Order of the Sword was founded. The main tasks of the orders in the Holy Land were the protection of pilgrims, the protection of most of the Christian fortresses, and the war against Muslims. In fact, the orders became the first regular professional armies of Christian Europe.

So, summing up the development of military affairs in Europe in the 12th-13th centuries, several main trends can be noted: an increase in the role of infantry and rifle formations and the closing of the knightly class at the same time, which was expressed, on the one hand, in further weighting armor, which turned a single knight into a fighting fortress, both in terms of formidability and mobility, and on the other hand, in the self-organization of chivalry into military-monastic orders, in the appearance of a developed system of coats of arms, the meaning of which was clear only to the initiated, etc. This growing controversy eventually led to several major defeats inflicted on the knights by commoners (for example, at Courtrai in 1302, at Morgarten in 1315) and to a further decline in the military role of chivalry.

3. Europe in the XIV-XV centuries: autumn of the Middle Ages.

The value of the XIV-XV centuries. for European military history comparable, perhaps, only with the VIII-X centuries. Then we watched the birth of chivalry, now - its decline. This was due to several factors, the most significant of which are the following: firstly, during this period in most European states, single centralized monarchies were formed, replacing feudal fragmentation, which, in turn, entailed a gradual but inexorable transformation vassals into subjects, secondly, ordinary people returning from the crusades understood that chivalry was not as invincible as it seemed, they understood that a lot could be achieved by the coordinated actions of the infantry, and, finally, thirdly, it was during this the period includes firearms and, above all, artillery, from which even the best knightly armor was no longer saved.

All these and some other factors were fully manifested during the longest military conflict in the history of Europe, which took place between England and France. We are talking about the Hundred Years War of 1337-1453. The war began because of the claims of the English king Edward III to the French throne.

Literally in the very first years of the war, France suffered a series of serious defeats: in the naval battle of Sluys (1346), the entire french navy, and already on land, in the battle of Crecy (1346), the French knighthood, faced with English archers, suffered a terrible defeat. In fact, in this battle, the French were defeated by their own belief in the invincibility of the knightly cavalry and the inability of the infantry to effectively resist it. When the field for battle was chosen, the English commander placed his archers and dismounted knights on the hill. The dismounted knights could not move, but they stood, covering their archers with a steel wall. The French, on the contrary, threw their knights into the attack on the hill right from the march, not allowing them to rest or line up. This led to very sad consequences for them - the arrows of the English archers could not penetrate the knight's armor itself, but they found a path in horse armor or in the visor of the helmet. As a result, only about a third of the French knights reached the top of the hill, wounded and exhausted. There they were met by rested English knights with swords and battle axes. The destruction was complete.

Ten years later, at the Battle of Poitiers (1356), the French suffered another defeat. This time the victory of the British was striking in its results - the king of France, John II the Good, himself was captured by them. In the midst of the battle, the vassals of the French king, seeing that military luck had betrayed them, preferred to withdraw their troops from the battlefield, leaving the king to fight almost completely alone - only his son remained with him. This defeat once again showed that the feudal army had outlived its usefulness, and could not more adequately resist the recruited militia from ordinary people.

The situation worsened with the beginning of the active use of firearms, first as a siege weapon, and then as field artillery. The critical situation that developed in France both in politics and in the field of military affairs by the beginning of the 15th century forced King Charles VII to carry out a military reform that radically changed the face of the French, and then the European army. According to the royal ordinance issued in 1445, a regular military contingent was created in France. He was recruited from the nobility and was a heavily armed cavalry. This cavalry was divided into detachments or companies, which consisted of "spears". The “spear” usually included 6 people: one cavalryman armed with a spear and five auxiliary horse warriors. In addition to this cavalry, which bore the name "ban" (i.e. "banner") and recruited from the direct vassals of the king, the contingent also included artillery units, archery units and infantry. When emergency the king could convene an arjerban, i.e. a militia of vassals of their vassals.

According to changes in the structure of the army, the algorithm of military operations also changed: now, when two warring troops met, shelling began first of all, accompanied by digging fortifications for their guns and shelters from enemy nuclei: “Count Charolais set up camp along the river, surrounding him with wagons and artillery…”; “The king's people began to dig a trench and build a rampart out of earth and wood. Behind her they put powerful artillery<…>Many of ours dug trenches near their houses…” . Patrols were sent out in all directions from the camp, sometimes reaching fifty spears, that is, three hundred people in number. In battle, the warring parties sought to get to each other's artillery positions in order to capture guns. In general, we can note that the classic war of the New Age began, the review of which is already beyond the scope of this work.

Annotated bibliography

I. Publications of sources (in Russian).

As well as for the previous article in this edition, the selection of sources for this work was difficult for several reasons. Firstly, it is extremely difficult to find at least one source on the history of the Middle Ages, which would not touch on the topic of war; secondly, in contrast to antiquity, in the Middle Ages there were practically no works devoted specifically to military affairs, or the history of any particular war (the exception is the Byzantine tradition, within which the “Wars” of Procopius of Caesarea were created, as well as works on tactics and strategy of pseudo-Mauritius, Kekavmen and others); finally, thirdly, the situation with sources on the history of the Middle Ages, translated into Russian, leaves much to be desired. All this together leads to the fact that below is only a small selection of sources that we can recommend for reading on the topic of the article. The characteristics of the sources are given only from the point of view of military history. For more details see: Lyublinskaya A.D. Source study of the history of the Middle Ages. - L., 1955; Bibikov M.V. Historical Literature of Byzantium. - St. Petersburg, 1998. - (Byzantine library).

1. Agathius of Mirine. On the reign of Justinian / Per. M.V. Levchenko. - M., 1996. The work of the successor of Procopius of Caesarea is devoted to the description of the wars of the commander Narses against the Goths, Vandals, Franks and Persians and contains rich information about the Byzantine military art of the second half of the 6th century. However, Agathius was not a military man and his presentation of military events sometimes suffers from inaccuracy.

2. Anna Komnena. Alexiad / Per. from Greek Ya.N. Lyubarsky. - St. Petersburg, 1996. - (Byzantine library). Despite the rhetorical style and the author's own lack of any experience in military affairs, this work remains an important source on the military history of Byzantium in the era of the Komnenos.

3. Widukind of Corvey. The deeds of the Saxons. - M., 1975. The spring was created in the 10th century by a monk of the Novokorveysky monastery. Information of a predominantly political nature is given, wars are described briefly (in the style Veni,vidi,vici), however, there are descriptions of weapons and military clothing of the Saxons, there is information about the principle of manning the Saxon army, about the presence of a navy, cavalry and siege weapons among the Saxons.

4. Villardouin, Geoffrey de. Conquest of Constantinople / Transl., Art., Comment. M.A. Zaborova. - M., 1993. - (Monuments of historical thought). Memoirs of one of the leaders IV crusade. Contains data on the organization, number and armament of the crusader army.

5. Greek polyorketics. Flavius ​​Vegetius Renat / Foreword. A.V. Mishulin; comments A.A. Novikov. - St. Petersburg, 1996. - (Antique library). For a detailed commentary on this source, see above in the bibliography to the article on the ancient army. One can only add that the work of Vegetius was the most authoritative treatise on the structure of the army for medieval thinkers - in the ideal legion of Vegetius they saw an ideal model for building a medieval knightly army.

6. Digests of Justinian. Book XLIX. Titus XVI. About military affairs / Per. I.I. Yakovkina // Monuments of Roman law: Laws of the XII tables. Guyanese Institutions. Digests of Justinian. - M., 1997. - S.591-598. For a commentary on this source, see the bibliography for the article on the ancient army. It can be added that the military law “Digest” not only retained its relevance by the time of Justinian, but was also accepted and used later by many European legislators of the Middle Ages (for example, the king of Castile and Leon Alfonso X the Wise) in drawing up their laws.

7. Jordan. On the origin and deeds of the Getae. “Getica” / Transl., intro. Art., comment. E.Ch. Skrzhinskaya. - St. Petersburg, 1997. - (Byzantine library). – S. 98-102. From this work, we can only recommend Jordan's description of the famous battle in the Catalaunian fields, which became a role model for many medieval chroniclers in describing battles.

8. Clary, Robert de. Conquest of Constantinople / Transl., Art., Comment. M.A. Zaborova. - M., 1986. - (Monuments of historical thought). The author is one of the simple knights who were in the army of the crusaders who stormed Constantinople in 1204, which explains some of the incompleteness and subjectivity of the source's information. Nevertheless, the text of the chronicle contains information about the number of knightly detachments, the cost of hiring ships to transport troops, and the structure of the knightly army.

9. Commin, Philippe de. Memoirs / Trans., Art., Note. Yu.P. Malinin. - M., 1986. - (Monuments of historical thought). The author, a professional military man and diplomat, first served under the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, then went over to the side of King Louis XI and became his adviser on the war with Burgundy. His work contains a lot of information necessary for the study of the French army, Ser. - 2nd floor. XV century, its structures, weapons, tactics and strategies.

10.Konstantin Porphyrogenitus. On the management of the empire / Per. G.G. Timpani. - M., 1991. - ( Ancient sources on the history of the East. Europe). The writing of the Byzantine emperor in 913-959. Contains numerous information on Byzantine diplomacy, military organization, relations with neighboring peoples, as well as on military equipment(description of Greek fire).

11.Kulakovsky Yu.A. Byzantine camp at the end of the 10th century // Byzantine civilization in the coverage of Russian scientists, 1894-1927. - M., 1999. - S.189-216. Annotated publication of a very carefully written little Byzantine treatise from the 10th century. "De castrametatione" ("On the setting up of camp"). Equipped with diagrams of the Byzantine camp. First published: Byzantine Vremennik. - T.10. - M., 1903. - S.63-90.

12.Mauritius. Tactics and Strategy: The Primary Source Op. about the military art imp. Leo the Philosopher and N. Machiavelli / Per. from lat. Tsybyshev; foreword ON THE. Geisman. - SPb., 1903. The fundamental Byzantine essay on the strategy of the turn of the 5th-6th centuries. Its attribution to Emperor Mauritius (582-602) is disputed by modern scholars. Of particular interest are the first mention of stirrups in European military literature, as well as information on the military affairs of the ancient Slavs. There is a more accessible abridged edition: Pseudo-Mauritius. Stategekon / Per. Tsybyshev, ed. R.V. Svetlova // The Art of War: An Anthology of Military Thought. - St. Petersburg, 2000. - T.1. - P.285-378.

13.Peter from Doesburg. Chronicle of the Prussian Land / Ed. prepared IN AND. Matuzova. - M., 1997. An essay telling about the wars of the Teutonic Order in Prussia from the point of view of the crusaders. Extremely valuable source spiritual knightly orders, superbly translated and commented.

14. Song of the Nibelungs: epic / Per. Yu. Korneeva; intro. Art., comment. AND I. Gurevich. - St. Petersburg, 2000. The famous old German epic. From here you can get both information about weapons and about the strategy of the medieval army (in particular, regarding the use of intelligence).

15. Song of Roland: according to the Oxford text / Per. B.I. Yarkho. - M. - L.: "Academia", 1934. From this text one can take information about the armament of the knights, about the tactics of battle (arranging ambushes, etc.), as well as about the structure of the army. No need to pay attention to the number of troops indicated in the "Songs ...".

16.Song of Side: Old Spanish heroic epic / Per. B.I. Yarkho, Yu.B. Korneeva; ed. prepared A.A. Smirnov. - M.-L., 1959. - (Lit. monuments). The text of the source dates back to the middle of the 12th century and contains valuable information about the military art of the 11th-12th centuries, about the methods of conducting a siege, about the number of troops (unlike the Song of Roland, this monument provides reliable information on this subject, confirmed by data from other sources), about the weapons and equipment of the knights.

17.Procopius of Caesarea. War with the Goths: In 2 volumes / Per. S.P. Kondratiev. - M., 1996. - T.1-2.

18.Procopius of Caesarea. War with the Persians. War with vandals. Secret History / Trans., Art., Comment. A.A. Chekalova. - St. Petersburg, 1998. - (Byzantine library). Procopius of Caesarea - a professional historian of the time of Emperor Justinian, who created a cycle of historical works "History of Wars", dedicated to wars Byzantine Empire under this emperor. This cycle includes the above-mentioned works “War with the Goths”, “War with the Persians” and “War with the Vandals”. A characteristic feature of these works is Procopius' deep knowledge of the subject described - for many years he was the personal secretary of the largest commander Justinian, Belisarius, and accompanied him on campaigns, and therefore had a direct opportunity to observe the course of hostilities. Particularly successful are Procopius' descriptions of the sieges of cities (both from the point of view of the besieger and from the point of view of the besieged). The author's information about the size and structure of the Byzantine army is confirmed by other sources, and therefore can be considered reliable.

19.Procopius of Caesarea. About buildings / Per. S.P. Kondratiev // He. War with the Goths: In 2 volumes - M., 1996. - V.2. - P.138-288. This work by Procopius contains rich information about the construction policy of Emperor Justinian, in particular, about the military construction of that era. The principles of Byzantine fortification are covered in detail, almost all the fortresses built under Justinian are named.

20.Richer of Reims. History / Transl., comment., Art. A.V. Tarasova. - M., 1997. From this work you can get information about the armament of the troops and the methods of warfare in the X-XI centuries, about the use of intelligence in military operations. In turn, information about the structure of the Frankish army from Rycher cannot be called trustworthy - Rycher clearly borrowed the division of the army into legions and cohorts from Roman authors, and more specifically, from his beloved Sallust.

21. The saga of Sverrier / Ed. prepared M.I. Steblin-Kamensky and others - M., 1988. - (Lit. monuments). History of internecine wars in Norway in the XII-XIII centuries. Continues the "Circle of the Earth" by Snorri Sturluson (see below), contains detailed information on military affairs, which, even after the end of the Viking Age, continued to be very different in Norway from the rest of Western Europe.

22. Saxon mirror / Resp. ed. V.M. Koretsky. - M., 1985.

23. Salic Truth / Per. N.P. Gratsiansky. - M., 1950. These two monuments of the written customary law of the German peoples are included in the list of sources as typical representatives of the "barbaric Pravda". From them, as a rule, it is impossible to draw real information about military affairs, but on the other hand, they contain information about the cost of armor and weapons, which creates an idea of ​​the social position of a warrior in German barbarian society.

24.Snorri Sturluson. Circle of the Earth / Ed. prepared AND I. Gurevich and others - M., 1980. - (Lit. monuments). The classic collection of sagas about “rulers who were in Nordic Countries and spoke Danish”, created in Iceland in the 1st half. 13th century The presentation has been brought up from ancient times to 1177. In relation to military history, it contains information about the military affairs of the Vikings, their campaigns of conquest, military tricks and weapons, and the mechanism for recruiting the Norman army.

25. Tips and stories of Kekavmen. The work of the Byzantine commander of the XI century. / Prep. text, introduction, translation, comments. G.G. Timpani. - M., 1972. - (Monuments of the medieval history of the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe). The source was written in the 1070s. It contains advice on the leadership of the army (about a quarter of the volume), as well as everyday instructions that give an idea of ​​the Byzantine military aristocracy and, moreover, is often illustrated with examples from the field of military affairs. One of the main sources on Byzantine military history. The only manuscript is kept in the Manuscript Department of the State Historical Museum in Moscow.

II. Literature.

Below is the literature on the history of the medieval army, recommended for reading. We have selected only general work, which is explained by two main factors: the extraordinary abundance of works devoted to particular issues of the military art of medieval Europe, published in the West, on the one hand, and the low accessibility for the domestic reader of works on national military histories of Western European countries, on the other. Almost all of the works presented below have a good bibliography, allowing the reader to easily carry out further literature searches.

26.Winkler P. fon. Weapons: A guide to the history, description and depiction of hand weapons from ancient times to early XIX century. - M., 1992. A good reference book on medieval weapons, a well-chosen illustrative series, accompanied by a professional commentary.

27.Gurevich A.Ya. Viking expeditions. - M., 1966. - (Popular science series of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR). Although this book was not written by a military historian, it contains a lot of information about military affairs and the military organization of the Vikings, as well as photographs of ships and weapons. The author is one of the largest domestic Scandinavians.

28.Delbruck G. History of military art within the framework of political history: In 4 volumes - St. Petersburg, 1994-1996. - V.2-3. For this edition, see the annotation to it given in the previous article.

29.Dupuy R.E., Dupuy T.N. World War History: Harper's Encyclopedia of Military History. - St. Petersburg; M., 1997. - Books 1-2. This publication can be used only to obtain the initial minimum information on the subject of interest. The information collected here concerns, first of all, the tactics of medieval armies on the example of famous battles. The publication contains battle diagrams and other illustrative material.

30. History of the Crusades / Ed. D. Riley-Smith. - M., 1998. The publication is a translation into Russian of one of the best works on the history of the Crusades, prepared at Oxford University. Separately, it is necessary to note the chapters devoted to the military monastic orders, in which not only the military art of the orders is analyzed in detail, but also their internal organization, place in society and politics. It should also be said that the book separately touches upon the issues of supply and transportation of armies during the Crusades, which were previously studied quite a bit. A distinctive feature of the book is the rich illustrative material.

31.Cardini F. Origins of medieval chivalry. - Sretensk, 2000. In this work, it seems possible to recommend for reading the second and third parts, devoted to the formation of the ideology of medieval Christian chivalry and the military art of Europeans (mainly Franks, Byzantines and their allies) of the period of the VI-IX centuries, because the author's point of view on the prehistory of chivalry and, in particular, his military art, set out in the first part of the book, is highly controversial and ambiguous. Unfortunately, it should also be noted that the Russian translation of this book removes all historiographical material, scientific controversy and references to sources, which, of course, deprives many of the author's statements of a fair amount of evidence.

32.Litavrin G.G. Byzantine society and state in the X-XI centuries. - M., 1977. - S.236-259.

33.He is. How did the Byzantines live? - St. Petersburg, 1997. - (Byzantine library). - P.120-143. Essays on military affairs in Byzantium of the central period of its history (IX-XII centuries), written by one of the largest domestic Byzantinists (the second of these two books is popular science).

34.Melville M. History of the Knights Templar / Per. from fr. G.F. Tsybulko. - St. Petersburg, 1999. - (Clio). A solid study of the history of one of the most famous spiritual and chivalric orders.

35.Razin E.A. History of military art. - SPb., 1999. - V.2. - (Military Historical Library). The work was done quite thoroughly, and if you do not pay attention to the numerous Soviet stamps, then you can call it one of the most complete works on the military history of the Middle Ages in Russian. The book contains rich illustrative material, of which the schemes of the main battles of the Middle Ages are most interesting.

36.Flory J. The ideology of the sword: the prehistory of chivalry. - St. Petersburg, 1999. - (Clio). As the title implies, this work is devoted to the formation of the ideology of Christian chivalry and the formation of its social structure. One of the best works on the ideology of chivalry, accompanied, moreover, by a fairly complete bibliography on the military history of the Middle Ages.

37.Yakovlev V.V. The history of fortresses: The evolution of long-term fortification. - St. Petersburg, 1995. - Ch. IV-XII. This edition is best handled with care - a professional study of fortifications of the 9th-17th centuries. accompanied by more than dubious historical commentary.

38.Beeler J. Warfare in the feudal Europe: 730 - 1200. - Ithaca (N.Y.), 1971. The work of a well-known English researcher examines the military affairs of Western Europe from the Carolingian era to the heyday of military feudalism. Separate chapters are devoted to the development and characteristics of military art in Norman Italy, southern France and Christian Spain. A distinctive feature of the work is the availability of the presentation of the material, which, however, does not affect its completeness.

39.Contamine Ph. La guerre au Moyen Age. – P., 1980; 1999. - (Nouvelle Clio: L'histoire et ses problems). For many years this work has been rightfully considered a classic in the study of the military history of the Middle Ages. The book highlights the development of the army and military art in the countries of Western Europe and in the states of the Latin East in the period of the 5th - to the 15th centuries. Special attention paid to the evolution of weapons, the emergence and development of artillery, as well as the connection of war with various aspects of the life of medieval society. An excellent scientific and reference apparatus, the most important place in which is occupied by a list of sources and literature with a total volume of more than one hundred pages, gives reason to recommend this work to everyone who wants to get acquainted with the history of the military affairs of the Middle Ages.

40.Lot F. L'art militaire et les armées au Moyen Age en Europe et dans le Proche Orient: 2 vols. - P., 1946. A classic work on the history of military art, which has already gone through several editions and still has not lost its relevance. A special place in the book is given to the comparison of the military art of Christian armies and Muslims during the Crusades.

41. Medieval warfare: A history / Ed. by Maurice Keen. – Oxford, 1999. The book is divided into two main parts, the first of which deals in chronological order with the history of the military affairs of Europe and the Latin East, from the Carolingians to the Hundred Years War, and the second contains several chapters devoted to the consideration of individual issues: the art of siege in The Middle Ages, the armament of medieval armies, mercenaries, the navy in the Middle Ages and the emergence of gunpowder artillery and regular armies. The book is richly illustrated with chronological tables and an excellent bibliographic index.

42.Menendez Pidal R. La España del Cid: 2 vols. – Madrid, 1929. An excellent work by a Spanish philologist dedicated to Spain in the period of the 11th – 13th centuries. The army is considered as an integral part of the Spanish medieval society, its structure, the foundations of its military art, its weapons are shown. Contrary to the name, the work is based not only on the material of the Song of Sid, but also on other sources.

43.Nicole D. Medieval warfare: Sourcebook: In 2 vols. – L., 1995-1996. – Vol.1-2. Generalizing summary work devoted to military affairs Medieval Europe, starting from the era of the Great Migration of Nations to the beginning of the Great Geographical Discoveries. The first volume describes military affairs within Europe, the second in question about the military activities of Europeans in other countries. Characteristic features works are, firstly, its clear structure, and secondly, the richest illustrative material (each volume has 200 illustrations per 320 pages of text), which makes the book almost indispensable for studying the military history of the Middle Ages.

44.Oman C.W.C. The art of war in the Middle Ages: A.D. 378 - 1515 / Rev. ed. by J.H. Beeler. – Ithaca (N.Y.), 1963. The fifth edition of one of the most popular military history books in Europe. Created in late XIX century, it still attracts readers with its accessibility and, in the good sense of the word, the popularity of its presentation. The book focuses on the military side of the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Great Migration of Nations, separate chapters are devoted to the military development of Byzantium in the VI-XI centuries, Switzerland in 1315-1515 and England in the XIII-XV centuries. In conclusion, the author writes about the military affairs of the states of Eastern Europe in the 15th century, including the Ottoman Porte. The book is provided with chronological tables.

45.Prestwich M. Armies and warfare in the Middle Ages: The English experience. – New Haven; L., 1996. The book is interesting in that the author separately focuses on the role of the infantry in the Middle Ages, considers in detail the problem of military communications, the problems of strategy (in particular, the use of intelligence in the Middle Ages). One of the author's main conclusions is also interesting - he doubts the reality of the so-called "medieval military revolution", which led to an increase in the role of cavalry in battle, and believes that the role of infantry in the medieval army was greatly underestimated by previous historians. The book is richly illustrated.

Jordan. On the origin and deeds of the Getae. Getica. - St. Petersburg, 1997. - S. 98-102.

Razin E.A. History of military art. - SPb., 1999. - V.2. - (Military Historical Library). – P.137.

Winkler P. fon. Weapons: a guide to the history, description and depiction of hand weapons from ancient times to the beginning of the 19th century. - M., 1992. - S. 73-74.

For more on Martell's reform, see the chapter on the strength and weakness of the Carolingian armies in: ContaminePh. La guerre au Moyen Age. – P., 1999.

Lex Ripuaria, XXXVI, 11 // MGH LL. – T.V. – P.231. Cit. on: Delbruck G. The history of military art within the framework of political history. - SPb., 1994. - V.2. - p.7.

For the question of the size of the Carolingian armies, see the relevant chapters in: Delbruck G. The history of military art ... - V.2. - St. Petersburg, 1994; ContaminePh. La guerre au Moyen Age. – P., 1999; Oman C.W.C. The art of war in the Middle Ages: A.D. 378 - 1515 / Rev. ed. by J.H. Beeler. – Ithaca (N.Y.), 1963.

For more information on the development of artillery, see the relevant chapters in: ContaminePh. La guerre au Moyen Age. – P., 1999; Medieval warfare: A history / Ed. by Maurice Keen. – Oxford, 1999.

Warfare was commonplace in the Middle Ages. It is not surprising that during this period, there were greatest warriors and armies in history. This list consists of the best, most impressive soldiers of the Middle Ages.

Spearmen (Pikemen)

Medieval spear soldier or pikeman - a man with a spear, who was used as infantry in Europe, during the Viking and Anglo-Saxon times, as well as in the XIV, XV and XVI centuries. The spear was the national weapon of England, but it was also used in other countries, especially in Italy.

Boyars

In the narrow sense of the word, the upper layer feudal society in X -XVII centuries in Kievan Rus, the Principality of Galicia-Volyn, the Principality of Moscow, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, the Principality of Moldavia, Wallachia, from the XIV century in Romania.

Commonly known as the Knights Templar or the Order of the Temple were one of the most celebrated Western Christian military orders. The organization existed for about two centuries during the Middle Ages. Founded in the period after the First Crusade in 1096 to ensure the safety of Christians who made pilgrimages to Jerusalem after its conquest. The Templars were distinguished by white robes with a red cross, they were one of the most experienced combat units of the Crusades.

A crossbow is a weapon based on a bow that fires projectiles, the projectiles are often referred to as a bolt. The crossbow was created in China. The weapon played a significant role in the war in North Africa, Europe and Asia.

They were personal warriors and were equated with the bodyguards of the Scandinavian lords and kings. The military organization of the huskerls, differed the highest level, united loyalty to the king and a special code of honor.

A group of inhabitants in Ancient Russia, which was of an ethnic, professional or social nature, causing multiple disputes and discussions. Traditional versions identify the Varangians with immigrants from the Varangian region - Scandinavian Vikings, hired warriors or merchants in Old Russian state(IX-XII centuries) and Byzantium (XI-XIII centuries). Beginning with Vladimir the Baptist, the Varangians were actively used by the Russian princes in the struggle for power.

These were Swiss soldiers and officers who were recruited for military service in the armies of foreign countries, especially in the army of the kings of France, from the 14th to the 19th century.

Cataphracts were not just cavalry, with a rider clad in heavy armor, but a detachment that used special strategies, formations and techniques on the battlefield. The birthplace of this kind of cavalry is called Scythia (II-I centuries BC).

A medieval soldier who used a halberd in battle. The halberd is a polearm with a combined tip, consisting of a needle-shaped (round or faceted) spear point and a battle ax blade with a sharp butt. The halberd was in service with the infantry of many European states from the 13th to the 17th centuries. It was most widely used in the 15th-16th centuries as an effective weapon against well-protected cavalry.

To XIX century the only regions where people would not yet be familiar with weapons such as bows and arrows were only Australia and Oceania. A Welsh or English military archer in the 14th and 15th century had to shoot at least ten "aimed shots" per minute.