Armies of the Middle Ages Book.

[westwaller]

Good Morning and a Happy New Year to you all,

I am quite interested in buying Ian Heaths Armies of the Middle Ages, Volume 1: The Hundred Years' War, the War of the Roses and the Burgundian Wars, 1300-1487. However, I would appreciate it if any of you fine fellows would let me know as to whether it is worth getting or not?
With the greatest respect to the author, does it contain information that I cannot find elsewhere, or would I be better served by a few Ospreys covering the period as it possibly is too dated now to be of any real use? Your thoughts would be much appreciated

Cheers,

Westwaller.

[Arlequín]

It remains one of my favourite books on the Medieval Period ever... but to a degree some of the information in it has been surpassed by more recent research. Where it is at its best is where it provides actual source material within its text, which can be very hard to find without going to those same sources yourself. Where it is at its worst is where the author applies what he thinks he knows (but who isn't guilty of that?).

It depends what you want from the book really... its 'battle section' is too brief to be much use, but its details on raising armies and paying for them are pretty thorough. The English of the Hundred Years War are the most thoroughly covered army, albeit that much of that coverage wilts after Agincourt. The French get second place and again it's all about the 14th Century and Agincourt, the 'Ordonnances of Louis XI' are barely mentioned. Everyone else gets a much less thorough coverage and of course the Germans are in Book 2. Nevertheless for some armies, the coverage they do get is more than you will usually find elsewhere in English.

As a general and basic primer it is still up towards the top of the books I might recommend, but it will leave you searching for more specific works on any army that takes your fancy. If you can get it cheap, why not? But for more serious amounts of money I would leave it.

[westwaller]

Thanks @Arlequin.
I was actually most interested in the English and French HYW armies but also any information it might give about Heraldry, equipment & armour of the participants, and more generally of the period(s).
I suppose I am trying to find an Osprey style book on the subject, but better!!

May I also ask your opinion on the feudal armies one as well if you own it? Do you have any recommendations of any other books covering these two periods? if that is not too much trouble.

Thank you for your time,

Westwaller.
 

[Arlequín]

Unfortunately the 100 Years War was not my 'thing', other than in a general sense, but I'm sure there are others here who can point you in the right direction. Nevertheless 'Medieval Armies' is a very good starting point for that and depending on your level of interest, might be all you need in a 'one stop' sense. The Feudal Wars book I never had, so I can't comment, but as memory serves, it was a lot thinner than Medieval Armies and stopped at 1300.

Medieval Armies does have an extensive section on coats of arms for the French and English and some livery details too. They really should have just called it the 'Hundred Years War' and cut out the few pages that don't deal with that.

For arms and armour, the Osprey 'English Knight' books by Christopher Gravett are quite good, he really knows his armour... his  interpretations of the 'hows' and 'whys' of medieval warfare I'm not so sure on though. Clive Bartlett's 'English Longbowman' book is worth the £5 you can usually get it for too.

Otherwise the more academic books can take you places you don't want to go as a wargamer. If you are genuinely interested in the back story, then they are worth pursuing. Anne Curry's various books on Agincourt are quite readable, but I couldn't get into Jonathan Sumption's hefty tomes, even in an academic sense... there is such a thing as too much information.

As I said though, more knowledgeable folk are bound to chip in on this presently!    

[westwaller]

Thanks once again for your answers

I have the longbowman book that you mentioned and it is very good . I also have one of the Christopher Gravett 'English Knight' books the 1200-1300 one and it is also quite good. I borrowed one of the others from my local library and found that it was not so good though.
I have just bought (for nostalgias sake if anything else) a secondhand Blandford series book on medieval uniforms by Christopher Rothero as I love a book of colour plates and I will consider the Heath book(s) for the future.

[levied troop]

I think Heath's books are an excellent broad primer on the periods, especially if you want a view on what the knights and foot looked like as an aid to selecting wargames figures.  The only shame is that they are line drawings - for colour the Ospreys will be very helpful.

If you are looking for detail on organisation and how medieval armies marched I'd recommend 'The Road to Crecy' by Livingstone and Witzel and any of the Ann Curry books.  For Agincourt, John Keegan's 'The Face of Battle' has a ground-breaking description of the battle. 

There are different views on exactly how both English and French medieval armies fought and especially how they developed through the 100 Years War - some authors will contradict others.  Part of the fun of medieval gaming is trying out the different options on the table.

[janner]

The Agincourt Osprey is by Matt Bennett, and as scholarly as Curry - although they politely disagree on some things