By Sword and Fire: Cruelty and Atrocity in Medieval Warfare

About this book

For all the talk of chivalry medieval warfare routinely involved acts that we would consider war crimes. Lands laid waste civilians slaughtered prisoners massacred: this was standard fare justified by tradition and practical military necessity. This popular treatment of a grisly subject examines the battles of Acre and Agincourt sieges like Bziers Lincoln Jerusalem and Limoges as well as the infamous chevauches of the Hundred Years War that devastated great swathes of France. Learn how these events formed the origin of accepted rules of war; codes of conduct that are today being enforced in the International Court of Justice in The Hague. This is an all-encompassing portrait of war in the Middle Ages that combines vivid narrative with explanation and analysis.