{"product_id":"western-warfare-in-the-age-of-the-crusades-10001300-9780801436710","title":"Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades  10001300","description":"\u003cp\u003eI am full of admiration for this excellent story of the practice of warfare in the Central Middle Ages. It is a work of both scholarship and synthesis  full of insight  and communicated in an accessible and professional way. Norman Housley  University of Leicester This authoritative and concise work surveys the range of warfare in the high Middle Ages while reflecting on the society that produced these military struggles. The book brings together for the first time a wealth of information on such topics as knighthood  military organization  weaponry and fortifications  and warfare in the East. In 1095 with the launching of the First Crusade  Europeans established a great military endeavour to save the Holy Land  an undertaking that remained a central preoccupation until the end of the thirteenth century. While the expeditions that went forth to fight the Muslims involved armies of exceptional size  much of the warfare within western Europe itself was conducted by small armies on behalf of landowners who were often neighbours and kin. In his approach to his subject  John France considers political  social  and economic development in the age of the crusades. He emphasizes the significance of four factors in shaping medieval warfare: the dominance of land as a form of wealth  the limited competence of government  the state of technology that favoured defence over attack  and the geography and climate of western Europe. His coverage of the castle and the knight in armour depicts the role of landowners in producing these characteristic medieval instruments of war. In addition  France provides an extensive analysis of battles in which he reconstructs a series of encounters in superb detail.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45651751927861,"sku":"ByrdShop_0801436710","price":69.4,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780801436710.jpg?v=1781839446","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/western-warfare-in-the-age-of-the-crusades-10001300-9780801436710","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}