The essays brought together in this volume examine the conduct of war by the Angevin kings of England during the long thirteenth century (1189-1307). Drawing upon a wide range of unpublished administrative records that have been largely ignored by previous scholarship, David S. Bachrach offers new insights into the military technology of the period, including the types of artillery and missile weapons produced by the royal government. The studies in this volume also highlight the administrative sophistication of the Angevin kings in military affairs, showing how they produced and maintained huge arsenals, mobilized vast quantities of supplies for their armies in the field, and provided for the pastoral care of their men. Bachrach also challenges the knight-centric focus of much of the scholarship on this period, demonstrating that the militarization of the English population penetrated to men in the lower social and economic strata, who volunteered in large numbers for military service, and even made careers as professional soldiers.
Chapter 1. The royal crossbow makers of England, 1204–1272
Chapter 2. Crossbows for the king: The crossbow during the reigns of John and Henry III of England
Chapter 3. The royal arms makers of England, 1199–1216: A prosopographical survey
Chapter 5. English artillery, 1189–1307: The implications of terminology
Chapter 6. The military administration of England: The royal artillery (1216–1272)
Chapter 7. Military planning in thirteenth-century England
Chapter 8. Military logistics during the reign of Edward I of England, 1272–1307
Chapter 9. Prices, price controls, and market forces in England under Edward I, c. 1294–1307
Chapter 12. King Edward I’s military bureaucracy: The case of Peter of Dunwich
Chapter 15. Urban military forces of England and Germany, c. 1240–c. 1315, a comparison
Chapter 16. Edward I’s “centurions”: Professional soldiers in an era of militia armies
Appendix 2: Crossbow officers organized alphabetically