Kelly DeVries - Journal of Medieval Military History

JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL MILITARY HISTORY

Editors

Clifford J. Rogers

Kelly DeVries

John France

ISSN 1477545X

The Journal, an annual publication of De re militari: The Society for Medieval Military History, covers medieval warfare in the broadest possible terms, both chronologically and thematically. It aims to encompass topics ranging from traditional studies of the strategic and tactical conduct of war, to explorations of the martial aspects of chivalric culture and mentalit, examinations of the development of military technology, and prosopographical treatments of the composition of medieval armies. Editions of previously unpublished documents of significance to the field are included. The Journal also seeks to foster debate on key disputed aspects of medieval military history.

The editors welcome submissions to the Journal, which should be formatted in accordance with the style-sheet provided on De re militaris website ( www.deremilitari.org ), and sent electronically to the editor specified there.

Journal of Medieval Military History

Volume XX

Edited by

KELLY D e VRIES

JOHN FRANCE

CLIFFORD J. ROGERS

THE BOYDELL PRESS

Contributors 2022

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First published 2022

The Boydell Press, Woodbridge

ISBN 978-1-78327-718-6 hardback

ISBN 978-1-80010-618-5 ePub

The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd

PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK

and of Boydell & Brewer Inc.

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Cover: Coll. Bibliothques municipales de Chambry, MS13, fo. 105r (circa 11701190). The Italian artist who illuminated this copy of Gratians Decretum beautifully captured the deadly seriousness of medieval warfare for townsmen as well as knights. Image used by generous permission of the Bibliothques municipales de Chambry

Illustrations

1. De velitatione bellica and Georgian Art of War During the Reign of David IV

Map 1 The Expansion of the Kingdom of Georgia under David IV The Builder (r. 10891125)

3. More Accurate Than You Think: Re-evaluating Medieval Warfare in Film

Figure 1 Forms and frequencies of medieval combat in four sources

Figure 2 Cavalry at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Figure 3 Above-waist vs. below-waist wounds by source

Figure 4 Detail of the lower panel from the MPB, folio 24v

Figure 5 Armor vs. no armor at wound site

Table 1 Combat wound locations by source

4. Raising the Medieval Trebuchet: Assembly Method and the Standing of a Half-scale Machine

Figure 1 The ground plan of a trebuchet drawn by Villard de Honnecourt

Figure 2 The trebuchet from the Gottingen manuscript of the Bellifortis, c.1405

Figure 3 The trebuchet from the Innsbruck manuscript of the Bellifortis

Figure 4 The ground plan of the trebuchet from the Innsbruck manuscript

Figure 5 The conventional trebuchet depicted in the Elegant Book, c.146263

Figure 6 The Sentinel, the authors reconstructed machine, as of October 2019

Figure 7 Standing a bent of the trebuchets frame

Figure 8 Folio 2r of the Hussite Wars: a shear leg hoist raising a cannon

Figure 9 Folio 25v of the Hussite Wars

Figure 10 Folio 6r of the Hussite Wars

Figure 11 Raising the shear legs using the trebuchets windlass

Figure 12 Raising the throwing arm of the Sentinel

Figure 13 One of Francesco di Giorgio Martinis drawings of a trebuchet

Figure 14 Raising the throwing arm with a header bar, as seen in the Elegant Book

Figure 15 Raising the throwing arm using a ramp, from the Elegant Book

Figure 16 Attaching the counterweight box, as seen in the Elegant Book

Figure 17 Moving in the counterweight box during assembly of the Sentinel

Figure 18 Components of a trebuchet, from Zaradkash

7. The Lancegay and Associated Weapons

Figure 1 Lewis Chessman.

8. I intend to give him battle. Battle-Seeking in a Civil War Context: Toro (1476)

Map 1 Troop movements during MayJuly 1475

Map 2 Troop movements prior to the battle of Toro (15 February to 1 March 1476)

9.Discovery of an Early Sixteenth-century Battle Plan from the Archdiocesan Archive in Ljubljana

Map 1 The operational theater during Maximilian Is confrontation with Venice, 150816 (Drawn by Polonca Strman)

Figure 1 Battle plan from the Archdiocesan Archive (NAL, AL 1, Fasc. 29/1; photo: Matej Kristovi)

Figure 2 Schematic depiction of a concentrically arranged Wagenburg (UER B 26, fol. b r)

Figure 3 Diagram of the battle formation on the Ljubljana plan (Drawing by Polonca Strman)

Figure 4 A realistic contemporary depiction of field fortifications from Eybs Kriegsbuch dated c.1500 (UER, MS.B 26, fol. 62r)

Full credit details are provided in the captions to the images in the text. The editors, contributors and publisher are grateful to all the institutions and persons for permission to reproduce the materials in which they hold copyright. Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders; apologies are offered for any omission, and the publisher will be pleased to add any necessary acknowledgement in subsequent editions.

De velitatione bellica and the Georgian Art of War During the Reign of David IV I would like to thank an anonymous reviewer for his valuable comments on my draft and for raising the issue of ideology in De velitatione and the Georgian kings war. My special thanks also go to Clifford J. Rogers and John France for editing this paper.

Mamuka Tsurtsumia

In 1089, when David IV the Builder (10891125) ascended the throne, the problem of the Turkmen nomads was probably the most difficult he faced. Confrontation with Turkmens was characterized by small-scale but high-intensity clashes distinguished by dynamism and mobility. Due to this, the struggle with the nomads and the suppression of their raids required specific methods of warfare. The theoretical foundations for dealing with raids had already been developed by the Byzantine military, which in the tenth century produced a detailed and practical manual, De velitatione bellica, whose author was a comrade-in-arms of Nikephoros II Phokas (96369). Though it is hard to show with certainty that the Georgian king knew and followed De velitatione, it is very possible that he derived some ideas about warfare from this Byzantine treatise. In the military career of David the Builder can be seen both the observance of the recommendations of De velitatione(for instance the formation of a strategic barrier and stopping the enemy in a mountainous region with small forces in Trialeti; destroying the enemy camp by a surprise attack in Upper Tao and Botora; luring and then destruction at Avchala), and creative understanding and rethinking of the treatise. There is evidence that he extended the tactical recommendations of the treatise to the strategic level, including when the king addressed the method of luring his adversary at both the tactical (Avchala episode) and strategic level (marching beyond Likhi): David the Builder took the treatises recommendation to detain the enemy in a border area to a new height when he attacked the nomads outside the country, meaning that he successfully used the military experience of the Byzantium treatise and enriched it with his own ideas.