Search results for ""author bernard s. bachrach""

This is the first comprehensive biography of Fulk Nerra, an important medieval ruler, who came to power in his teens and rose to be master in the west of the French Kingdom. Descendant of warriors and administrators who served the French kings, Fulk in turn built the state that provided a foundation for the vast Angevin empire later constructed by his descendants. Bernard Bachrach finds the terms "constructed" and "built" more than metaphorical in relation to Fulk's career. He shows how Fulk and the Angevin counts who followed him based their long-term state building policy on Roman strategies and fortifications described by Vegetius. This creative adaptation of Roman ideas and tactics, according to Bachrach, was the key to Fulk's successful consolidation of political power. Students of medieval and military history will find here a colorful, impressively researched biography.

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Without the complex military machine that his forebears had built up over the course of the eighth century, it would have been impossible for Charlemagne to revive the Roman empire in the West. Early Carolingian Warfare is the first book-length study of how the Frankish dynasty, beginning with Pippin II, established its power and cultivated its military expertise in order to reestablish the regnum Francorum, a geographical area of the late Roman period that includes much of present-day France and western Germany. Bernard Bachrach has thoroughly examined contemporary sources, including court chronicles, military handbooks, and late Roman histories and manuals, to establish how the early Carolingians used their legacy of political and military techniques and strategies forged in imperial Rome to regain control in the West. Pippin II and his successors were not diverted by opportunities for financial enrichment in the short term through raids and campaigns outside of the regnum Francorum; they focused on conquest with sagacious sensibilities, preferring bloodless diplomatic solutions to unnecessarily destructive warfare, and disdained military glory for its own sake. But when they had to deploy their military forces, their operations were brutal and efficient. Their training was exceptionally well developed, and their techniques included hand-to-hand combat, regimented troop movements, fighting on horseback with specialized mounted soldiers, and the execution of lengthy sieges employing artillery. In order to sustain their long-term strategy, the early Carolingians relied on a late Roman model whereby soldiers were recruited from among the militarized population who were required by law to serve outside their immediate communities. The ability to mass and train large armies from among farmers and urban-dwellers gave the Carolingians the necessary power to lay siege to the old Roman fortress cities that dominated the military topography of the West. Bachrach includes fresh accounts of Charles Martel's defeat of the Muslims at Poitiers in 732, and Pippin's successful siege of Bourges in 762, demonstrating that in the matter of warfare there never was a western European Dark Age that ultimately was enlightened by some later Renaissance. The early Carolingians built upon surviving military institutions, adopted late antique technology, and effectively utilized their classical intellectual inheritance to prepare the way militarily for Charlemagne's empire.

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A History of the Alans in the West was first published in 1973. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.The Alans, a nomadic people from the steppe lands of south Russia, were among the many invaders of the Roman empire who helped to bring about its fall. Unlike the majority of the invaders, they were not Germans — they were Indo-Iranians—and they were not, like most barbarians, organized in agricultural communities. This history traces their westward movement from the time of their first mention in sources of classical antiquity through the early Middle Ages.Professor Bachrach discusses the social and religious institutions of the Alans and especially their military customs. As he shows, they contributed much to the military repertoire of the West, especially the feigned retreat tactic and the role of the cavalry as the primary part of the army. In their westward movement the Alans were assimilated by people in Gaul and Italy and served the empire in a military capacity during the fourth and fifth centuries. IN addition to their military and political impact in several areas, the Alans also influenced early medieval artistic styles, literary developments, place names, and personal names.A number of illustrations provide examples of the artistic influence of the Alans, and there are maps pertinent to the history.

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The breadth of articles contained in this volume reflects the breadth of Bryce Lyon's scholarly interests. Topics include marriage rules as they relate to women and incest, Bernard of Clairvaux, Henry I, and executions in late medieval Paris. This collection honors Bryce Lyon and his considerable impact on medieval studies as a whole.

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Comparative Perspectives on History and Historians: Essays in Memory of Bryce Lyon (1920-2007) features a section of appreciations of Bryce Lyon from the three editors, R. C. Van Caenegem, and Walter Prevenier, followed by three sections on the major areas on which Lyon's research concentrated: the legacy of Henri Pirenne, constitutional and legal history of England and the Continent, and the economic history of the Low Countries. Original essays by Bernard S. Bachrach, David S. Bachrach, Jan Dumolyn, Caroline Dunn, Jelle Haemers, John H. A. Munro, James M. Murray, Anthony Musson, David Nicholas, W. Mark Ormrod, Walter Prevenier, Jeff Rider, Don C. Skemer, and Marci Sortor deepen our understanding of Lyon's career and significance and further our knowledge of the areas in which he worked.

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A new annual volume of original articles on all aspects of warfare in the middle ages. Warfare is one of the central themes of medieval history. Until now, however, there has been no journal dedicated specifically to this area. The Journal of Medieval Military History, the new annual journal of De Re Militari: The Society for Medieval Military History will remedy this situation by publishing top-quality scholarly articles on topics across the full thematic and chronological ranges of the study of war in the middle ages. Medieval societywas dominated by men who considered themselves more as soldiers than landlords, judges or administrators. More of society's resources went into fortifications than cathedrals; deeds of arms were a topic rivalled in literature only by love; and in many times and places the common people dreaded war far more than famine or plague. War was the greatest force in determining the evolution of medieval governments. Although the study of war, its conduct and itsimpact, has never been absent from medieval historiography, the past few decades have seen this field rise to new prominence. Contributors: EMILIE AMT, BERNARD BACHRACH, DOUGLAS BIGGS, CHARLES BOWLUS, JOHN FRANCE, STEPHEN MORILLO, CLIFFORD ROGERS, and J.F. VERBRUGGEN.

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Bruno, a cleric who served the archbishop of Magdeburg and subsequently the bishop of Merseburg during the course of the 1060s to the 1080s, composed one of the most important historical works treating the tumultuous period in the history of the German kingdom in the second half of the eleventh century. Bruno's main focus in his Saxon War is the civil wars that engulfed the German kingdom from the mid 1060s through the end of the 1080s. However, as a historian of contemporary affairs, Bruno also offers crucial insights regarding the so-called Investiture Controversy, which Bruno treats largely as a political conflict between a tyrannical German ruler and the Saxons with some papal intervention, social conflict within the German kingdom, as well as the development of economic and military institutions.Unlike his contemporary Lampert of Hersfeld, Bruno was closely connected to the foremost leaders of the Saxon resistance against King Henry IV, and provides unique insights regarding their plans, hopes, and fears. Bruno also provides nearly two dozen full-text copies of letters that were sent by the main participants in the intra-German conflict as well as ten letters from Pope Gregory VII, four of which do not appear in any other source including the papal register.An additional important feature of Bruno's history is that he treats military matters in an extraordinarily detailed manner, and is the most important narrative source for understanding the conduct of war during the second half of the eleventh century. Bruno's detailed treatment of military matters is based upon his very extensive contacts with leading military figures, as well as his own personal observations regarding the numerous battles that punctuated the struggle between the Saxons and their erstwhile ruler.In sum, Bruno offers both unique perspectives and unique information about a crucial period in both German and European history, which make this text valuable not only for scholars, but also for a broader audience interested in the political, religious, and particularly military history of the eleventh century. This will be the first English translation of this work.

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Essays on strategic thinking and practice in medieval warfare. This special edition of the Journal aims to respond to the lively debate in recent years as to whether medieval military history was characterized by particular types of strategy, be it Grand, Vegetian or Battle-Seeking. Itbrings together many of the pre-eminent military historians active today to examine a number of cases that display the complexity and diversity of strategic realities, as well as exploring new models and methodological avenues inevaluating medieval strategies. Material ranges chronologically from the late Roman Empire to the late Middle Ages, and geographically from the Baltic and the British Isles to Iberia and the Crusader States, while the topics explored include the Viking Wars, the English long bow, and the economies of conquest. LEIF INGE REE PETERSEN is Associate Professor of Late Antique and Early Medieval History at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim; MANUEL ROJAS GABRIEL is Professor of Medieval History at the University of Extremadura, Cáceres. Contributors: Richard Abels, Bernard S. Bachrach, Matthew Bennett, John France, Luis García-Guijarro Ramos, John Gillingham, Dolores Oliva García, Leif Inge Ree Petersen, Manuel Rojas Gabriel.

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The sense of a group of scholars sharing work in progress comes over on numerous occasions... a series which is a model of its kind. EDMUND KING, HISTORY The emphasis in this collection of recent work on the Anglo-Norman realm is particularly on narrative sources: Dudo, Vita Ædwardi Regis, monastic chronicle audiences in the Fens, the chronicles of Anjou, the Warenne view of the past - and much later sources for stereotypical images of the Normans. There are also papers analysing both charter and chronicle evidence in reconsiderations of the succession disputes following the deaths of William I and WilliamII. Papers range geographically from Anjou to the Irish Sea zone. Contributors, from France and Germany as well as from Britain, Ireland and the US, are BERNARD S. BACHRACH, RICHARD BARBER, JULIA BARROW, CLARE DOWNHAM, VERONIQUE GAZEAU, JOHN GRASSI, ELISABETH VAN HOUTS, JENNIFER PAXTON, NEIL STREVETT, NEIL WRIGHT.

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Essays on aspects of medieval military history, encompassing the most recent critical approaches. The essays in this volume honour the career and achievements of Richard Abels, the distinguished historian of medieval military history; in particular, they aim to reflect how the "cultural turn" in the field has led to exciting new developments in scholarship. Ranging from the late eighth century to the fifteenth, from northern England to the Levant, the chapters analyze how medieval kings and commanders practiced a genuine military science, how themeanings of victory and defeat were constructed by chroniclers and whole societies, how wars were remembered and propagandized, and how religion and war mixed.

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Medieval warfare on both land and sea examined by leading scholars in the field. Different aspects of medieval warfare form the focus for this collection of essays by both established and new scholars. They range from a reconsideration of several problems of military historiography to explorations of the medieval view of divine influence on the battlefield, and the emergence of complex strategic and tactical norms of naval warfare in the medieval Mediterranean. Other topics examined include the role of mercenaries; crusader warfare; and Anglo-Norman women at war.Contributors: BERNARD S. BACHRACH, THERESA M. VANN, PAUL E. CHEVEDDEN, STEPHEN MORILLO, EDWARD G. SCHOENFELD, KENT G. HARE, KELLY DEVRIES, STEVEN ISAAC, JEAN A. TRUAX, STEVEN G. LANE, DOUGLAS C. HALDANE, LAWRENCE V. MOTT

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New research on aspects of the political, social and religious history of the British Isles from 10c-13c, with related material on western Europe. The 1993 International Conference of the Haskins Society, held at the University of Houston, produced a varied collection of papers on numerous aspects of the medieval history of the British Isles, with related material on other Western European countries. The articles in this volume, most of which derive from the conference, focus strongly on the topic of religion, with stimulating essays on women religious, Archbishop Lanfranc and the Anglo-Saxon hagiographic tradition; however, other subjects are also explored, including Anglo-Norman litigation and the turbulent state of Denmark in the ninth century. Contributors: CARY L. DIER, SUSAN J. RIDYARD, K.L. MAUND, EDWARD J. SCHOENFELD, ROBIN FLEMING, BERNARD S. BACHRACH, PATRICIA HALPIN, EMILY ALBU HANAWALT, DANIEL F. CALLAHAN, H.E.J. COWDREY, DAVID ROFFE

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