Medieval historical books from the Battle of Hastings, the Crusades, Henry V and Henry VIII. Medieval books on Scottish, Welsh and Irish wars and European medieval history available from the Military Shop.

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The Last Days of Charles I by Graham Edwards.

King Charles I was the only monarch of England ever to be tried in public by his own people. This book recounts in detail the events leading to that fateful day in January 1649, from the kings tribulations in the months before the trial, through the trial itself to the gruesome course and aftermath of the execution. It considers the aims and motives of his powerful enemies, men who were as certain in their own convictions as the king was in his. It explores the mysterious identities of the heavily disguised headsman and his assistant. It questions why the king had to die - a question still asked - and outlines what later became of those who shared responsibility for his death..

Paperback with approximately 210 pages.

Order code NMP7051. Book price £12.99.

Fortifications in Wessex c. 800-1066 by Ryan Lavelle.

The defence of the 9th century kingdom of Wessex under King Alfred against the Great Viking Army is one of the major military achievements of Early Medieval history.  While the guerrilla warfare in the Somerset marshes and the battle of Edrington are characteristic of Alfreds military abilities, his definitive physical achievement was a series of some 30 well structured fortifications (known as burhs) across the kingdom.  Many of these fortifications survive to this day and some were even reinforced to stand up to German tanks in the expected invasion of 1940.  This title describes their beginnings in the turbulent early years of Alfreds reign as well as their subsequent development and use..

Part of the Osprey Fortress Series.  Illustrated paperback with approximately 65 pages.

Order code FS14. Book price £10.99.

Norman Stone Castles (1) by C Gravett.

Descended from the Viking raiders who settled in Northern France under the leadership of Rollo in around 911, the Normans were amongst the most feared warriors of their time.  Their territorial ambitions culminated in Duke William Is conquest of England in 1066, but although victory at Hastings left the English crown in Williams hands, Norman sovereignty remained far from established on the island.  In order to consolidate his position, the new king built a series of fortifications across the country - this book covers all these developments from the early days of William I through to the fortifications of Henry II, Richard I and John..

Part of the Osprey Fortress Series.  Illustrated paperback with approximately 65 pages.

Order code FS13. Book price £10.99.

Japanese Castles 1540 - 1640 by Stephen Turnbull.

The landscape of 16th and 17th century Japan was dominated by the graceful and imposing castles constructed by the powerful daimyo of the period.  In this, Japans most turbulent era, these militarily sophisticated structures provided strongholds for the consolidation and control of territory, and inevitably became the focus of many of the great sieges of Japanese history: Nagashino (1575), Kitanosho (1583), Odawara (1590), Fushimi (1600), Osaka (1615) and Hara (1638), the last of the battles that brought an end to a period of intense civil war.  This title traces their development, from the earliest timber stockades to the immense structures that dominated the great centres of Osaka and Edo.

Part of the Osprey Fortress Series.  Illustrated paperback with approximately 65 pages.

Order code FS5. Book price £10.99.

Medieval Scandinavian Armies (2) 1300 - 1500 by D Lindholm and D Nicolle.

While Scandinavias Viking Age is one of the most studied aspects of early medieval history, much less ahs been published about the centuries which followed, yet the armies of Sweden, Norway and Denmark offer fascinating differences from the rest of medieval Europe.  This second of two books covers the period which saw both expansion in the Baltic, and long wars born of the attempt to bring Scandinavia under a single monarchy - the Union of Kalmar.  In the north the perfection of plate armour could not prevent the steady decline in the importance of the 15th century mounted knight in favour of the well armed infantryman.

Part of the Osprey Men at Arms Series.  Illustrated paperback with approximately 50 pages.

Order code MA399. Book price £8.99.

The Crusades by Robert Payne.

In this masterly work, Robert Payne brings to life the Crusades that founded vast kingdoms in Palestine nearly one thousand years ago. This is the story of battles and valour, greed and piety, folly and baseness that mark the first major clash of Christianity and Islam.

Illustrated paperback with 421 pages.

Book serial number W13. Price £7.99.

Warriors of Christendom by John Matthews, Bob Stewart and James Field

This volume tells in exciting detail the story of four great warlords from the early medieval era. They waged their wars, first with the Barbarian tribes of Europe and later with the might of Islam in bitter struggles in Spain and for the Holy Land, to establish the political and military dominance of Christianity throughout Europe and the Middle East.

These were violent and treacherous times, but the personalities of these four great figures of the period were also influenced by the chivalrous traditions that were beginning to characterise medieval culture.

The lives, legends and legacies of Charlemagne, El Cid, Richard Lionheart and Barbarossa are brought together in this book.

Book serial number B4257. Price £17.99. Fully illustrated hard back with 191 pages. 

To order your copy: secure order form

Post UK- £4.00 (max post for multiple books £6.00).

For Europe £6.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Rest of World £9.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

The Picts and Their Symbols by W A Cummings

The Picts, the most powerful nation in northern Britain for some 500 years, mysteriously disappeared from contemporary records in the 9th century. All that remains of the language they spoke are a few fragments in the names of places or people. Their most enduring memorial is a unique system of symbols, carved on stone monuments, engraved on objects of silver and bronze and scratched on the walls of caves - symbols whose interpretation has been as elusive as that of the Egyptian hieroglyphs before the discovery of the Rosetta Stone.

Well illustrated with photographs, drawings and maps, this important book will be required reading for anyone interested in the Picts and fascinated by the perennial mysteries of the Dark Ages.

Book serial number S22079. Price £20.00. 

Fully illustrated hard back with 218 pages. 

To order your copy: secure order form

Post UK- £4.00 (max post for multiple books £6.00).

For Europe £6.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Rest of World £9.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Richard II and the Revolutions of 1399 by Michael Bennett

This is the first full length study of the last years of Richard II's reign and the circumstances of his overthrow by Henry of Bolingbroke. It reviews Richard's early experiences, from his accession, aged only 10, through the troubled politics of the 1380s, placing new emphasis on his own insecurities and the vexed issue of the succession. It offers a detailed examination of Richard's attempts to reassert his royal authority in the 1390s, including his so-called 'tyranny' from 1397 until 1399, and sets them in the context of his personal experiences.

Covering an episode which has stirred the imagination since Shakespeare first put Richard II on the stage, this book will be enjoyed by anyone fascinated by the personalities and high political drama of the Middle Ages.

Book serial number S22834. Price £20.00. 

Fully illustrated hard back with 248 pages. 

Post UK- £4.00 (max post for multiple books £6.00).

For Europe £6.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Rest of World £9.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

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Hattin 1187, Saladin's Greatest Victory by David Nicolle

In 1187, Christian Europe was shaken by events in the Middle East. This volume tells the story of those momentous months - the campaign leafing to the disastrous Crusader defeat at Hattin and the Muslim capture of Jerusalem. Specialist writer David Nicolle, well known to readers of the Men-at-Arms series for his volumes on this period, tells the story in full, examining the technical, tactical and strategic reasons for Saladin's victory, which signalled the beginning of the end for the Crusader states.

Book price £12.99. Book serial number Osprey 19.

Battles in Britain 1066-1746 by Glen Lyndon Dodds

For 250 years Britain has not suffered serious land warfare within its national boundaries. The Battle of Britain was the remarkable and celebrated air defence of the realm from the airborne threat posed by Hitler's Luftwaffe; to study Battles in Britain the historian has to work back from the middle of the 18th century.

From that point there is plenty of material, as this book makes plain. The author commences his coverage with 1066, that date which is etched into the acquisitive mind of every British student, and deals at length with nine conflicts as well as featuring a further 19 engagements of varied significance.

The joy of historical study is the encounter with circumstances and events which are almost beyond the comprehension of the modern mind. In this absorbing review of 28 battles the reader will gain fresh insights into a Britain racked by war, unrest and tyranny, centuries in which feudal might and political ambition were manifest in rampaging armies capable of fine military strategy alongside primitive brutality.

Book serial number Osprey BA2. Fully illustrated hard back with 224 pages. Price £20.00. 

Post UK- £4.00 (max post for multiple books £4.00).

For Europe £6.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Rest of World £8.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

To order your copy: secure order form

Dungeon, Fire and Sword: The Knights Templar in the Crusades by John J Robinson

Over the past thousand years, the bloodiest game of king-of-the-castle has been for supremacy on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the site of the ancient Temple of Solomon. This book recounts the stirring saga of the Knights Templar, the Christian warrior-monks who occupied the sacred Mount in the aftermath of the butchery of the First Crusade. Recruited to a life of poverty, chastity and obedience intended to lead only to martyrdom on the battlefield, they were totally dedicated to the pious paradox that the wholesale slaughter of non-believers would earn the gratitude of the Prince of Peace.

In telling the incredible story of the Knights Templar, the author's clear explanation of the cultural and religious differences among the Templars' enemies and friends in the Middle East gives fresh understanding of the people who populate this restless region. Here are the Sunnis and the Shiites, the Kurds and Armenians, the Arabs and Turks, who figure so prominently in today's headlines. The similarity of their antagonisms today and those of eight hundred years ago are often so striking as to be eerie. Dungeon, Fire and Sword is a brilliant work of narrative history that can be read as an adventure story, a morality play, or a lesson in the politics of warfare.

Book serial number BK42. Price £19.99. Hard back with 494 pages.

Post UK- £6.00 (max post for multiple books £6.00).

For Europe £8.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Rest of World £8.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Post unless otherwise stated is as follows:

Post UK- £3 (max post for multiple books £6.00).

For Europe £5.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Rest of World £8.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Knights at Tournament by Christopher Gravett & Angus McBride

Like all warrior classes throughout history medieval knights engaged in military games, partly in preparation for war and partly for pure sport. From their often brutal origins in the 10th century to the gaudy pageantry and eventual decline at the end of the medieval period, tournaments were the centre of the knightly life. The image of the armoured and surcoated knight on his charger remains the epitome of the chivalric ideal.

Book serial number Osprey BH1. Fully illustrated paperback with 64 pages. Price £8.99. 

German Medieval Armies 1000-1300 by Christopher Gravett and Graham Turner

In medieval Germany, violence was accepted far more than in other kingdoms. Kings were recognised as guardians of order, but this had its limitations. Lords expected to use force to secure their rights or win an argument when peaceful methods were not sufficient. This fine text by Christopher Gravett examines the organisation and campaigns of the German medieval armies from 1000 to 1300, in a volume containing numerous photographs and illustrations, including eight full page colour plates by Graham Turner.

Book serial number Osprey MA310. Fully illustrated paperback with 48 pages. Price £8.99. 

Hastings 1066

The most famous battle in English history, Hastings was the culmination of one of the medieval world's most daring military expeditions - and a truly decisive battle. It marked the end of Anglo-Saxon England, winning the land hungry Normans a new kingdom, and ensuring that Britain's destiny lay in Western Europe rather than with Scandinavia. The author, Chris Gravett, of the Royal Armouries at the Tower of London, has written several titles in the Osprey Men-at -arms series.

Post unless otherwise stated is as follows:

Post UK- £3 (max post for multiple books £6.00).

For Europe £5.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Rest of World £8.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

The Irish Wars 1485-1603 by Ian Heath & David Sque

Book serial number Osprey MA256. Price £8.99. 

Book serial number Osprey MA151. Price £8.99. 

Armies of the Crusades by Terence Wise & G A Embleton

Book price £8.99. Book serial number Osprey MA75

Medieval European Armies by Terence Wise and Gerald Embleton

Book price £8.99. Book serial number Osprey MA50

Post unless otherwise stated is as follows:

Post UK- £3 (max post for multiple books £6.00).

For Europe £5.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Rest of World £8.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

French Medieval Armies by David Nicolle & Angus McBride

Book price £8.99. Book serial number Osprey MA231.

Book price £8.99. Book serial number Osprey MA191.

Henry V and the Conquest of France 1416-53 by Paul Knight & Graham Turner

Book price £8.99. Book serial number Osprey MA317.

Post unless otherwise stated is as follows:

Post UK- £3 (max post for multiple books £8.00).

For Europe £5.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Rest of World £8.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)