Osprey Men-at-Arms 310 : German Medieval Armies 1000-1300

The German kingdom was the first to recover from the chaos of the late 9th century. The counts were largely allodial landholders, that is, their land was not held of any lord, and so feudalism had made less headway. The problems of the monarchy were compounded by the sheer size of the empire, stretching from the shores of the Baltic down to the Alps and beyond, and from the French borders to the Slav marches, which negated any real hope of centralisation. Within the empire itself were geographical obstacles, such as the great forests separating Saxony and Thuringia from Franconia. Such obstacles had resulted in the four German tribes, the Swabians, Bavarians, Saxons and Franconians developing as separate peoples, with their own dialects, customs and laws. In Germany violence was accepted far more than in other kingdoms. Kings were recognised as guardians of order, but this had its limitations. Despite a progress through his five duchies by Conrad II in 1025, any notions of royal ties were immediately shattered by the Lotharingians, Swabians and Italians. Lords in Germany expected to use force to secure their rights or win an argument when peaceful methods were not sufficient. Christopher Gravett examines the organisation and campaigns of German medieval armies from 1000-1300, in a book containing plenty of photographs and illustrations, including eight full page colour plates by Graham Turner.

Contents

• Background
• Chronological Table
• Organisation
• The Ministeriales
• The Teutonic Knights
• Campaigns
• Further Reading
• The Plates