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This issue of Medieval Warfare magazine focuses on the Norman conquests in the Mediterranean. At their peak the Normans rules southern Italy, Sicily and a stretch of the North African coast than ran from Bizert and Tunis in the north to Tripoli in the south. This allowed them to control the sea lanes between the eastern and western Mediterranean, and with them the trade routes. They fought and defeated a whole series of southern Italian principalities, dukedoms and counts, the Byzantines, the Papacy, the Islamic rules of North Africa and the Holy Roman Emperors. Norman troops also played a part in the early Crusades and for a century and a half a small number of Normans played an impressively major part in the affairs of the entire Mediterranean.
The articles here are a nice combination of the overview and the specific, with a brief history of the Normans in the Mediterranean, an examination of their battlefield tactics and their naval successes. The more detailed articles look at Bohemond I of Antioch, one of the most successful crusaders, the Norman use of Muslim troops, their clash with the Papacy and the siege of Bari, part of their long attack on the Byzantines.
Away from the theme there is an interesting article on a successful attempt to recreate the medieval fire arrow, an examination of the treatment of wounds, using evidence from surviving bones, an account of the fate of the English archers on the losing side at the battle of Morat of 1476 and a look at the author of a series of fifteenth century 'fight books', or guides to duelling.
Chapters
Bohemond I of Antioch
How to fight and win like a Norman
The Sicilian crucible and Lucaera Saracenorum
Rulers of the Waves
Early pyrotechnical weapons
The Norman challenge to the Pope
The siege of Bari
Slashes and head gashes
Misery at Morat
Learning from the master