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recommended books

Wars
General Works
War of the Roses
Crusades
Hundred Years War
1066

General Works

A History of the Art of War in the Middle Ages:.378-1278 , Sir Charles Oman, a great two volume history of war covering over a millenium. While his conclusions may have been challenged, the level of detail in these two volumes is invaluable.

A History of the Art of War in the Middle Ages: 1278-1485 , the second volume of Sir Charles Oman's great work on medieval warfare.

English Longbowman 1330-1515 , Clive Bartlett A very detailed book covering a long period of history. Contains information on all aspects of the bowman including weapons, training , equipment and pay. Good colour plates fill the centre pages and good black and white photographs and illustrations are contained throughout the book.

Bradbury, Jim, The Medieval Siege , Boydell Press, 2002, 378 pages. A much needed survey of the most important form of warfare in the middle ages, a period that saw far more sieges than battles.

War of the Roses

Bosworth 1485 , (campaign series) Christopher Gravett. Detailed colourful and well illustrated this book includes a very good section on wargaming the battle covering everything from figure scale to number of players and commanders. the book also covers the run up to the battle well and has many maps.

The Crusades

Nicolle, David, The First Crusade 1096-1099: Conquest of the Holy Land , Osprey Campaign Series, vol 132. The Osprey volume for the first crusade. Nicolle had a great depth of knowledge of middle-eastern history, which is reflected in this book.

Hundred Years War

Agincourt 1415 , (campaign series) Matthew Bennett. A good introduction to the battle with several colour plates and some speculative orders of battle. The book contains some example shield designs from both sides which are sadly only in black and white and would have been much better in colour. A detailed section on wargamming the battle is at the end of the book with a novel idea on how to wargame the campaign.

Crecy 1346 : Triumph of the Longbow, Dr David Nicolle, a recent and very good book on the battle

1066

The Battle of Hastings , Stephen Morillo, Boydell, 1996. A very valuable work, containing both translations of a selection of the most important contemporary sources and a selection of articles covering the main areas of controversy. A good way to get an understanding of the main debates about the battle.