Alfred's Wars: Sources and Interpretations of Anglo-Saxon Warfare in the Viking Age
Collection of source material and crucial interpretations, offering a comprehensive guide to Anglo-Saxon warfare.

Selected by Choice as an Outstanding Academic Title. The warfare of the late Anglo-Saxon period had momentous consequences for the development of the English state following Alfred the Great's reign. This book provides acomprehensive guide, with extracts in translation from the principal sources for our knowledge, accompanied by the most important interpretations by scholars through the ages, and new introductions by the present author. It looksat every aspect of the topic, from land and sea forces to logistics and campaigning, from fortifications and the battlefield to the final peacemaking. In so doing, it highlights the significance of warfare and its organisation for the late Anglo-Saxon state, and the multitude of ways in which it was recorded and remembered.

Dr Ryan Lavelle is Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Winchester.
1110928354
Alfred's Wars: Sources and Interpretations of Anglo-Saxon Warfare in the Viking Age
Collection of source material and crucial interpretations, offering a comprehensive guide to Anglo-Saxon warfare.

Selected by Choice as an Outstanding Academic Title. The warfare of the late Anglo-Saxon period had momentous consequences for the development of the English state following Alfred the Great's reign. This book provides acomprehensive guide, with extracts in translation from the principal sources for our knowledge, accompanied by the most important interpretations by scholars through the ages, and new introductions by the present author. It looksat every aspect of the topic, from land and sea forces to logistics and campaigning, from fortifications and the battlefield to the final peacemaking. In so doing, it highlights the significance of warfare and its organisation for the late Anglo-Saxon state, and the multitude of ways in which it was recorded and remembered.

Dr Ryan Lavelle is Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Winchester.
37.95 In Stock
Alfred's Wars: Sources and Interpretations of Anglo-Saxon Warfare in the Viking Age

Alfred's Wars: Sources and Interpretations of Anglo-Saxon Warfare in the Viking Age

by Ryan Lavelle
Alfred's Wars: Sources and Interpretations of Anglo-Saxon Warfare in the Viking Age

Alfred's Wars: Sources and Interpretations of Anglo-Saxon Warfare in the Viking Age

by Ryan Lavelle

Paperback(Reprint)

$37.95 
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Overview

Collection of source material and crucial interpretations, offering a comprehensive guide to Anglo-Saxon warfare.

Selected by Choice as an Outstanding Academic Title. The warfare of the late Anglo-Saxon period had momentous consequences for the development of the English state following Alfred the Great's reign. This book provides acomprehensive guide, with extracts in translation from the principal sources for our knowledge, accompanied by the most important interpretations by scholars through the ages, and new introductions by the present author. It looksat every aspect of the topic, from land and sea forces to logistics and campaigning, from fortifications and the battlefield to the final peacemaking. In so doing, it highlights the significance of warfare and its organisation for the late Anglo-Saxon state, and the multitude of ways in which it was recorded and remembered.

Dr Ryan Lavelle is Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Winchester.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781843837398
Publisher: BOYDELL & BREWER INC
Publication date: 07/19/2012
Series: ISSN , #30
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 400
Sales rank: 1,053,176
Product dimensions: 6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

RYAN LAVELLE is Professor of Early Medieval History in the Department of History at the University of Winchester.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations vii

List of Tables x

Source Acknowledgements xi

Preface xv

Abbreviations xviii

1 Introduction: A Society at War: Mentalities of Warfare in Later Anglo-Saxon England 1

Ealdorman &Aelig;helweard: The writing of history and the experience of warfare in the tenth century 2

The Study of later Anglo-Saxon warfare: Themes and their studies 6

Ideologies of war 8

Masculinity, youth and experience in Anglo-Saxon warfare 12

2 Friends and Foes 18

Britons and the 'Kingdom of the English' 19

The advent of the Vikings 32

Their own worst enemy? Internal conflicts 44

3 Organization and Equipment: Land 47

The nation at arms? 47

'Five Hides and All That': aristocrats and military service 55

A royal elite? The Housecarls 107

Arms, armour, and status 111

'A nobleman belongs on horseback': horses and equestrian equipment 129

Summary 139

4 Organization and Equipment: Maritime 141

Types of vessel 142

Fleet logistics 145

&Aelig;thelweard's Chronicon and records of nautical terminology 165

The organization of coastal defence 171

Summary 175

5 Campaigns and Strategies 177

The movement of armies 177

Amphibious warfare and combined operations: Ships in campaigns 200

Summary 207

6 Fortifications 209

The Burghal Hidage and the organization of fortifications 209

Fortifications in action 226

Fortifications in the Second Viking Age 235

Summary and observations 262

7 Fields of Slaughter: Battles and Battlefields 264

Courage, cowardice and motivation 266

Medieval or classical sources? 269

Fighting techniques and battlefield tactics 274

Naval battles 286

Locating and remembering battlefields 298

Summary 314

8 After the Battle: Peacemaking and Peace Agreements 315

Opportunities for negotiation 318

Strategic peace: the use and abuse of peace? 322

Truce, peace and peace treaties 324

Summary 333

9 Conclusions 335

Appendix: Chronology 339

Bibliography 348

Index 361

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