MEDIEVAL MILITARY COMBAT

◗ Tom Lewis ◗ Casemate (2021) ◗ £25 ◗ 249 pages (hardback) ◗ ISBN:9781612008875 ◗ casematepublishers.co.uk

The author seeks to explain the mysteries of combat in the Wars of the Roses, in terms of how the various troop types fought, how long for, and how many casualties there were. His major example for exploration is Towton, a battle which has always seemed open to question: supposedly 28,000 dead and ten hours of fighting.

Little is known about the fighting techniques of the period, and the author has drawn on a wide range of analyses, allied to re-enactor experiences, to hypothesise that combat relied on periodic reliefs of the front rank. Unfortunately, the writing style is pretty chaotic: repetitive, at times contradictory, and with key arguments buried in the text. He draws also on his own (limited) experience in Iraq plus post-1485 warfare – a dubious use of very different forms of warfare. There are some useful pointers in the book, but it could have done in well under half the length. The two accolades on the back dust cover are not from the customary military pundits but from a lawyer and a playwright which is somewhat disconcerting.