Few historians have argued so forcefully or persuasively as Bernard S. Bachrach for the study of warfare as not only worthy of scholarly attention, but demanding of it. In his many publications Bachrach has established unequivocally the relevance of military institutions and activity for an understanding of medieval European societies, polities, and mentalities. This work, ranging chronologically from Late Antiquity through the Later Middle Ages (ca. AD 300-1500), and with a broad geographical scope stretching from the British Isles to the Middle East, these diverse studies address an array of critical themes and debates relevant to the conduct of war in meieval Europe. These themes include the formation and implementation of military grand strategies; the fiscal, material, and administrative resources that underpinned the conduct of war in medieval Europe; and religious, legal and artistic responses to military violence. Collectively, these seventeen studies embrace the interdisciplinarity and topical diversity intrinsic to Bachrach's research. Additionally, they strongly echo his conviction that the study of armed conflict is indispensable for an accurate and comprehensive understanding of medieval European history.

Part I :The history and historiography of war in Late Antique and Early Medieval Europe : -- The Roman frontier along the Upper Danube in Late Antiquity / Andreas Schwarcz -- War and peace in the Acta of the Merovingian church councils / Gregory I. Halfond -- Reflections on Alfred the Great as a military leader / Richard Abels -- Conrad II (990-1039) : the first meieval emperor of three kingdoms / Herwig Wolfram -- Maps of French history before the atlas of Auguste Longnon -- Part II : Warfare in the East in the Crusading Era : -- A Medieval siege of Troy : the fight to the death at Acre, 1189-1191 or the Tears of Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn / John H. Pryor -- King Richard's plan for the Battle of Arsūf / Arsur, 1911 / Benjamin Z. Kedar -- Crusading Warfare, Chivalry, and the enslavement of women and children / John Gillingham -- The Catalan Company in the East : the evolution of an itinerant army (1303-1311) / David Jacoby -- Part III : European warfare in the Central and Later Middle Ages : -- AA decisive century in the strugle agasint Islam in Iberia, ca. 1031-1157 : grand strategic perspectives / Manuel Rojas Gabriel -- Contrary winds : theories of history and the limits of Sachkritik / Stephen Morillo -- Women in the context of Ronaesque combat scenes in Spain and France : virtue, judgment and rape / James F. Powers and Lorraine C. Attreed -- The battle of the Bouvines 27 July 1214 / John France -- King Edward I's military bureaucracy :the case of Peter of Dunwich / David Bachrach -- The trebuchets of the tower / Michael Prestwich -- The military obligations of the Danish Church in the Middle Ages / Niels Lund -- The implications of the Anonimo Romano account of the battle of Crécy / Kelly DeVries.