JCC Ancient / Medieval History Discussion Thread

I read about the Renaissance recently, mostly in Will Durant's Story of Civilization series. I had never really been interested in that period of history before, but the drama of the viciously competitive, often violent city-states of Genoa, Florence, Venice, Milan, Padua, etc... and the rivalry of Guelf and Ghibelline was enormously entertaining to read about. It was bit sad to see, though, that Italy really couldn't get its **** together, even while England, France, Spain, and other nations were beginning to form.

 

I don't see that having different goals necessarily scuttles the project. After all, no model of transition (not even the one used by modern democratic nation-states) perfectly achieves every possible goal in this regard. The question before us is whether dealing with rival claims or attending to the skills and experience of the designated successor is more important in ensuring stability. One might consider both the scale and frequency of upheaval caused by the respective types of political disruption to come up with some answer.

And this approach still sets aside the other issue you touched on, which is that some goals are more easily achieved than others. For instance, communism and capitalism clearly have divergent goals in how they aim to handle an economy's wealth. But the historical record also testifies pretty strongly that, at least outside of small communities, it's very hard to get communism to achieve what it aims for. It might fairly be called a worse system of economics on that basis alone, leaving aside any discussion of whether its unique aims are better or worse than those espoused by capitalism.

 

Another interesting tidbit regarding Constantine VII; he was born before the uncanonical fourth marriage of Leo VI to his mother. However, because he was born in the Purple Room of the Byzantine Imperial Palace to a reigning Emperor, he was recongized as the legitimate heir to his father and uncle Emperor Alexander.

Not only was he under the shadow of illegitimacy, but so were his father and another uncle, the Patriarch Stephen. While Alexander was the undisputed son of Emperor Basil I, it is not certain if his brothers Leo and Stephen were the sons of Basil or his direct predecessor, Michael III, as their mother Empress Eudokia was the mistress of Michael and the wife of Basil.

 

Interesting posts all over.
While the "big players" are always immensely interesting to follow and study, I cannot help but grin with satisfaction at the stories of "regular people" who do deeds that shape the course of history.

I'm a bit tired right now so the only thing that comes to mind is how Cyrus the Great captured the fortified city of Sardis. He offered a rich reward to the first man over the walls, since the fortifications were pretty daunting. So, by chance, a random Persian soldier happened to see one of the defenders drop his helmet from the walls. Much to his surprise, the defender started descending down a very steep mountain slope that was considered unclimbable. As the guy went down the slope to retrieve his piece of equipment, the Persian watched him carefully and memorized the route. Next day, he led a group of soldiers up that slope which was undefended since, hey, it's a very steep slope, alright? Following the safe route he memorized, he and his merry little band of spear-wielding bearded infiltrators let in the rest of the army and the soldier got his reward while Cyrus got his brand new city.

 

Okay, I raised this one back to life mainly to look for suggestions on good books regarding medieval warfare in particular. I've seen a lot of conflicting viewpoints about what the best texts are after a gentle cruise across the Google searches, but maybe people here can tell me more.

For reference, I picked up A Brief History of Medieval Warfare by Reid, which might as well be called a brief history of the Hundred Years' War and which I found a not-too-deep but useful look into the subject from a professional military man, and I've got both of David Nicolle's Medieval Warfare Sourcebooks. Also picked up John Clements' books on medieval swordsmanship and Renaissance swordsmanship for a closer-in look at the martial arts of that day. Anyone have any current recommendations? I'm referred to Contamine or Routledge's Companion on these subjects, anyone have any views on good books in this area?

 

Saintheart, some medieval manuscripts of period martial arts treatises have been scanned and can be found online. I don't have any links handy at the moment, but I've seen MS I.33 (German sword and buckler techniques, 13th century) and Fiore de Liberi (Italian longsword, spear, dagger, and unarmed, 14th century) available for free online. I'll see if I can google some links. I've had some training and experience in MS I.33 and a lot of training and practical experience in Fiore, so if you have any questions about those, let me know.

Many of the renaissance era fencing books are also available online, like Agrippa, Capo Ferro, Bonetti, and all the other names from The Princess Bride.