Warfare in England

It is virtually impossible to understand English history without examining English warfare. In this book, renowned military historian John Beeler takes a probing look at all recorded battles and sieges, from the Norman Invasion through the reign of Henry II. He studies many distinctive features of Anglo-Norman military institutions, from battlefield strategies to the status and function of the English warrior-knight, to the special talents and abilities of the English kings and commanders. Beeler considers that, for a long time after the Norman Invasion, the government of England was essentially a military government. His re-examination of the pivotal Battle of Hastings is one of the best available scholarly interpretations of that campaign, and he also includes informative chapters on the baronial rebellions that marked the reigns of William II, Henry I, and Stephen, and on the guerrilla warfare endemic in Wales.