Review by Booklist Review
This companion to a TV documentary will include a lavish complement of illustrations, unavailable for review, of medieval siegecraft as portrayed by historical reenactors instead of as frequently inaccurately rendered in medieval prints. Evaluating it on its text alone is rather chancy, yet Donnelly and Diehl can be said to acquit themselves most creditably. The first quarter of the book rather cursorily summarizes the emergence of fortifications and their role in medieval warfare, which reached its height in the Hundred Years' War. The remainder splendidly details the hypothetical siege of a French castle by an English army. Donnelly and Diehl present the elaborate etiquette of sieges; both pre-and post-gunpowder mining tactics; a typology of siege engines (some of them exceedingly formidable) and of archery (the crossbow was more powerful and probably more accurate than the longbow but much slower in shooting); and medieval logistics, which, for an army of 16,000, were impressively complex. Even without the pictures, a valuable addition to military and medieval collections. --Roland Green
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
