Sir Charles Oman's classic history of warfare in the Middle Ages, a key work for understanding the changing face of battle during this period, is to be published in trade paperback for the first time. A History of the Art of War in the Middle Ages has 1,100 pages in two volumes, and will be £ 17.50 per volume (not £ 19.95 as announced in the Greenhill catalogue). The first volume covers the period 378 to 1278AD and charts the transition of warfare from the fall of the Roman Empire to the battle of Marchfeld in 1278, which decided the fate of Austria and marked the ascendancy of the armoured knight. Detailed descriptions of particular battles – such as Adrianople, Louvain, Hastings and Lewes – are combined with a thorough analysis of tactics, strategy and the nature and character of European armies. The second volume covers the period 1278 to 1485AD and covers Edward I's Welsh Wars, Bannockburn, the Hundred Years War, the rise of the Swiss, the Condottieri in Italy, the Hussite Wars and the Wars of the Roses. Particular importance is accorded to the early use of gunpowder and the effect it had on tactics, siegecraft and the politics of war. The late Sir Charles Oman was one of Britain's foremost historians and a gifted writer. His books, noted for being scholarly and accessible, include the seven volume magnum opus A History of the Peninsular War, Wellington's Army, A History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth Century, and others. Back to Greenhill Military Book News No. 86 Table of Contents Back to Greenhill Military Book News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by Greenhill Books This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com