This book has been nearly five years in the making. The idea was first put to me by the publisher and agreed with Heather McCallum, who has since moved on. Vicky Peters has taken over the unenviable task of keeping an eye on the project. It has been my intention to make the work enjoyable rather than a chore. I should also like to thank Carole Drummond and the people at The Running Head for their work in preparing the manuscript for publication. They have been extremely careful and accurate in their suggested corrections. I can honestly say that of the eight or so books I have so far had published they have done the best work of this nature that I have encountered. The length may be deceptive but certainly does not imply comprehensive cover. Firstly the book only attempts to look at warfare in medieval Europe, with the Crusades included as a western venture. Then, early on, it became clear that one must be selective in every area if the material was to be contained within one volume. It is therefore obvious that there must be omissions. My thanks for help go to my many friends in the field of medieval warfare who have talked over some areas included in the book, including Matt Bennett, Nick Hooper, John Gillingham, Cyril Edwards and many others. I hope that the book will be of use to students of the subject at various levels who can use it as a starting point. Probably the most useful part is the (very select) bibliography, from which the works mentioned will undoubtedly lead on the interested reader to many other contributors to this subject. I can only say that history has been a lifelong friend to me and I hope it may be to others.
Jim Bradbury
Selsey November 2003