Norman Knight AD 950–1204 (Warrior, 1)

This was an excellent book for my research. It depicts everything from articles of clothing to chain mail, scale armor and the varying saddles and horses used. Weapons are covered along with with the evolution of the knight, and the protective devices formed for themselves and their horses. Not only did the author take the time to describe each weapon or piece of equipment, but the illustrator has wonderfully depicted pictures that allow you to actually understand with full clarity was is being described. Loved reading this one, and an excellent resource for most ages.

Like the other Osprey/Men-at-Arms books, I find the photos and illustrations of great use. Lester

This Warrior Osprey title remains, despite its age (it was first published in 1993), a good overview on the “technical” aspects and components of an early medieval knight up to the 13th century, and a Norman knight in particular.The historical background and chronology are short, but the main events and evolutions are pointed out, apart from one glitch. The author seems to have confused Robert Guiscard with one of his elder brothers (William or Humphrey or Onfroi in old French?). He was not present at Monte Maggiore in 1041 against the Byzantines because he only arrived in Southern Italy six years later.The “technical” aspects – clothes, mail, helmets, lance, sword, spurs, horses and so on – are presented in a clear and concise way, together with the training, logistics, motivations and tactics used by Norman knights (and more generally “Franks”) from about 950 to 1204. A good feature is to show how the various pieces of equipment slowly evolved over time. Another key piece is to show the role of the “young” knights, meaning those that had not yet established themselves and acquired land, as opposed to being necessarily young in age. A further piece of interest, presented especially in the sections on “Motivation” and “Logistics”, is to show that pitched battles were rather exceptional and avoided where possible in medieval warfare and to explain the reasons for this.Also valuable is the section presenting short summaries of some of the main tactics used during some of the most noteworthy engagements fought by Norman knights. Another interesting piece was to single out Bohemond and present a short summary of the eventful and adventurous career of the first Prince of Antioch. If anything, I found these two sections a bit too short although I recognise that I am being a bit “fussy” here, since the main objective of the Warrior series is to describe a certain type of warrior, as opposed to indulge in narrative history. Finally, the plates were rather good, especially plate K, inspired by a carving from a church door in Southern Italy (if I remember correctly) and which shows four Southern Italian Norman knights riding side per side, allowing for a comparison between the types of armour that were available to them.There were however also a couple of other little glitches. A very minor one is the absence of an outline. To the extent that the booklet is just 64 pages and that this is largely made up for by the index of terms on the last page, this does not really matter. Another point is that the bibliography is a bit “short”, both because some important titles have been omitted (such as David Bates’ William the Conqueror or Ann Hyland’s “the Medieval Warhorse”) and because others have appeared since this booklet was first published (in particular “The Age of Robert Guiscard: Southern Italy and the Norman Conquest” by Graham Loud, in 2000).So this is still a good introduction and starting point and it can be recommended as such, but it is worth four stars, not five.

Excellent rundown on Norman Knights and their strategies. Great illustrations.

This is another and earlier book by Christopher Gravett. Previously, I had obtained the two books on the English knight for the periods of time from 1200 through 1300 C.E. (during the Common Era) and a second volume for the period of time from 1300 through 1400 C.E. This book, "Norman Knight: From 950 until 1204 C.E." is actually a direct predecessor of the other two Christoper Gravett books that I already have as a part of my library.The three books taken as a whole clearly shows how the technology of Knights and knighthood changed in the years leading up to the Hundred Years War (1337-1453 C.E.). Historians generally regard the Hundred Years War as a turning point in military technology. While in the time leading up to the Hundred Years War , the heavy knight had been the cutting edge of military weapons. However, the battles of Crecy (August 26, 1346) and Poitiers (September 19, 1356) revealed that the English Long Bowmen were able to defeat the heavy French knights. This was the start of the decline of the heavy French knight as an effective weapon of war.

Ok.

The Osprey range of military history books have an excellent reputation for detail and accuracy, and "Norman Knight, AD 950-1204" by Christopher Gravett does not disappoint. Although the book is only 64 pages long, it contains a wealth of information regarding the equipment, training and tactics of the knight as they developed from the end of the Viking period through until the early 13th century.The documentary and archaeological evidence for this period is sparse to say the least, but Gravett draws all the available sources together in a convincing and remarkably comprehensive fashion. Certainly you will not this level of detail in any of the standard texts on the period. Context is provided by a timeline and by black and white photographs of contemporary artefacts and documentary illustrations, which appear on almost every page. What really helps the reader in visualising the knight's appearance, however, are the centre pages - 12 full colour plates - which contain artists' impressions of the knight and his equipment - helmet, mail, shield, sword and horse - as they changed over the course of this period. Unfortunately the bibliography provided is short and somewhat out of date, as it lists no works later than 1989 ("Norman Knight" was originally published in 1993 and has not been revised since), which means that there are limited opportunities to do further reading and discover more, but this is only a minor failing.All in all, "Norman Knight" is a concise, readable and highly informative guide to this medieval warrior. For me, as someone currently writing a historical novel set in the period, this book has proved to be an indispensable guide to understanding not just the knight's arms and armour but also his motivation. Any armchair military historian will find this a fascinating and accessible insight into the warfare of the time.