help me with my essay :P

[IrishBlood]

i could use a little help with my history essay for college on medieval europe, before people start jumping to conclusions, i dont want some one to do it for me, and im not out to steal the work of others, i just need some good sources of accurate historical information.

the essay title is

Access the types of combatants who participated in armed conflicts in the 11th-12th centuries in terms of what they contributed according to various military situations.

its a very open question, so i want to focus on the byzantines, the moors in spain, and the northern/western europe. now i have plenty of info on northern/western europe, its the others i could use sources on. The essasys a peice of cake really, and i already know a fair bit about the fighting styles of those areas/peoples (mainly from playing medieval 2) but i could use some accurate/detailed info that i could back up with a qoute from a historical text or something.

please dont start flaming me for starting this thread, and call me lazy etc, i just figured that since such great detail goes into the unit descriptions of this mod that there would be people who would know where i could gain access to the relative knowledge that im looking for.

thanks for your help, and +rep to any and all who help

[HolyDevil]

not exactly the best place to ask for this, but i guess it can stay here since it's also game related (historical accuracy) wich im certain most fans would also like to know as well

[IrishBlood]

yeah i kinda guessed it shouldnt really go here, but my urgencey has over rided my concernes as the essays due on friday

[ChivalrousKiller]

I'm not so familiar with the Moors, but the Byzantines I know a lot about

What do you want to know?
Basic background, foundation, politics, military, emperors, religion... anything

[IrishBlood]

I'm not so familiar with the Moors, but the Byzantines I know a lot about

What do you want to know?
Basic background, foundation, politics, military, emperors, religion... anything

MILITARY! i know a fair amount myself, what i mainly want to know is where do YOU get your info from, preferabley any good websites that you know are historically accurate. i think what im planning to do is compare and contrast the bysantines with the moors and french/german kingdoms militarily. eg how the byzantines are still using roman tactics, but have also been forced to empoly vast amounts of mercs, etc, while the moors are a commpletely alien force in europe, as their tactics are unlike anything most european leaders would be used to, see what i mean?

[ChivalrousKiller]

MILITARY! i know a fair amount myself, what i mainly want to know is where do YOU get your info from, preferabley any good websites that you know are historically accurate. i think what im planning to do is compare and contrast the bysantines with the moors and french/german kingdoms militarily. eg how the byzantines are still using roman tactics, but have also been forced to empoly vast amounts of mercs, etc, while the moors are a commpletely alien force in europe, as their tactics are unlike anything most european leaders would be used to, see what i mean?

Well, can't find so many sources, since these are things I mostly know, and learned long ago, but I'll see what I can find.

I read through the Wikipedia article, and can't find any big historical mistakes there. Use it as an inspiration to begin with (I've heard people finding this as suprisingly good for a wikipedia article)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_battle_tactics

Something about formations(scroll down to "Byzantine tactics") which I've found useful: http://www.roman-empire.net/army/tactics.html

Now I don't think you'll want to buy a book just for an essay, but the "Warfare, state and society in the Byzantine world, 565-1204" by John F. Haldon is a perfect information source. You could try to search for clips from it on the web

[Gorrrrrn]

david nicolle's 2 volumes "Crusader Warfare" is very good distillation of current research - very heavily referenced.
Crusader Warfare Volume II: Muslims, Mongols and the Struggle Against the Crusades: Volume 2


Crusader Warfare: Byzantium, Western Europe and the Battle of the Holy Land v. 1

(I got mine from the History Guild book club quite cheaply.)
Try your local library if money is tight.

his earlier
Medieval Warfare Source Book: Warfare in Western Christendom v. 1

Medieval Warfare Source Book: Christian Europe and Its Neighbours v. 2

can be picked up quite cheaply.

in terms of websites:
http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/articles.htm
is extremely useful.

[IrishBlood]

thanks man thats a great help

[IrishBlood]

thanks for the help guys, but it turns out we're not allowed use any sources except for the ones my lecturer gave us, piyt she didnt make that clear before i finished my damn essay, because now i have to delete half of it and foucus entirely on western europe!

[HolyDevil]

You should do what I need to do, pay more attention to classes xD

[IrishBlood]

i am not a happy bunny right now....

[HolyDevil]

No one said LIFE would be easy

[IrishBlood]

well its done now so i no longer care but thanks for the help guys

[rockman4417]

Just copy the unit descriptions from the entire Byzantine roster.