CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2014
| Author | Bena, Samuel |
|---|---|
| Title | The Small War in the Late Middle Ages: A Comparison of the English and Bohemian Experiences |
| Summary | Medieval battles between major armies and grand sieges get most of the spotlight in general military history–including that of late medieval Bohemia. They serve as basic case studies for the evolution of military tactics. Yet most military undertakings–as Anglo–American military historians point out–were ravaging operations and small clashes of detached units–the so-called small war. While scholars of the war between Matthias Corvinus(1443–1490)and George of Poděbrady(ca. 1420–1471) acknowledged the presence of this phenomenon they have never done a tactical analysis of small war encounters themselves. This thesis thus analyses the small war phenomenon in the Poděbrady–Corvinus conflict (1468–1471).The small war operations involving medieval Englishmen are, however, much better studied. Because of this the basic theoretical framework is a comparative approach between the Northwestern European paradigm and vernacular Bohemian didactic and narrative sources. The results of the analysis contradict some of the general conclusions of traditional military history. The alleged degeneration of late medieval cavalry and linear diachronic ascendancy of the footsoldiers were not present in the small war. Furthermore, the helplessness of Bohemian footsoldiers in field engagements without the protection of field fortifications (such as the wagon-fort) seems to have been exaggerated. |
| Supervisor | Veszprémy László |
| Department | Medieval Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2014/bena_samuel.pdf |
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