Contents

pp.：  7 – 28

Preface and acknowledgements

pp.：  13 – 16

Conventions of transcription, translations, references and resources

pp.：  17 – 20

List of Maps

pp.：  21 – 28

Part one

pp.：  29 – 63

MILITARY ORGANIZATION AND SIEGE WARFARE

pp.：  29 – 30

Introduction

pp.：  31 – 63

0.1 Historiography

pp.：  32 – 39

0.1.1 Exceptionalism, Eastern and Western

pp.：  32 – 35

0.1.2 The (Even More) Exceptional Rise of Islam

pp.：  36 – 39

0.2 Methodological and Theoretical Approaches

pp.：  40 – 48

0.2.1 Thick and Thin Descriptions

pp.：  40 – 43

0.2.2 Co-evolution and Continuity

pp.：  44 – 45

0.2.3 Technological Diffusion: The Cultural and Institutional Foundations

pp.：  46 – 47

0.2.4 Construction of Identity and the Diffusion of Knowledge and Technology

pp.：  48 – 48

0.3 Sources and Limitations

pp.：  49 – 58

0.3.1 Limitations

pp.：  49 – 50

0.3.2 General Observations

pp.：  51 – 52

0.3.3 Greek Sources

pp.：  53 – 54

0.3.4 Syriac Sources

pp.：  55 – 56

0.3.5 Arabic and Other Eastern Sources

pp.：  57 – 56

0.3.6 Latin Sources

pp.：  57 – 58

0.4 Structure of the Argument

pp.：  59 – 63

Chapter One

pp.：  64 – 123

AN AGE OF TRANSITION

pp.：  64 – 63

From the Fall of the Roman West to the Early Middle Ages

pp.：  64 – 123

1.1 From Late Roman to “Barbarian” Poliorcetics

pp.：  64 – 78

1.1.1 Late Roman Siege Warfare

pp.：  65 – 68

1.1.2 The Thin Description: Visigoths and Romans, 376-474

pp.：  69 – 75

1.1.3 The Thick Description: Huns and Romans, 441-452

pp.：  76 – 78

1.2 From Emergency Measures to New Institutions

pp.：  79 – 103

1.2.1 The Regular Army in the 5th Century

pp.：  79 – 82

1.2.2 New Ways of Recruiting Troops

pp.：  83 – 85

1.2.3 The Military Following (obsequium) in East Roman Warfare

pp.：  86 – 92

1.2.4 The Rise of Private Military Forces in the West

pp.：  93 – 96

1.2.5 The Origins of Medieval Military Obligations: Munera Publica

pp.：  97 – 103

1.3 Where Did All the Romans Go? The Military Implications of Ethnogenesis

pp.：  104 – 121

1.3.1 Roman Influences beyond the Frontier

pp.：  105 – 107

1.3.2 Civil Wars by Proxy and the Involution of the Frontier

pp.：  108 – 113

1.3.3 The Legions on the Rhine Become Franks

pp.：  114 – 119

1.3.4 The Last Roman Civil Wars in the West, 496-511

pp.：  120 – 121

1.4 Conclusion: From Emergency Measures to Medieval Institutions

pp.：  122 – 123

Chapter two

pp.：  124 – 178

EAST ROME TO BYZANTIUM: Survival and Renewal of Military Institutions

pp.：  124 – 178

2.1 Continuity and Change in East Roman Warfare and Society, 450-800

pp.：  124 – 144

2.1.1 The Strategic Situation of the East Roman Empire: A Brief Overview

pp.：  125 – 126

2.1.2 The East Roman Army in the 5th and 6th Centuries

pp.：  127 – 132

2.1.3 The “Two Hundred Years’ Reform,” or before the Thematic System

pp.：  133 – 140

2.1.4 From Late Roman client management towards a Byzantine Commonwealth

pp.：  141 – 144

2.2 Organization of Siege Warfare I: The Army

pp.：  145 – 152

2.2.1 Specialist Skills among the Regular Troops

pp.：  145 – 145

2.2.2 Military Engineers

pp.：  146 – 148

2.2.3 New Developments from the Late 6th Century

pp.：  149 – 152

2.3 The Many Faces of East Roman Siege Warfare: The Example of the Anastasian War

pp.：  153 – 164

2.3.1 The Background to the Anastasian War and the East around 500

pp.：  154 – 154

2.3.2 Abject Surrender: *Theodosiopolis and *Martyropolis 502

pp.：  155 – 155

2.3.3 Fierce but Flawed Resistance: *Amida (502-3)

pp.：  156 – 159

2.3.4 Multiple Approaches: *Constantina-Tella 502-03

pp.：  160 – 160

2.3.5 Complex Operations against Country and City: *Edessa 502-03

pp.：  161 – 162

2.3.6 Complex Operations and the Fog of War: *Amida 503-04

pp.：  163 – 164

2.4 Organization of Siege Warfare II: The Militarization of Society

pp.：  165 – 176

2.4.1 The Construction of Dara, 505-06

pp.：  165 – 168

2.4.2 Civilian Cooperation in the 6th Century

pp.：  169 – 172

2.4.3 Use of Civilians in the 7th and 8th Centuries

pp.：  173 – 176

2.5 Conclusion

pp.：  177 – 178

Chapter three

pp.：  179 – 221

The Successor States in the West: Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and Lombards

pp.：  179 – 221

3.1 The Ostrogoths, 493-554

pp.：  179 – 193

3.1.1 Ostrogothic Ethnogenesis

pp.：  180 – 181

3.1.2 Strategic Situation

pp.：  182 – 182

3.1.3 Military Organization

pp.：  183 – 186

3.1.4 Logistics: Adminstration, Labor and Supplies

pp.：  187 – 191

3.1.5 Ostrogothic Siege Warfare

pp.：  192 – 193

3.2 The Visigoths in Spain, 508-711

pp.：  194 – 205

3.2.1 Strategic Situation of the Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo

pp.：  195 – 195

3.2.2 Visigothic Military Organization

pp.：  196 – 202

3.2.3 Visigothic Siege Warfare

pp.：  203 – 205

3.3 The Lombards

pp.：  206 – 219

3.3.1 Ethnogenesis on the Middle Danube

pp.：  206 – 208

3.3.2 The Lombards in Italy

pp.：  209 – 212

3.3.3 Lombard Military Organization

pp.：  213 – 217

3.3.4 Lombard Siege Warfare

pp.：  218 – 219

3.4 Conclusion: From Clients to Kingdoms

pp.：  220 – 221

Chapter four

pp.：  222 – 285

The Last Legions on the Rhine: Siege Warfare in the Frankish Kingdoms

pp.：  222 – 285

4.1 Frankish Warfare and Military Organization in the 6th Century 

pp.：  222 – 253

4.1.1 The Problem of Gregory of Tours

pp.：  223 – 225

4.1.2 The Establishment of Frankish Burgundy and Wars with the Visigoths, 534-89

pp.：  226 – 229

4.1.3 Austrasian Interventions in Italy, 538-90

pp.：  230 – 235

4.1.4 Frankish Civil Wars

pp.：  236 – 240

4.1.5 Military Organization and Siege Logistics in the 6th Century

pp.：  241 – 253

4.2 The 7th Century: Ascendancy of Military Followings and Proprietal Warfare

pp.：  254 – 263

4.2.1 Fredegar, the Liber Historiae Francorum, and the United Frankish Kingdom

pp.：  254 – 258

4.2.2 Bishops, Magnates and Monasteries

pp.：  259 – 261

4.2.3 Late Merovingian Siege Warfare

pp.：  262 – 263

4.3 The Carolingian Ascendancy in the 8th Century

pp.：  264 – 283

4.3.1 The Debate Revisited

pp.：  265 – 267

4.3.2 Size, Composition, and Distribution of Carolingian Military Forces

pp.：  268 – 274

4.3.3 Objectives and Means: Charles Martel and Pippin the Short

pp.：  275 – 279

4.3.4 Organization and Supplies: Charlemagne and Louis

pp.：  280 – 283

4.4 Conclusion

pp.：  284 – 285

Chapter five

pp.：  286 – 328

The Anatomy of a Siege: Tactics and Technology

pp.：  286 – 328

5.1 Siege Strategy and Tactics: Basic Definitions

pp.：  286 – 296

5.1.1 The Blockade

pp.：  289 – 293

5.1.2 The Storm

pp.：  294 – 296

5.2 Siege Tactics

pp.：  297 – 318

5.2.1 The Basic Approach: Archery and Ladders

pp.：  298 – 301

5.2.2 Artillery

pp.：  302 – 307

5.2.3 Siegeworks: Camps and Encircling Fortifications

pp.：  308 – 310

5.2.4 Siegeworks: Firing Platforms—Mounds and Towers

pp.：  311 – 312

5.2.5 Wallbreaking: Machines

pp.：  313 – 315

5.2.6 Wallbreaking: Engineering

pp.：  316 – 318

5.3 Defensive Responses

pp.：  319 – 324

5.3.1 Technological Responses

pp.：  319 – 319

5.3.2 Sorties

pp.：  320 – 322

5.3.3 Relieving Armies

pp.：  323 – 324

5.4 Conclusion: Towards a Thick Description of Sieges

pp.：  325 – 328

Chapter six

pp.：  329 – 389

The Anatomy of a Siege: Economy, Society and Culture

pp.：  329 – 389

6.1 The Topographies of a Siege

pp.：  329 – 355

6.1.1 Defensive Topography: Infrastructure and Fortifications

pp.：  330 – 336

6.1.2 The Topography of Settlement: City and Country in the “Dark Ages”

pp.：  337 – 345

6.1.3 Cultural Topographies: Morale and Ritual under Siege Conditions

pp.：  346 – 355

6.2 The Urban Community at War

pp.：  356 – 376

6.2.1 The Politics of a Siege: Loyalty and Dissension

pp.：  357 – 365

6.2.2 Societies at War: Garrisons and Civilians

pp.：  366 – 372

6.2.3 Specialists at War

pp.：  373 – 376

6.3 Ending the Siege

pp.：  377 – 386

6.3.1 Consequences of Survival

pp.：  378 – 379

6.3.2 Consequences of Fall

pp.：  380 – 386

6.4 Conclusion: Deconstructing, or Reconstructing, Thin Sources

pp.：  387 – 389

Chapter seven

pp.：  390 – 435

Appropriation of Military Infrastructure and Knowledge

pp.：  390 – 435

7.1 The Hunnic, Persian and Visigothic Templates

pp.：  391 – 398

7.1.1 Client Integration and State Formation: The Visigoths

pp.：  391 – 392

7.1.2 Inter-state Transfers: The Sassanids

pp.：  393 – 394

7.1.3 Conquest Appropriation: The Huns under Attila

pp.：  395 – 398

7.2 The Balkans, 530-825: From Client Assimilation to Conquest Appropriation and Back

pp.：  399 – 418

7.2.1 Huns as Clients: Utigurs, Kotrigurs, Sabirs and Bulgars in the 6th Century

pp.：  399 – 400

7.2.2 Slavs and Appropriation

pp.：  401 – 407

7.2.3 Avars and Appropriation

pp.：  408 – 412

7.2.4 The Bulgars, 680-825

pp.：  413 – 416

7.2.5 On Northwestern Peripheries: Western Slavs, Saxons and Danes

pp.：  417 – 418

7.3 The Arabs and Islam: Appropriating and Domesticating the Late Antique System

pp.：  419 – 434

7.3.1 Background and Early Events

pp.：  420 – 421

7.3.2 The Sources of Expertise

pp.：  422 – 434

7.4 Conclusion: From Appropriation to Domestication

pp.：  435 – 435

Chapter eight

pp.：  436 – 459

Diffusion of the Traction Trebuchet

pp.：  436 – 459

8.1 State of the Question: Historiography and Technical Aspects

pp.：  436 – 439

8.1.1 Historiography of the Traction Trebuchet

pp.：  436 – 438

8.1.2 Technical Aspects of the Traction Trebuchet

pp.：  439 – 439

8.2 The Philological Evidence

pp.：  440 – 448

8.2.1 Generic, Classicizing and Uncertain Terms

pp.：  441 – 442

8.2.2 Manganon and Its Derivatives

pp.：  443 – 446

8.2.3 Descriptive and Functional Terms

pp.：  447 – 448

8.3 The Diffusion of the Traction Trebuchet: The Historical Context

pp.：  449 – 454

8.3.1 The Early Introduction of the Traction Trebuchet: Diffusion or Independent Invention?

pp.：  449 – 451

8.3.2 The Wider Diffusion of the Traction Trebuchet within the Former Roman World

pp.：  452 – 454

8.4 Epilogue

pp.：  455 – 459

Appendix one

pp.：  460 – 463

Reconstructing the Arab invasion of Palestine and Syria from contemporary sources and the importance of Arab siege warfare

pp.：  460 – 463

Appendix Two

pp.：  464 – 468

‘Iyad ibn-Ghanm’s invasion of Armenia in 640 and the Arab capacity for storming cities without heavy siege engines.

pp.：  464 – 468

Appendix Three

pp.：  469 – 484

Arab grand strategy, 663-669: ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Khalid’s invasion, Saporios’ revolt, and the battle for Anatolia

pp.：  469 – 484

Part two

pp.：  485 – 850

corpus obsidionum

pp.：  485 – 486

Conventions adopted

pp.：  487 – 489

The 5th Century

pp.：  490 – 513

The 6th Century

pp.：  514 – 642

The 7th Century

pp.：  643 – 722

The 8th Century

pp.：  723 – 783

The Early 9th Century

pp.：  784 – 794

Bibliography

pp.：  795 – 818

Abbreviations of Series, Reference and Collective Works

pp.：  795 – 797

Sources

pp.：  798 – 801

Secondary literature

pp.：  802 – 818

Index Obsidionum

pp.：  819 – 840

General Index

pp.：  841 – 850