Medieval Warfare

Fighting in Edward I’s reign

During Edward I’s reign, 1272–1307, warfare involved both battles between armies and attempts to capture fortified places. These demanded different tactics. On a battlefield, commanders needed to use mounted soldiers, foot soldiers and missile weapons together. In a siege, they had to overcome walls, gates and a defending garrison.

Castles and fortified towns protected centres of wealth, government and trade. Capturing them could therefore give an attacker control of resources as well as territory. However, a siege could consume enormous amounts of money, manpower and time. Military engineers, supplies and preparations mattered alongside fighting ability.

Cavalry: the force of a mounted attack

Cavalry fought on horseback. Armoured knights remained important in the wars of the Plantagenet kings, including fighting against the Scots. A charging horse gave a rider’s attack considerable striking force. A firm saddle and stirrups helped the knight stay seated, while a lance held beneath the arm could deliver a powerful blow.

This made cavalry useful for attacking an enemy’s formation, but mounted warfare was expensive. Knights needed weapons, armour and horses that had to be bought and maintained. Cavalry also needed support: an army could not rely on mounted charges alone to defeat every opponent.

Infantry and missile weapons

Infantry fought on foot. Spearmen and crossbowmen commonly supported mounted knights. Spears allowed foot soldiers to fight at greater reach than a short hand-held weapon, while missile troops could attack enemies before they came into hand-to-hand contact.

A crossbow held its bow horizontally on a stock and fired a bolt. It was powerful, but slow to shoot repeatedly. Experienced crossbowmen were often foreign mercenaries: soldiers paid to fight rather than serving through obligations to a lord.

A longbow was a tall bow, ideally made from yew, which fired arrows. Powerful war bows could shoot well over 200 metres, although penetrating armour depended on conditions: the strongest effect was at shorter ranges. This distinction matters because reaching an enemy and piercing their protection were not the same thing.

The Battle of Falkirk in 1298 shows the importance of missile weapons during Edward’s reign. Edward I defeated William Wallace’s Scottish army, with the longbow playing a major part in the victory. Mounted knights remained important, but this example shows why battlefield success depended on more than the shock of a cavalry charge.

Weapons and armour worked together

Weapons were designed to injure opponents; armour was intended to reduce that danger. Medieval knights used mail, made from linked metal rings, with long mail tunics known as hauberks. Armour gave protection, but did not make its wearer invulnerable: powerful arrows at short range could penetrate armour.

Armour developed over the medieval period. The elaborate full suits of plate armour associated with later medieval men-at-arms should not be treated as the standard appearance of every soldier in Edward I’s armies. Equipment varied, and a wealthy mounted knight and an ordinary foot soldier did not necessarily have the same protection.

Breaking into a castle

An attacker could try to force a quick entry rather than wait for supplies to run out. Several methods targeted different parts of the defences:

• Battering rams used a heavy, metal-headed wooden beam to strike gates repeatedly. A covered frame protected the operators.
• Bombardment used siege engines to throw stones or other projectiles, damaging defences and frightening or injuring defenders. A traction mangonel used people pulling ropes; a counterweight trebuchet used a falling heavy weight to rotate its throwing arm.
• Mining attacked the foundations. Miners dug beneath a wall and supported a cavity with timber. Burning the supports could cause the ground and wall above to collapse.
• Escalade meant climbing walls using ladders, often with covering fire. Attackers were exposed to arrows, stones and hot liquids from above.
• Siege towers carried soldiers towards the walls. Archers on upper platforms could provide covering fire before a drawbridge was lowered for an assault.

Once a breach had been opened, an attacking force still had to fight its way through it. Damaging a wall did not automatically mean capturing the castle.

Mining was already an established technique before Edward’s reign. At Rochester Castle in 1215, King John’s attackers used pig fat to fuel a fire in a mine beneath the keep, bringing down one of its turrets. This earlier example illustrates how fire could destroy supports rather than simply burn a castle’s exterior.

Outlasting the defenders

A blockade aimed to prevent people and supplies from entering or leaving. As food and other resources dwindled, starvation and disease could force the garrison to surrender. At Kenilworth Castle in 1266, a siege lasting almost six months ended in an agreed surrender when the defenders’ food supplies were exhausted.

Waiting was costly for the attackers too: they had to keep their own army fed and supplied. Siege warfare therefore involved choices between the risks of an assault and the expense of a prolonged blockade. A negotiated surrender could avoid further fighting, while an unsuccessful siege might end with the attackers withdrawing.

How defenders resisted

A strong defence began before the enemy arrived. The garrison needed food, water, arrows, bolts and stones, as well as materials to repair damaged walls. Wells and rainwater cisterns helped sustain the defenders.

From the walls, defenders could shoot at attackers, drop stones and hot liquids, or push over ladders with long poles. Overhanging timber galleries called hoards allowed them to attack enemies directly below. Countermines could intercept attacking miners before they destroyed the foundations.

Castle design also supported resistance. Multiple circuits of walls allowed one defensive line to support another. The central contest was therefore not simply weapon against wall: it was the attackers’ engineering, supplies and tactics against the defenders’ preparations, protection and endurance.

Battlefield warfare

• Cavalry: mounted troops; armoured knights used powerful lance charges but needed support.
• Infantry: foot soldiers, including spearmen and missile troops.
• Crossbow: powerful, but slow to shoot repeatedly.
• Longbow: long-range missile weapon; powerful arrows could pierce armour at shorter ranges.
• Falkirk, 1298: Edward I defeated William Wallace; longbows played a major role.
• Armour offered protection, not invulnerability. Do not project later full plate armour onto every soldier in Edward’s reign.

Siege methods

• Ram: break gates.
• Bombardment: damage defences and cause casualties or fear.
• Mining: undermine foundations, then burn timber supports to collapse the wall.
• Escalade / siege tower: get troops over the walls.
• Blockade: cut off supplies and force surrender.

Defence and outcomes

Stockpile food, water and missiles; repair breaches; attack from above; use countermines. Supporting wall circuits strengthened defence.

A siege could end in successful assault, negotiated surrender or attackers withdrawing. Both sides needed supplies and endurance.

Examples: Rochester, 1215—mining brought down a turret; Kenilworth, 1266—food exhaustion ended an almost six-month siege.