With the development in the 13th century of co-operative tactics using crossbowmen and heavy spearmen, circumstance began to arise in which the charge by Muslim horse-archers, and then by European armoured knights, could be defied. This book traces these and other examples of this 'jerky' and uneven process through its regional differences.

Introduction /Background – the experience gained from defeats at the hands of the 13th-century Mongol invasions, and of Muslim armies in the Middle East /Development of infantry weapons and tactics as result of meeting these basically light cavalry enemies. (e.g. Tagliacozzo, 1268; Falkirk, 1298; Courtrai, 1302) /The decline of lance and the rise of close-quarter cavalry weapons – confusion of tactics (e.g. Najera, 1367; Aljubarotte, 1385; Castagnaro, 1387) /Crossbow and longbow – reasons for divergence between mainland European and English armies – how each type worked alongside cavalry and dismounted men-at-arms (e.g. Crecy, 1346; Agincourt, 1415) /‘Blip’ in rise of infantry dominance as heavier cavalry armour becomes arrow-proof (e.g. San Romano, 1432) /Decline of archery in favour of combined-arms infantry armies – bows subsidiary to massed pikes and halberds (e.g. Grandson, 1476) /Increasing importance of field artillery (e.g. Castillon, 1453) and hand-held firearms (e.g. Cerignola, 1503) /Plate commentary /Bibliography /Index

This lavishly illustrated guide to changes in medieval European tactics from the mid-13th century onwards investigates the reappearance of massed, disciplined infantry, and assesses the challenge they posed to the mounted knights who had dominated the battlefield in the early Middle Ages.