Battle Castles: 500 Years of Knights and Siege Warfare

Description

A sumptuous, action-packed pan-European history, Battle Castles brings to life mighty medieval fortifications and the epic sieges they resisted: clashes that defied the limits of military technology, turned empires to dust, and transformed mortals into legends. Castles and their ruins still dominate the landscape and our imaginations, and are a constant reminder to us today of a time when violence, or the threat of it, was the norm. Dan Snow explores in turn the world's greatest castles: Dover Castle, 'the Key to England' and King John's first line of defence against the French; Chateau Gaillard, Richard I's fortress in Normandy (the only chink in whose armaments was through the latrines); Castillo de Gibalfaro, the last vanguard of Moorish rule in Southern Spain; Malbork Castle, headquarters of the evangelical and entrepreneurial Teutonic Knights in Poland; Edward I's network of castles in Wales, with its heart at Conwy; and Krak des Chevaliers in Syria - an astounding feat of engineering by the Crusaders. Each castle's story is dramatically recounted - the building techniques, day-to-day life and, the weapons used in its attack and defence. Spanning across the globe, and using the latest CGI reconstructions, Dan Snow gets to the very heart of the bloodshed and battles of the greatest fortresses of the Middle Ages.

Dan Snow is an historian who has researched, written and presented several documentaries on British and world history for the BBC including Twentieth Century Battlefields, the BAFTA award-winning Battlefield Britain, which he co-presented with his father Peter Snow, and his BBC2 series on the history of the Royal Navy. His writing has appeared in The Times, the Sunday Times, the Guardian, the Daily Express and BBC History Magazine. He is the author of Death or Victory - a history of Wolfe's siege of Quebec. Educated at the University of Oxford, he has joint British and Canadian citizenship. He lives in London.

'An enthralling epic of engineering, blood and battle' Mail on Sunday 'History's coolest expert brings to life some of the bloodiest battles ever fought' Sun 'Dan Snow does a fine job of bringing [the sieges] to life' Times 'It has been edited to look like Game of Thrones. Serious historical discovery, however, is what Battle Castle is all about' Guardian Praise for Death or Victory: 'This hugely impressive work confirms Dan Snow's triumphant arrival on the scene. It is by far the best account yet written of a campaign that helped shape North America, and is a fitting tribute on the 250th anniversary of that "wonderful year" 1759' Richard Holmes 'Dan Snow is perhaps more familiar from television....this, his first book, proves him to be a master military historian. Its grasp of detail is prodigious' Daily Express 'Lively and thoughtful...fascinating stuff....one of the book's strengths is its vivid portrayal of the physical backdrop against which the campaign unfolded' Literary Review