Beyond the chivalry and adventure often presented in fictional works, the medieval era was marked by frequent military conflict. The tools for war employed by soldiers, knights, archers, and other combatants on the battlefield and in bloody sieges are richly rendered in this book. This book explores the use of cavalry, castle fortifications, and military tactics, and it is illustrated with imagery sure to underscore the immediacy and harshness of conflict. Readers will be drawn in by the romance and adventure of the era, even as the book soberly relates the very real circumstances of brutal medieval warfare.