Poll results Volume V

The results are in! The Poll for Volume V has been running since the beginning of August, during which time almost 500 people have voted on their favourite topics. I’ve heard ‘complaints’ from several people that the poll included too many fascinating topics, which gave many of you a hard time deciding. I must admit, part of this was indeed deliberate; after all, part of what makes Medieval warfare so popular is that we try to offer as much diversity in our themes as possible. This implies that we cannot focus all themes on just the most popular topics, and so we made people chose between ‘favourites’ like, for example, Dark Ages England, William the Conqueror and War of the Roses. This left some room for equally fascinating, but perhaps less well-known topics like the options for V-4.

Anyway, it seems that all of you have managed to make a decision in the end, which means that the themes for Volume V are now fixed. You can find the winners below. As always, if you want to contribute an article to one or more of the issues below, just send me an email at editor@medieval-warfare.com. For those of you who are now to Medieval Warfare, you can find more information on submitting a proposal here.

One more thing. I can only assume that several of you will have wondered why no ‘Hundred Years War’-related option had been included in the poll. Indeed, it’s true that, so far, we only had one theme which focused on a related topic, i.e. the War of the Two Peters (see Medieval Warfare III-1). However, HYW-enthusiasts amongst you need not worry. Next year will mark the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, and you can rest assured that we will not let such an opportunity go by without a fight. Keep an eye on our newsletter and Facebook page for more information.

Medieval Warfare V-3

- The Conqueror: William the Bastard’s invasion of England – 18.00%
- The War of the Roses: triumph for the Yorkists (1455-1461) – 31.44%
- The First Barons’ War and Prince Louis VIII’s invasion – 12.89%
- Dark Age England: the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy and the rise of Mercia – 30.11%
- War of succession: The Anarchy – 7.56%

Medieval Warfare V-4

- Frederick I Barbarossa’s Italian campaigns – 21.60%
- Division in Northern Italy: open conflict between Guelphs and Ghibbellines (1260-1289) – 10.24%
- The War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282-1302) – 15.37%
- Charles VIII and the First Italian War (1494-1498) – 20.04%
- The Caliphate of Córdoba and the reign of Almanzor – 32.74%

Medieval Warfare V-5

- Piracy and naval warfare in the Middle Ages – 37.86%
- The Rise of the cannon – 11.14%
- Pre-gunpowder siege weapons – 10.47%
- Logistics and financing war – 15.37%
- The peasant at war: soldiers and rebels – 25.17%

Medieval Warfare V-6

- Matthias Corvinus, Bohemia, and the Austrian-Hungarian Wars (1468-1488) – 23.16%
- Sultan Murad I in the Balkans: the end of Serbia and Bulgaria – 19.60%
- Menace from the east: the Mongols in Europe – 35.63%
- A violent reform: the Hussite Wars – 14.92%
- The reign of John Hunyadi – 6.68%

Medieval Warfare VI-1

- Nemesis of crusader and Mongols: the campaigns of Baibars – 14.03%
- How to become a saint: the Crusades of Louis IX (7th and 8th Crusades) – 10.02%
- The Kingdom of Jerusalem: expansion and fall (1100-1187) – 30.51%
- Before Islam: Heraclius vs the Sassanids – 27.39%
- Basil II: Bulgar-slayer – 18.04%