Among the most plentiful objects surviving from man's remote past in Europe are his weapons, but although they are rich material for study, they are usually dealt with as isolated groups of region or period within the framework ofthe larger science of archaeology. Their story is rarely treated in continuity from age to age, as it should be. This book traces the development of European arms in logical sequence, showing how changes were wrought by the use of new materials and the ever-shifting demands of war and fashion. It begins nearly 200 years before the Christian era, covering among other subjects the charioteers of the Near East, the Roman attitude to arms and the Bronze Age weapons of Europe, as well as its main concern: the Middle Ages. Ewart Oakeshott considers a variety of sources, from the hard evidence provided by existing weapons to the clues to be found in literature as diverse as the Old Testament, the works of Homer, and the sagas of the Celts and the northern races. In so doing, he introduces a huge subject to the reader, following the thread of man's penchant for fighting, and examining his attitude to his weapons.
EWART OAKESHOTT is author of Records of the Medieval Sword