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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 909
EAN num: 9781841765068
ISBN number: 1841765066
Label: Osprey Publishing
Manufacturer: Osprey Publishing
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 48
Printing Date: October 22, 2003
Publishing house: Osprey Publishing
Release Date: October 22, 2003
Sale Popularity Level: 460773
Studio: Osprey Publishing
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Product Description:
While Scandinavia's 'Viking Age' is one of the most studied aspects of early medieval history, much less has been published about the centuries which followed. Yet the armies of Sweden, Norway and Denmark offer fascinating differences from the rest of medieval Western Europe, both in their organisation and their war gear. This second of two books covers the period which saw both expansion in the Baltic, and long wars born of the endeavor to bring Scandinavia under a single monarchy - the Union of Kalmar. In the North, as elsewhere, the perfection of plate armour could not prevent the steady decline in the importance of the 15th century mounted knight in favour of the well armed infantryman.
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Rated by buyers 
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A fine introduction and an essential companion for the very first volume and for the Baltic Crusades title; usual awesome plates.
Rated by buyers 
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This second volume from Osprey on medieval Scandinavian armies deals with the time-period 1300-1500, but like the very first volume it's sadly a let down, certainly it's not mr Nicolle's best effort. The photos are undeniably good, showing surviving weaponry, effegies and painting from Scandinavian countries. The text however leaves much to ask for, as it's too short to properly cover the major wars and campaigns fought in Scandinavia during these two centuries. The result is a book providing a quite brief description of common standard arms and armour used throughout late medieval Europe: Actually this would apply for any medieval army at that time. Nicolle could just as much have put the exact same information in a book on late medieval german or french armies: the Scandinavian perspective is unfortunatly pretty absent. Then there's the weird and annoying focus on Greenland in the chronology, as Greenland at the time was a very small, remote nordic settlement with no political and especially no military significance whatsoever! Very odd indeed, especially as much, much more important events in Scandinavia are ignored in the very same text... Thus, the reader will get a quite odd, at best extremely superficial and incomplete account of warfare and politics in late medieval Scandinavia.
The illustrations by Angus McBride are wonderfully painted, and compared to the plates in volume 1 they are somewhat better researched, although I wouldn't say they accurately represent the appearance medieval Scandinavian fighting men. Plates B and C however, showing the Danes fighting the Gotland peasants at Visby in 1361, are completely inaccurate, featuring heavily armoured peasant soldiers (in reality excavations at the battlefield show us that the Gotland militia at Visby - a last desperate stand by the reserve forces - comprised of old men and young boys, badly armed and armoured). The appearance of the Saami (called "Lapps" in this volume) in plate H is also highly speculative, and actually looks nothing like the later saami costume it's supposed to be based on according to the plate-commentary.
I give this book 2 stars as it's somewhat useful and the photographies are interesting. But I'd highly suggest a reader seriously interested in the topic to check additional litterature to get a more balanced account of wars, battles, politics and warfare in late medieval Scandinavia
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