“More Savage than the Sword”: Logistics in the Medieval Atlantic Theater of War
David Beougher
Logistics are those things that armchair generals find so annoying. They boring, requiring a degree of attention to detail and accounting gets in the way ofthe fun excitement ofbattle. There is no heroic noise, clash metal on metal, huge cheers great speeches. Yet logistics all armies must do. Armies form. eat; they move; eat more. Maybe, just maybe, end up fighting battle. Even then, will shape manner which troops fight. grunts teamster, creak wagon, hot ovens making bread early morning. vital part problem warfare along Atlantic littoral at any period, but especially during Middle Ages. The needs armed warriors were same—food, weapons, movement—whether personal bodyguards prince or nobility who held their lands privileges return for military service freebooters fought profit (however was defined). This chapter examines four logistical models employed theater operations from ninth eleventh centuries: Carolingian, Scandinavian, Anglo-Saxon, Irish. Expanded be given Irish material as availability legal literary materials offers useful supplement historical records.
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