By Sword and Fire: Cruelty and Atrocity in Medieval Warfare (Cassell Military Paperbacks)

For all the talk of chivalry, medieval warfare routinely involved acts that we would consider war crimes. Lands laid waste, civilians slaughtered, prisoners massacred: this was standard fare justified by tradition and military necessity. This popular history examines the battles of Acre and Agincourt; sieges like Béziers, Lincoln, Jerusalem, and Limoges; and the infamous chevauchées of the Hundred Years War that devastated great swathes of France. A vivid, all-encompassing portrait of war in the Middle Ages.