Medieval warfare

thumb|upright=1.5|Map showing the major Varangian trade routes: the Volga trade route (in red) and the Dnieper and Dniester routes (in purple). Other trade routes of the 8th–11th centuries shown in orange.

thumb|A modern working stirrup on an endurance riding saddle thumb|Typical metal stirrup used in English riding A stirrup is a light frame or ring that holds the foot of a rider, attached to the saddle by a strap, often called a stirrup leather. Stirrups are usually paired and are used to aid in mounting and as a support while using a riding animal (usually a horse or other equine, such as a mule). They greatly increase the rider's ability to stay in the saddle and control the mount, increasing the animal's usefulness to humans in areas such as communication, transportation, and warfare.

thumb|upright|The Accolade (Leighton)|The Accolade (1901), by [[Edmund Leighton]]

history and description of warfare in the European Middle Ages

thumb|upright=1.35|Depiction of Chinese swordsman wielding a single-edged sword, from the Dan Dao Fa Xuan, c. 1626

thumb|Mounted on a destrier, Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke|Richard Marshal unseats an opponent during a skirmish.

A chevauchée (, "promenade" or "horse charge", depending on context) was a raiding method of medieval warfare for weakening the enemy, primarily by burning and pillaging enemy territory in order to reduce the productivity of a region, in addition to siege warfare most often as part of wars of conquest but occasionally as a punitive raid. The use of the chevauchée declined at the end of the 14th century as the focus of warfare turned to sieges. It is conceptually similar to the scorched earth strategies used in modern warfare.

thumb|right|300px|The 'divine fire flying crow' (shen huo fei ya), an aerodynamic winged rocket bomb from the Huolongjing

The institution known as leiðangr (Old Norse), leidang (Norwegian), leding (Danish), ledung (Swedish), expeditio (Latin) or sometimes lething (English), was a form of conscription (mass levy) to organize coastal fleets for seasonal excursions and in defense of the realm typical for medieval Scandinavians and, later, a public levy of free farmers. In Anglo-Saxon England, a different system was used to achieve similar ends, and was known as the fyrd.

war horse

thumb|350 px|A 15th century miniature depicting the Battle of Poitiers (1356)|Battle of Poitiers. A variety of horses can be seen.

thumb|The Heerschildordnung of Eike von Repgow shows the estate structure of a medieval society, Heidelberg University Library, Cod. Pal. Germ. 164, fol. 1r The Heerschild (; ), also called the shield of knighthood, in the Early Middle Ages was the right to raise a feudal levy of troops. The call to do so was the Heerbann. The resulting importance of a system of military ranks, based on the ability to provide men for a campaign, became modified in the law books published in the 13th century. It finally ended up as being an important part of the structure of medieval society, as captured in the