These may be "famous last words," but I found this issue particularly unsatisfying, despite covering a wide range of interesting topics. Perhaps that is the problem - too much, too shallow.
The main article, The Rise And Fall Of The Assassins, was fine, if lacking in detail.
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| Medieval Warfare … striking cover |
Some of the writing is rather lazy and needs stricter editing.
For example, a piece on Genghis Khan includes the sentence: "After climbing a scared mountain and communing with Tengri, the god of the limitless blue sky, he learned the heavens wished him to conquer the world."
Now, it may be Genghis Khan claimed this happened, or some of his followers believed it happened, but to state it as a fact in a magazine devoted to history is ridiculous.
The article on the Hussites starts: "After several years of mounting tension, Hus was arrested, and in 1415 he was executed. Hus's followers were outraged and a rebellion took off, lasting from 1419 to 1434 …"
This rather prompts the question: if Hus's followers were so "outraged," how come it took them four years to rebel?
Another piece states that an Italian condottieri was paid "the incredible sum of 60,000 ducats a year."
This may or may not be "incredible," but since we are given no reference point for what 60,000 ducats represents, it is hard to tell.
If Medieval Warfare were a specialist magazine for hardcore historians, readers might be expected to have a good idea what 60,000 ducats were worth, but the magazine is clearly being aimed at general readers - very general readers.
I certainly do not wish the magazine ill, but I have much better ways to spend the £5.99 cost of each copy.
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