Hello from a long time lurker.

For a while now I've been trying to find books or articles about the Moorish or Arabic military ways in the medieval times. Or even before that. English preferred, but I could probably make some sense of German or French writings leaning heavily on the dictionary. So far I've not had much luck, but could well be that I have not known where to look.

I would greatly appreciate any information on the subject.

Many thanks in advance,

-n.

I found a book on Amazon called Arab Historians of the Crusades; a compilation of several contemporary accounts (I personally always go to period histories first). There is also The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, which I found to be a bit... I guess fluffy might be the best word. The first one will no doubt give you a guide for further reading, since it's all lifted from original manuscripts. Speaking of original manuscripts, I once saw a series called Crusade Texts in Translation on a professor's bookshelf. At least one of them was Arab in origin, if I remember correctly.

There's a translated mamluk military manual somewhere on the net. Pretty interesting, but I'll be damned if I could remember where I've seen it though.

Kitab al Furusiyyah wa al Manasib al Harbiyya ("On Horsemanship and Devices of War") of Hasan Al Rammah, from 1270. A translation (to French?) was published in 1998 but I don't know if it's available to the general public.

There is a book of post-medieval period (I think early 17th century) which is a martial manual of the Ottoman army, with many plates. This book of rather extra-large scale exists as a facsimile, unfortunately I cannot recall its name.

I also suggest to go through the vast bibliography of David Nicolle.

There is some interesting information here, including references to Hasan Al Rammah:

http://www.history-science-technology.com/Art...es%202.htm

Found it. Keith Nelson, a Swordforum-user posted parts of the thesis: "A 14th Century Mamluk-Kipchak Military Treatise - Munyatu'I-Guzat"

http://forums.swordforum.com/showthread.php?t...luk+manual

Sadly, the Pdf's not available online anymore. It was a most interesting manual dealing with riding, fighting with the lance and the bow mostly. The parts about swords dealt with typology and only offered minimal advice on how to actually use the weapon though.

Thank you very much for all the answers.

I ordered "Arab Historians of the Crusades" from Amazon and am eagerly awaiting delivery. Period texts would be my first choice, as well.

Thanks again,
-n.

Kurtulus Oztopcu's translation of the Munyatu'l Ghuzat is still in print:

http://www.oztopcu.com/books/mamluk-kipchak-military.htm

http://en.eren.com.tr/goster/kitap/kisi.asp?C...3159166297