Accuracy of Osprey medieval military history books -- myArmoury.com

S. Mighton

I like the format of the Osprey books and am considering ordering a bunch of them. As a community with an impressive level of knowledge, I would be grateful for your opinions concerning their historical accuracy. Also, have they improved over time (i.e. are the newer ones better than the older ones?) or is the quality consistent throughout all their published works?

Thank you for your time.

Gavin Kisebach · Posted: Tue 02 Oct, 2007 9:34 pm Post subject:

I own and have read or skimmed through dozens of Osprey books, and some I have read half a dozen times. Some of the statements would be considered debatable, others have been disproven. Sorry I don't have an example on hand, if I find one tonight I'll add it. There have been many occasions where various forumites will point out inaccuracies, but they are a good starting point for further reading, or for the casual historian.

The illustration plates are generally useful if you are trying to visualize artifacts in context, however the artists seem to have one overriding goal: to cram as many artifacts as they can into a picture as is possible. To this end each warrior is festooned with swords, knives, and spears that may be from the same era and culture, but might never have been anywhere near the other artifacts.

Overall I think they are great, and I look forward to getting my mitts on more, just be sure you follow up with further research.

Chuck Russell · Posted: Tue 02 Oct, 2007 9:57 pm Post subject:

i think they are a great starting place. you can get one cheap, has relitively good info in it, some good period sources, period pictures, reproduction pictures etc. they let you get a glimpse of something to see if you want to dive into it further. i usually always grab a osprey when thinking of a new time period etc. then i look at teh plates then head to teh back to look at the sources for further readings.

Gregory J. Liebau · Posted: Tue 02 Oct, 2007 10:29 pm Post subject:

I enjoy them a lot. The reading can give a great general introduction to a particular kind of soldier, era of warfare, etc. There are always dozens of photographs or line plates showing artifacts or original artwork that can be helpful. The color plate sections are a good way to visualize things, as mentioned. But all of the resources these books provide should be considered second-hand, because of the deadlines put on them, the information they "need" to contain, and the fact that all of the authors are generally not experts on the topics they cover. So, if you can keep Osprey books in context, they can be very helpful.

I currently own over 60 Osprey titles on Ancient and Medieval Warfare, and am continually expanding my collection of them. To me, one of the best uses they have is to check simple facts like dates or names, and also to help introduce other people to the eras I'm exploring when I carry them for research.

-Gregory-

Alexander Borum · Posted: Tue 02 Oct, 2007 10:53 pm Post subject:

aye its a great starting point - i think the first books i got when i started on reenactment, was like 12 osprey titles.
as noted before, there are some debateable subjects in them, but in general, its a good indicator "on the way to go"
the plates are pretty good and is usefull when you try to pre-design your kit or simply want to find something to improve on your kit.

Nathan Robinson · myArmoury Admin

There are several reviews in our bookstore on specific Osprey titles. Maybe they will serve some benefit.

S. Mighton · Posted: Tue 02 Oct, 2007 11:01 pm Post subject:

Thanks all. I'm gonna go ahead and order some.

Daniel Staberg · Posted: Wed 03 Oct, 2007 12:08 am Post subject:

Each Osprey book must be judged on it's own merits or lack of them. The end result result depends on the author and illustrator not on the Osprey lable as such. Some are quite good and worthy additions to any research library. Others are extremly poor and will harm rather than enhance the readers knowledge of history. Yet others are simply dated as they were written 20 or 30 years ago and new research have rendered their content obsolete.

Martin Wilkinson · Posted: Wed 03 Oct, 2007 3:37 am Post subject:

Just to back up what most people have said, they're a good basic overview of a subject, which will lead you onto bigger and better sources. But, beware there are occassionally major inaccuracies, this is often due to the book being 30+ years old (point in case the one i read yesterday (English Civil War Armies from 1973)) and more modern research has disproved some of the authors opinions, or a new source has been uncovered which proves an idea wrong etc.

The more modern ones, will be full of the more modern research and ideas, and therefore more likely to be more accurate. Having said that even the older ones have some golden nuggets hidden in there.

George Davidson · Posted: Wed 03 Oct, 2007 5:05 am Post subject:

Gavin Kisebach · Posted: Wed 03 Oct, 2007 3:43 pm Post subject:

I suddenly felt a twinge of sadness. Ah Angus, we hardly knew ye. His illustrations are still spitze. Clean and clear, but rich and lively.

George Davidson · Posted: Thu 04 Oct, 2007 7:23 am Post subject:

Ruel A. Macaraeg · Posted: Thu 04 Oct, 2007 7:43 am Post subject:

James Barker · Posted: Thu 04 Oct, 2007 9:52 am Post subject:

Jared Smith · Posted: Thu 04 Oct, 2007 3:07 pm Post subject:

Gavin Kisebach · Posted: Thu 04 Oct, 2007 4:32 pm Post subject:

Victorian ideas on weapons still persist - I am reading a very enjoyable book on major battles from 1000AD to 1500AD. The author seems to have a very good grasp of the course of events, the layout of the field and so on, but the accompanying arms and armor illustrations are clearly outdated. This is not that old a book as far as I can tell.

It is true that Angus was "flexible" in some of his illustrations. Some byzantine lamellar armor springs to mind...