"Alongside the familiar pitched battles, regular sieges, and large-scale manoeuvers, medieval and early modern wars also involved assassination, abduction, treason, and sabotage. These undercover operations were aimed chiefly against key individuals, mostly royalty or the leaders of the opposing army, and against strategic fortified places, including bridges, mills and dams. Because of their clandestine nature, and the consequent scarcity of contemporary records, covert operations have not previously been studied in any detail; this book is the first to survey special operations from the eleventh century to the sixteenth"--Jacket.