Winds of Change

About six years ago I met with Jasper Oorthuys and Christy Beall to discuss becoming the Editor of Medieval Warfare magazine. I remember how excited I was about the possibility of running a magazine about medieval military history. It would be a dream job. A few weeks after that meeting I would have this dream job, and then was flying off to the Netherlands to get my start in their wonderful office in Zutphen. I absolutely loved the process of creating magazines - creating issues, finding authors and illustrators, and molding a bunch of articles into a coherent reading. At one point I thought I would always be a magazine editor. But after 32 issues (plus 3 special issues), I am now stepping down as the Editor of MW. This is only because I am also the editor and owner of Medievalists.net, and as that media company has grown I could no longer adequately split my time to run both endeavours. I leave behind what I hope is a magazine that has given readers interesting and engaging articles, and that has helped to promote the study of medieval military history. Over these last six years, my aim has been to create the best quality history magazine you could find on a bookstore shelf, to go way beyond the typical publication. This meant bringing in the top medieval military historians to write for us, to tell complex stories, and to break ground on new research. For example, I firmly believe that our special issue on the Battle of Hastings is the best publication on the battle that has been ever made. I also had a more secret aim when it came to being an editor. Medieval Warfare would not be a magazine that glorifies the past and presents historical figures as heroes. Instead, the goal was to show the war was a terrible affair, which ultimately led to few winners and many destroyed lives. Whether it be writing about the Sack of Rome in 1527, or the fate of prisoners of war, I wanted to make sure that we presented military history how it really was. The horrors of war are very clearly seen today in places such as Ukraine, and I wanted to make sure our magazine remembered that this was the case in the Middle Ages too. MW will be continuing on, and Alice Isabelle Sullivan, who has excelled as my Assistant Editor for the last year, will be taking on the challenge of running this magazine. Some big plans are underway to revitalize the magazine, ones that I think will make it even better. I will still have a small role going forward - in fact, I am writing an article for the next issue. Before I put down my pen, a few words of thanks. First, to Jasper Oorthuys and Christy Beall, the heart of Karwansaray Publishers, thank you for always pushing me to make this magazine better. To my fellow editors, Sandra Alvarez and Guy Bowers, it has been an absolute pleasure to work alongside you as we created our magazines. To my team of artists and mapmakers, you greatly helped bring to life these pages. To the many writers who contributed to the magazine, thank you for your hard work and research and letting us share that work. Most of all, to all our readers, a big thank you for giving us your support, and to show that high-quality writing about history can find an audience. I hope you will continue this support and allow us to tell even more stories about the medieval past. ~ Peter