Very little military treatises were produced during the Middle Ages due to the invasion of barbarian tribes and the spread of illiteration. Even later when the higher classes ceased beeing illiterate and had standing armies, very little textbooks on the art of war was written (Creveld. M, The Art of War, 2002, pg 59 and 61).

Two authors to mention are Honore Bonet (around 1400) and Christine de Pisan. Neither of them was a soldier. Bonet was a monk and doctor of law. His work “L’Arbre des batailles” (The tree of Battles) was to help mitrigate the evils of war – the houndred years war. Christine de Pisan wrote a treatise on chivalry. Theory was not a strong point during the ancient world and the Latin Middle Ages. Most works were small handbooks which the generals carried around and used when they needed. They give advices and instructions in various matters like training archers to fire accurately or how to use heated vinegar to split rocks. Many of those books were still in use until 1700, the evolution of warfare was slow. And unlike the chinese classics they do not discuss the philosphy of war. While China had several such writers, the only one who met that demand in the West was Clausewitz (Creveld. M, The Art of War, 2002, pg 65).

The perhaps only real maifest about warefare written during medieval times was composed by a woman - Christine de Pizan. She was born in Venice in 1364, when she was five years old her family moved to Paris. In Paris Christine recieved a great education and learnt to speak both French and Italian. In 1380 she was married to a schollar. But tragedy struck. In 1387 her father died and three years later her husband. With her ability to read and write she started to translate others works and write her own to earn a living.
Christines "The Book of Deeds of Arms" was composed of many works especially from the antiquity. The purpose with the book was to give instructions to young noblemen on the conduct of warfare. Christine de Pizan is often missed by military historicans, but she is one of the few to give a contemporary description on the use of gunpowder and artillery in the mid-hundred years war. It is an unusually detailed account. In the text she is very concerned with not only quoting earlier authors works, but also with explaining what is still used.