re: Medieval battles

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Sieges and defending fortifications were 90% of fighting in the Middle Ages.

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You have a few notable epic battles like Agincourt and so forth. Agincourt saw much of the French (attacking) army killed or captured. You also have some set piece battles during the crusades that are fairly well documented.

What happened during the medieval period - in post-Roman Europe, anyway, is that the feudal knight became the dominant military force used - not because of inherent superiority, but because of logistics and strategic/operational mobility. Most battles were either sieges of a defensive position (the attacking force would have to raise a "real" army, infantry, skirmishers, engineers - all of whom moved slowly and required a huge logistics piece) - or a handful of knights and retainers fighting a similar force for a key road, river crossing or village.

A fairly well known open battle, Hastings, had approximately 17,000 participants, total, the Normans with a slight numerical edge. There were roughly 6k to 7K casualties, by most estimates, suggesting a brutal cost to such engagements, although it is likely many lingered and died of their wounds in succeeding days/weeks, rather than from acute injuries in battle.