A Great and Glorious Adventure (43 page)
Read A Great and Glorious Adventure Online
Authors: Gordon Corrigan
Despite warm personal relations that exist between many Britons and French men and women, France as a nation has never liked us, and does not now. The feeling is mutual, and one suspects that
the widespread British antipathy to the European Union might be a lot less intense were France not a major player in it. Some years ago, this author, having commanded the British contingent at a
French Armistice Day parade in Limoges, was invited to lunch with the French general who had taken the salute, a delightful and cultured man who employed a superb cook and kept a very fine
wine-cellar. After the consumption of much excellent claret and a considerable quantity of fine cognac, the general put his arm around me, looked me straight in the eye, and said:
‘
N’oubliez jamais
:
vous êtes l’ennemi héreditaire
.’
Could things have been different? Perhaps, if Henry V had not died when he did, he might have been accepted by the French as king, with his French wife; or if England had not tried to achieve
quite so much and had contented herself with recovering Aquitaine, unquestionably English by legal and moral right, and fought to have it in full sovereignty, then
we might
perhaps still have a foothold in Europe today. Certainly, there was no excuse for the Tudor laxness that lost us Calais in 1558. It is much more likely, however, that at some stage the sovereignty
of English France would have been given to a younger son and that the crowns would have once more diverged. As it was, an English child king and internal strife at home after the death of Henry V
left little appetite for further European adventures until it was far too late, and, despite her going to war with France many times in the succeeding centuries, England’s future lay in the
seas and in empire, whereas that of France was as a land power. For all that, the Hundred Years War was a great adventure, and a great and righteous cause.
1
All verses from R. T. Davies (ed.),
Medieval English Lyrics
, Faber & Faber, London, 1963.
2
Seward, Desmond,
The Hundred Years War
, Constable, London, 1978.
3
Maxwell, Sir Herbert (tr. and ed.),
The Chronicle of Lanercost, 1272–1346
, J. MacLehose, Glasgow, 1913.
4
Thompson, E. M. (tr.),
Chronicon Galfridi Le Baker de Swynbroke
(facsimile reprint), General Books, Milton Keynes, 2010.
5
Sumption, Jonathan,
Trial by Battle, The Hundred Years War I
, Faber & Faber, London, 1990.
6
Brie, Friedrich (ed.),
The Brut; or the Chronicles of England
, K. Paul, London, 1880.
7
Bartlett, Robert,
England under the Norman and Angevin Kings 1075–1225
, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 2000.
8
Soar, Hugh D. H.,
The Crooked Stick: A history of the longbow
, Westholme, Yardley, Penn., 2009.
9
Hewitt, H. J.,
The Organisation of War under Edward III
, Manchester UP, Manchester, 1966.
10
Ibid.
11
Powicke, Michael,
Military Obligation in Medieval England
, Oxford UP, Oxford, 1962.
12
For the detailed organization of indentured retinues, see N. B. Lewis,
The Organisation of Indentured Retinues in Fourteenth
Century England
, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, vol. 27, issue 1, Cambridge UP, Cambridge, 2009.
13
Ayton, Andrew and Preston, Philip,
The Battle of Crécy, 1346
, Boydell, Woodbridge, 2005.
14
Hewitt, op. cit.
15
For a detailed account of the Battle of Morlaix, see Kelly DeVries,
Infantry Warfare in the Fourteenth Century
, Boydell,
Woodbridge, 1996.
16
I have found the most convincing assessment of the size and composition of the 1346 army to be that of Andrew Ayton, ‘The
English army at Crécy’, in Andrew
Ayton and Philip Preston (eds.),
The Battle of Crécy, 1346
, Boydell, Woodbridge, 2005.
17
Sumption, Jonathan,
Trial by Battle, The Hundred Years War I
, Faber & Faber, London, 1990.
18
For an account of how ransom worked, see Michael Prestwich,
Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages
, Yale UP, New Haven, 1996
and Christopher Allmand,
The Hundred Years War
, Cambridge UP, Cambridge, 1988.
19
Wrottesley, George,
Crecy and Calais
, Harrison & Sons, London, 1898.
20
Sumption, op. cit.
21
The arguments for and against the ‘traditional’ site are well and meticulously examined by Sir Philip Preston in
‘The traditional battlefield of Crécy’, in Andrew Ayton and Philip Preston (eds.),
The Battle of Crécy, 1346
, Boydell, Woodbridge, 2005.
22
Maxwell, Sir Herbert (tr. and ed.),
The Chronicle of Lanercost, 1272–1346
, J. MacLehose, Glasgow, 1913.
23
McKisack, May,
The Fourteenth Century
, Oxford UP, Oxford, 1959.
24
Geoffrey le Baker,
Chronicle
, quoted in A. R. Myers (ed.),
English Historical Documents
, vol. 4, Oxford UP,
Oxford, 1969.
25
James, G. P. R.,
A History of the Life of Edward the Black Prince
(2 vols.), Orne, Green & Longmans, London, 1839.
26
Barber, Richard,
Life and Campaigns of The Black Prince
, Boydell, Woodbridge, 1979.
27
Martin, G. H. (tr. and ed.),
Knighton’s Chronicle 1337–1396
, Oxford UP, Oxford, 1995.
28
Geoffrey le Baker,
Chronicle
, quoted in A. R. Myers (ed.),
English Historical Documents
, vol. 4, Oxford UP,
Oxford, 1969.
29
De Smet J. J. (tr.),
Corpus Chronicorum Flandrensium
, Brussels, 1856, quoted in Clifford J. Rogers (ed.),
Essays on
Medieval Military History
, Ashgate, Farnham, 2010.
30
Martin, G. H. (tr. and ed.),
Knighton’s Chronicle 1337–1396
, Oxford UP, Oxford, 1995.
31
Ibid.
32
Sumption, Jonathan,
Trial by Fire, The Hundred Years War II
, Faber & Faber, London, 1999.
33
Prestwich, Michael,
The Three Edwards: War and state in England 1272–1377
, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London,
1980.
34
Brereton, Geoffrey (tr. and ed.),
Froissart: Chronicles
, Penguin, London, 1978.
35
Preest, David and Clark, James G. (tr. and ed.),
The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham (1376–1422)
, Boydell,
Woodbridge, 2005.
36
Preest, David and Clark, James G. (tr. and ed.),
The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham (1376–1422)
, Boydell,
Woodbridge, 2005.
37
See Boardman, A. W.,
Hotspur: Henry Percy, Medieval Rebel
, Sutton, Stroud, 2003.
38
Bradmore described the process in a Latin treatise
Philomena
, which survives (British Library, Sloane Manuscript 2272). He
died in London in 1412.
39
Details of retinues from Anne Curry,
The Battle of Agincourt, Sources and Interpretations
, Boydell,
Woodbridge, 2000.
40
Taylor, Frank and Roskell, John S. (tr.),
Gesta Henrici Quinti
, Oxford UP, Oxford, 1975.
41
Ibid.
42
War Office,
Animal Management
, HMSO, London, 1933.
43
Mortimer, Ian,
1415: Henry V’s year of glory
, Bodley Head, London, 2009.
44
Lancaster, H. O.,
Expectations of Life: A study in the demography, statistics and history of world mortality
, Springer
Verlag, New York, 1990.
45
Quoted in Seward, Desmond,
The Hundred Years War
, Constable, London, 1978.
46
Pernoud, Régine and Clin, Marie-Véronique (tr. Adams, J. duQuesnay),
Joan of Arc: Her story
, Phoenix, London,
2000.
Allmand, Christopher,
The Hundred Years War
, Cambridge UP, Cambridge, 1988
Ayton, Andrew,
Knights and Warhorses
, Boydell, Woodbridge, 1994
Ayton, Andrew and Preston, Philip (eds.),
The Battle of Crécy, 1346
, Boydell, Woodbridge, 2005
Barber, Richard,
Life and Campaigns of The Black Prince
, Boydell, Woodbridge, 1979
Barber, Richard,
The Pastons
, Boydell, Woodbridge, 1993
Barker, Juliet,
Agincourt
, Little, Brown, London, 2005
Barker, Juliet,
Conquest
, Little, Brown, London, 2009
Barnie, John,
War in Medieval Society
, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1974
Barratt, John,
War for the Throne
, Pen & Sword, Barnsley, 2010
Beffeyte, Renaud and Contamine, Philippe,
L’art de la guerre au Moyen Age
(3rd edn), Éditions Ouest-France, Rennes, 2010
Bennett, Matthew, ‘The development of tactics during the Hundred Years War’, in Curry, A. and Hughes, M.,
Arms, Armies and Fortifications in the Hundred Years
War
, Boydell, Woodbridge, 1994
Bennett, Matthew et al,
Fighting Techniques of the Medieval World
, Spellmount, Staplehurst, 2005
Blair, Claude (ed.),
Pollard’s History of Firearms
, Mamlyn, Feltham, 1983
Boardman, A. W.,
Hotspur: Henry Percy, Medieval Rebel
, Sutton, Stroud, 2003
Brereton, Geoffrey (tr. and ed.),
Froissart: Chronicles
, Penguin, London, 1978
Brie, Friedrich (ed.),
The Brut; or the Chronicles of England
, K. Paul, London, 1880
Burne, A. H.,
The Crécy War: A military history of the Hundred Years War from 1337 to the Peace of Brétigny 1360
, Eyre & Spottiswoode, London,
1955
Burne, A. H.,
The Agincourt War: A military history of the latter part of the Hundred Years War from 1369 to 1453
, Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1956
Cole, Robert,
A Traveller’s History of France
(5th edition), Windrush, Moreton-in-Marsh, 1998
Colvin, H. M. (ed.),
The History of the King’s Works
, vol. 1:
The Middle Ages
, HMSO, London, 1963
Cooper, Stephen,
Sir John Hawkwood
, Pen & Sword, Barnsley, 2008
Creighton, Oliver and Higham, Robert,
Medieval Town Walls
, Tempus, Stroud, 2005
Cross, Peter,
The Knight in Medieval England
, Sutton, Stroud, 1993
Curry, Anne,
The Battle of Agincourt: Sources and interpretations
, Boydell, Woodbridge, 2000
Curry, Anne (ed.),
Agincourt 1415
, Tempus, Stroud, 2000
DeVries, Kelly,
Infantry Warfare in the Fourteenth Century
, Boydell, Woodbridge, 1996
DeVries, Kelly,
Joan of Arc
, Sutton, Stroud, 1999
Dockray, Keith,
Henry V
, Tempus, Stroud, 2004
Emerson, Barbara,
The Black Prince
, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1976
Featherstone, Donald,
The Bowmen of England
, Clarkson N. Potter Inc., New York, 1968
Fiorato, Veronica, Boylston, Anthea and Knusel, Christopher (eds.),
Blood Red Roses
(2nd edn), Oxbow, Oxford, 2007
Fowler, Kenneth (ed.),
The Hundred Years War
, MacMillan, London, 1971
Fryde, E. B.,
William de la Pole
, Hambledon, London, 1988
Girault, Pierre-Gilles,
Jeanne d’Arc
, Gisserot, Paris, 2004
Goodman, Anthony,
The Wars of the Roses
, Tempus, Stroud, 2006
Gravett, Christopher,
Knight
, Osprey, Oxford, 2008
Harrison, Brian and Matthew, Colin (eds.),
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
(60 vols.), Oxford UP, Oxford, 2004
Hallam, Elizabeth (ed.),
Chronicles of the Age of Chivalry
, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1987
Hanley, Catherine,
War and Combat 1150–1270
, D. S. Brewer, Cambridge, 2003
Haswell, Jock,
The Ardent Queen
, Peter Davies, London, 1996
Hewitt, H. J.,
The Organisation of War under Edward III
, Manchester UP, Manchester, 1966
Hicks, Michael,
Who’s Who in Late Medieval England
, Shepheard-Walwyn, London, 1991
Horne, Alistair,
Friend or Foe
, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2004
Hyland, Ann,
The Warhorse 1250–1600
, Sutton, Stroud, 1998
James, G. P. R.,
A History of the Life of Edward the Black Prince
(2 vols.), Orne, Green & Longmans, London, 1839
Jestice, Phyllis G.,
The Timeline of Medieval Warfare
, Amber, London, 2008
Jolliffe, J. E. A.,
The Constitutional History of Medieval England
, Black, London, 1937
Jones, Michael (ed.),
Camden Miscellany
, vol. 24, Royal Historical Society, London, 1972
Kenyon, John R.,
Medieval Fortifications
, Leicester UP, London, 1990
Lacroix, Paul,
Military and Religious Life in the Middle Ages
, Frederick Ungar, New York, 1964
Lambert, Michael,
Medieval Heresy
(2nd edn), Blackwell, Oxford, 1992
Lloyd, Alan,
The Hundred Years War
, Granada, London, 1977
Martin, G. H. (tr. and ed.),
Knighton’s Chronicle 1337–1396
, Oxford UP, Oxford, 1995
Maxfield, Stephen,
The Battlefield of Shrewsbury
, WPG, Welshpool, 2003
Maxwell, Sir Herbert (tr. and ed.),
The Chronicle of Lanercost, 1272–1346
, J. MacLehose, Glasgow, 1913
McKisack, May,
The Fourteenth Century
, Oxford UP, Oxford, 1959
Miller, James,
Swords for Hire
, Birlinn, Edinburgh, 2007
Mortimer, Ian,
1415: Henry V’s year of glory
, Bodley Head, London, 2009
Mortimer, Ian,
The Fears of Henry IV
, Jonathan Cape, London, 2007
Mortimer, Ian,
Medieval Intrigue
, Continuum, London, 2010
Mortimer, Ian,
The Perfect King
, Jonathan Cape, London, 2006
Mortimer, Ian,
The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England
, Bodley Head, London, 2008
Packe, Michael,
King Edward III
, Ark, London, 1985
Pernoud, Régine and Clin, Marie-Véronique (tr. Adams, J. duQuesnay),
Joan of Arc: Her story
, Phoenix, London, 2000
Powicke, Michael,
Military Obligation in Medieval England
, Oxford UP, Oxford, 1962
Preest, David and Clark, James G. (tr. and ed.),
The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham (1376–1422)
, Boydell, Woodbridge, 2005
Prestwich, Michael,
Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages
, Yale UP, New Haven, 1996
Prestwich, Michael,
The Three Edwards: War and State in England 1272–1377
, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1980
Reid, Peter,
By Fire and Sword
, Constable, London, 2007
Rogers, Clifford J.,
Essays on Medieval Military History
, Ashgate, Farnham, 2010
Rogers, Clifford J.,
War Cruel and Sharp
, Boydell, Woodbridge, 2000
Saul, Nigel,
A Companion to Medieval England 1066–1485
, Tempus, Stroud, 2005
Saul, Nigel,
Richard II
, Yale UP, New Haven, 1997
Seward, Desmond,
The Hundred Years War
, Constable, London, 1978
Soar, Hugh D. H.,
The Crooked Stick: A history of the longbow
, Westholme, Yardley, Penn., 2009
Sumption, Jonathan,
Divided Houses, The Hundred Years War III
, Faber & Faber, London, 2009
Sumption, Jonathan,
Trial by Battle, The Hundred Years War I
, Faber & Faber, London, 1990
Sumption, Jonathan,
Trial by Fire, The Hundred Years War II
, Faber & Faber, London, 1999
Sweetinburgh, Sheila,
The Role of the Hospital in Medieval England
, Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2004
Taylor, Frank and Roskell, John S. (tr.),
Gesta Henrici Quinti
, Oxford UP, Oxford, 1975
Taylor, Larissa Juliet,
The Virgin Warrior
, Yale UP, New Haven, 2009
Teutsch, Christian,
Victory at Poitiers
, Pen & Sword, London, 2010
Thompson, E. M. (tr.),
Chronicon Galfridi Le Baker de Swynbroke
(facsimile reprint), General Books, Milton Keynes, 2010
Urban, William,
Medieval Mercenaries
, Greenhill, London, 2006
Vale, Malcolm,
War and Chivalry
, Duckworth, London, 1981
Warner, Philip,
Sieges of the Middle Ages
, Barnes & Noble, New York, 1968
Watts, John,
The Making of Polities: Europe 1300–1500
, Cambridge UP, Cambridge, 2009
Weir, Alison,
Isabella
, Jonathan Cape, London, 2005
Wenzler, Claude,
Genealogy of the Kings of France and their Wives
, Éditions Ouest-France, Rennes, 2010
Wilkinson, Frederick,
Edged Weapons
, Guinness, London, 1970
Wrottesley, George,
Crecy and Calais
, Harrison & Sons, London, 1898
Wylie, James Hamilton,
The History of England under Henry the Fourth
(3 vols.), Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1884
Ziegler, Philip,
The Black Death
, Harper Collins, London, 1969
