Government and Warfare
Essay and Seminar Questions
- Is it accurate to describe medieval Europe as 'a society organised for war'?
- Why were the English successful for so long in the Hundred Years War?
- 'The chivalric code served as a veneer to disguise the brutality of medieval warfare'. Discuss.
Documents
- Jean Froissart, Chronicles. The Battles of Crecy and Poitiers, and the Prince of Wales' revenge on Limoges.
- A better translation of the above source can be found here
- The Ransom of Bertrand du Guesclin
- Treaty of Troyes, 1420 and Conditions in France in 1422
Introductory Reading
Barber, The Two CitiesLink opens in a new window. No readings.
Bartlett, The Making of EuropeLink opens in a new window, 24-105
Waley and Denley, Later Medieval EuropeLink opens in a new window, 3-28, 48-63, 132-149, 172-217, 314-317
e-resources
- The Internet Medieval Sourcebook has sections on warfareLink opens in a new window, the Hundred Years' WarLink opens in a new window, and late medieval governmentsLink opens in a new window.
- Kenilworth CastleLink opens in a new window One of England's great castles is only 15 minutes by busLink opens in a new window from the University.
- De Re Militari: The Society for Medieval Military HistoryLink opens in a new window. The website includes a series of resources (primary sources, articles, and essays) relating to the Hundred Years' WarLink opens in a new window.
- Tales from FroissartLink opens in a new window
- The Online Froissart. New online edition with translation.
- The Chronicles of FroissartLink opens in a new window
- 'AgincourtLink opens in a new window'. In Our Time. BBC Radio programme, Thursday 16 September 2004.
- The Royal ArmouriesLink opens in a new window
- International Joan of Arc Society
Further Reading
Warfare and Chivalry
Barber, Richard, The Knight and Chivalry (2000)
Contamine, Philippe, War in the Middle Ages, trans. Michael Jones (Oxford, 1984)
Hale, J.R., War and Society in Renaissance Europe (Stroud, 1998)
Keen, Maurice, (ed.), Medieval Warfare: A History (Oxford, 1999)
Keen, Maurice, Chivalry (Yale, 1984)
Mallett, Michael, Mercenaries and their Masters (London, 1974)
Nicholson, Helen, Medieval Warfare: Theory and Practice of War in Europe, 300-1500Link opens in a new window (Houndmills, 2004)
Taylor, Craig, Chivalry and the Ideals of Knighthood in France During the Hundred Years War (Cambridge University Press, 2013)
The Hundred Years' War
Anonymous, A Parisian Journal, 1405-1449, trans. Janet Shirley (Oxford, 1968)
Allmand, Christopher, The Hundred Years' War (Cambridge, 1988)
Allmand, Christopher, Society at War: The Experience of England and France During the Hundred Years War (Edinburgh, 1973)
Curry, Anne, The Hundred Years War (Basingstoke, 2003) [also onlineLink opens in a new window]
Curry, Anne and Michael Hughes (eds), Arms, Armies, and Fortifications in the Hundred Years War (Boydell, 1994)
Dodd, Gwylim, 'Agincourt: Henry's Hollow Victory', History Today, 65:10 (2015)
Froissart, Jean, Chronicles, ed. and trans. John Jolliffe (Harmondsworth, 1978) [The most important contemporary history of the Hundred Years' War] [also online hereLink opens in a new window , or here]
Ormrod, W.M., The Reign of Edward III (New Haven, 1990)
Saul, Nigel (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval England (Oxford, 1997)