Late Medieval Monarchies
Seminar and Essay Questions
- 'For the monarchies of France and England the period 1450-1500 was one of recovery and consolidation rather than of innovation'. Discuss.
- To what extent did the fifteenth century witness a reconfiguration in England and France of the relative powers of king, nobles, and commons?
Documents
- Jack Cade: Proclamation of Grievances, 1450
- Titulus Regius
- Philippe de Commynes: Portrait Of Louis XI (c. 1498)Link opens in a new window
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
Hay, Denys, Chapter 5 'The theory and practice of government' and Chapter 6 'Political development in Western Europe' in Hay, Europe in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries (1989)
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.
- 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
- The Royal ArmouriesLink opens in a new window
- In Our Time: The Wars of the Roses
Further Reading
General
Anderson, M.S., and M. Smith, The Origins of the Modern European State System, 1494-1618 (London, 1998)
Black, Antony, Political Thought in Europe, 1250-1450 (Cambridge, 1992)
Contamine, Philippe, War in the Middle Ages, trans. Michael Jones (Oxford, 1984)
Davies, Rees, 'The Medieval State: The Tyranny of a Concept?'Link opens in a new window Journal of Historical Sociology 16 no. 2 (2003), 280–300.
Hale, J.R., War and Society in Renaissance Europe (Stroud, 1998)
Hay, Denys, Europe in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries (1989)
Jones, Philip, The Italian City-State: From Commune to Signoria (Oxford, 1997)
Kirshner, Julius (ed.), The Origins of the State in Italy 1300-1600 (Chicago, 1995) [These essays are also available online hereLink opens in a new window]
Reynolds, Susan, 'There were States in Medieval Europe: A Response to Rees Davies'Link opens in a new window, Journal of Historical Sociology 16 no. 4 (2003), 550–55.
Rubin, Miri, The Hollow Crown: A History of Britain in the Late Middle Ages (London, 2006)
Shennan, J.H., Origins of the Modern European State, 1450-1725 (London, 1974)
England
Carpenter, Christine, The Wars of the Roses: Politics and the Constitution in England, c.1437-1509 (Cambridge, 1997)
Curry, Anne, The Hundred Years War (Basingstoke, 2003) [also onlineLink opens in a new window]
Froissart, Jean, Chronicles, ed. and trans. John Jolliffe (Harmondsworth, 1978) [The most important contemporary history of the Hundred Years' War] [also onlineLink opens in a new window]
Gunn, S., Early Tudor Government (Basingstoke, 1995)
Hicks, Michael, English Political Culture in the Fifteenth Century (London, 2002) [also onlineLink opens in a new window]
Keen, M.H., England in the Later Middle Ages (London, 1973)
Lander, J.R., Conflict and Stability in Fifteenth-Century England (London, 1977)
Lander, J.R., Government and Community: England, 1450-1509 (London, 1980)
McFarlane, K.B., England in the Fifteenth Century (London, 1981)
Ormrod, W.M., Political Life in Medieval England, 1300-1450 (Basingstoke, 1995)
Ormrod, W.M., The Reign of Edward III (New Haven, 1990)
Saul, Nigel (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval England (Oxford, 1997)
Wolffe, B.P., Yorkist and Early Tudor Government (London, 1969)
France
Commynes, Philippe de, Memoirs: the Reign of Louis XILink opens in a new window, ed. and trans. Michael Jones (Harmondsworth, 1972)
Knecht, Robert, The Rise and Fall of Renaissance France, 1483-1610, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 2001)
Lewis, P.S., Later Medieval France: The Polity (London, 1968)
Lewis, P.S., The Recovery of France in the Fifteenth Century (London, 1971)
Potter, David, France in the Later Middle Ages 1200-1500 (Oxford, 2003)
Vaughan, Richard, Charles the Bold: the Last Valois Duke of Burgundy (London, 1973)
Vaughan, Richard, Philip the Good, the Apogee of Burgundy (Harlow, 1970)
