Essays on Medieval Military History

The Hundred Years War has been the focus of much scholarly work over the past decades. In this collection of fifteen studies, Clifford J. Rogers treats numerous aspects of the war, with particular emphasis on the reign of Edward III. Several campaigns are analyzed in detail, drawing on manuscript sources and highlighting the close interrelationship between military operations and political aims and contexts. Several important contemporary texts dealing with the Hundred Years War are included in the volume, both in the original languages and in English translation (including a translation of the 1328-1339 continuation of the Manuel d'histoire de Philippe VI not previously published.) A long essay discussing the devastation of France during the Hundred Years War is significant not only for understanding the place of ravaging in medieval warfare, but for appreciating its terrible effects on the daily lives of ordinary medieval people. Other articles in the collection take a very broad view, examining the generalities of medieval military strategy, the nature of military revolutions across history, and the significance of developments in the conduct and structures of war for changes in late medieval society generally.