You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Professor Prestwich's study of Edward I, first published in 1988, is a full-length account of one of the leading monarchs of the Middle Ages. A king who pioneered legal and parliamentary change, conquered Wales and came close to conquering Scotland, Edward also governed Gascony in south-west France and played a major part in European diplomacy and war.
The fascinating story of the exceptional woman who wrested power from Edward II and changed the course of English history
There is perhaps no other more lively area for study in medieval history than medieval military history, with its attendant and complementary field, the history of medieval military technology. In the past twenty years, it seems that more major scholarly inroads have been made in this field than in any other historical genre of medieval studies or chronological period of military history. What this has meant is that it is now more difficult to keep up with all of the trends and sources in the field than ever before. Hence the need for a reference work which covers what has previously been written and which, in turn, can assist the scholar, both the more experienced academic and the beginner,...
The world of medieval chivalry is at once glamorous and violent, alluring yet alien. Our popular views of the period are largely inherited from the nineteenth-century romantics, for whom chivalry evoked images of knights in shining armour, competing for the attention of fair ladies - with pennons and streamers fluttering from castle battlements. But what is the reality? Were the rituals and romance of chivalry designed to provide an escape from the brutal facts of almost continuous warfare? Or did they instead help regulate the conduct of war and moderate its violent excesses? Nigel Saul charts the introduction of chivalry by the Normans, the rise of the knightly class as a social elite, the fusion of chivalry with kingship in the fourteenth century and the influence of chivalry on literature, religion and architecture. He shows us a world of kings and barons, castles and cathedrals - a world shaped by Richard the Lionheart and the Crusades, by Magna Carta and the rule of law, by battles like Bannockburn and Crecy, by the Black Death and by tournaments, round tables and the cult of Arthurianism.
A history of the war experience of 13th and 14th century England. With anecdotes and illustrations, it explores how English medieval armies fought, how men were recruited, how the troops were fed, supplied and deployed, the development of weapons, and the structure of military command.
This series provides a forum for the most recent research into the political, social and ecclesiastical history of the 14th century.
Studies the remarkable life of Othon de Grandson—crusader, diplomat, and close companion to King Edward I. There were once two little boys - they met when they were both quite young; one was born in what’s now Switzerland, by Lake de Neuchâtel, his name Othon de Grandson, and the other was born in London, his name Prince Edward, son of King Henry the third of that name. Othon was probably born in 1238, and Edward, we know, in June 1239. These two little boys grew up and had adventures together. They took the cross together, the ninth crusade in 1271 and 1272. Othon reputedly sucking poison from Edward when the latter was attacked by an assassin. In 1277 and 1278, they fought the First W...
The Edwardian castles of north Wales were built by a Savoyard master mason, but also by many other artisans from Savoy. What is more extraordinary, is that the constables of Flint, Rhuddlan, Conwy and Harlech were also Savoyards, the Justiciar and Deputy Justiciar at Caernarfon were Savoyards and the head of the English army leading the relief of the sieges of Flint and Rhuddlan was a future Count of Savoy. The explanatory story is fundamentally of two men, the builder of castles, Master James of St George and Justiciar Sir Othon de Grandson, and the relationship of these two men with King Edward I. But it is also the story of many others, a story that begins with the marriage of Alianor de ...
A momentous event that sent shock waves across Europe, the battle of Crecy marked a turning point in the English king's struggle with his Valois adversary. This book assesses the significance of Crecy, and offers interpretations of both the battle itself and the campaign that preceded it.
In this thorough and illuminating work, Michael Prestwich provides a comprehensive study of Plantagenet England, a dramatic and turbulent period which saw many changes. In politics it saw Simon de Montfort's challenge to the crown in Henry II's reign and it witnessed the deposition of Edward I. In contrast, it also saw the highly successful rules of Edward I and his grandson, Edward III. Political institutions were transformed with the development of parliament and war was a dominant theme: Wales was conquered and the Scottish Wars of Independence started in Edward I's reign, and under Edward III there were triumphs at Crécy and Poitiers. Outside of politics, English society was developing a structure, from the great magnates at the top to the peasantry at the bottom. Economic changes were also significant, from the expansionary period of the thirteenth century to years of difficulty in the fourteenth century, culminating in the greatest demographic disaster of historical times, the Black Death. In this volume in the New Oxford History of England Michael Prestwich brings this fascinating century to life.