The Soldier Experience in the Fourteenth Century

Description

The "long" fourteenth century saw England fighting wars on a number of diverse fronts - not just abroad, in the Hundred Years War, but closer to home. But while tactics, battles, and logistics have been frequently discussed, the actual experience of being a soldier has been less often studied. Via a careful re-evaluation of original sources, and the use of innovative methodological techniques such as statistical analysis and the use of relational databases, the essays here bring new insights to bear on soldiers, both as individuals and as groups. Topics addressed include military service and the dynamics of recruitment; the social composition of the armies; the question of whether soldiers saw their role as a "profession"; and the experience of prisoners of war. Contributors: Andrew Ayton, David Simpkin, Andrew Spencer, David Bachrach, Iain MacInnes, Adam Chapman, Michael Jones, Guilhem Pepin, Remy Ambuhl, Adrian R. Bell Frontcover CONTENTS LIIST OF CONTRIBUTORS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS INTRODUCTION 1 Military Service and the Dynamics of Recruitment in Fourteenth-Century England 2 Total War in the Middle Ages? The Contribution of English Landed Societ yto the Wars of Edward I and Edward II 3 A Warlike People? Gentry Enthusiasm for Edward I’s Scottish Campaigns, 1296–1307 4 Edward I’s Centurions: Professional Soldiers in an Era of Militia Armies 5 Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Bruce? Balliol Scots and ‘English Scots’ during the Second Scottish War of Independence 6 Rebels, Uchelwyr and Parvenus: Welsh Knights in the Fourteenth Century 7 Breton Soldiers from the Battle of the Thirty (26 March 1351) to Nicopolis (25 September 1396) 8 Towards a Rehabilitation of Froissart’s Credibility: The Non Fictitious Bascot de Mauléon 9 The English Reversal of Fortunes in the 1370s and the Experience of Prisoners of War 10 The soldier, ‘hadde he riden, no man ferre’ INDEX Backcover