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Stephen Turnbull
The Book of the Medieval Knight
London 1985
Stron 192, DUŻY format: 22x28 cm
221 ilustracji
Książka jest używana: bez defektów, stan dobry plus.
Fearless in battle, undaunted in defeat, mag-nanamous in victory, the knight lived his life on a heroic scale. War was his metier; valour and chivalry his code of life. He was part of Europe's military elite.
This book, superbly illustrated in both colour and black-and-white, tells the stoiy of the knight during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries - from the great victories of Edward" III and the Black Prince to the fall of Richard III on Bosworth Field. During this period, new technology on the battlefield posed deadly challenges for the mounted warrior; but they also stimulated change, and the knight moved with the times, surviving the longbow devastation at Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt to emerge triumphant still, his armour now lighter and more effective, his military skills indispensable.
Thus was the great age of the orders of chivahy and the freemasonry of amis that bound together comrades and adversaries in a tight international military caste. Such men as Bertrand du Guesclin and Sir John Chandos loom large in the pages of this book, bold leaders and brave warriors, imbued with these traditions of chivahy and knighthood. How their heroic endevaours and the knightly code of conduct could be reconciled with the indiscriminate carnage of the chevauchée' and the depradations of the free companies' is one of the principal themes of this narrative.
Throughout the book, historical events are used to illustrate a particular military topic, which is analysed in the context of the time and cir-
cumstances. The story begins with the young Edward Ill's revenge for'Bannockburn:
• A New Arthur Dupplin Moor, the siege of Berwick and the Battle of Halidon Hill
• King of England - King of France The opening of The Hundred Years War
• The Practice of War The raising of armies, the road to total war- and the power- of the longbow Crécy
• A King's Ramsom Chivalry and the chevauchée, the Battle of the Thirty - the epitome of knightly combat, the relief of Aquitaine and the Battle of Poiters
• The Lion and the Eagel Du Guesclin, the free companies and the Spanish campaigns
• Onward Christian Soldiers Honour and internationalism as expressed by the crusades: Lithuania, Nicopolis and Tannenberg
• The Sorcerer's Apprentice Henry IV" s campaigns against Owain Glyndwr
• The Picardy Affair Henry V and the Agincourt war
• The Long, Losing War Joan of Arc, the relief of Orleans and the eviction of the English from Normandy and Gascony
• The War of the Old Men York and Lancaster and the opening phases of the Wars of the Roses
• The Sun in Splendour Towton and Tewkesbury, castles and sieges, and the triumph of cannon
• The Fall of Great Houses The end of the Yorkists, the demise of the Montiorts of Brittany and the destruction of Burgundy
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 6
The Knightly Inheritance................7
1. A NEW ARTHUR...................9
The Heir to Misfortune.................11
The Weardale Campaign................12
Dupplin Moor.....................17
The Siege of Berwick..................17
The Battle of Halidon Hill...............22
2. KING OF ENGLAND-KING OF FRANCE 25
Homage for Gascony..................25
The French Succession................26
The Brittany Adventure.................27
The First Battle.....................28
3. THE PRACTICE OF WAR 31
The Raising of Armies.................31
The Road to Total War.................32
Battle of Crecy.....................35
The Year of Victories..................38
The Power of the Bow.................42
Knights in Armour...................42
4. A KING'S RANSOM................45
The Knight and Discipline...............45
The Tenets of Chivalry.................47
An Ideal World.....................50
The Relief of Aquitaine.................53
Battle of Poitiers....................54
5. THE LION AND THE EAGLE 57
Du Guesclin's Early Life................57
The Knighthood of du Guesclin............58
The Siege of Rennes..................61
The Absence of Peace.................63
Cocherel........................64
Battle of Auray.....................64
The Curse of the Free Companies...........67
The Spanish Campaigns................70
The Revival of France.................75
A Little Local Difficulty.................78
Du Guesclin's Farewell................79
6. ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS 81
Knightly Honour....................81
Crusading - 14c Style.................83
The Crusaders in Lithuania..............84
Nicopolis........................86
Tannenberg-The Waterloo of the Teutonic Order . . 87
7. THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE
The Rise of Lancaster.........
The Revolt of Owain Glyndwr.....
The Forgotten Invasion........
8. THE PICARDY AFFAIR......
Agincourt...............
Henry's Normandy Invasion.....
The Auld Alliance...........
9. THE LONG, LOSING WAR . . .
Orleans................
The Coming of the Maid.......
The Companions Fight On......
The End in Normandy.........
Farewell to Aquitaine.........
10. THE WAR OF THE OLD MEN
York and Lancaster..........
The Raising of Armies........
The French Connection........
The Ludlow Incident.........
The Old Soldiers Fade Away.....
The End at Wakefield.........
Armour in the Wars of the Roses . . .
11. THE SUN IN SPLENDOUR
The Battle of Mortimer's Cross ....
St Albans...............
Towton -The Day of Reckoning . . .
The War in the North.........
Castles and Sieges..........
The Triumph of the Cannon.....
Crossbows and Armour.......
Neville versus York..........
Tewkesbury - The Second Towton . .
12. THE FALL OF GREAT HOUSES
Charles the Bold . . .'"........
Edward's Invasion of France.....
The Destruction of Burgundy.....
A Crisis for York............
Richard III...............
The End of Brittany..........
The Triumph of the Knight......
REFERENCES for Further Reading .
INDEX................
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