The Hundred Years War
A People's History
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Yale University Press
Published:8th Oct '15
£14.99
Available for immediate dispatch.
What life was like for ordinary French and English people, embroiled in a devastating century-long conflict that changed their world
The Hundred Years War (1337–1453) dominated life in England and France for well over a century. It became the defining feature of existence for generations. This sweeping book is the first to tell the human story of the longest military conflict in history. Historian David Green focuses on the ways the war affected different groups, among them knights, clerics, women, peasants, soldiers, peacemakers, and kings. He also explores how the long war altered governance in England and France and reshaped peoples’ perceptions of themselves and of their national character.
Using the events of the war as a narrative thread, Green illuminates the realities of battle and the conditions of those compelled to live in occupied territory; the roles played by clergy and their shifting loyalties to king and pope; and the influence of the war on developing notions of government, literacy, and education. Peopled with vivid and well-known characters—Henry V, Joan of Arc, Philippe the Good of Burgundy, Edward the Black Prince, John the Blind of Bohemia, and many others—as well as a host of ordinary individuals who were drawn into the struggle, this absorbing book reveals for the first time not only the Hundred Years War’s impact on warfare, institutions, and nations, but also its true human cost.
"This is not a traditional narrative account of the Hundred Years War, but a fresh look at the vital, vibrant and brutal changes brought about by more than a century of conflict. . ."—The Good Book Guide
"Green writes with sensitivity, intelligence and an eye for detail. He passes rapidly over the events of the war (elsewhere often recounted as a history of boys with medieval toys), before settling upon a series of themes: the worlds of thought and action; peasants; women and prisoners; and national stereotypes."—Nick Vincent, BBC History Magazine
"Green has brought together all the elements of the Hundred Years War . . . in an eminently readable book."—Anne Curry, History Today
"Well-presented and well-researched material . . . both detailed and accessible, and further assisted by a simple chronology of events, a glossary, a note on money, two royal family trees and five clear maps."—Livia Visser-Fuchs, The Ricardian
“Magisterial [. . .] This volume forms a welcome addition to the subject, engages with an extensive literature, and through its intelligent balance of chronological and thematic strands provides a nuanced view of the nature of this protracted conflict”—Adam Chapman, War in History Book Reviews
"This is war painted on a broad canvas, analytical as well as descriptive, emphasizing the social, political, military and economic effects of a long conflict in which people are never forgotten."—Christopher Allmand, author of The Hundred Years War: England and France at War, c.1300-c.1450
"David Green has given us a new Hundred Years War, taking us beyond the campaign trail and the battlefield and into the lives and cultures of the people who lived through this greatest of medieval endurance tests. Green’s brilliant evocation of the period, his eye for telling detail, and his powerful narrative voice serve to transform the history of war and nationhood in later medieval England and France."—W. Mark Ormrod, author of Edward III
ISBN: 9780300216103
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 590g
360 pages