Knights and Peasants: The Hundred Years War in the French Countryside (WARFARE IN HISTORY) - Hardcover

Wright, Nicholas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0851155359 ISBN 13: 9780851155357

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Inc, 1998

Synopsis

Examining the soldier-peasant relationship in the context of the Hundred Years War, this work draws on the late-medieval literature of chivalry and political commentary in England and, especially, France. It seeks an understanding of different attitudes: how aristocratic soldiers reconciled the ideals of chivalry with exploitation of non-combatants, and how French peasants reacted to the soldiery. The book also offers a description, based on additional documentary material which includes the largely unpublished records of the French royal chancery, of the ways in which individual peasants and village communities were exploited by soldiers, and how, in order to survive, they adjusted to and reacted against their treatment.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Exciting and provocative... Overall, this courageous, well-written book provides us with a ground-breaking survey. It brings out a story of the Hundred Years War that has long needed to be told, and will deservedly form an essential addition to reading on the subject. HISTORY TODAY

This alternative account of peasant life during crisis is a welcome addition to the historiography of late-medieval France... a useful corrective to most standard interpretations of warfare and peasantry. SPECULUM

This study of the soldier-peasant relationship in the context of the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) aims to bring out the realities of the situation. It seeks an understanding of different attitudes: how aristocratic soldiers reconciled the ideals of chivalry with exploitation of non-combatants, and how French peasants reacted to the soldiery, drawing on the late-medieval literature of chivalry and political commentary in England and (especially) in France. Employing additional documentary material, including the largely unpublished records of the French royal chancery, the book also describes the ways in which individual peasants and village communities were exploited by soldiers, and how, in order to survive, they adjusted to and reacted against their treatment.

Review

This alternative account of peasant life during crisis is a welcome addition to the historiography of late-medieval France... a useful corrective to most standard interpretations of warfare and peasantry. --Speculum

Edition details

• Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Inc
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0851155359
• ISBN 13: 9780851155357
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 144