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The Three Edwards: War and State in England 1272 - 1377
This book is an excellent introduction to this eventful period in history, offering students of history and the Middle Ages a fascinating insight into the reigns of three very different sovereigns:
* Edward I – a confident and masterful conqueror of Wales
* Edward II – defeated by the Scots, humiliated and deposed
* Edward III – triumphant against the French, but reigned through the ravages of plague.
The book focuses on each king's approach to war - an essential determinant of political and constitutional development, and emphasizes how the importance of war stretches far beyond the traditional boundaries of military history.
For any student or researcher of history and the Middle Ages, this highly acclaimed book provides excellent research and course study opportunities.
* Edward I – a confident and masterful conqueror of Wales
* Edward II – defeated by the Scots, humiliated and deposed
* Edward III – triumphant against the French, but reigned through the ravages of plague.
The book focuses on each king's approach to war - an essential determinant of political and constitutional development, and emphasizes how the importance of war stretches far beyond the traditional boundaries of military history.
For any student or researcher of history and the Middle Ages, this highly acclaimed book provides excellent research and course study opportunities.
320 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1980
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About the author
Michael Prestwich
37 books13 followersMichael Charles Prestwich OBE (born 30 January 1943) is an English historian, specialising on the history of medieval England, in particular the reign of Edward I. He is retired, having been Professor of History at Durham University, and Head of the Department of History until 2007.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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July 31, 2015There are hosts of biographies about medieval figures, yet with the exception of Saint Augustine and maybe one or two others before modern times it is impossible to get close to any person in history. At best we see the shadow of their activity. Their thoughts, opinions, motivations are mostly unknown. This book is no biography, which avoids the problem altogether. Instead it is about the role of warfare in changing the system of governance under the three Edwards who successively ruled England from the end of the 13th century to the late 14th century.
It is an attempt to study the impact of organisation and governance and to assess how profound an impact that this made, an impact so wide-ranging that we have to mentally recreate the world without them much as we do when thinking about the impact of the stirrup or the windmill.
By way of example Edward I summoned up the feudal host of England to fight his wars against the Welsh and the Scots. The men making up the feudal host were obliged to serve with equipment and for an amount of time relative to the fief they hold. One man discussed in Prestwich's Edward I had a fief so small that he was obliged to serve with a bow and one arrow. The military value of this requires no comment. In short the host fights in a traditional manner based upon the legal and military requirements of an earlier age. The King instructs his household to gather unrealistic amounts of foodstuffs and dispatch it to forward supply dumps to feed his armies.
Edward I had a great reputation during his lifetime for being an effective soldier, yet the machinery of government, or organisation, or to be completely anachronistic the project management, wasn't capable of producing a sustained effort or maximising the resources of the kingdom. An example of this is the haphazard and hand to mouth manner that the four great castles built to consolidate the conquests in north Wales were financed and constructed.
However during the reign of his grandson Edward III, the army used tactics developed from fighting the Scots - they fought on foot, using horses to mount great raids through enemy territory. Armies were built up around retainers who serving under contract for fixed sums of money to the crown. Supplies were calibrated to match the numbers of people in service, with feudal law and authority used to under pin the whole system: at one time the Black Prince (and Lord of the Principality of Chester) had all the fletchers in Cheshire arrested and set to work making arrows to endure continuity of supply.
That anecdote illustrates something of the extent of the impact that war and the financial requirements to maintain a war effort for these three Edwards played in economic life. How and where wool could be traded was changed to maximise revenue and to deliberately manipulate the market. A single tax might have the effect of collecting eight percent or more of all the coinage in circulation driving up prices in the kingdom. Poor cash flow on the part of the Crown caused the bankruptcy of first Italian, and then English merchants, who lent money to the King (itself an action that John Larner suggests was driven not by rational economic consideration but by the wild spirit of adventure and chivalry, for what could be better than to lend money to the descendant of King Arthur, be greeted by him in his chambers and treated as his dear friend? At least until the money ran out).
At one point Prestwich makes the point that the impact of continued war with France can't be assessed by imagining what a peaceful England under Edward III might have been like, because if he hadn't been fighting in France he would have been fighting somewhere else. It is one of those moments when you realise that life is a little different to what you had thought. Non-military life went on, as best it could, at the margins of royal activity. Fighting men are hired for coin, who bring plunder back to their homes, criminals receive pardons in return for service, systems of retainers and habits of violence lead to brigandage, banditry and abuse of very physical power away from the King's court.
This is the England of Geoffrey Chaucer and William Langland.
It is an attempt to study the impact of organisation and governance and to assess how profound an impact that this made, an impact so wide-ranging that we have to mentally recreate the world without them much as we do when thinking about the impact of the stirrup or the windmill.
By way of example Edward I summoned up the feudal host of England to fight his wars against the Welsh and the Scots. The men making up the feudal host were obliged to serve with equipment and for an amount of time relative to the fief they hold. One man discussed in Prestwich's Edward I had a fief so small that he was obliged to serve with a bow and one arrow. The military value of this requires no comment. In short the host fights in a traditional manner based upon the legal and military requirements of an earlier age. The King instructs his household to gather unrealistic amounts of foodstuffs and dispatch it to forward supply dumps to feed his armies.
Edward I had a great reputation during his lifetime for being an effective soldier, yet the machinery of government, or organisation, or to be completely anachronistic the project management, wasn't capable of producing a sustained effort or maximising the resources of the kingdom. An example of this is the haphazard and hand to mouth manner that the four great castles built to consolidate the conquests in north Wales were financed and constructed.
However during the reign of his grandson Edward III, the army used tactics developed from fighting the Scots - they fought on foot, using horses to mount great raids through enemy territory. Armies were built up around retainers who serving under contract for fixed sums of money to the crown. Supplies were calibrated to match the numbers of people in service, with feudal law and authority used to under pin the whole system: at one time the Black Prince (and Lord of the Principality of Chester) had all the fletchers in Cheshire arrested and set to work making arrows to endure continuity of supply.
That anecdote illustrates something of the extent of the impact that war and the financial requirements to maintain a war effort for these three Edwards played in economic life. How and where wool could be traded was changed to maximise revenue and to deliberately manipulate the market. A single tax might have the effect of collecting eight percent or more of all the coinage in circulation driving up prices in the kingdom. Poor cash flow on the part of the Crown caused the bankruptcy of first Italian, and then English merchants, who lent money to the King (itself an action that John Larner suggests was driven not by rational economic consideration but by the wild spirit of adventure and chivalry, for what could be better than to lend money to the descendant of King Arthur, be greeted by him in his chambers and treated as his dear friend? At least until the money ran out).
At one point Prestwich makes the point that the impact of continued war with France can't be assessed by imagining what a peaceful England under Edward III might have been like, because if he hadn't been fighting in France he would have been fighting somewhere else. It is one of those moments when you realise that life is a little different to what you had thought. Non-military life went on, as best it could, at the margins of royal activity. Fighting men are hired for coin, who bring plunder back to their homes, criminals receive pardons in return for service, systems of retainers and habits of violence lead to brigandage, banditry and abuse of very physical power away from the King's court.
This is the England of Geoffrey Chaucer and William Langland.
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May 26, 2010Very interesting, one of the best Plantagenet histories I've come across in a while
December 5, 2013
Prestwich's analysis of the three Edwards is sophisticated and well written.
November 2, 2017
I used this book for my solo study of the medieval period and it was really useful.
It has an overview chapter of each of the three Edwards and then it goes into detail about each of their wars, and how politics and society changed in the 100 years of their reigns.
A good book if you want to delve deeper into this particular slice of the medieval period.
It has an overview chapter of each of the three Edwards and then it goes into detail about each of their wars, and how politics and society changed in the 100 years of their reigns.
A good book if you want to delve deeper into this particular slice of the medieval period.
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July 8, 2012Author is wrong on this - should be Michael Prestwich
February 6, 2013
Very good and easy to read overview of the political history of England (with some attention for the rest of Britain and France as well) for roughlycthe period 1270-1370.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews