The Knight Triumphant PDF
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The Kneght '.. Triumphant ". THE HIGH MIDDLE AGES ' 1314-1485 STEPHEN TURNBULL CASSELL&CO Dedicated to my parents, William and Joyce Turnbull Cassell& Co WellingtonHouse,125 Strand LondonWC2ROBB Text copyright© StephenTurnbull2001 Design copyright© Cassell& Co 2001 Firstpublished2001 All rights reserved. No part ofthispublicationmaybe reproduced ortransmitted inanyform orbyanymeans electronic ormechanicalincludingphotocopying recordingoranyinformationstorage andretrievalsystemwithoutpriorpermission inwritingfrom the Publisher. The author's moral rights have beenasserted The KnightTriumphantis basedon the author's earlierwork The Book oftheMedieval Knight,first publishedbyArms andArmourPress 1985,andnowfully revisedand redesigned. Itforms the secondvolumein his three volume historyofthe knight. BritishLibrary Cataloguing-in-PublicationData A catalogue recordfor this bookis available from theBritishLibrary ISBN0-304-35971-8 Distributedin the United Statesby SterlingPublishingCo Inc 387 ParkAvenue South NewYorkNY 10016-8810 Printedandboundin SloveniabyDELO tiskarna byarrangementwith Presernovadruzba d.d., Ljubljana PREFACE 7 1 A NEW EDWARD 9 2 KING OF ENGLAND - KING OF FRANCE 29 3 A KING'S RANSOM 53 4 THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT 71 5 THE LAST CRUSADERS 99 6 THE ITALIANJOB 115 7 SWORDS AND PROPHECIES 131 8 THE AGINCOURT WAR 149 9 THE LONG, LOSING WAR 167 10 THE WARS OF THE ROSES 187 11 THE SUN IN SPLENDOUR 211 12 THE FADED ROSES 235 252 INDEX eface W HEN Cassell invited me to revise The Book ofthe Medieval Knight I welcomed the opportunity to edit and improve a book ofwhich I had always been proud. The suggestion was then made that the revised and edited work should eventually form the second volume of a trilogy covering the history of the knight from the DarkAges to the beginning of the seventeenth century. The results of this work are presented here for readers to judge for themselves whether or not the effort has been worthwhile. If this book was a computer game I could reasonably claim that it had been upgraded: the text has been fully edited and revised. One completely new chapter has been added, one has been extensively augmented, and others have been completely rewritten. One ofthe most welcome compliments passed about The Book ofthe Medieval Opposite:WarwickCastle J Knightwas that the illustrations were not the usualpicture-libraryfare ofstylized oneofthefinestmedieval fortressesin Europe. manuscript illuminations and doubtful Victorian interpretations of siege weapons, but photographs that genuinely reflected the text they were there to illustrate. With this in mind I have used the opportunity to replace poorer quality photographs by better ones, which my publishers have fitted into a new and much more attractive layout. As I am now working on the other two volumes which will accompany The KnightTriumphant, I trust my readers will enjoy this start to the project, and will want to keep track of developments through my website, to be found at www.stephenturnbull.com. I dedicated the original Book ofthe Medieval Knight to my father. This new trilogy is dedicated to him and,ofcourse,to Mum too.They were the ones who first took me to castles and museums and awakened the interest herein expressed.Thank you so much! StephenTurnbull 7 New Edward 1 When the second English king to bear the name ofEdward ended his attempt to snuff out the flame of Scottish independence by his defeat at Bannockburn, he laid his country open to a reaction unparalleled for decades. Stirling, to whose relief Edward II had marched, surrendered to the Bruce and joined Perth, Dumfries, Edinburgh and Roxburgh as lost English possessions. During the summer of 1314 the Bruce launched a series of retaliatory raids across the border, and the impotence of the English monarch allowed the Scots to pene trate more deeply into the kingdom than would have been possible a decade earlier. In August the Scots crossed the Tees and advanced to the gates of the castle of Richmond. The Bishop of Durham purchased a truce to last until January 1315. Cumberland too paid a ransom for itself,while the valleys ofthe NorthTyne paid homage to the King ofScotland. King Robertthe Bruce,who RAIDS AND REACTIONS defeatedtheEnglishand maintainedastrong policy The year 1315 therefore opened under circumstances more depressing for againstthem untilhisdeath. Thismodelwasmadeby England than at any time in a century. The country's rulers, mocked on the thesculptorwhodesigned battlefield and humiliated by raiding, presented an even less impressive sight out thestatueofhimatthesite ofhisgreatvictoryat of their armour. When they attempted to reach agreement on policy, a process Bannockburn in 1314. from which Edward II usually absented himself,theirpersonal rivalries prevented any agreement being reached. While the English quarrelled the Scots grew bolder,and by 1318 had completed theirpreparations to claim the prize that was as much symbolic as strategic - the town and castle ofBerwick uponTweed. Berwick was what it had been and was destined to remain for centuries - a hotly disputed fortified town that was the key to the Anglo-Scottish border. With the help of a little treachery from within the garrison the Scots, under the leadership of SirJames Douglas, scaled the walls of the town in the early hours ofthe morning of2April. Six days later, after some uncontrolled plun dering which allowed the defenders to counter-attack quite successfully, the main castle fell. The exultant Scots marched south, passing mighty Richmond and burning Northallerton and Boroughbridge. On 1 June the town of THE KNIGHT TRIUMPHANT Ripon paid protection money of £1,000, so the Scots turned on Knaresborough, and then headed off on their deepest-ever raid into England - westward upWharfedale towards Skipton, plundering Otley on the way. Skipton's lord, Robert de Clifford, had been killed at Bannockburn, and now the fortress seemed open and undefended, but the Scottish raiders had not come prepared for a siege, so they contented themselves with plundering the town and moved on. In July 1319 an English army of 12,000 assembled at Newcastle and marched north to recapture Berwick,in front ofwhich they sat down and began a careful siege. Robert the Bruce responded by launching another raid deep into England that was so devastating that Edward was obliged to draw offmany ofhis troops from Berwick and hurry south. John Randolf, Earl of Mora)!, and SirJames Douglas crossed theborderandreachedBoroughbridgewithoutencountering any English resistance. Edward's Queen Isabella was then residing inYork so a rich royal prize was almost within the SkiptonCastle,thefinal Bruce's grasp. Some chroniclers suggest that the Scots had received information as targetofthedeepestever to her whereabouts, but whatever treachery there may have been failed in its Scottishraid intoEngland, which happenedin 1315, purpose, and the queen was hurriedly evacuated to Nottingham and safety. Skipton'sowner, Lord Resistance to the Scots then fell upon the shoulders ofArchbishop Melton Clifford, hadbeenkilled ofYork who, perhaps, mindful of the great victory at Northallerton against the atBannockburn,andthe castlewould havefallen Scots two centuries previously,set outwith amixed army ofclerics,citizens and haditnotbeenforits some men ofmilitary experience to withstand this new onslaught. On the after strong position highabove noon of20 September theArchbishop found the Scots at Myton-on-Swale near theriver. Boroughbridge. Caughtbetween the two schiltrons which the Scots formed like the teeth ofpincers,the citizens'army was driven back into the angle where the River Swalejoins the Ure, and great was the slaughter. The mayor ofYork was killed among countless others who were either cut down or drowned as they tried to flee. The Scots then withdrew, to discover to their delight that the siege ofBerwick had been lifted and a ten-year truce proclaimed. Never had English military prowess sunk so low. THE HEIR TO MISFORTUNE Observingallthatwentonwas ayoungboywho grewto manhoodas thefierce war with Scotland raged on,and when the time came for Edward II to go it was in the name ofEdwardIII thatpressurewas applied. In early 1325 the queenwasinFrance 10
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