How did people in Late Medieval England and France experience the Hundred Years War. What did knights, clerics, women, peasants, soldiers, nobles and kings think about it? New book by David Green tells the story

The Hundred Years War. A People’s History
David Green
Yale University Press 2014
ISBN: 9780300134513

ABSTRACT:

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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

David Green is senior lecturer in British studies and history, Harlaxton College, and a regular speaker on medieval history at conferences and seminars in the U.K., Ireland, and the U.S.

FEATURED PHOTO:

The King of England receiving a herald from the King of France, France or Southern Netherlands, c. 1485