Customer Reviews

Armies of Crecy and Poitiers (Men-At-Arms Series, No 111)

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This book is a fairly detailed look at the English army at two of its most famous victories, Crecy and Poitiers, both over the French in the Hundred Years War.

Though, as a previous review has stated the plates focus too much on knightly parade uniforms and not enough on practical armament and the appearance of the common soldiers, the text of this book is invaluable. Following a several page intro to the historical background the author examines the course of both battles in detail. The chain of command, cavalry, cavalry armor, infantry, mercenaries, supplies, and a final analysis of the battles are the other sections.

The plates are high quality, as typical of Osprey, but six of the eight focus on the nobles and kings of both sides; only the first and last plates show us the appearance of the common soldiers (although they were understandably not as diverse or interesting in gear than the knights).

Overall, this is one of the better early men-at-arms titles, made better than most because of its examination of just two battles, thus leaving room for more detail than usual.

Although this volume purports to cover the armies of these two key battles, only two of the colour plates feature actual soldiers. The rest depict various nobles and lords, including Edward III and Jean II, even though their armor is not at all indicative of what the rest of the armies were wearing. Worse still, these nobles are shown in fancy types of armor, like crested helms, that even the text admits they would not have been wearing on the battlefield. The text does include some interesting details on command and control and supply logistics, but as a reference on the actual field armies it is thin.

A most excellent reference for the early period of the 100 Years War. Great written overview of the era. Great research and photos of actual effigies, etc. Not to take anything away from McBride, but I feel Rothero is a master in this arena (Medieval arms/armor). I would recommend this book to anyone who's even remotely interested in the subject; it'll convince you to want to learn more.