The Hundred Years War, Volume 3: Divided Houses (The Middle Ages Series) [Hardcover]

Jonathan Sumption (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0812242238 | ISBN-13: 978-0812242232

Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2010

The Hundred Years War was a vicious, costly, and, most dramatically, drawn out struggle that laid the framework for the national identities of both England and France into the modern era. The first twenty years of the war were positive for the English, by any account. They already held the South of France, through Eleanor of Aquitaine's dowry, and were allied with the Flemish in the north. After the brilliant naval battle of Sluys, the English had control of both the English Channel and the North Sea. The battles of Crécy and Poitiers gave the English a powerful toehold on the continent; they even captured the French king, Philip, occasioning a peace treaty in 1360.

This long-awaited third volume of Jonathan Sumption's monumental history of the war narrates the period from 1369 to 1393, a span marked by the slow decline of English fortunes and the subsequent rise of the French. The English were condemned to see the conquests of the previous thirty years overrun by the armies of the king of France in less than ten. Edward III was succeeded by a vulnerable child, destined to grow into a neurotic and unstable adult presiding over a divided nation. England's citizenry was being asked to pay for a long and expensive war, soldiers were becoming disenchanted, and the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 evidenced the social unrest in the land. However, France too paid a heavy price for her success. Beneath the surface splendor the French government sat poised at the edge of bankruptcy and the population subsisted in fear and insecurity. The inexperience of Charles VI and his gradual relapse into insanity divided the French political world, as the king's relatives competed for the plunder of the state, sowing the seeds of disintegration and civil war in the following century.

Marshaling a wide range of contemporary sources, both printed and manuscript, French and English, Sumption recounts the events of this critical period of the Hundred Years War in unprecedented detail.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"There is no other book which tells the story of this phase of the war so fluently or in such absorbing detail, or which conveys so graphically 'the savagery, the utter savagery,' to say nothing of the sheer pointlessness, of it all. Divided Houses is a compelling, sustained exercise in original research: all in all, a remarkable achievement."—TLS

"Jonathan Sumption is not only one of Britain's leading lawyers but also an outstanding medieval historian, and in Divided Houses he has produced the third volume of his definitive history of the Hundred Years War, an enthralling account of English decay and French resurgence, which should be essential reading for Eurosceptics—and saner people, too."—David Cannadine, TLS

"In Divided Houses, the third volume of his history of the Hundred years War, Jonathan Sumption marches on magisterially as the French and English (nothing 'British' about them) slog it out for the European heavyweight crown in one of the longest contests of all time."—Frederic Raphael, TLS

"This splendid history of the Hundred Years War belongs in any collection on late medieval western Europe. Recommended without reservation. Essential."—Choice

About the Author

Jonathan Sumption is a former history fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, and the author of The Hundred Years War, Volume II: Trial by Fire, both also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1006 pages
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (September 2, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812242238
• ISBN-13: 978-0812242232
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 4.8 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #927,539 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A core addition to any European medieval history collection, enthusiastically recommended, December 15, 2009

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hundred Years War, Volume 3: Divided Houses (The Middle Ages Series) (Hardcover)

The bad blood that boils between nations can last generations. "The Hundred Years War III: Divided Houses" is the third volume of the complete and comprehensive coverage of one of Europe's longest and bloodiest sustained conflicts between England and France throughout the fourteenth century. With maps and much discussion over many of the historic events during the twenty four year period from 1369 to 1393 where the leaders were mentally unstable and inexperienced, exacerbating the existing problems of the conflict. "The Hundred Years War III" is a core addition to any European medieval history collection, enthusiastically recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars A FEAST, May 28, 2011

By 

Stephen Cooper (South Yorkshire, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hundred Years War, Volume 3: Divided Houses (The Middle Ages Series) (Paperback)

'Divided Houses' is the third volume of Jonathan Sumption's history of the Hundred Years War. It is unlikely to be the last, since the author set out, twenty years ago, to write a history of the entire War, and he has only reached the Revolution of 1399. The fact that the author has now been made a judge of the Supreme Court is unlikely to stop him.

As he told us in the Preface to his first volume, Sumption's objective is to write a grand narrative, based primarily on documentary rather than chronicle sources: he considers the chronicles `episodic, prejudiced, inaccurate and late'. He also aimed to eschew analysis, as well as the scholarly debates which so often sidetrack historians. He appears to have explored all the printed primary sources (together with a good number of the unprinted ones) and to have read all the secondary authorities; and to have pursued his researches in several countries: England, France and Spain at the least.

The author's style is not that of Edward Gibbon: he is too much the modern, workmanlike barrister for that, driving home his case by the patient accumulation of detailed evidence; but he paints a fine picture. Read this book.


Stephen Cooper

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Professor Sumption's History of the Hundred year's War, May 5, 2011

By 

James Fox - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Hundred Years War, Volume 3: Divided Houses (The Middle Ages Series) (Hardcover)

Professor Sumption has written a narritive of the hundred Years war that is very carefull and very detailed, yet is so well written that it pulls the reader right into the tase and feel of the period and the war.