Knights and Peasants: The Hundred Years War in the French Countryside (Warfare in History) [Paperback]

Nicholas Wright (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 14, 2000 | Series: Warfare in History

THis work examines the soldier-peasant relationship in the context of the Hundred Years War (1337-1453), aiming to bring out more closely the realities of the situation. It seeks an understanding of different attitudes: how aristocratic soldiers reconciled the ideals of chivalry with exploitation of non-combatants, and how French peasants reacted to the soldiery, drawing on the late-medieval literature of chivalry and political commentary in England and (especially) in France. Employing additional documentary material, including the largely unpublished records of the French royal chancery, the book also describes the ways in which individual peasants and village communities were exploited by soldiers, and how, in order to survive, they adjusted to and reacted against their treatment.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This alternative account of peasant life during crisis is a welcome addition to the historiography of late-medieval France... a useful corrective to most standard interpretations of warfare and peasantry. --Speculum

Product Details

• Paperback: 158 pages
• Publisher: Boydell Press (December 14, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0851158064
• ISBN-13: 978-0851158068
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,931,292 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Knights were not nice, September 18, 2009

By 

Lawrence L. Stewart (College Station, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Knights and Peasants: The Hundred Years War in the French Countryside (Warfare in History) (Paperback)

This book may be an eye opener for many people with the classic view of the honorable knight, it wasn't so, at least not in France. When the armored gentry of the country were free to use the peasants for target practice, one can begin to understand the reasons for the many years of French civil unrest. This difference in social systems may also reveal a reason for the deep rooted fear of England amongst the French upper class, for in England the peasants had rights, and they were under the protection of their local Lord, as well as the king. A knight could and was prosecuted for doing the same thing to an English peasant as what a French knight might do with impunity! After reading this book it makes me wonder why it took the French people so many years before their complete rebellion.