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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The career of Sir John Hawkwood, "the most audacious" of mercenaries active in Italy in the mid to late 14th century, provides a framework for this study of the era's religion, politics and warfare. Saunders (The Cultural Cold War) portrays a generation that swept aside tradition for several reasons: plague leveled the social playing field, threats of excommunication were often ignored and warfare moved south from the feudal-based northern Europe to the increasingly wealthy, money-based economy of Italy, where battle-hardened soldiers journeyed after a truce in the Hundred Years' War. Perhaps most fascinating are the mechanics of mercenary armies, such as the one led by Hawkwood, that roamed Italy: the nature of their contracts, their alliances and betrayals and their democratic decision making. Equally lively is Saunders's account of the great Schism of the Church, in which two (and later three) men contested the title of pope: from the vantage point of the hired armies, it is simply a vicious power struggle like all the others. Hawkwood, within this context, built for himself a fearful reputation, lost and won many fortunes and married himself into the illegitimate branch of the powerful Visconti clan. His is a dramatic life, set in a dramatic context. Illus. not seen by PW; maps.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
A Distant Mirror (1978), by Barbara Tuchman, reflected late medieval Europe in a French knight. With evocative texturing, Saunders avails herself of the same via the life of an English mercenary. His name was John Hawkwood (c.1320-94), and his profession flourished amid opportunities offered by the Hundred Years War, the Avignon exile of the papacy, and incessant warfare among Italian city-states. Saunders can track Hawkwood's career and clientele due to the survival of his scrupulously drafted, if less scrupulously honored, contracts. From their facts, Saunders forays into a multifaceted reconstruction of precarious fourteenth-century life, envisioning its muck, plagues, pillages, and massacres as well as its poets, such as Chaucer, and mystics, such as Catherine of Siena. With a sophisticated sensibility for the period, Saunders tilts her presentation toward the sardonic where Hawkwood's auctions of his services are concerned, archly observing the malleable loyalties inherent in the mercenary phenomenon while narrating attempts (as by Pope Urban V) to defeat it. Avid history readers will appreciate the solid work discernible through Saunders' stylishly embroidered narrative. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
See all Editorial Reviews
The career of Sir John Hawkwood, "the most audacious" of mercenaries active in Italy in the mid to late 14th century, provides a framework for this study of the era's religion, politics and warfare. Saunders (The Cultural Cold War) portrays a generation that swept aside tradition for several reasons: plague leveled the social playing field, threats of excommunication were often ignored and warfare moved south from the feudal-based northern Europe to the increasingly wealthy, money-based economy of Italy, where battle-hardened soldiers journeyed after a truce in the Hundred Years' War. Perhaps most fascinating are the mechanics of mercenary armies, such as the one led by Hawkwood, that roamed Italy: the nature of their contracts, their alliances and betrayals and their democratic decision making. Equally lively is Saunders's account of the great Schism of the Church, in which two (and later three) men contested the title of pope: from the vantage point of the hired armies, it is simply a vicious power struggle like all the others. Hawkwood, within this context, built for himself a fearful reputation, lost and won many fortunes and married himself into the illegitimate branch of the powerful Visconti clan. His is a dramatic life, set in a dramatic context. Illus. not seen by PW; maps.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
A Distant Mirror (1978), by Barbara Tuchman, reflected late medieval Europe in a French knight. With evocative texturing, Saunders avails herself of the same via the life of an English mercenary. His name was John Hawkwood (c.1320-94), and his profession flourished amid opportunities offered by the Hundred Years War, the Avignon exile of the papacy, and incessant warfare among Italian city-states. Saunders can track Hawkwood's career and clientele due to the survival of his scrupulously drafted, if less scrupulously honored, contracts. From their facts, Saunders forays into a multifaceted reconstruction of precarious fourteenth-century life, envisioning its muck, plagues, pillages, and massacres as well as its poets, such as Chaucer, and mystics, such as Catherine of Siena. With a sophisticated sensibility for the period, Saunders tilts her presentation toward the sardonic where Hawkwood's auctions of his services are concerned, archly observing the malleable loyalties inherent in the mercenary phenomenon while narrating attempts (as by Pope Urban V) to defeat it. Avid history readers will appreciate the solid work discernible through Saunders' stylishly embroidered narrative. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
See all Editorial Reviews
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Inside This Book Citations: This book cites 100 books Explore: Citations | Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Key Phrases - SIPs: antipapal league, mercenary companies, gold florins, cardinal vices, thousand florins Key Phrases - CAPs: John Hawkwood, White Company, Sir John, Black Prince, Saint Peter (more) Browse Sample Pages: Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me! |
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