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Knights and Peasants Nicholas Wright

Knights and Peasants By Nicholas Wright

Knights and Peasants by Nicholas Wright


Condition - Good
Out of stock

Summary

Armies pillage and peasants resist: literary and documentary evidence reveals rural hardship and exploitation.

Knights and Peasants Summary

Knights and Peasants: The Hundred Years War in the French Countryside by Nicholas Wright

The relationship between soldiers and civilians in medieval wars is notoriously difficult to determine. Contemporary, usually clerical, commentators condemned the exploitation of an innocent peasantry by a rapacious soldiery - the tyranny of professional warriors over unarmed civilians - while much contemporary chivalric literature treats the civilian dimension as irrelevant to its main matter, the relationships of fighting men-at-arms. This work examinesthe soldier-peasant relationship in the context of the Hundred Years War (1337-1453), bringing out more clearly the realities of the situation. It explores conflicting attitudes - how aristocratic soldiers reconciled the ideals of chivalry with exploitation of non-combatants, what French peasants thought of the soldiers - drawing on the late-medieval literature of chivalry and political commentary in England and France, and the largely unpublished recordsof the French royal chancery to illustrate the ways in which individual peasants and village communities were exploited by soldiers, and how they adjusted to and reacted against their treatment to survive. CONTENTS The Just Warrior . Warlords . The Peasant as Victim . Peasant Resistance: Rebels and Brigands . Peasant Resistance: Communal Defences

Knights and Peasants Reviews

Exciting and provocative... Overall, this courageous, well-written book provides us with a ground-breaking survey. It brings out a story of the Hundred Years War that has long needed to be told, and will deservedly form an essential addition to reading on the subject. HISTORY TODAY For its succinct survey of how war was experienced by ordinary people in late medieval France, Wright's book is a very welcome addition to the literature. INTERNATIONAL HISTORY REVIEW [Michael Jones] 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 A valuable book on a subject of basic importance. He helps us to see beyond any supposed romance in the chevauchEe to the gritty local world in which force prevailed. AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW [Kaeuper] Thought-proviking work... valuable contribution to 'peasant' studies. * ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW *

Additional information

CIN0851155359G
9780851155357
0851155359
Knights and Peasants: The Hundred Years War in the French Countryside by Nicholas Wright
Used - Good
Hardback
Boydell & Brewer Ltd
19980312
158
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Knights and Peasants