The Knight Triumphant

257 Pages·2001·108.08 MB·English

by  Stephen Turnbull

The Kneght '..
Triumphant ".
THE
HIGH MIDDLE AGES '
1314-1485
STEPHEN TURNBULL
CASSELL&CO
Dedicated to my parents,
William and Joyce Turnbull
Cassell& Co
WellingtonHouse,125 Strand
LondonWC2ROBB
Text copyright© StephenTurnbull2001
Design copyright© Cassell& Co 2001
Firstpublished2001
All rights reserved. No part ofthispublicationmaybe reproduced ortransmitted
inanyform orbyanymeans electronic ormechanicalincludingphotocopying
recordingoranyinformationstorage andretrievalsystemwithoutpriorpermission
inwritingfrom the Publisher.
The author's moral rights have beenasserted
The KnightTriumphantis basedon the author's earlierwork The Book oftheMedieval
Knight,first publishedbyArms andArmourPress 1985,andnowfully revisedand
redesigned. Itforms the secondvolumein his three volume historyofthe knight.
BritishLibrary Cataloguing-in-PublicationData
A catalogue recordfor this bookis available from theBritishLibrary
ISBN0-304-35971-8
Distributedin the United Statesby
SterlingPublishingCo Inc
387 ParkAvenue South
NewYorkNY 10016-8810
Printedandboundin SloveniabyDELO tiskarna
byarrangementwith Presernovadruzba d.d., Ljubljana
PREFACE 7
1 A NEW EDWARD 9
2 KING OF ENGLAND - KING OF FRANCE 29
3 A KING'S RANSOM 53
4 THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT 71
5 THE LAST CRUSADERS 99
6 THE ITALIANJOB 115
7 SWORDS AND PROPHECIES 131
8 THE AGINCOURT WAR 149
9 THE LONG, LOSING WAR 167
10 THE WARS OF THE ROSES 187
11 THE SUN IN SPLENDOUR 211
12 THE FADED ROSES 235
252
INDEX

eface
W HEN Cassell invited me to revise The Book ofthe Medieval Knight
I welcomed the opportunity to edit and improve a book ofwhich
I had always been proud. The suggestion was then made that the
revised and edited work should eventually form the second volume of a trilogy
covering the history of the knight from the DarkAges to the beginning of the
seventeenth century. The results of this work are presented here for readers to
judge for themselves whether or not the effort has been worthwhile.
If this book was a computer game I could reasonably claim that it had been
upgraded: the text has been fully edited and revised. One completely new
chapter has been added, one has been extensively augmented, and others have
been completely rewritten.
One ofthe most welcome compliments passed about The Book ofthe Medieval Opposite:WarwickCastle
J
Knightwas that the illustrations were not the usualpicture-libraryfare ofstylized oneofthefinestmedieval
fortressesin Europe.
manuscript illuminations and doubtful Victorian interpretations of siege
weapons, but photographs that genuinely reflected the text they were there to
illustrate. With this in mind I have used the opportunity to replace poorer
quality photographs by better ones, which my publishers have fitted into a new
and much more attractive layout.
As I am now working on the other two volumes which will accompany
The KnightTriumphant, I trust my readers will enjoy this start to the project, and
will want to keep track of developments through my website, to be found at
www.stephenturnbull.com.
I dedicated the original Book ofthe Medieval Knight to my father. This new
trilogy is dedicated to him and,ofcourse,to Mum too.They were the ones who
first took me to castles and museums and awakened the interest herein
expressed.Thank you so much!
StephenTurnbull
7

New Edward 1
When the second English king to bear the name ofEdward ended his attempt
to snuff out the flame of Scottish independence by his defeat at Bannockburn,
he laid his country open to a reaction unparalleled for decades. Stirling, to
whose relief Edward II had marched, surrendered to the Bruce and joined
Perth, Dumfries, Edinburgh and Roxburgh as lost English possessions. During
the summer of 1314 the Bruce launched a series of retaliatory raids across the
border, and the impotence of the English monarch allowed the Scots to pene
trate more deeply into the kingdom than would have been possible a decade
earlier. In August the Scots crossed the Tees and advanced to the gates of the
castle of Richmond. The Bishop of Durham purchased a truce to last until
January 1315. Cumberland too paid a ransom for itself,while the valleys ofthe
NorthTyne paid homage to the King ofScotland.
King Robertthe Bruce,who
RAIDS AND REACTIONS defeatedtheEnglishand
maintainedastrong policy
The year 1315 therefore opened under circumstances more depressing for againstthem untilhisdeath.
Thismodelwasmadeby
England than at any time in a century. The country's rulers, mocked on the
thesculptorwhodesigned
battlefield and humiliated by raiding, presented an even less impressive sight out thestatueofhimatthesite
ofhisgreatvictoryat
of their armour. When they attempted to reach agreement on policy, a process
Bannockburn in 1314.
from which Edward II usually absented himself,theirpersonal rivalries prevented
any agreement being reached. While the English quarrelled the Scots grew
bolder,and by 1318 had completed theirpreparations to claim the prize that was
as much symbolic as strategic - the town and castle ofBerwick uponTweed.
Berwick was what it had been and was destined to remain for centuries - a
hotly disputed fortified town that was the key to the Anglo-Scottish border.
With the help of a little treachery from within the garrison the Scots, under
the leadership of SirJames Douglas, scaled the walls of the town in the early
hours ofthe morning of2April. Six days later, after some uncontrolled plun
dering which allowed the defenders to counter-attack quite successfully, the
main castle fell. The exultant Scots marched south, passing mighty Richmond
and burning Northallerton and Boroughbridge. On 1 June the town of
THE KNIGHT TRIUMPHANT
Ripon paid protection money of £1,000, so the Scots
turned on Knaresborough, and then headed off on their
deepest-ever raid into England - westward upWharfedale
towards Skipton, plundering Otley on the way. Skipton's
lord, Robert de Clifford, had been killed at
Bannockburn, and now the fortress seemed open and
undefended, but the Scottish raiders had not come
prepared for a siege, so they contented themselves with
plundering the town and moved on.
In July 1319 an English army of 12,000 assembled at
Newcastle and marched north to recapture Berwick,in front
ofwhich they sat down and began a careful siege. Robert
the Bruce responded by launching another raid deep into
England that was so devastating that Edward was obliged to
draw offmany ofhis troops from Berwick and hurry south.
John Randolf, Earl of Mora)!, and SirJames Douglas crossed
theborderandreachedBoroughbridgewithoutencountering
any English resistance. Edward's Queen Isabella was then
residing inYork so a rich royal prize was almost within the
SkiptonCastle,thefinal Bruce's grasp. Some chroniclers suggest that the Scots had received information as
targetofthedeepestever
to her whereabouts, but whatever treachery there may have been failed in its
Scottishraid intoEngland,
which happenedin 1315, purpose, and the queen was hurriedly evacuated to Nottingham and safety.
Skipton'sowner, Lord Resistance to the Scots then fell upon the shoulders ofArchbishop Melton
Clifford, hadbeenkilled
ofYork who, perhaps, mindful of the great victory at Northallerton against the
atBannockburn,andthe
castlewould havefallen Scots two centuries previously,set outwith amixed army ofclerics,citizens and
haditnotbeenforits some men ofmilitary experience to withstand this new onslaught. On the after
strong position highabove
noon of20 September theArchbishop found the Scots at Myton-on-Swale near
theriver.
Boroughbridge. Caughtbetween the two schiltrons which the Scots formed like
the teeth ofpincers,the citizens'army was driven back into the angle where the
River Swalejoins the Ure, and great was the slaughter. The mayor ofYork was
killed among countless others who were either cut down or drowned as they
tried to flee. The Scots then withdrew, to discover to their delight that the siege
ofBerwick had been lifted and a ten-year truce proclaimed. Never had English
military prowess sunk so low.
THE HEIR TO MISFORTUNE
Observingallthatwentonwas ayoungboywho grewto manhoodas thefierce war
with Scotland raged on,and when the time came for Edward II to go it was in the
name ofEdwardIII thatpressurewas applied. In early 1325 the queenwasinFrance
10