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Europe during the later Middle Ages was a scene of unparalleled chaos. At no other time in history did so much misery--in the form of war, famine, plague, and death--descend upon the earth. At times it must have seemed like the end of the world was truly at hand. And yet, as John Aberth reveals in this lively work, a firm belief in the ways of providence and the first stirrings of greater political freedom allowed communities to endure. Far from conventional notions of the "waning" of the Middle Ages, John Aberth reveals here a world with fears, hopes, and passions that we recognize as our own.

Relying on rich literary and historical sources, John Aberth brings this period vividly to life.Taking his themes from the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, he describes how the Great Famine and Black Death swept away nearly half of Europe's population, while the royal houses of England and France were engaged in a Hundred Years War that meant perpetual political strife. Above all loomed the specter of Death, ever present and constantly feared. Throughout the later Middle Ages, ordinary people were transformed by this daunting and fearful series of crises, yet in their prayers, chronicles, poetery, and especially their commemorative art are foreshadowings of the age to come. As John Aberth reveals in this informative and sympathetic work, in their struggles we glimpse the birth of the modern. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Very thorough!!
This book is great!! I used it to write my final for my Western civilizations class in college.It was on the Black Death, and the Hundred Year's war.It had lots of great info on those subjects.I recommend this book highly for school, or fun.

Easy to enjoy
The book is not an ornate description of the late middle ages.Rather it attempts to seive data into an outline of what life might have been at the time.At times the data, which should have taken the form of footnotes, becomes the body of the text.Fortunately, this does not happen often.The "Plague" section is a bit amiss with outstreached consequences of the plague, but is nonetheless revealing: I, for one, learned that there were 3 kinds of plagues, the bubonic, pneumonic and septicemic rather than a single sweeping disease.Aberth contends that the Plague claimed more victims than the standard 1/3 demographic decline figure.All in all there is plenty here for a medievalist to keep themselves entertained.I would also recomend, perhaps, reading this in conjunction w/ the video series written and hosted by Simon Schama "A History of Britain". ... Read more

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This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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The Road to Crecy is an exciting and graphically detailed account of one of the great battles of the Hundred Years War, when England broke France's stronghold on Europe.  More dramatic, decisive and bloody than Agincourt, it heralded a new era in warfare. 

Customer Reviews (1)

Best in depth history of the battle of Crécy.
Read this for graduate history course in medieval history.
Marilyn Livingstone and Morgen Witzel, have written the best in depth history of the battle of Crécy.Crécy was the sight of the first major battle of The Hundred Years' War and was a rousing success for the invading English army of Edward III.The battle, which took place on just two days in August of 1346, was emblematic of the tactical successes that the British enjoyed at the battles of Poitiers and Agincourt."Crécy was fought upon principles learnt by experience in Scotland; after Crécy the same principles had to be perfected, but were not altered."According to Edward III's own account of the battle in a letter he wrote to Sir Thomas Lucy, the French army finally caught up with the English outside of the town of Crécy.Finding the wide-open terrain suitable for the tactics which the English wanted to employ, the king ordered the army to make a defensive stand there.Edward III deployed his army in three divisions; two were on the line facing toward the French on the high ground of the valley, thus, giving the longbow men excellent fields of fire.The right division was under the command of the Black Prince, and took the brunt of the fighting during the battle, while the Earl of Northampton commanded the left division.The third division was in reserve and was commanded by Edward III.The 4,000 longbow men were placed on the flanks of the two forward deployed divisions in wedges of 1,000 men each, and the cavalry was on the far flank of the longbow men.The English dug potholes in front of them on the battlefield to entrap the French cavalry.

King Philip VI of France arrived midday in front of the English and was pleased that he had finally caught up with them.In addition, he was surprised that the English were standing ready to fight and not trying to flee from the numerically superior French forces, consisting of a multinational force of some 60,000 men under arms.Outnumbering the English some four to one, King Philip VI felt over- confident that his cavalry, who contained much of the French nobility, was going to sweep the English off the field.Instead of allowing his army to rest from their arduous march, he unwisely gave orders, counter to the pleas of his allied commanders, to have his army prepare for an immediate attack on the English.

King Philip VI ordered his 15,000 Genoese crossbowmen to advance and engage the English.Still suffering from fatigue from their earlier march that day, they advanced on the English in a disorganized manner and fired their crossbows; however, they inflicted no casualties on the English since they were out of range.While the Genoese were reloading, the English longbow men let loose with a devastating flight of arrows, "...with such force and quickness, that it seemed as if it snowed."The English arrows had such a demoralizing effect on the Genoese crossbowmen that Froissart reports that the Genoese cut their crossbow strings or threw them down and started to retreat to the French lines.Philip VI, seeing the Genoese retreat pell-mell as an act of treason or at least cowardice, ordered his cavalry to run the "scoundrels" down.A general melee ensued, and as many Genoese ran towards the English to try to escape the carnage from the French cavalry, the cavalry, in its haste to slaughter the Genoese, rode within range of the English longbows.Once again, the English launched another shower of arrows striking the Genoese and French cavalry with murderous effect.Most of the cavalry were unhorsed, due to their own wounds and from their horses' wounds inflicted by the English arrows, or by the Genoese trying to defend themselves, or the English potholes tripped the horses.Regardless, the results were that most of the Genoese and French in the first attack lay dead on the slopes below the English--few survived and made their escape off the field.Charles of Bohemia, also known as the King of Germany, lay dead upon the field.

The French cavalry regrouped, and as fresh French cavalry just arrived on the field, the king's hotheaded brother, the Comte d'Alencon, ordered them to follow him on another charge towards the English.The bulk of the French cavalry rode towards the position defended by the Black Prince.His longbow men fired barbed arrows at long range, creating agonizing wounds to both knights and horses unlucky enough to be struck in unarmored portions of their flesh.As the cavalry came within 100 yards of the longbow men, they used an arrow tipped like a chisel, known as a bodkin, which easily penetrated chain mail and weaker areas of armor.Livingstone and Witzel estimate that the 2,000 English longbow men commanded by the Black Prince, shot about 16,000 bodkin tipped arrows at a flat trajectory in the last minute of the charge, which killed hundreds of the French nobility, including the recklessComte d'Alencon.

The primary accounts wax poetic about the skill and courage that the Black Prince and his men fought with as they fended off several waves of French attacks on that day and the next day as well.Geoffrey le Baker put it succinctly when writing about the sixteen-year-old Black Prince's baptism by fire in battle."There he learnt that knightly skill which he later put to excellent use at the battle of Poitiers, where he captured the French king."Although heavily outnumbered, Edward III's longbow men were the force multiplier that garnered a stunning victory for the British over the French.Most estimates of the longbow tactics used in the battle state the over one-half million arrows fired by the English easily cut down the French cavalry.Thus, the longbow, and the brilliant way in which it was employed, was responsible for the lopsided casualty figures of the battle.Although casualty figures are somewhat unreliable, most sources put the French losses at one-third of the French nobility-about 12,000 men in all, against the English losses of 150 to 1,000 total.The mastery of the longbow men and the tactics they employed turned them into a weapon of mass destruction and a force multiplier."They were some of the finest, most highly trained and militarily efficient troops that any nation ever put into the field of battle."The battle of Crécy taught all the armies of Europe that the longbow would reign as the supreme weapon in battle for the next 100 years.

Recommended reading for those interested in medieval history, and military history.
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Customer Reviews (1)

Agincourt 1415: The Archers' Story
For anyone interested in the battle of Azincourt, this is most definitly a must.I found it most fascinating as I shoot longbow myself, and to read about what the archers of that period went through is quite something.A great boot, what more can I say. ... Read more

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This book is a study of Paris during the period in the fifteenth century when it fell under English rule.Paris was the headquarters of the Lancastrian government in northern France, established by the victories of Henry V.This history thus forms a key chapter in the story of the rule of Henry VI on both sides of the Channel.Thompson examines the advantages that, for a time at least, occupation seemed to offer the indigenous population, and shows how the English were able to retain secure control.He then provides a political and administrative history, and offers a fascinating exploration of Parisian society at a unique period of the city's history. ... Read more

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This collection consists of 17 studies on 14th- and 15th-century historical topics. The topics include the English political, diplomatic and military interventions in the affairs of the peninsular kingdoms, and the maritime expansion of Portugal in the African Atlantic. ... Read more

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At 16, Edward `the Black Prince' played a leading part in the battle of Crecy; at 26 he captured the king of France at Poitiers; and eleven years later he restored Pedro of Castile to his throne at the battle of Najera. Such a heroic career has an air of unreality about it, heightened by the chivalric attitudes of contemporary writers. This selection aims to correct the traditional view of Edward as far as the materials allow, by using reports sent home by the prince's companions-in-arms, and by looking at the semi-official campaign diaries. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

One of the best primary sources of the Hundred Years War
Read this for graduate history course in medieval history.
Richard Barber's edited works of "The Life and Campaigns of the Black Prince," is one of the best primary sources of the fourteenth-century.Unlike many historians' accounts, Edward's prose make for an engaging read.Edward's writings may be short on the type of battlefield details that modern historians yearn for; however, they are rich in explaining some of the tactical decision-making made by Edward III before and during the Crécy campaign.

The Black Prince noted that Edward III's purpose for the invasion of France, which started the military action in the Hundred Years War, was to conduct a chevauchée, which was essentially a procession of the army through the countryside that pillaged as it traveled.Edward III then intended to use his superior mobility to make his escape up the coast to Flanders without having to fight a major battle with the numerically superior French forces.However, Crécy was the sight of the first major battle of The Hundred Years' War and was a rousing success for the invading English army of Edward III.The battle, which took place on just two days in August of 1346, was emblematic of the tactical successes that the British enjoyed at the battles of Poitiers and Agincourt.

The book accounts the skill and courage that the Black Prince and his men fought with as they fended off several waves of French attacks on that day and the next day as well.The book has an excellent account about the sixteen-year-old Black Prince's baptism by fire in battle."There he learnt that knightly skill which he later put to excellent use at the battle of Poitiers, where he captured the French king."Although heavily outnumbered, Edward III's longbow men were the force multiplier that garnered a stunning victory for the British over the French.Most estimates of the longbow tactics used in the battle state the over one-half million arrows fired by the English easily cut down the French cavalry.Thus, the longbow, and the brilliant way in which it was employed, was responsible for the lopsided casualty figures of the battle.Although casualty figures are somewhat unreliable, most sources put the French losses at one-third of the French nobility-about 12,000 men in all, against the English losses of 150 to 1,000 total.Froissart sums up the mastery of the longbow men and the tactics they employed turning them into a weapon of mass destruction and a force multiplier."They were some of the finest, most highly trained and militarily efficient troops that any nation ever put into the field of battle."The battle of Crécy taught all the armies of Europe that the longbow would reign as the supreme weapon in battle for the next 100 years.

Ten years later in 1356, and a few years after the ravages of the Black Death, the Black Prince conducted and won the most valuable battle of the Hundred Year's War, at Poitiers.The Black Prince won a stunning victory over King John II of France, culminating with the king being captured and killing and capturing of thousands of other French noblemen.Clearly, this action far surpassed the victory won at Crécy.France's military was decimated.The country was pushed to the brink of political collapse, and was left with a tremendous debt in both money and territory to pay for the king's ransom.

Recommended reading for those interested in medieval history.

A True Historical Account
I gave this book five stars for its originality. I loved that the author (who has a number of great works) pretty much steps back and allows the people of the 14th century to do most of the talking. After all, who better then them to tell their own story?
It was also interesting to read how the Black Prince's contemporaries viewed him. Which was not at all like the tyrantrecent historians have made him to be. But this book was more then just about the Black Prince, it gave an insight into medieval warfare and what these soldiers truly lived.

Rock On
LONG LIVE THE PRINCE OF WALES.

THE BLACK PRINCE ALWAYS TRIUMPHS.

KILLER RABBITS ... Read more