A collection of essays, in honour of Pierre Chaplais, which examine England's policies towards her neighbours between 1066 and 1453.

This new study of Tudor international relations is the first in nearly thirty years. Adopting a fresh approach to the subject, this lively collection presents the work of a team of established and younger scholars who discuss how the Tudor monarchs made sense of the world beyond England's shores. Taking account of recent developments in cultural, gender and institutional history, the contributors analyse the important changes and continuities in England's foreign policy during the Tudor age. Tudor England and its Neighbours addresses key questions such as: - Did Henry VII break with the past by pursuing peace with France? - What was the impact of the break with Rome and the introduction of Protestantism on England's relations with other countries? - Was war between Elizabethan England and Spain inevitable? Using new evidence and reinterpreting traditional narratives, these essays illuminate the complexities and the sometimes surprising subtleties of England's international relations between 1485 and 1603.

A highly illustrated account of the defeat of the English Kingdom in France at the battles of Formigny (1450) and Castillon (1453). Despite the great English victories at Crécy, Poitiers and Agincourt, the French eventually triumphed in the Hundred Years War. This book examines the last campaign of the war, covering the great battles at Formigny in 1450 and Castillon in 1453, both of which hold an interesting place in military history. The battle of Fornigny saw French cavalry defeat English archers in a reverse of those earlier English victories, while Castillon became the first great success for gunpowder artillery in fixed positions. Alongside battlescene maps and illustrations, David Nicolle explains how the seemingly unmartial King Charles VII of France all but drove the English into the sea, succeeding where so many of his predecessors had failed.

This is a major contribution to the study of medieval Wales by a group of outstanding British historians, writing in honour of one of Wales's most distinguished scholars and the biographer of Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. The essays reflect exciting trends in the study of both Wales and the Middle Ages, including church building, chronicle writing, the comparative history of the law, valuable reassessments of town life and the implications of the Edwardian conquest of Wales.

This broad-ranging study explores the nature of national sentiment in fourteenth-century England and sets it in its political and constitutional context for the first time. Andrea Ruddick reveals that despite the problematic relationship between nationality and subjecthood in the king of England's domains, a sense of English identity was deeply embedded in the mindset of a significant section of political society. Using previously neglected official records as well as familiar literary sources, the book reassesses the role of the English language in fourteenth-century national sentiment and questions the traditional reliance on the English vernacular as an index of national feeling. Positioning national identity as central to our understanding of late medieval society, culture, religion and politics, the book represents a significant contribution not only to the political history of late medieval England, but also to the growing debate on the nature and origins of states, nations and nationalism in Europe.

This volume extends the 'British Isles' approach pioneered by Robin Frame and Rees Davies to the later middle ages. Through examination of issues such as frontier formation, colonial identities and connections with the wider world it explores whether this period saw the bonds between the British Isles weaken, strengthen, or simply alter.

Modern historians have frequently maligned Henry III of England (1216-1272) for his entanglements in European affairs. However, this book moves past orthodox opinion to offer a reappraisal of his activities. Using Henry's dealings with the rulers of the Staufen Empire (Germany, Northern France, Northern Italy and Sicily) as a case study to explore the broader international context within which he acted, the author offers a more varied reading of Henry's 'European adventures'; he shows that far from being an expensive aberration, they reveal the English king as acting within the same parameters and according to the same norms as his peers and contemporaries. Moreover, they provide new insights into the structures and mechanisms, the ideals and institutions which defined the conduct of relations between rulers and realms in the medieval West; medieval politics, it is argued, cannot be understood in isolation from wider movements, ideals and concepts. The book will be of value not only for historians of medieval England, but also for those with a more general interest in the wider political structures of the pre-modern West.Dr BJORN K. U. WEILER is Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

A comparative study of how the societies of late medieval England and France reacted to the long period of conflict between them from political, military, social and economic perspectives.

This is a comparative study of how the societies of late-medieval England and France reacted to the long period of conflict between them commonly known as the Hundred Years War. Beginning with an analysis of contemporary views regarding the war. Two chapters follow which describe the military aim of the protagonists, military and naval organisation, recruitment, and the raising of taxes. The remainder of the book describes and analyses some of the main social and economic effects of war upon society, the growth of a sense of national consciousness in time of conflict, and the social criticism which came from those who reacted to changes and development brought about by war. Although intended primarily as a textbook for students, Dr Allmand's study is much more than that. It makes an important general contribution to the history of war in medieval times, and opens up new and original perspectives on a familiar topic.