Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-21T05:07:30.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Towards A Re-Evaluation of Medieval English Generalship

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2014

John Beeler
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Some thirty years ago A. H. Thompson, writing on war in the Middle Ages, concluded that “European warfare in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries shews [sic] a somewhat bewildering variety of practice behind which lies no constructive idea.” This was a mild verdict indeed, for at the time Thompson wrote it was commonplace to condemn the generals of the Middle Ages for every sin in the military lexicon, whether of commission or omission, from mere stupidity to utter incompetence. This contempt for medieval generalship can, as a matter of fact, be traced back to the sixteenth century and Machiavelli's denunciations of the condottieri captains. There were, of course, certain exceptions to be noted, but they were cited only to prove that occasionally a flash lit up the general gloom. Thus, William the Conqueror's masterly campaign of September-December 1066 had long been recognized; Edward IV was sometimes referred to as “the first modern general;” J. E. Morris established the reputation of Edward I as a tactical innovator; and Robert I, the Bruce, was admitted by even so contemptuous a critic as Sir Charles Oman to have laid down a proper strategy for the conduct of operations against the English. And, scattered here and there throughout the vast literature on the Middle Ages are indications of a vague awareness that perhaps the generalship of the period was not so lacking in purpose and professional competence as had generally been alleged. It is necessary only to recall B. H. Liddell Hart's scathing comments on the military high commands of World War I to be reminded that generals of all ages have been subject to searching post facto criticism.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of British Studies , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , November 1963 , pp. 1 - 10
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference of British Studies 1963

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Thompson, A. H., “The Art of War to 1400,” Camb. Med. Hist. (London, 1929), VI, ch. xxxiii, p. 793Google Scholar.

2. Machiavelli, Niccolò, The Prince, tr. Ricci, Luigi (New York, 1940), pp. 44–49Google Scholar.

3. Baring, Francis Henry, Domesday Tables (London, 1909)Google Scholar, App. A; Barrett, C. B. R., Battles and Battlefields in England (London, 1896), p. 200Google Scholar; Morris, John E., The Welsh Wars of Edward I (Oxford, 1901)Google Scholar; Oman, C. W. C., A History of the Art of War in the Middle Ages (2nd ed.; London, 1924), II, 99Google Scholar.

4. Hart, B. H. Liddell, The War in Outline, 1914-1918 (New York, 1939)Google Scholar.

5. See, for example: Bodmer, Jean-Pierre, Der Krieger der Merowingerzeit und Seiner Welt (Zurich, 1957)Google Scholar; Brustem, Charles, L'Armée Bourguignonne de 1465 à 1468 (Brussels, n. d.)Google Scholar; Burne, Alfred H., The Crecy War (London, 1955)Google Scholar, and The Agincourt War (London, 1956)Google Scholar; Cram, Kurt-Georg, Iudicum Belli: zum Rechtscharakter des Krieges im Deutschen Mittelalter (Münster, 1955)Google Scholar; Hewitt, H. J., The Black Prince's Expedition of 1355-1157 (Manchester, 1958)Google Scholar; Hollister, C. Warren, Anglo-Saxon Military Institutions (Oxford, 1962)Google Scholar; Lot, Ferdinand, L'Art Militaire et les Armées au Moyen Age (Paris, 1946)Google Scholar; O'Neill, B. H. St. John, Castles and Canon: a Study of Early Artillery Fortifications in England (Oxford, 1960)Google Scholar; Powicke, Michael, Military Obligation in Medieval England (Oxford, 1962)Google Scholar; Sanders, I. J., Feudal Military Service in England (London, 1956)Google Scholar; Schaufelberger, Walter, Der Alte Schweizer und Sein Krieg (Zurich, 1952)Google Scholar; Smail, R. C., Crusading Warfare (Cambridge, 1956)Google Scholar; Verbruggen, J. F., De Krijgskunst in West Europa in de Middeleeuwen (Brussels, 1954)Google Scholar; and Het Leger en de Vloot van de Graven van Vlaanderen (Brussels, 1960)Google Scholar. In addition many articles on medieval military subjects have appeared in various periodicals and learned journals.

6. Hart, B. H. Liddell, Strategy: The Indirect Approach (New York, 1954), p. 75Google Scholar.

7. For the details of the campaign of 1101 see, in particular, David, Charles Wendell, Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy (Cambridge, Mass., 1920), pp. 126–37CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8. Thorpe, Benjamin (ed.), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, according to the Several Original Authorities [Rolls Series] (London, 1861), I, 366Google Scholar.

9. Ibid.

10. Vitalis, Ordericus, Historia Ecclesiastica, ed. Prévost, Auguste le (Paris, 1838–1855), IV, 170Google Scholar.

11. Ibid., IV, 171.

12. William of Malmesbury, De Gestis Regum Anglorum et Historiae Novellae, ed. Stubbs, William [Rolls Series] (London, 1889), II, 472Google Scholar.

13. Ordericus, , Historia Ecclesiastica, IV, 170-71, 173.Google Scholar

14. Ibid., IV, 172-73.

15. William of Malmesbury, De Gestis Regum, II, 472Google Scholar; Ordericus, , Historia Ecclesiastica, IV, 174–75Google Scholar.

16. Ordericus, , Historia Ecclesiastica, IV, 173.Google Scholar

17. Ibid., IV, 175-76.

18. Ibid., IV, 175-77; Thorpe, , Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, I, 366Google Scholar; William of Malmesbury, De Gestis Regum, II, 472–73Google Scholar.

19. William of Malmesbury, Historia Novella, ed. Potter, K. R. (London, 1955), p. 71Google Scholar.

20. The charter embodying the terms on which Earl Geoffrey was willing to change his allegiance from King Stephen to the Empress is printed in Round, J. H., Geoffrey de Mandeville (London, 1892), pp. 166–71Google Scholar.

21. Oman, , Art of War, I, 468.Google Scholar

22. William of Malmesbury, Historia Novella, p. 72Google Scholar; Robert of Torigni, The Chronicle of Robert of Torigni, in Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I, ed. Howlett, Richard [Rolls Series] (London, 1884–1889), IV, 143Google Scholar.

23. Round, , Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 197Google Scholar.

24. Thorpe, , Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, I, 384Google Scholar; William of Malmesbury, Historia Novella, p. 74Google Scholar; Potter, K. R. (ed.), Gesta Stephani, Regis Anglorum et Ducis Normannorum (London, 1955), p. 94Google Scholar; William of Newburgb, Historia Rerum Anglicarum of William of Newburgh, in Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I, ed. Howlett, Richard [Rolls Series] (London, 1884–1889), I, 43Google Scholar; John of Hexham, The Chronicle of John of Hexham, in Historia Ecclesiae Dunhelmensis by Symeon the Monk of Durham, ed. Arnold, Thomas [Rolls Series] (London, 1882), II, 317Google Scholar; Gervase of Canterbury, The Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I by Gervase the Monk of Canterbury, ed. Stubbs, William [Rolls Series] (London, 1879), I, 124Google Scholar; Henry of Huntingdon, Henrici Archidiaconi Huntedunensis Historia Anglorum, ed. Arnold, Thomas [Rolls Series] (London, 1879), p. 276Google Scholar.

25. William of Malmesbury, Historia Novella, pp. 75–76Google Scholar; Gervase of Canterbury, Chronicle, I, 124Google Scholar; Potter, , Gesta Stephani, pp. 94–95Google Scholar.

26. William of Malmesbury, Historia Novella, p. 76Google Scholar.

27. Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, p. 276Google Scholar; William of Newburgh, Historia Rerum Anglicarum, I, 43Google Scholar; Potter, , Gesta Stephani, pp. 94–96Google Scholar; John of Hexham, Chronicle, II, 317Google Scholar; William of Malmesbury, Historia Novella, p. 76Google Scholar; Thorpe, , Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, I, 384Google Scholar; Gervase of Canterbury, Chronicle, I, 124–25Google Scholar.

28. William of Newburgh, Historia Rerum Anglicarum, I, 44–45Google Scholar; Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, p. 276Google Scholar; Potter, , Gesta Stephani, pp. 106–08Google Scholar. For the details of the campaign see Beeler, John, “XII Century Guerilla Campaign,” Military Review, XLII (1962), 39–46Google Scholar.

29. Potter, , Gesta Stephani, p. 108Google Scholar.

30. Stewart, D. J. (ed.), Liber Eliensis ad fidem codicum variorum (London, 1848), pp. 245–46Google Scholar; Miller, Edward, The Abbey and Bishopric of Ely (Cambridge, 1951), pp. 157–58Google Scholar.

31. Round, , Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 209Google Scholar.

32. Potter, , Gesta Stephani, p. 109Google Scholar; John of Hexham, Chronicle, II, 314–15Google Scholar; William of Newburgh, Historia Rerum Anglicarum, I, 45–46Google Scholar; Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, pp. 276–77Google Scholar.

33. Round, , Geoffrey de Mandeville, pp. 211–13Google Scholar; Potter, , Gesta Stephani, p. 109Google Scholar.

34. Potter, , Gesta Stephani, p. 110Google Scholar.

35. Ibid.; Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, pp. 277–78Google Scholar; William of Newburgh, Historia Rerum Anglicarum, I, 46Google Scholar.

36. Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, p. 278Google Scholar.

37. Hewitt, , Black Prince's Expedition, pp. 46–47.Google Scholar