Every man who does well in this military vocation should be prized and honoured.
GEOFFROI DE CHARNY, THE BOOK OF CHIVALRY, 1350–51
• • •
Imagine yourself on a splendid charger, encased by gleaming armour, brandishing sword, lance and shield. Or picture yourself at court, renowned for your bravery and surrounded by beautiful damsels. Of course you want to be a knight. But this is not easy in the early 15th century. It is not just a simple matter of buying a horse and a suit of armour; there is much you must learn. Some books will teach you about the ideals of chivalry, but they do not provide the practical advice you need if you are determined to live – and quite possibly die – for glory on the battlefield. That is what this manual will give you.
Since the start of the 14th century we have been living in an age of war throughout Europe, and the mounted knight is the most magnificent figure on the battlefield. Much more than just a soldier; he should be the epitome of chivalry, a paragon of virtue. Prowess, loyalty, generosity and mercy are among his guiding principles.
Yet there is a difficult balance to be struck between the ideals and the practicalities of warfare. The knight is challenged and often defeated on the battlefield by common soldiers armed with bow and pike; he fights on foot more often than on horseback, and the guiding principles of chivalry often seem in reality to become those of guile, deceit, profit and cruelty.
The advice in this manual is derived from the practical experience of knights and men-at-arms. It is not based on romantic chivalric literature; tales of King Arthur and other mythical heroes may help to keep you amused during a siege or a lull between battles, and may even mirror knightly behaviour on occasion, but they are hardly a realistic guide.
The knights of today take their inspiration from a heroic past. This image shows the knightly followers of the renowned hero Godfrey de Bouillon, one of the leaders of the 11th-century First Crusade, riding off to battle. (From Godefroy de Bouillon, Crusades. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Photo Getty Images, London)
This is not a book of instruction for the sort of knight who may go on one or two campaigns, but who spends most of his time managing his estates, playing his part in local politics and attending law courts. This is a manual for the knight at war.
War
War is complex; it is not a simple matter of gaily adorned knights charging into battle. For a start, it involves a great deal of organization. States need to have systems of taxation to raise the money for armies up to 30,000 men strong. Sophisticated credit systems operated by international merchant banking houses are required to enable rulers and cities to meet the short-term needs of expensive campaigns. Armies need supply systems to provide the hundreds of tons of food and thousands of gallons of drink that they require. Siege warfare involves the deployment of up-to-date military hardware. Internationally recognized conventions, amounting to a law of war, regulate conflict and its aftermath. Within all this, there is a great deal of scope for ambitious individuals to develop knightly careers. The opportunities are there for you to grasp.
Where can you fight?
War is deeply ingrained in Europe, and as a knight, you will have no difficulty finding employment. Conflict is endemic between states, but is most deeply entrenched between France and England, with the war that began in 1337 and seems likely to last for 100 years. That is a tricky situation; from one point of view the kings of England are rebellious vassals of the French rulers, and from another, they are justified by descent in calling themselves kings of France. At times local rivalries and internal disputes make it seem more of a French civil war than a war between nations. Great battles have punctuated this war, above all the three great English victories of Crécy in 1346, Poitiers ten years later, and most recently Agincourt in 1415.
French ambitions in the Low Countries have also led to much fighting, from the battle of Courtrai in 1302 when Flemish urban forces defeated the French host, to that of Roosebeke in 1382, when the French were triumphant. Similarly, English designs upon Scotland have resulted in many campaigns. English successes under Edward I were overturned under his successor Edward II at Bannockburn in 1314; but during the following reign the king of Scots, David II, was captured at Neville’s Cross in 1346. Another struggle for independence has been that of the Swiss, whose infantry troops were more than a match for Habsburg forces at Morgarten in 1315, and Sempach in 1386.
At Crécy in 1346 the English triumphed over the French. (From Les Chroniques de France or Les Chroniques de Saint Denis, 14th century. British Library, London)
At Courtrai in 1302 Flemish townspeople also defeated a great French army. (From Les Chroniques de France, 14th century. British Library, London)
In Italy, there is constant rivalry between cities, with Milan, Florence and Venice the most powerful in a world of shifting allegiances and frequent campaigning. The wealth of the cities, and the opportunities for fighting, are a magnet drawing in soldiers from Germany and elsewhere. Further south, the Papacy is not only a spiritual power, but also a player in the complex politics of the peninsula. The kingdom of Naples, whose dynasty hailed from Anjou in France, is in conflict with Sicily, ruled by the Aragonese king.
The Iberian peninsula has recently offered further potential for an ambitious knight, particularly with dynastic complications in Castile in the 1360s, and the Portuguese struggle for independence in the 1380s.
At the other end of Europe, the Baltic has seen German eastward expansion taking place for many years; the fiercest opponents of which are the Lithuanians. There are ample opportunities to join in the struggle against them, under the leadership of the Teutonic Knights. This is a religious crusade; there are other crusading opportunities available in the Mediterranean world, but success there is hard to come by.
Individual careers
The potential for a military knight is best demonstrated by outlining the careers of three of the key individuals who will feature in this book.
Geoffroi de Charny
De Charny was the most notable French knight of his generation, who wrote the standard work on knighthood, the Book of Chivalry. His military career began in 1337, the year when the current war between England and France began. He was captured by the English at Morlaix in 1342, and soon ransomed. He was knighted by 1343, and went on a futile crusade in 1345. De Charny did not fight at Crécy in 1346, but he played an increasingly important role in war after that. In 1349 he planned to regain Calais through bribery, but failed. Once again, the English took him prisoner, and he was again ransomed. He was one of the first members of the Order of the Star, and was chosen to carry the celebrated French war banner, the Oriflamme. In 1356 he was killed, banner in hand, fighting heroically at the battle of Poitiers. His Book of Chivalry was an attempt to renew and reform French knighthood, and sets out the ideals that a knight should follow.
John Hawkwood
An Essex man, Hawkwood’s first military experience was in France, but the short-lived peace treaty agreed in 1360 meant he had to look elsewhere to continue his career. He found fame and a degree of fortune in Italy, initially with the mercenary band known as the White Company. He served Pisa, Milan, Padua, the Papacy, and above all Florence, whose authorities praised him to the skies. He was first hired by the Florentines in 1377, and fought for the city, with intermissions, until his death in 1394. Hawkwood was a soldier of immense ability, who understood the full complexities of war. Tactician, strategist and inspiring leader, he could turn apparent defeat into triumph, and had the diplomatic skill to succeed in the complex world of Italian city rivalries. Hawkwood always wanted to return to England, but he died in Italy, the most notable of the mercenaries, or condottieri, who served the Florentine republic.
Boucicaut
Jean II le Maingre was nicknamed, like his father before him, Boucicaut, in an allusion to a fishing net. No one is quite sure why. Born in 1366, his military career began at a very young age. He fought in the French triumph over the Flemings at Roosebeke in 1382, and then went on campaigns in Spain, the Baltic and the eastern Mediterranean. In 1391, despite his youth, he was appointed as one of the two marshals of France. He went on the crusading expedition of 1396 against the Turks in the Balkans, and was captured at Nicopolis that year. After his release he fought for the Byzantine emperor before he was appointed governor of Genoa in 1401. Although a great soldier, he was no politician, and in 1409 the Genoese ousted him. Boucicaut was captured at Agincourt in 1415, and is now a prisoner in England. His biography was written in 1409, to justify and explain his not-very-successful rule of Genoa; it is a classic description of a chivalric career, even though its hero emerges as a self-righteous prig.
The challenge
You have a great deal to learn if you want to be a successful knight. Geoffroi de Charny in his Book of Chivalry explains that knights should be bold and eager to commit themselves to deeds of arms and adventures. They will face difficult trials and many discomforts; terrors will beset them, and they may be defeated and captured. The French poet Christine de Pizan paints a similar picture. As she says, a knight should be wise and good, gracious, courteous, generous, gentle and calm. He should journey far to acquire honour, and should be enterprising and proud in undertaking deeds of arms. These are the ideals; to be really successful you need to add other, more practical elements, as well as a little low cunning.
Some skills are essential – you won’t get very far if you don’t know how to ride a horse, wield a lance and fight with sword and shield. Then the different techniques required for jousting and for fighting in battle need to be mastered. You will need to be physically fit for gruelling campaigns, which may take place under the hot Mediterranean sun or in the dark frozen days of a Baltic winter. There is much more than that, however; you need to understand the culture of chivalry, with all its ambiguities and contradictions. There is the glamour of the tournament, and the courtly culture with its love songs and romances, its dinners and dances. But you must be as comfortable on the battlefield as on the dancefloor, dealing with the brutal side of war, the ravaging of the land and the slaughter of civilians. And on top of all this there are also the business aspects to learn, particularly the ransoming of prisoners.
It may seem as though you have a daunting amount to learn, and it is true that you do, but with the expert guidance contained in this manual a glorious career as a knight awaits you. Follow this advice and you will not fail.
Note
Every effort has been made to make the advice in this manual as up-to-date as possible. All the views expressed represent the opinions and knowledge of the period from 1300 to 1415.