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War and British Society c.790 to c.2010

War in medieval society, c.1290–c.1450

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 2

Overview

Crécy and Agincourt, the chevauchée, early gunpowder, recruitment by indenture, why forty days' service failed, taxation and the wool subsidy, the Italian bankers, purveyance, French villagers' suffering and raids on the English coast.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What was a chevauchée, and what was it meant to achieve?

Key term

Why was the old forty days’ knight service useless for a war fought in France?

Key term

What did Crécy in 1346 and Agincourt in 1415 show about how battles were now being won?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What did Crécy in 1346 and Agincourt in 1415 show about how battles were now being won?

    Model answer

    Massed archers shooting the longbow could break charging armoured cavalry, so disciplined infantry mattered more than the mounted knight.

  2. 2

    What was a chevauchée, and what was it meant to achieve?

    Model answer

    A fast mounted raid that burned crops, villages and towns across enemy country, meant to enrich the raiders and to prove that the enemy king could not protect his own people.

  3. 3

    How did gunpowder begin to change warfare before 1450?

    Model answer

    Siege cannon could batter down stone walls that had once held out for months, so castles began to lose their advantage over an attacking army.

  4. 4

    How were English armies for the French wars actually recruited by Edward III’s reign?

    Model answer

    By indenture: a written contract in which a captain agreed to bring an agreed number of men, of agreed types, for an agreed term at agreed wages.

  5. 5

    Why was the old forty days’ knight service useless for a war fought in France?

    Model answer

    A campaign overseas needed months of marching and besieging, and the term would have expired before the army had done anything, so kings took money and paid troops instead.

  6. 6

    How did kings raise the enormous sums that the French war swallowed?

    Model answer

    By asking Parliament for grants of taxation, above all the subsidy on exported wool, which gave the Commons a reason to bargain each time.

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