Armies of Crecy and Poitiers (Men-At-Arms Series, No 111) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is a fairly detailed look at the English army at two of its most famous victories, Crecy and Poitiers, both over the French in the Hundred Years War.
Though, as a previous review has stated the plates focus too much on knightly parade uniforms and not enough on practical armament and the appearance of the common soldiers, the text of this book is invaluable. Following a several page intro to the historical background the author examines the course of both battles in detail. The chain of command, cavalry, cavalry armor, infantry, mercenaries, supplies, and a final analysis of the battles are the other sections.
The plates are high quality, as typical of Osprey, but six of the eight focus on the nobles and kings of both sides; only the first and last plates show us the appearance of the common soldiers (although they were understandably not as diverse or interesting in gear than the knights).
Overall, this is one of the better early men-at-arms titles, made better than most because of its examination of just two battles, thus leaving room for more detail than usual.

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A combination of dynastic disputes, feudal quibbles, trade disagreements and historical antagonism resulted in the opening of the Hundred Years War in 1337. The first major English land victory in this conflict was the Battle of Crécy. This pitted the French army, then considered the best in Europe, against the English under King Edward III. The battle established the longbow as one of the most feared weapons of the medieval period, a reputation reinforced at the bloody battle of Poitiers where much of the French nobility was slaughtered and their king captured by the English host.

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