What makes a wargamer choose the period in which he operates? I suppose in most cases he is influenced by some book which has particularly interested him or caught at his imagination, or else he has been influenced by seeing and perhaps handling figures from another's collection. In my case, however, I can remember quite clearly that I have been interested in the medieval period since the days of my childhood, and the stories of Robin Hood and King Arthur. Cowboys, yes, fighter pilots, explorers, pirates, yes, I liked them too, didn't we all; but the knights in their gleaming armour and the sturdy bowman always remained firm favourites. I have progressed somewhat since those days, of course! The armour was not really so bright in reality - if it was not rusty it was because it was covered with smelly grease, and the knight must have had an ardour somewhere between that of a mechanic and a stable lad, if you can imagine such a thing. And what about that story that Robin gave it all to the poor? That was his version, and no doubt he was sticking to it. Still, all in all, the period deserves more attention, if only because it was quite the longest and most consistent period of success English armies have ever known. For 98 years, from the accession of Edward III until 1425, the English notched up 18 major victories on the trot against foreign enemies, virtually without losing a single important battle. My favourite part of the whole period is the dozen or so years which included the great battles at Poitiers and Najera -- say the 1350s and 60s. This was the hey-day of heraldry, and the time when the bowman were at the absolute height of their reputation. I am fascinated by the wealth of colourful and interesting characters who flourished, by the Black Prince, by Chandos with his one eye, the Captal de Buch, Sir James Audley, who requested a position in the front rank at Poitiers, as it was the post of Honour; by the 'fighting Earls', Warwick and Salisbury, Northampton and Derby, and so on; by the "Free Companions", Sir Robert Knollys, Sir Hugh Calverley and Sir Matthew Gurney, who fought through it all and retired very rich. Then there are the French, wily du Guesclin, the dashing marshal Boucicault, Anjou and Alencon, and the curious Gaston 'Phoebus' with his midnight feasts, his hundreds of dogs, and his sinister 'familiar' who brought him news from distant lands much faster than any courier could travel. And a little research turns up even weirder people. Who, these days, has ever heard of Reynald de Cervoles, who rejoiced in the odd nickname of "The Arch-priest"? The period, too, holds a lot of attractions for the wargamer, and quite a train of events which can easily and authentically form the basis for interesting campaigns. Just look at some of these: In 1355 and 1356 the Black Prince led a couple of raids deep into French territory. The first extended from Bordeaux to the Mediterranean, and went far enough east to alarm the Pope at Avignon, while the second went north-east into central France. The latter, of course, led to the Battle of Poitiers and the capture of King John. These events were followed by a rebellion on the part of the King's cousin Carlos of Navarre in Normandy. He employed the famous Captal de Buch as his general, while the French sent along Bertrand du Guesclin. The net result was a minuscule pitched battle at Cocherel, with English, French and assorted mercenaries of all nationalities mixed up on either side, so if you have armies of this era, why stick to English fighting French? Only a month or two later another "private" war came to the battlefield at Auray in Brittany, and once again, conditions were much the same. Both sides employed the mercenaries - this time du Guesclin found himself facing Sir John Chandos .... If your set-up includes a small castle or fortified town, then you should look again at the Free Companies, who were running quite well-developed protection rackets in areas not already devastated by the war. The usual procedure was to seize a smallish castle by some ruse or other nod milk the countryside dry. Safe-conducts at a price - protection from "bandits" - at a price - the seizure and looting of those who would not "co-operate", all followed, and bad luck on any area where two or three gangs were operating at once! The results made Chicago's gangster era look like kiddies' playtime. The enterprising Knollys, Calverley and Gurney were always willing to set their hands to any enterprise which would show a profit. Having each made a fortune helping du Gueselin boot King Pedro of Castile off his throne, they cheerfully went the following year with the Black Prince to put him back -- at a price! It was all business really. If you won, you could expect rewards from a grateful employers, and ransoms from prisoners: if you lost, you had to pay a ransom yourself. Winner takes all. Chivalry also played a part. In June of 1358, the Captal and his cousin Gaston de Foix, with a handful of men-at-arms were returning from a crusade in Prussia, and cheerfully taking a short-out through central France, in spite of the fact that they counted themselves as English. At Meaux, near Paris, they discovered the Duchess of Orleans, with a group of her ladies, about to be seized by the infuriated peasants of the "Jacquerie". No thought of French or E,nglish, friend or enemy. The two knights only saw that ladies were in distress. Another interesting battle occurred, in the streets of the town, with a few heavily-armed men against a multitude of half-armed, undisciplined "irregulars". The ladies were eventually rescued, but the situation had been somewhat frought in the meantime. All in all though, not a bad time for an enterprising soldier, nor for a wargamer. (I think I got more pleasure out of writing my book "The Bowman of England" then any other. It is a fascinating period when everyone seemed twice as large as life! Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 125 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1972 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com