THE FOLIO SOCIETY

'A terrifying shout rose to the heavens above the wooden horses; an iron shower of quarrels from crossbows and arrows from the longbows brought death to thousands of people; all those who wished or dared to do so fought hand in hand with spears, battle axes and swords; stones hurled from the turrets of masts dashed out the brains of many' Geoffrey le Baker, a 14th-century chronicler, on the battle of Sluys, 1340.

The famous battles of the Hundred Years War - Crécy (1346), Poitiers (1356), Agincourt (1415) - were pivotal moments in military history. In each case the heavily outnumbered English, masters of the longbow and cannon (a terrifying new weapon) decimated the massed ranks of French cavalry. King John II of France was taken prisoner at Poitiers and spent most of the rest of his days in the Tower of London. Yet in the end it was the French who prevailed in this protracted series of conflicts. The Treaty of Brétigny (1360) had placed a quarter of France in English hands; by 1453 all that was left was Calais.

The English had better weapons, more sophisticated battle plans, commanders of the calibre of Sir John Chandos and the Earl of Salisbury, and above all the personality and persistence of Edward III, who claimed the French throne through his mother. But an inability to capitalise on their great victories - the decision to besiege Calais rather than march on Paris in the immediate aftermath of Crécy was costly - and the financial strain of maintaining thousands of men in the field for years at a time, ultimately told against them. Alfred H. Burne's history analyses in fascinating detail the development of each campaign, and brilliantly reconstructs the chaotic, terrifying battles where such iconic figures as the Black Prince, Henry V and Joan of Arc wove their names into the fabric of medieval history.