THE BOOK OF THE MEDIEVAL KNIGHT.

UK,large Qrto HB+dw/dj,1st edn.FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn,and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright and clean,glossy laminated black background colour illustrated upper wrap with bright,stamped gilt letters,colour photographic rear wrap; with negligible shelf-wear and creasing to edges,a tiny,tiny closed nick to head of spine/backstrip.Top+fore-edges bright and clean,contents bright,tight and pristine.Bright and clean black cloth boards with bright,crisp,stamped gilt lettered title to upper board and spine/backstrip with b/w line illustrated endpapers.UK,large Qrto HB +dw/dj,1st edn,8-192pp [paginated] includes half-title,double-page colour scenic photographic title page,contents list,author introduction,12 chapters,profuse b/w+colour contemporary and modern illustrations and photographs throughout the text [200+ illustrations+80 in full colour], references - for further reading,and an index. Fearless in battle,undaunted in defeat,magnanimous in victory,the knight lived his life on a heroic scale.War was his metier;valour and chivalry his code of life.He was part of Europe's military elite.This book,superbly illustrated in both colour and b/w,tells the story of the knight during the 14th/15thCs - from the great victories of Edward III and the Black Prince to the fall of Richard III on Bosworth Field.During this period,new technology on the battlefield posed deadly challenges for the mounted warrior; but they also stimulated change,and the knight moved with the times,surviving the longbow devastation at Crecy,Poitiers and Agincourt to emerge triumphant still,his armour now lighter and more effective,his military skills indispensable.This was the great age of the orders of chivalry and the freemasonry of arms that bound together comrades and adversaries in a tight international military caste.Such men as Bertrand du Guesclin and Sir John Chandos loom large in the pages of this book - bold leaders and brave warriors,imbued with these traditions of chivalry and knighthood.How their heroic endeavours and the knightly code of conduct could be reconciled with the indiscriminate carnage of the 'chevauchee' and the depredations of the 'free companies' is one of the principal themes of this narrative.Throughout the book,historical events are used to illustrate a particular military topic,which is analysed in the context of the time and circumstances. The story begins with the young Edward III's revenge for Bannockburn: Dupplin Moor,the siege of Berwick and the Battle of Halidon Hill,The opening of the Hundred Years War,The raising of armies,the road to total war and the power of the longbow -Crecy. Chivalry and the chevauchee, the Battle of the Thirty - the epitome of knightly combat - the relief of Aquitaine and the Battle of Poitiers,Du Guesclin,the free companies and the Spanish campaigns, Honour and internationalism as expressed by the crusades; Lithuania, Nicopolis and Tannenberg.Henry IV's campaigns against Owen Glyndwr, the Picardy Affair - Henry V and the Agincourt War,Joan of Arc, the relief of Orleans and the eviction of the English from Normandy and Gascony.York and Lancaster and the opening phases of the Wars of the Roses,Towton and Tewkesbury, castles and sieges,and the triumph of cannon, the end of the Yorkists,the demise of the Montforts of Brittany and the destruction of Burgundy. Heavy tome - 1.2Kg unpackaged. Please contact rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,because of the value/ weight of this item,for correct,insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!