Hello everyone and welcome back to the History of England, Episode 84, War, Tournament

and Century.

So, the army that Edward assembled in the summer of 1301 was not the biggest of Edward's

career.

Nonetheless, an army of about 10,000 if it could stay together should be certainly

big enough for the job.

A no doubt with your young prince in tow, the English army would have looked a fine

sight.

Poets often remarked on the splendid displays of the medieval army.

The nightly penance fluttering at the end of lances, brightly coloured circuits, horse

coverings.

So, with that in mind, Yamo, some time ago, dropped me an email, and as a result, I said

I'd bring us up to date on the military scene.

I've also had an exchange with Dave, who's interested in military technology changes.

So this week, we're going to have a bit of politics, and we'll have a bit about the

military changes in the armors of the 13th century.

Let's start with the military stuff then, with something of a broad brush view of what

we already know, and where we'd got to by the end of the 12th century.

So what we had under Henry II was the continuation of the feudal army established by William

the Conqueror, but very heavily augmented by large contingents of brutal mercenaries.

The feudal backbone of the army was the heavily armoured and mounted knights, with horsemen

often organised into groups called Conroyce.

...