Osprey - General Military - Knight - The Warrior and ... - Brego-weard

KNIGHT
This image of the battle of
Nancy, 1477, shows both
the spectacle and chaos
of a medieval battle.
(The Art Archive)
130
But when we are in the fields, on our swift war-horses, our shields at our necks and our
spears lowered, and the great cold benumbs us all, our limbs fail both behind and
before, and our enemies are approaching towards us, then we should wish to be in a
cellar so great, that we should never make a vow of one kind or another...
Given the insights we can get from Jean le Bel's personal narrative of the hardships
of the Weardale campaign, we might have expected a similar level ol honesty from
him, and it is a pity that it did not result in a battle between the English and Scots so
that he could have described it (although Jean might not have agreed with us).
It is possible to glean something of what the warrior experienced from within the
primary sources. The spectacle of the armies is a common theme. Froissart describes
the French army marching against Hugh Calverley's garrison at Bergues in 1383 as
'a beautiful sight to behold ... and such numbers of men-at-arms that they could not
encompass them: they seemed like a moving lorest so upright did they hold their
lances'. Henry of Huntingdon describes King Stephen's force riding to the relief of
Malmesbury in 1152, saying that it 'was indeed a huge army, densely packed with