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

fought in 1461, showed a blade wound that had cut through his lower jaw and teeth
on his left side, but the wound had clearly healed and there was no indication of
infection. One of Joinville's knights, Raoul de Wanou, had been hamstrung during the
fight at Mansourah, but survived to go into captivity with his lord, being carried to and
from the privy by one of his captors. Similarly we are told that the future Henry V
survived his arrow-wound at Shrewsbury, primarily through the skills of a royal
surgeon whose use of a specialist surgical tool suggests particular knowledge of
battlefield surgery.
The death of a knight was often seen as something to be mourned and regretted,
not to be sought or celebrated. When Sir John Chandos was killed at Lussac in 1369,
Froissart tells us that his death was regretted by both French and English, saying:
Thus it happens through life. The English loved him for all the excellent qualities he
was possessed of. The French hated him because they were afraid of him. Not but that
I have heard him at the time regretted by renowned knights in France; for they said
it was a great pity he was slain, and that, if he could have been taken prisoner, he
CAMPAIGN AND BATTLE -J*
An image of the battle of
Agincourt, made some 70
years later, depicts French
noblemen being marched
off by footsoldiers, but not
the desperate and muddy
fight that it was, nor the
effects of Henry's order
to kill the prisoners.
(Bridgeman Art Library)
135