Trevor Russell Smith and Michael Livingston (eds)

Of Knyghthode and Bataile

(Medieval Institute Publications, 2021), 180pp. $29.95

The study of warfare in medieval Europe is an undertaking fraught with uncertainty, in large part due to the limits of the documentary record and the clear limitations imposed by economic conditions and decentralized political leadership for waging war in the systematic fashion of ancient city-states or empires and modern nation states. Ancient and modern militaries produced treatises and manuals aimed at providing specialized education for military officers on the best practices of logistical supply, tactics on the battlefield, and the formulation of military strategy. By contrast, the medieval written record is both spartan and rather more difficult to parse, due to a general absence of specialized literature designed specifically for use by military commanders. This absence led prior generations of scholars to suggest that military science as such simply did not exist for medieval military commanders, and formal interest in the subject was limited to clerics who simply wished to appear learned and knowledgeable but who otherwise had no practical knowledge of warfare to speak of.  More recent scholarship has found evidence of a distinctly medieval tradition of military science built on the reception of the late antique Roman author Vegetius, whose De Rei Militari was widely copied, disseminated, and referenced by medieval writers as an authority on the art of war; other scholars have focused on exploring the practical conduct of medieval warfare to find evidence of strategic intention in military practice. Of Knyghthode and Bataile speaks directly to this fundamental debate on military history by offering an updated edition of a fifteenth century poetic translation (at times, a creative gloss) of Vegetius’ treatise with updated materials to reflect the perspective and immediate concerns of its English author, who delivered the treatise to the embattled King Henry VI in 1460.

As a text written in the wake of England’s painful defeats in the Hundred Years’ War in France and in the midst of the Lancastrian-Yorkist conflict that would be subsequently dubbed the Wars of the Roses, this vernacular poem helps shed light on the transmission and reception of Vegetius in the fifteenth century, particularly in regards to attempts to update and present Vegetius’ general precepts for the technological and military conditions of the period. Edited by Trevor Russell Smith (a postdoctoral fellow at Leeds) and military historian Michael Livingston, this edition of the text presents the most comprehensive and up-to-date rendering of the original Middle English manuscript currently available. The editors provide a helpful and thorough introduction to the text, describing the history of the original MS manuscript and its subsequent derivative texts, as well as a consideration of the work’s social context and authorship. The helps highlight the anonymous author’s social, political, and military context (identified here as Robert Parker, with plausible reasoning by the editors over other candidates), as well as establish the outline of the text and the editorial decisions made in rendering the text. Among the best decisions made by the editors is not to render the often vague and non-specific language (particularly in the context of identifying soldiers) of the original poem with specific types of soldiers in the accompany marginal notes, unless a specific distinction between infantry and cavalry is offered in the original. This invites readers to carefully examine the text on its own merits, without inserting anachronistic concepts or divisions into a text where they are wholly inappropriate or absent.

The text itself is presented with a helpful glossary and footnotes that help clarify awkward passages or phrases, editorial choices, or connections between the different sections of the work. The text of Of Knyghthode and Bataile is divided into four main sections, which are themselves preceded by a general introductory Proem. The four parts are divided by subject, beginning with recruitment and training (Part I), the structure of an army on campaign (Part II), battle tactics (Part III), and specialized advice for siege and naval warfare (Part IV). Of these, the Proem is the decidedly least Vegetian portion of the text, as it constitutes the author’s address to his intended recipient and patron (Henry VI). It is worth noting that the individual parts Of Knyghthode and Bataile are rarely an accurate representation of the original Latin text: as the editors note, the text seems more intent on capturing the themes and general concepts of Vegetius, filtered through the prism of contemporary military events and cultural context of the author. Part I’s emphasis on training and recruitment will be broadly familiar to anyone who has read Vegetius, or his medieval successors such as John of Salisbury, with a distinctly fifteenth century emphasis on the importance of noble breeding and upbringing for knights in particular. The recommendations in Part II for organizing the army is noteworthy as an attempt to “update” Vegetius for the vastly different practical conditions of the fifteenth century, with the text equating a “centurioun” with a “lieutenaunt” and making similar divisions for other military ranks derived from the Roman legion (2.805-806). The inclusion of firearms (particularly primitive cannon – “gunne,” “serpentyne,” and “colveryne”) in the third and fourth chapters is a fascinating example of a medieval source attempting to include more recent technological advances within the practical and theoretical framework provided by an ancient authority, essentially treating such weaponry (quite reasonably) as an improvement of the missile weaponry once used by ancient armies. The book is rounded out with an appendix that provides corresponding sections of Vegetius’ original text to those Of Knyghthode and Bataile, in addition to an extensive collection of explanatory notes and a fairly extensive bibliography of related primary and secondary sources. All of these are welcome and helpful for evaluating the text and placing it within the wider context of medieval military literature and scholarship.

The great value of this edition is the accuracy, care, and careful preparation provided by Smith and Livingstone. This edition of Of Knyghthode and Bataile should prove to be the definitive version of this source, and should have interest for historians interested in exploring the intellectual and practical problems of medieval military history (i.e., the question of military literature and strategic thought and the transmission of ancient sources in a medieval context) or the specific conditions of warfare in the fifteenth century (the avoidance of potentially risky battlefield engagements, preference for caution as opposed to rash action, and dependence on raids and sieges, and usage of firearms). Most importantly, Of Knyghthode and Bataile helps to both illustrate and shed light on the fundamental problems and possible solutions facing medieval military historians and should prove helpful to specialists and enthusiasts alike.

Trevor J. Davis