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‘The Siege of Damietta’ in a French manuscript madę in 1462. It includes (foreground) what seems to be an armoured assault barge powered by oars. Similar river or lakę warships appear in Swiss manuscripts of a few decades later. (Bibliotheque de 1’Arsenal, Paris)

Wight in 1338, Winchelsea in 1360, Portsmouth in 1369, several ports between Portsmouth and Rye in 1377, and Gravesend in 1380. French and Scottish ships also co-operated in harrassing English maritime Communications in the North Sea and along the western seaboard.

The prevailing winds in the English Channel, and the orientation of harbours, generally denied the French a superiority sufficient to threaten English Communications with their armies and possessions on French soil after the English naval victory of Sluys in June 1340 - and particularly after the English captured Calais in 1347. Nevertheless, France emerged as a major naval power in the later 14th and early 15th century. Amongst the most rcmarkable demonstrations was an expedition to conquer the Canary Islands led byjean IV de Bethencourt in 1402. (A French merchant from Toulouse seems to have accompanied De Bethencourt, then crossed to the mainland of West Africa where he converted to Islam, married a local woman, and eventually madę his way back to France via North Africa in 1413, still with his African wife.)

FURTHER READING

This list does not include generał histories of the Hundred Years War, or generał works on medieval warfare.

Allmand, C.T., The Hundred Years War, England and France at War c.1300-c. 1450 (Cambridge 1988)

Anglo, S., ‘How to win at Tournaments; The Technique of Chivalric Combat’, TheAntiquańesJournal, LXVIII (1988), 248-264 Bayle, J., ‘Misę en Defense du Chateau de Montaillou au Debul du XVe siecle’, Bibliotheąue de, TEcole des Chartres, CXXIX (1971) 113-119