Jonathan Sumption

One of Sumption's recurring themes through the whole of his history of the Hundred Years War is that because France was much more populous and (largely therefore, in an age of near-subsistence economies) richer, the English could only be successful when they were united under effective leadership while the French were simultaneously divided. That was very much the case in 1422, but the following three decades may largely be characterized as a story of the revival of the French monarchy while the English one started to crumble. Rising French tax revenues and declining English ones inexorably turned the tide on the battlefield.

Inevitably, the brief but spectacular career of Joan of Arc gets extensive coverage. Sumption, though, doesn't seem too impressed by her personally, and believes that the English siege of Orléans would most likely have failed even without her intervention. Her importance, as he sees it, was largely psychological, and her effect was to accelerate, rather than cause, the French recovery.

The high quality of Sumption's writing is sustained through this final volume, but editing seemed to be slightly laxer (a sign of the changing circumstances of the publishing industry I guess?). The book would have benefited from being read on paper because the maps are hard to read on my e-reader.… (more)

Sumptions justifies a the title of this fourth volume of his history of the Hundred Years' War by listing a whole slew of "cursed kings" in the foreword, but chief of them is obviously the sad figure of Charles VI of France, during whose decades of mental illness France is wracked first by civil war, then by English conquest and continuing civil war.

But a curse of a different kind may be said to have struck Henry V, who was struck down by disease in the prime of life, his conquest of France half-finished. His death left the guardians of his infant heir duty-bound to carry it on, but simultaneously too weak to complete it and too strong to be kicked out quickly, condemning both kingdoms to another generation of war.

Sumption's narrative remains lucid and engaging, despite the confusing multitude of events and personalities. I'm looking forward to getting started on the fifth and final volume.… (more)

The third volume of Sumption's history of the Hundred Years War, this covers the second or "Caroline" phase of the conflict. It's the least spectacular phase of the war, with few major battles, but its early years saw great French reconquests in the southwest, before the war settled into a bloody stalemate, in part because both England and France become riven by internal divisions under the inept kings Richard II and Charles VI.

Sumption's narrative remains crisp and lively. There's also an interesting thematic chapter on the lives and attitudes of men-at-arms and lesser fighting men.… (more)

With Triumph and Illusion Jonathan Sumption has, after more than three decades’ toil and 4,000 pages, brought his epic five-volume history of the Hundred Years War to its conclusion. In this final volume he takes us from 1422 – the year in which Henry V died having achieved spectacular successes – to 1453, when his son, Henry VI, endured total loss. From a French perspective, the dates represent the ignominious death of the insane Charles VI and the ultimate victory of his son, Charles VII.

The denouement of the war is more interesting than its messy origins, when the death of Charles IV of France in 1328 marked the end of the Capetian dynasty and its replacement with the Valois one. This situation, coupled with the never-ending tensions between England and France (the former still holding Gascony, the latter probing into this territory under its aggressive new monarch, Philip) created an opportunistic moment for Edward III of England to claim the French throne through his mother, Isabella of France. That England could sustain the war, if intermittently, against a population perhaps six or seven times its size for more than a century is remarkable; but the outcome was surely inevitable (or as ‘inevitable’ as history allows). Sumption charts the English downfall, misled by delusion, and France’s triumph in enormous detail to show how this happened.

Henry V’s remarkable victory at Agincourt in 1415 seemed to usher in a new period of English dominance on the battlefield and a return to the heady days of Crécy in the 1340s. Together with his Burgundian allies Henry had conquered France down to the Loire Valley, leaving the disinherited dauphin Charles trying to claw back his land and title; the provisions of the 1420 Treaty of Troyes had seen the infant Henry VI of England also made King of France in the Dual Monarchy. Despite Henry V’s early death in 1422, England continued to do well in France for a few years under the capable command of his brother, the Duke of Bedford. In Sumption’s telling, Bedford is a rare protagonist commended for his positive qualities: ‘a capable administrator and an astute politician with an incisive mind’, the ‘beak-nosed’ Bedford ‘managed to combine an affable manner with an imposing presence and a habit of authority’. But despite his victory at the often overlooked Battle of Verneuil in 1424 (‘the bloodiest fight of the Hundred Years War’, in Sumption’s view, in a field of strong contenders) even Bedford could only hold the line for so long.

Read the rest of the review at HistoryToday.com.

Sean McGlynn teaches medieval and early modern history at the University of Plymouth at Strode College.… (more)