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Books by Craig Taylor

Jean de Bueil, Le Jouvencel, 2020

Le Jouvencel is one of the most important and revealing sources for the study of medieval warfare... more Le Jouvencel is one of the most important and revealing sources for the study of medieval warfare and chivalry. It tells the story of a poor young soldier whose skill at arms enables him to rise through the ranks and eventually marry a foreign princess. Jean de Bueil (1406–1477), the ‘plague of the English’, wrote the book around 1466, following his retirement from military service, drawing heavily upon his own experiences as one of the most prominent French soldiers of the fifteenth century. The pages of Le Jouvencel are filled with unusually de- tailed descriptions of military campaigns, sieges and battles, capturing the tac- tics, weapons and everyday life of the soldier with a vivid eye for detail. Many of the characters, places and events described in the apparently fictional story were actually inspired by recent history, as was revealed in a Commentary written just a few years after Bueil’s death by one of his squires, Guillaume Tringant.

Jean de Bueil wrote Le Jouvencel to provide future generations of soldiers and military leaders with advice on chivalry, knighthood and the art of war- fare. As a result, this remarkable chivalric narrative offers a window into the martial culture of French soldiers during the final stages of the Hundred Years War. This first English translation is presented with an introduction to the text and to Jean de Bueil, and explanatory notes.

The Livre des fais du bon messire Jehan le Maingre (1409) is one of the most famous chivalric bio... more The Livre des fais du bon messire Jehan le Maingre (1409) is one of the most famous chivalric biographies of the Middle Ages. It presents Jean II Le Meingre, known as Boucicaut (1366-1421), as an ideal knight and role model, and has frequently been seen by modern scholars as a last-ditch effort to defend traditional chivalric values that were supposedly in decline. Here, however, Craig Taylor argues that the biography is a much more complex and interesting text, fusing traditional notions of chivalry with the most fashionable new ideas in circulation at the French court at the start of the fifteenth century. Rather than a nostalgic criticism of contemporary knighthood, it should be seen as a showcase of the latest ideas on chivalry, written to renew the enthusiasm of the great French princes for a man who was in grave danger of falling out of favour: its purpose was to celebrate and to defend a beleaguered Boucicaut against his critics at the royal court, and to explain his actions as governor of Genoa, his failed crusading enterprises in the Eastern Mediterranean and his unsuccessful efforts to broker a solution to the Papal Schism.

This book examines the wide-ranging French debates on the martial ideals of chivalry and knightho... more This book examines the wide-ranging French debates on the martial ideals of chivalry and knighthood during the period of the Hundred Years War (1337–1453). Faced by stunning military disasters and the collapse of public order, writers and intellectuals carefully scrutinized the martial qualities expected of knights and soldiers. They questioned when knights and men-at-arms could legitimately resort to violence, the true nature of courage, the importance of mercy, and the role of books and scholarly learning in the very practical world of military men. Contributors to these discussions included some of the most famous French medieval writers, led by Jean Froissart, Geoffroi de Charny, Philippe de Mézières, Honorat Bovet, Christine de Pizan, Alain Chartier and Antoine de La Sale. This interdisciplinary study sets their discussions in context, challenging modern, romantic assumptions about chivalry and investigating the historical reality of debates about knighthood and warfare in late medieval France.

The essays collected in this volume identify and analyse the presence of immigrants in late medie... more The essays collected in this volume identify and analyse the presence of immigrants in late medieval England. Drawing on unique evidence from the alien subsidies collected in England between 1440 and 1487 and other newly accessible archival resources, and deploying a wide range of historical and cultural methods, they reveal the considerable contribution of foreign-born people to the economy, society and culture of England in the age of the Black Death, the Hundred Years War and the Wars of the Roses.

Table of Contents
I. CONTEXTS

1. W. Mark Ormrod (University of York) and Jonathan Mackman (University of York), 'Resident Aliens in Later Medieval England. Sources, Contexts and Debates'
2. J. L. Bolton (Queen Mary University of London): 'London and the Anti-Alien Legislation of 1439-40'

II. IMMIGRANT GROUPS IN ENGLAND

3. Sarah Rees Jones (University of York): 'Scots in the North of England: The First Alien Subsidy, 1440-43'
4. Peter Fleming (University of the West of England): 'Icelanders in England in the Fifteenth Century'
5. Francesco Guidi-Bruscoli (University of Florence) and Jessica Lutkin (University of Reading): 'Perception, Identity and Culture: The Italian Communities in Fifteenth-Century London and Southampton Revisited'
6. Alan Kissane (University of Nottingham) and Jonathan Mackman (University of York): 'Aliens and the Law in Late Medieval Lincolnshire'
7. Christian D. Liddy (Durham University) and Bart Lambert (Durham University): 'The Civic Franchise and the Regulation of Aliens in Great Yarmouth, c. 1430-c. 1490'

III. THE ALIEN EXPERIENCE

8. Chris Linsley (University of York): 'The French in Fifteenth-Century England: Enmity, Ubiquity and Perception'
9. Maryanne Kowaleski (Fordham University): 'The Assimilation of Foreigners in Late Medieval Exeter: A Prosopographical Analysis'
10. Andrea Ruddick (Exeter College, Oxford): 'Immigrants and Intermarriage in Late Medieval England'

Oxford University, DPhil thesis, 1999

text; moreover, Cousinot had visited the Lancastrians in exile in Scotland, which might explain h... more text; moreover, Cousinot had visited the Lancastrians in exile in Scotland, which might explain how Sir John Fortescue was able to learn of Jean Juvenal's Tres crestien, tres hault, tres puissant roy (1446), and how Pource que plusieurs in turn drew upon the pamphlets of Fortescue.

Articles by Craig Taylor

Journal of Medieval History, 2024

In March and April 1390, three French knights jousted against over one hundred knights and squire... more In March and April 1390, three French knights jousted against over one hundred knights and squires who had travelled from across Europe to challenge them, but above all from England. This great tournament was held at Saint-Inglevert near to Calais, the English outpost on the northern coastline of France. Modern scholars have viewed the event through the lens of the ongoing Hundred Years War. But rather than seeing this chivalric competition as an extension of the war between the two sides, it should rather be understood as part of the diplomatic engagement between Charles VI and Richard II during the 1390s, an informal opportunity for the elites to meet and form bonds that shaped the rapprochement between the two sides. Saint-Inglevert also marked an important stage on the path towards the great theatrical tournaments of the fifteenth century, helping to explain the rise in popularity of the famous pas d'armes.

French History, 2019

This article examines the military and political impact of the battle of Agincourt in France and ... more This article examines the military and political impact of the battle of Agincourt in France and the way in which this defeat was remembered up until the end of the Hundred Years' War. The English presented their victory as a sign of God's support for Henry V and his claims in France, but the French preferred to understand their defeat as a divine punishment for their sins. This led to debate about who had incurred God's wrath, as civilians blamed soldiers, soldiers blamed their aristocratic leaders, and partisans for the Armagnac and Burgundian factions blamed one another. But most French commentators attempted to bridge these divisions, or at least to minimize the damage by attributing the disaster to the actions of foolish young hot-heads and to cowards. This avoided the need to name and shame specific noblemen, but also meant that only the most traditional lessons were highlighted from this defeat.

Delogu, D., Cayley, E. and McRae, J. (eds.) A Companion to Alain Chartier, 2015

Rigby, S. (ed.) Historians on Chaucer: The ‘General Prologue’ to the Canterbury Tales, 2014

Henry V: New Interpretations, ed. Gwilym Dodd, 2013

Cahiers de Recherches Medievales et Humanistes, 2012

Chivalric literature offered a powerful celebration of courage and denunciation of the shame of c... more Chivalric literature offered a powerful celebration of courage and denunciation of the shame of cowardice. This article explores the relationship between late medieval French debates on this subject and the military reality of the period. Résumé : La littérature chevaleresque offre une célébration forte du courage et une dénonciation de la honte que représente la lâcheté. Cet article explore le lien entre les débats français sur ce sujet à la fin du Moyen Âge et la réalité militaire de l'époque.

Humanism in Fifteenth-Century Europe, ed. David Rundle, 2012

Fresco, K. (ed.) Collections in Context: The Organization of Knowledge and Community in Europe (14th-17th centuries), 2011

Soldiers, Nobles and Gentlemen. Essays in Honour of Maurice Keen, ed. Peter Coss and Christopher Tyerman, 2009

French Historical Studies, 2006

Fourteenth Century England, III, 2004