Saturday 3 September 2022

Things I learnt from Robert Tombs' wonderful book The English and their History

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Victory at Agincourt and the consequent capture of Rouen caused dancing in the streets of London, just like the armistice on November 11, 1918.

Scott coined the phrase Wars of the Roses. They lasted thirty years but there were only a few weeks of intense conflict.

Life went on as normal. Strange to think the house I used to live in before I came to Romania was already built by then.

The Tudor monarchs called themselves Plantagenets, never Tudors. It was David Hume who first called them Tudors.


1 comment:

  1. I wonder if Tomb’s book mentioned a fallacy concerning Agincourt and the odd twist to the usage of the longbow or the bowmen in the battle?
    Recent studies have asserted that the arrow head from longbows was unable to pierce the French knight’s armour , thus the myth of a dark cloud of arrows raining down is true but not as effective as the mud and the footwear of the bowmen compared to the knight’s apparel.No wonder the French are still contesting 1415 as a dishonourable contest thus nul and void as a result because the advantage of a nimble bowman with his leather soles or cloth soles and no heavy unpierceable armour to carry versus metal soles that stuck to the mud under a weight left the knights literally stuck in the mud with nimble bowmen dancing around killing or taking them prisoner ( not for long sadly as too many to look after).One should add that bowmen were v cheap to hire so probably pretty numerous in the ranks.
    Of course, the choice of terrain was crucial , uphill with spikes to greet you if one managed the course but armour piercing clouds of arrows it wasnt as we have been led to believe for centuries.

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