Bloody Crowns

A prize-winning scholar’s new and expansive telling of the Hundred Years’ War, revealing how the lines drawn on medieval battlefields forged the modern world  

“A riveting page-turner that brilliantly revises centuries of history” (Bernard Cornwell, New York Times–bestselling author of The Last Kingdom)

Henry V at Agincourt. Edward III at Crécy. The Black Prince at Poitiers. Joan of Arc at Orléans. The period we call “the Hundred Years War” was a cascade of violence bursting with some of the most famous figures and fascinating fights in history. The central combatants, England and France, bore witness to uncountable deaths, unbelievable tragedy, and uncompromising glory. But there was much more to this period than a struggle between two nations for dominance.  

Bloody Crowns tells a new story of how medieval Europe was consumed, not by a hundred years’ war, but by two full centuries of war from 1292 to 1492. During those years, blood was spilled far beyond the borders of England and France. The Low Countries became war zones. Italy was swept up. So, too, the Holy Roman Empire, the Iberian Peninsula, Scotland, and Wales. The conflict drove enormous leaps forward in military technology and organization, political systems and national identities, laying the groundwork for the modern world.

With a keen eye for military intrigue and drama, Bloody Crowns critically revises our understanding of how modern Europe arose from medieval battlefields.