October 2024, Orléans, south side of the Loire River. I am exploring the Hundred Years War battle locations around the city of Orléans. On this site on 7 May 1429, a French Army led by Count John Dunois, ‘The Bastard of Orléans’, and Captain La Hire, and inspired by Jeanne d’Arc, a 17-year old French peasant girl from Domremy, defeated a strong English force defending the ‘Tourelles’ fortress on the southern bank of the Loire River. The Tourelles controlled access across the Pont bridge into the French-held city of Orleans.
Reconstructing Hundred Years War battlefields through terrain analysis, primary sources and on-site research
Siege of Orleans, 1429
Walking the ground of the Hundred Years’ War battlefields – from Crecy to Formigny
The Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453) was a series of campaigns, chevauchées, sieges and field battles fought across the landscapes of medieval France and England. Although defined by dynastic claims and shifting alliances, the war’s outcomes were repeatedly shaped by the ground itself — the slopes, hedgerows, meadowland, river crossings and fortified towns through which armies moved and fought.
From the ridge at Crécy and the muddy fields of Agincourt, to the forested paths at Patayand the Loire River barriers at Orléans, commanders relied heavily on terrain to offset disadvantages in numbers, armour, or tactical flexibility. The English longbowmen exploited defensive positions and prepared killing grounds, while French forces adapted over time, embracing dismounted tactics, artillery and coordinated assaults on fortified positions.
This collection of battlefield studies examines the Hundred Years War through a modern, terrain-focused lens, drawing on period chronicles, contemporary illustrations, archaeological findings and first-hand field reconnaissance. By walking the ground at Crécy, Agincourt, Patay and the Tourelles/Orléans, these studies aim to reveal why battles unfolded as they did — how armies deployed, manoeuvred and fought within the constraints and opportunities provided by the landscape.
Together, these battlefield studies offer a clear, evidence-based view of one of the most formative conflicts in medieval European history.
Hundred Years War Battlefield Studies
Below are all current BattlefieldTravels studies for the Hundred Years War, covering key battles, campaign phases and associated sites. New studies are added as further battlefields are walked and analysed.
In the English-speaking world, the Battle of Agincourt in October 1415 is legendary. But there was a lesser-known battle a few years later where the outcome was reversed. A combat-experienced French army, inspired by Jeanne d’Arc, the Maid of Orleans, launched a lightning campaign that overwhelmed multiple English strongholds before wiping out an entire English…
The Battle of Agincourt is one of the most famous battles in history. A small English force is trapped by a much larger French force but prevails against the odds. Shakespeare wrote about it and Hollywood continues to make movies about it. The battle reinforced the legend of the sturdy English longbowmen, equipped with the…
October 2024, Orléans, south side of the Loire River. I am exploring the Hundred Years War battle locations around the city of Orléans. On this site on 7 May 1429, a French Army led by Count John Dunois, ‘The Bastard of Orléans’, and Captain La Hire, and inspired by Jeanne d’Arc, a 17-year old French…
Authored by Mick Prictor, a retired military officer with 40 years’ service, and a military historian specialising in terrain-focused analysis of tactics, doctrine, and command decision-making in land warfare. His work draws on extensive battlefield fieldwork—more than 280 sites worldwide—and one of the world’s largest private collections of historic military arms, uniforms, and equipment. About me
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What makes these Hundred Years War studies unique?
Each study uses terrain analysis, period sources and on-site fieldwork to explain how ground, weapons and command decisions shaped each battle.
Which battles are included in this collection?
Currently Agincourt and Patay are published, with Crécy and the Tourelles/Orléans forthcoming.
Can these battlefield sites still be visited today?
Yes. Many remain accessible farmland or preserved sites where key terrain features are still visible.
Do the articles include maps and sources?
Each study integrates medieval chronicles, modern scholarship, period maps and GIS-based analysis from field visits.
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Medieval warfare – English and French forces clash at Patay, 18 June 1429.
Understanding a thousand years of conflict through the historians who shaped the field
The study of medieval warfare spans more than a millennium of military, social and technological change, and its literature reflects the diversity and complexity of that evolution. Rather than a single historical arc, scholars have approached the medieval conflicts through multiple lenses: feudal obligation, chivalric culture, technological innovation, religious motivation, and the gradual emergence of centralised states. The result is a rich body of work that helps modern readers move beyond stereotypes of knights and castles to understand how and why medieval armies actually fought.
Much of the foundational scholarship centres on the structure of feudal military service, the development of the knightly class, and the shifting balance between cavalry, infantry and missile troops. Authors such as R. C. Smail, Hans Delbrück, and Charles Oman helped frame early academic debates, analysing the limitations of feudal levies and the tactical patterns visible from Hastings to the Crusades. More recent historians — including John France, Matthew Bennett, Christopher Gravett and David Nicolle — have brought sharper focus to campaign logistics, siegecraft, and the influence of terrain on medieval operations.
For the later Middle Ages, works by Jonathan Sumption, Anne Curry, Bertrand Schnerb, and Kelly DeVries offer detailed examinations of the Hundred Years’ War, exploring everything from longbow tactics at Crécy and Agincourt to the political and social factors behind shifting battlefield fortunes. Their studies also show how professionalism, paid armies and gunpowder warfare began to eclipse older feudal structures. On the eastern frontiers, the military histories of the Byzantine Empire and the Mongol conquests — illuminated by scholars such as John Haldon and Timothy May — reveal very different tactical systems and strategic cultures.
Together, these authors present a layered picture of medieval warfare: a world where faith, feudalism, technology, and emerging state power shaped how campaigns were fought and remembered. The Reading Room selections gathered here provide entry points into that vast scholarship, helping readers understand not just the battles themselves, but the historians and interpretations that define our modern understanding of the medieval battlefield.
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Reading
The reference collection below includes the key books and references I have used in preparing for and undertaking studies of medieval battlefields.
In this landmark study of Agincourt, prize-winning author Juliet Barker draws upon a huge range of sources, published and unpublished, English and French, to give a compelling account of a battle upon which so many legends have been built. But she also looks behind the action on the field to paint a portrait of the age. A mad king, murderous dukes, scheming bishops, knightly heroes, surgeons, heralds, spies and pirates- the story of Agincourt has them all.
a night fell in Picardy on Thursday 24 October 1415, Henry V and his English troops, worn down by their long march in search of a crossing of the Somme, can only have dreamt that the battle of the next day would be remembered as one of the most momentous victories ever won.
Six hundred years down the line, the battle of Agincourt still rings through the centuries. In this stupendous victory English and Welsh archers who formed the bulk of Henry’s army prevailed against large numbers of French men-at-arms and cavalry. This startling and revisionist history recreates the campaign and battle from the perspectives of the English. Acclaimed as one of the best battle accounts ever published, Anne Curry has updated her classic work in honour of the 600th anniversary of Agincourt.
Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, by the Sieur Louis de Conte is an 1896 novel by Mark Twain that recounts the life of Joan of Arc. It is Twain’s last completed novel, published when he was 61 years old.The novel is presented as a translation of memoirs by Louis de Conte, a fictionalized version of Joan of Arc’s page, Louis de Contes. The novel is divided into 3 sections according to Joan of Arc’s development: a youth in Domrémy, a commander of the army of Charles VII of France, and a defendant at trial in Rouen.Originally, the novel was published as a serialization in Harper’s Magazine beginning in April 1895. Twain, aware of his reputation as a comic, asked that each installment appear anonymously so that readers will treat the piece seriously. Regardless, his authorship soon became known, and the book edition published by Harper and Brothers in May 1896 credited Mark Twain.
The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were a time of great upheaval for medieval France. In 1328 the Capetian line came to an end. This was the trigger for the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) as successive English kings attempted to uphold their claim to the French throne. Catastrophic defeats at Crécy and Poitiers shook the French kingdom to its core. A period of respite followed under Bertrand du Guesclin, but an even more devastating assault was to follow, under the warrior-king par excellence Henry V, and the French disintegration continued until 1429. This book details how the French began a recovery, partly triggered by the young visionary Joan of Arc, that would end with them as the major European military power.
In 1415 King Henry V of England invaded France and won an overwhelming victory at the Battle of Agincourt. Following his victory, the English conquered a large part of northern France, and by 1429 were besieging the city of Orleans. In this darkest hour, France’s fortunes were transformed by the inspirational leadership of a young woman, Jeanne d’Arc (Joan of Arc). Within four months the French had broken the siege and won a great victory at the battle of Patay over the previously invincible English.
A one-volume history of the Crusades to the Holy Land – telling this fascinating and bloody story from both Christian and Muslim perspectives for the first time.
Saladin remains one of the most iconic figures of his age. As the man who united the Arabs and saved Islam from Christian crusaders in the 12th century, he is the Islamic world’s preeminent hero. Ruthless in defence of his faith, brilliant in leadership, he also possessed qualities that won admiration from his Christian foes. He knew the limits of violence, showing such tolerance and generosity that many Europeans, appalled at the brutality of their own people, saw him as the exemplar of their own knightly ideals.
But Saladin is far more than a historical hero. Builder, literary patron and theologian, he is a man for all times, and a symbol of hope for an Arab world once again divided. Centuries after his death, in cities from Damascus to Cairo and beyond, to the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf, Saladin continues to be an immensely potent symbol of religious and military resistance to the West. He is central to Arab memories, sensibilities and the ideal of a unified Islamic state.
God’s War offers a sweeping new vision of one of history’s most astounding events: the Crusades.
From 1096 to 1500, European Christians fought to recreate the Middle East, Muslim Spain, and the pagan Baltic in the image of their God. The Crusades are perhaps both the most familiar and most misunderstood phenomena of the medieval world, and here Christopher Tyerman seeks to recreate, from the ground up, the centuries of violence committed as an act of religious devotion.
The result is a stunning reinterpretation of the Crusades, revealed as both bloody political acts and a manifestation of a growing Christian communal identity. Tyerman uncovers a system of belief bound by aggression, paranoia, and wishful thinking, and a culture founded on war as an expression of worship, social discipline, and Christian charity.
Authored by Mick Prictor, a retired military officer with 40 years’ service, and a military historian specialising in terrain-focused analysis of tactics, doctrine, and command decision-making in land warfare. His work draws on extensive battlefield fieldwork—more than 280 sites worldwide—and one of the world’s largest private collections of historic military arms, uniforms, and equipment. About me
What are the best introductory books on medieval warfare?
Excellent entry points include works by Matthew Bennett, John France, and Christopher Gravett. These authors provide clear explanations of feudal military structures, tactical systems, and the evolution of arms and armour, making them ideal for readers new to the subject.
How reliable are medieval sources for studying warfare?
Medieval sources vary widely in reliability. Chronicles often blend fact, interpretation, and political messaging. Archaeology, manuscript illustrations, administrative records, and modern battlefield analysis help historians validate or challenge these accounts. Most modern scholarship cross-references multiple types of evidence.
Why do historians disagree about medieval tactics and troop effectiveness?
Surviving records are fragmentary, and chroniclers rarely offer precise tactical detail. As a result, historians must interpret formations, weapon effects, and battlefield behaviour from limited evidence. This creates space for differing models of how knights, archers, infantry and crossbowmen actually fought.
What role did technology play in changing medieval warfare?
Technological changes such as the stirrup, improved armour, the crossbow, the longbow, and early gunpowder weapons reshaped battlefield roles over time. Historians debate their relative impact, but most agree that combined-arms tactics and increasingly professional forces emerged from these innovations.
How do modern historians study medieval battles?
Today’s researchers combine traditional textual analysis with archaeology, GIS mapping, landscape study, experimental archaeology, and comparative tactical modelling. This interdisciplinary approach has transformed our understanding of battles such as Hastings, Crécy, and Agincourt.
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📘 A free eBook: 10 Tips for Exploring Historic Battlefields
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In the English-speaking world, the Battle of Agincourt in October 1415 is legendary. But there was a lesser-known battle a few years later where the outcome was reversed. A combat-experienced French army, inspired by Jeanne d’Arc, the Maid of Orleans, launched a lightning campaign that overwhelmed multiple English strongholds before wiping out an entire English army in open combat at the Battle of Patay on 18 June 1429. Mark Twain even wrote about this battle!
The Battle of Agincourt is one of the most famous battles in history. A small English force is trapped by a much larger French force but prevails against the odds. Shakespeare wrote about it and Hollywood continues to make movies about it. The battle reinforced the legend of the sturdy English longbowmen, equipped with the famous longbow, wreaking havoc on waves of heavily armoured French cavalry. So many of the French nobles were killed at Agincourt, it took years to recover.
