[Ahmad Tabari]

I have always found the battle of Bouvines to be one of the most spectacular in medieval European history. It was the time when the mighty French knight reigned supreme on the European battlefield. I would love to learn more about this battle. Can anyone recommend any good books?

[Julien M]

[Ahmad Tabari]

Thanks Julien. I will be sure to check out that book.

I definitely agree with what you said. Most English language scholarship on medieval European warfare are understandably Anglo-centric. Though it would be nice to have more work done on French victories. Like you said, a lot of what happened during WWII has made people forget France's great military history. As much as everyone seems to enjoy reading about Crecy and Agincourt, it would be nice to also add to this list of often discussed battles encounters such as Bouvines, the Albiginesian Crusade, Formigny, etc. Just to keep things interesting...

[Craig Peters]

Duby's book is really the only book in English that focuses upon the battle in depth. What I do not like about it though is that he writes and narrates almost as though he is speaking with the attitudes and perspectives of the knights and people of the time in the Middle Ages. The problem with this is that it becomes difficult to sort out whether you're reading an authentic medieval voice and perspective, or whether you're really just reading the voice of Georges Duby, and how he sees the Middle Ages. John Gillingham once said something to the effect that Duby's later work is of a far lower standard than his research at the start of his character, and I would not be surprised if there was more than a little truth to this assessment.

De Re Militari's webpage has a number of primary sources on the battle, including this one from William the Breton, which is undoubtedly the most important:

http://web.archive.org/web/20110605012556/htt...vines5.htm (Since this is a web archive, click on "Impatient" if it seems to be taking a long time to reload)

You can read the other primary accounts here: http://web.archive.org/web/20110605003651/htt...uvines.htm

[Ahmad Tabari]

Thanks a lot for all these great sources Craig. I just read William the Breton's account of the battle. A fantastic read.

[Lafayette C Curtis]

J.F. Verbruggen's The Art of War in Europe in the Middle Ages has a long section analysing the source material on Bouvines in great detail--almost worth making into a short book in itself. You'll also get coverage of several Flemish battles that are usually a bit underemphasised in English-language historiography.

[Craig Peters]

I am surprised that Osprey Books has not published a text devoted to the Battle of Bouvines. It's one of the most important battles of the High Middle Ages, and yet strangely, it does not appear in their Campaign series. I'm at a loss for why this is so.

[Ahmad Tabari]

I should be getting my hands on Verbruggen's book in a few days. It sounds like a very promising read.

[Craig Peters]

It sounds plausible, Ahmad, but I doubt that a company interested in turning a profit would reject the opportunity to publish a new book. I would be surprised if people actually decided "I'm not going to read this book, because it focuses too much on cavalry, and I want to read more on infantry". Most people who are interested in medieval miltiary history will want to read about as many battles and conflicts as possible to learn more about the subject. In many ways, Bouvines is one of the most important large scale battles, because it's one of a few major battles in the early 13th century.

Also, you might have noticed in the chronicle that the infantry did play an important supporting role. Some of the infantry men on the side of the imperial and English forces fought bravely even when the tide of the battle had turned against them, and this is mentioned in William's chronicle. Clearly then, the infantry plays an important role in this battle, even if its role was less decisive than in some other military engagements.

[Ahmad Tabari]