David Gilman, whose acclaimed Master of War novels are set during the Hundred Years’ War, looks at the early years of the long-drawn-out conflict between England and France and how real events helped shape his books.
Family arguments can stir up trouble and sometimes go beyond a family member not being invited to the next birthday bash. In the case of Isabella, the Queen Mother to young Edward III, it led to the Hundred Years’ War, a protracted conflict that spanned from 1337 to 1453. And that felt like a starting place to research my series, Master of War.
Isabella was the daughter of King Philip IV of France, and was married to England’s Edward II. When Edward died (some suspect at the behest of Isabella’s lover, Roger Mortimer) she thought her son should not only succeed to the English Crown but also the French. This family spat worsened when her cousin Philip VI inherited the French crown and then insisted her son pay homage. Her response was curt: “The son of a king does not do homage to the son of a count.“
Edward III was a resilient and courageous king and showed his mettle even as a teenager when he seized control from his mother and Mortimer. From then on, he set his sights on making his claim to the French Crown.
In 1346, when he was 33 years old, he took a small army and invaded France. And it was this event that drew in my character Thomas Blackstone with the opening lines in the first book of the series: “Fate, with its travelling companion Bad Luck and Misery, arrived at Thomas Blackstone’s door on the chilly, mist-laden morning of St William’s Day 1346.” The 16-year-old archer Thomas Blackstone went to war.
The campaign began with the English landing in Normandy and rapidly making their way through the French countryside. The English strategy involved raiding and pillaging, intending to weaken the French economy and disrupt their war effort.
And then on August 26, 1346, Edward III confronted the vastly superior force of the French army at Crécy. The English king strategically positioned his archers, taking advantage of the defensive capabilities of their longbows. The English and Welsh bowmen proved instrumental in repelling the French cavalry charges and inflicting heavy casualties on the French forces.
It was here that the young Thomas Blackstone nearly succumbed to his wounds sustained in the battle, but it also began his ongoing relationship with the Prince of Wales, who fought in the battle’s vanguard.
Following the triumph at Crécy, the English continued their invasion, capturing key towns and fortifications in northern France but the Hundred Years’ War would continue for several decades, marked by ebbs and flows, victories and defeats on both sides. Master of War follows Thomas Blackstone’s journey across these historical events.
Knighted at Crécy, but unable to use a war bow again, he assembles a small group of like-minded men, and, while they participate in all the major battles, Blackstone’s personal journey is marked by tragedy. Married with a son and a daughter, he is now a sworn enemy of the French King, who relentlessly seeks to kill him. Blackstone’s reputation has grown in stature and, despite his defiance of authority, Edward III has made him his Master of War.
Over the years, Blackstone’s success against the French took him to serve the Prince of Wales who had possession of the Duchy of Aquitaine. The region had the French on one border and Don Pedro I, King of Castile, across the Pyrenees on the other. A bitter power struggle erupted in 1366 between Don Pedro and his half-brother Henry of Trastámara, who both claimed the Castilian throne.
Pedro sought English help, offering territorial concessions in return for military support. The Prince of Wales, seizing the opportunity to extend English influence in the region, intervened on behalf of Pedro, but before he could, Henry of Trastámara seized the throne and Don Pedro escaped to Bordeaux and the Prince’s sanctuary.
I used Thomas Blackstone and his men to facilitate this escape in my novel Shadow of the Hawk, where it became clear why the murderous Don Pedro had earned his sobriquet: Don Pedro The Cruel.
These events bring the series to the latest book To Kill A King. Despite the Prince and Blackstone’s loathing of Don Pedro, they must return him to the throne.
In the annals of the Hundred Years’ War, the year 1367 witnessed a significant chapter with the crossing of the Pyrenees by the Prince of Wales. This military expedition culminated in the Battle of Nájera, a pivotal engagement that would leave a lasting impact on the dynamics of the ongoing conflict between England and France.
Edward and his army crossed the Pyrenees, navigating the challenging, mountainous terrain in winter. The English forces, comprising a combination of archers, men-at-arms, and allies, faced not only the physical hurdles of the Pyrenees but also the uncertainties of navigating unfamiliar territories.
In the novel, it is Blackstone’s knowledge of the terrain that averts disaster. But neither the Prince nor Blackstone knows that there’s an assassin waiting to kill Don Pedro.
A further complication for Blackstone is that his rogue son, Henry, has left the safety of Oxford University and undertaken a perilous journey to be with his father. Shipwrecked, captured and facing execution, Henry Blackstone has to find a way of making his escape.
A violent confrontation results in attracting a renowned swordsman and killer who then hunts him. The French king realises that if he uses this killer against Blackstone’s son, he can finally stop his arch-enemy from taking part in the impending Battle of Nájera.
To Kill A King recounts the intricate web of politics and military strategy that characterized the Hundred Years’ War and the personal challenges faced by Thomas Blackstone, the English King’s Master of War.
To Kill a King by David Gilman is published on 1 February, 2024.. It’s the eighth book in his Master of War series.
See more about this book.
Here are some related Historia features you may enjoy:
The Siege of Calais by Dan Jones
The personal and the political in the Middle Ages by Catherine Hanley
Ten fascinating facts about the Knights Templar by Boyd and Beth Morrison
To have and to hold: pawns in the medieval marriage game by Anne O’Brien
Images:
- Detail from the Battle of Nájera from Chroniques de Jean Froissart, Bib Nat Fr, FR 2643, fol 312v, 15th century: Bibliothèque nationale de France via Wikimedia (public domain)
- Isabella of France at prayer, from a psalter owned by her, 1305–8: Wikimedia (public domain)
- The Battle of Crécy from Chroniques de Jean Froissart, Bib Nat Fr, FR 2643, fol 165v, 15th century: Bibliothèque nationale de France via Wikimedia (public domain)
- Edward the Black Prince receives the grant of Aquitaine from his father King Edward III, initial letter E in an illuminated manuscript, 1390: British Library, Cotton MS Nero D VI, f31r via Wikimedia (public domain)
- The Battle of Nájera, see 1
