The Last Knight Errant: Sir Edward Woodville & the Age of Chivalry

The Last Knight Errant

Sir Edward Woodville and the Age of Chivalry

CHRISTOPHER WILKINS

Copyright © 2010 Christopher Wilkins

The right of Christopher Wilkins to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved.

Published in 2010 by I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd

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Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham

A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
Library of Congress catalog card: available

ISBN: 978-1848851498

1.
The knight. The upper woodcut is from Chaucer’s
Canterbury
Tales
(1484) and shows the knight in full parade order; the
lower is from his
Game and playe of Chesse
(1498 edition) and
shows the knight riding out to war. Hodnett’s
English Wood
cuts
(f. 214 and 18).

2.
Infantry companies on the march with officers, supply and
artillery wagons, trumpeter, fifer and drummer.
Bilderhand
schrift des 15 Jahrhunderts
(detail from plates 51b and 52a).

3.
Siege. Men-at-arms scaling a city; archers and artillery
bombard a castle supervised by a knight in a fur hat. Hodnett’s
English Woodcuts
(f. 85 and 10).

4.
Men-at-arms ride out and two knights compete with lances.
Hodnett’s
English Woodcuts
(f. 213 and 153).

5.
The start of a joust. The combatant gets final instructions.
Bilderhandschrift des 15 Jahrhunderts
(plate 20b).

6.
Weapon training: the poleaxe. Six illustrations of close-
quarter combat from Talhoffer’s
Fechtbuch
of 1467.

7.
Lance practice with a horse race above. Two men-at-arms
prepare for a practice joust with a trumpeter while a horse
race happens above. Note the fashion of the top of the thigh
boots turned down at the knee.
Bilderhandschrift des 15 Jahr
hunderts
(plates 21b and 22a).

8.
The imperial army in camp. The emperor (presumably Fred
erick III, 1415–93) is under his standard. Tents, wagons and
artillery carts are drawn up in concentric circles. Soldiers
are busy with various activities, including patrolling and
gambling.
Bilderhandschrift des 15 Jahrhunderts
(plates 53a and
53c).

9.
The joust. Both knights have shattered their spears and the
visor of the knight on the right has been broken. The herald
stands in the middle. The king and his nobles are in their
stands in a proper arena.
The Beauchamp Pageant
(plate XXX).