1,99 €
Niedrigster Preis in 30 Tagen: 1,99 €
Niedrigster Preis in 30 Tagen: 1,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: Booksell-Verlag
- Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
- Sprache: Englisch
In "St. George for England: A Tale of Cressy and Poitiers," G. A. Henty immerses readers in the tumultuous landscapes of the 14th century, weaving a captivating narrative infused with themes of chivalry, patriotism, and adventure. With a distinctively engaging literary style that epitomizes Henty's flair for historical fiction, the novel showcases the valor and grit of its protagonist Thomas, a young knight who journeys through the pivotal Battle of Cressy and the subsequent conflicts at Poitiers. The text is enriched with vivid descriptions and authentic historical detail that transport readers into a world marked by noble aspirations and perilous challenges, affirming Henty's status as a master of the historical genre during the Victorian era. G. A. Henty, a prolific Victorian author and war correspondent, created such tales to ignite the imaginations of young readers while imparting moral lessons through history. Drawing from his own experiences as a soldier and journalist, Henty possessed an acute understanding of the values of bravery and loyalty, which resonate throughout this narrative. His works often reflect a deep respect for English heritage and the ideals of knighthood, revealing both the pageantry and the harsh realities of medieval warfare. Recommended for both young readers and adults with an interest in historical fiction, "St. George for England" offers a thrilling yet educational experience that entertains while fostering a sense of historical awareness. Henty's tale stands as a testament to the courage and determination of the English spirit, making it an essential read for those interested in the interplay of history and storytelling. In this enriched edition, we have carefully created added value for your reading experience: - A succinct Introduction situates the work's timeless appeal and themes. - The Synopsis outlines the central plot, highlighting key developments without spoiling critical twists. - A detailed Historical Context immerses you in the era's events and influences that shaped the writing. - A thorough Analysis dissects symbols, motifs, and character arcs to unearth underlying meanings. - Reflection questions prompt you to engage personally with the work's messages, connecting them to modern life. - Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance. - Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019
Ähnliche
St. George for England: A Tale of Cressy and Poitiers
Table of Contents
Introduction
Across embattled fields where banners snap in the wind and loyalties decide destinies, this tale traces the forging of character—courage disciplined by duty, ambition tempered by service, and hard-won honor wrested from the hazards of campaign and council in a medieval world where the clash of nations tests both steel and conscience, where chivalric ideals meet the realities of endurance, and where the measure of a life is taken in steadfast deeds more than in loud acclaim, as the tumult of war reveals that true mastery lies in self-command, sound judgment, and a willingness to stand firm when fear and fury threaten to rule the day.
G. A. Henty’s St. George for England: A Tale of Cressy and Poitiers is a Victorian-era historical adventure novel set during the fourteenth-century phase of the Hundred Years’ War, first published in the late nineteenth century. Moving between England and France, the narrative follows campaigns that lead to the celebrated English victories at Cressy (now commonly spelled Crécy) in 1346 and Poitiers in 1356. Henty, known for meticulously researched, action-driven stories for younger readers, situates his fiction within well-documented events, using the scaffolding of real dates, places, and commanders to give shape and momentum to a tale of arms, allegiance, and endurance.
At its core lies the journey of a capable young Englishman who steps from the margins of obscurity into the disciplined ranks of medieval warfare, learning the arts of service, strategy, and self-command. Through skirmishes, sieges, and hard travel, he proves his worth to comrades and superiors, navigating courts, camps, and contested towns. Henty structures the story as a steady ascent in responsibility and peril, keeping the focus on initiative, resourcefulness, and the moral weight of choices made under pressure. The result is a coming-of-age narrative braided with martial episodes that illuminate how character is built in the crucible of conflict.
The book offers the brisk clarity typical of Henty’s third-person narration: concise scene-setting, swift transitions, and detailed yet accessible accounts of equipment, tactics, and terrain. Explanatory passages orient readers to feudal obligations, military organization, and the political stakes between rival crowns, while set pieces deliver the noise, smoke, and confusion of battle without losing narrative control. The mood balances romance and realism, presenting chivalric ideals alongside the fatigue of campaign life. Dialogues are direct, the prose is clean and purposeful, and the pacing favors momentum, making the novel approachable for younger audiences and engaging for general readers interested in medieval action.
Several themes stand out with durable resonance: loyalty to comrades and liege; the discipline that turns bravery into effectiveness; leadership earned through competence rather than boast; and the tension between personal honor and collective necessity. The story also underscores the importance of preparation—scouting, logistics, and the wise use of terrain—showing how foresight, not chance, often decides outcomes. Chivalry features as an ethical vocabulary that guides conduct, yet the narrative acknowledges the harsh costs of war, from hardship on the march to the risks borne by ordinary soldiers. Through these threads, the book explores how values are tested when stakes are high and time is short.
As historical fiction, the novel weaves its protagonist’s path through the reign of Edward III and the campaigns associated with the Prince of Wales, aligning fictional episodes with the documented rhythms of fourteenth-century conflict. Readers encounter the longbow’s tactical significance, the interplay of mounted and infantry forces, and the strategic decisions that frame major encounters. Castles, towns, and waterways appear as practical obstacles as much as evocative scenery, and the geography of northern France and the English coastline is treated with instructive specificity. This integrated method offers both narrative excitement and a guided tour of the period’s military and social structures.
Modern readers may find in this tale more than pageantry: it raises questions about duty, courage, and prudent leadership that transcend era and rank. The emphasis on teamwork, training, and clear-eyed judgment speaks to contemporary interests in strategy and decision-making, while the coming-of-age arc offers an accessible entry into complex history. For those who enjoy historically grounded adventure, St. George for England provides a vivid, instructive experience that neither trivializes conflict nor ignores its demands. It is a window onto a formative chapter in European history and an invitation to consider how steadfast character can shape outcomes in turbulent times.
Synopsis
Set in fourteenth-century England during the opening decades of the Hundred Years’ War, St. George for England follows a capable youth of modest means who rises through service and courage. Introduced amid London’s lively streets and guild life, he learns discipline under the watchful eye of city authorities and a seasoned patron. Early chapters establish his character—resourceful, fair-minded, and loyal—while presenting the chivalric ideal associated with St. George. A local disturbance and a test of arms draw notice to his promise. Encouraged by mentors, he enters a noble household, beginning formal training that will carry him from page to squire and into continental campaigns.
Life in a knight’s retinue brings instruction in horsemanship, arms, and the demanding etiquette of feudal service. The protagonist forges friendships with veterans and archers, absorbs lessons in command, and earns trust through quiet reliability. Early field duties along coasts and borders acquaint him with patrol work, skirmishes, and the rigors of marching. The narrative emphasizes English longbow skill, disciplined ranks, and the practicalities of supply. A brief clash with raiders tests judgment more than strength, showing the value of planning and steady nerve. He emerges with a growing reputation, still unproven in a major encounter but recognized for composure under pressure.
England’s king prepares an expedition across the Channel, and the young squire joins the host. The sea passage features a crowded fleet, cramped quarters, and careful coordination of arms and provisions. A sharp naval engagement illustrates boarding tactics, the confusion of close combat, and the importance of well-placed archers. The hero’s role remains measured—carrying messages, guarding stores, and holding a line—yet these tasks display reliability in danger. Shores secured, the army advances, and the Black Prince appears as an inspiring presence, dutiful and exacting. Camp scenes provide glimpses of hierarchy, discipline, and the blend of hardship and camaraderie that shapes soldiers on campaign.
The march through Normandy and Picardy introduces foraging, scouting, and the strain of evading larger forces. The protagonist observes strategy in action: deliberate movements, chosen ground, and the use of terrain to counter numbers. Skirmishes with mounted foes underscore the contrasting styles of impetuous charges and ordered defensive stands. The narrative focuses on preparation for a great encounter, detailing stakes, dispositions, and the patient confidence of seasoned captains. When battle comes, the longbow’s role and firm discipline are highlighted, while individual exploits remain part of a broader design. The hero takes a responsible post, contributing to steadiness rather than seeking singular acclaim.
Following the clash, operations turn to a prolonged siege of a coastal stronghold, with starvation, sorties, and negotiation all deployed as weapons. The book depicts engine fire, night alarms, and the careful rotation of watches, stressing endurance as much as bravery. The protagonist undertakes risky missions—reconnoitering, escorting envoys, and thwarting spies and freebooters who prey on strained supply lines. Episodes of chivalric courtesy and sharp deception sit side by side, reflecting the era’s codes and complexities. Success brings recognition, and his responsibilities grow, though the narrative avoids triumphal excess, keeping attention on collective effort and the disciplined machinery sustaining the army’s slow tightening ring.
An interlude returns the action to English roads and castle halls, where the hero serves as escort and mediator amid local feuds. Encounters with outlaws and proud retainers reveal the tensions between royal authority, private ambition, and customary rights. A guarded rescue and a narrowly averted bloodshed strengthen ties with a noble household, introducing a restrained note of gratitude and affection without overshadowing military themes. Courtly manners, legal customs, and oaths of service receive emphasis, anchoring personal fortunes to a stable order. The protagonist matures in judgment, balancing courage with prudence, and learns that protection of the weak is as honored as prowess in battle.
Campaigning resumes in the southwest, where the Black Prince leads swift chevauchées across contested lands. The narrative alternates between rapid marches, sudden strikes, and delicate negotiations for passage and supplies. The protagonist now commands men in small actions, navigating unfamiliar terrain, uncertain allies, and the persistent threat of superior forces. Capture is a real risk, and daring escapes are planned with care, reliant on local knowledge and disciplined silence. Friendship within a mixed company of knights and archers deepens, joined by a mutual code of duty. The story stresses preparation, reconnaissance, and cohesion over impulsive valor, even as hazards multiply.
Approaching Poitiers, tension heightens: envoys confer, ground is surveyed, and alternatives to open battle are weighed. The protagonist supports crucial preliminaries, from securing vantage points to organizing reserves. When engagement becomes unavoidable, the book depicts the measured alignment of ranks, the interplay of archers and men-at-arms, and the decisive role of leadership under strain. Noise, dust, and shifting lines are presented without exhaustive blow-by-blow, keeping focus on endurance, timing, and teamwork. In the aftermath, consequences unfold through formal submissions, exchanges of parole, and sober acknowledgments of fortune. The hero’s standing is affirmed by steady conduct rather than spectacular feats.
The closing chapters gather rewards, duties, and renewed vows of service. Honors reflect merit and disciplined perseverance, with fortune tempered by remembrance of costs. Personal threads—bonds of loyalty, guarded affection, and obligations to patrons—find measured resolution consistent with feudal custom. The book’s message emphasizes courage guided by conscience, fidelity to one’s liege, and the national spirit embodied by St. George. Within a firmly historical frame, it presents growth through training, hardship, and tested judgment. Without resting on individual glory, the tale concludes by crediting collective discipline and steadfast character as the surest pathways to lasting respect and peace.
Historical Context
Set chiefly between 1337 and 1360, the narrative inhabits the Anglo-French world of the early Hundred Years’ War. England under Edward III (r. 1327–1377) and France under Philip VI (r. 1328–1350) and John II (r. 1350–1364) form the political stage, with campaigns spanning southern England’s ports, the Channel, Normandy, Picardy, and Aquitaine/Gascony. Urban hubs such as London and Calais, and continental centers like Crécy-en-Ponthieu and Poitiers, anchor the action. Society remains feudal and chivalric, yet increasingly shaped by yeoman archers, mercenaries, and cash taxation. The book’s settings mirror this geography and social texture, charting chevauchées, sieges, and courtly pageantry that pivot around the English claim to France.
The war’s outbreak (1337) stemmed from Edward III’s assertion of a dynastic claim to the French crown via his mother, Isabella of France, which France countered with Salic Law arguments. English control of Gascony and the wine and wool trades made Flanders and Aquitaine strategic. The naval Battle of Sluys (24 June 1340), near modern Sluis, destroyed much of the French fleet, granting England Channel supremacy and enabling later landings in Normandy. Henty frames these developments as the necessary prelude to his hero’s service, situating the protagonist amid diplomatic maneuverings, maritime logistics, and the alliance politics that opened the path to the great campaigns.
The Battle of Crécy (26 August 1346) near Crécy-en-Ponthieu was a watershed. Edward III and the Black Prince deployed dismounted men-at-arms and massed English longbowmen against Philip VI’s knights and Genoese crossbowmen. A rainstorm, sloping ground, and disciplined volleys disrupted French assaults; the blind King John of Bohemia perished, symbolizing chivalric bravery undone by new tactics. Casualties were heavy for France, light for England. The victory initiated a strategic pivot to sieges and consolidation. Henty places his protagonist in this crucible, emphasizing the longbow’s rate of fire, battlefield order, and the Black Prince’s leadership, thus dramatizing the tactical revolution that defines the book’s martial ethos.
The Siege of Calais (September 1346–August 1347) followed Crécy and secured England a secure continental bridgehead. After starvation forced surrender, the famed “burghers of Calais” episode—Eustache de Saint Pierre and others offering themselves—was recorded by Froissart; Queen Philippa reputedly interceded for mercy. Edward III repopulated the town with English settlers and, by 1363, established Calais as the wool staple, integrating war aims with commerce. In the novel’s world, Calais epitomizes endurance and logistical warfare: blockade, supply, and garrison duty. Henty uses the siege to show the civilian costs of protracted conflict and the strategic patience central to English success.
The Black Death (1348–1350) reshaped the war’s context across England and France. Mortality rates of 30–50% disrupted feudal levies, thinned garrisons, and strained finances. England responded with the Ordinance of Labourers (1349) and Statute of Labourers (1351), curbing wages and mobility to stabilize manpower and rents. Military recruitment increasingly relied on contracts and pay, deepening professionalization. Henty references the demographic and social aftershocks as background pressure: shortages of retainers, empty villages along marching routes, and tensions between statute-bound laborers and lords. These conditions inform the book’s depiction of campaigning realities, where disease and depopulation affect strategy as surely as battles.
The Battle of Poitiers (19 September 1356), near Nouaillé-Maupertuis outside Poitiers, delivered a second decisive English victory. The Black Prince, outnumbered by John II’s French host, used defensive positions, hedgerows, and archers to blunt cavalry attacks; a late mounted flanking strike by the Captal de Buch (Jean III de Grailly) helped rout the French. King John II was captured, yielding enormous ransom leverage and precipitating political crisis in France. Henty shapes Poitiers as a climactic proving ground for discipline over impetuosity, tying his protagonist’s service to the capture of the French king and highlighting how tactical prudence and leadership triumphed over feudal bravado.
Chevauchées—devastating mounted raids—framed the period’s strategy: Edward III’s great Norman raid (1346), the Black Prince’s Languedoc expedition (1355), and Henry of Grosmont’s 1356 march. Their aim was to cripple revenues and compel negotiation. The Treaty of Brétigny–Calais (1360) ceded enlarged Aquitaine and confirmed Calais in exchange for a massive ransom; hostages, including royal kin, guaranteed terms. Meanwhile, Free Companies ravaged France, and the Jacquerie (1358) revealed social fracture. Founded in 1348, the Order of the Garter, invoking St. George, codified chivalric ideals. Henty intertwines these elements—raids, ransoms, garrisons, and St. George’s cult—linking battlefield cries to institutionalized knighthood and statecraft.
The book functions as a critique of feudal excess and the human costs of dynastic war. By contrasting measured English discipline and the longbow’s collective efficacy with rash noble charges, it implicitly challenges hereditary entitlement as a military credential. Scenes of siege hardship, ravaged countrysides, and prisoners-for-ransom expose a wartime economy that burdens commoners while enriching elites. References to labor statutes and depopulation underscore how policy sought to restrain workers even as their service proved decisive. Henty’s emphasis on merit, order, and duty—channeled through St. George’s iconography—highlights tensions between chivalric pageantry and governance, inviting reflection on justice, responsibility, and national cohesion during crisis.
