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War and border societies in the middle ages
War and Border Societies in the Middle Ages ed. Anthony (London: Routledge, 1992), x+ 195 pp., E35.00.
Goodman
and Anthony
Tuck
In August 1388 in the lordship of Redesdale, Northumbria, a Scottish army repulsed an attack by English forces in what became known as the Battle of Otterburn. The encounter, lasting from dusk to dawn and ending in one of the few clear-cut Scottish victories in a long history of Anglo-Scottish conflict, provided the setting for an encounter between James, second Earl of Douglas and Sir Henry Percy (the Hotspur immortalised by Shakespeare), which in turn provided the inspiration for a series of popular ballads, the best known of which is probably the seventeenth century broadside Chevy Chase. The 600th anniversary of the battle was the occasion for a small group of scholars to gather at Otterburn Hall, No~humberland, for what was clearly a good humoured and enthusiastic conference reassessing the events of that night, and their significance in the wider history of the period. That the papers from that conference are now available to a wider public is a matter of considerable satisfaction for medievalists and a tribute to whoever at Routledge decided to support what might initially have appeared a merely specialist or parochial concern. The publishers offer the simple designation ‘history’ on the dust jacket, but this is to do the volume a disservice. For if ever a book merited the overworked and frequently misused description ‘cultural studies’ this is surely it. Despite starting with a specific and modest brief, the essays gathered here range well beyond the merely local and particular significances of Otterburn and its aftermath. In a short but thought-provoking introduction, Anthony Goodman offers reflections on the idea of the Marches as a ‘frontier society’, clearly distinct from their Continental equivalents in Spain or Eastern Europe, but nonetheless sharing something of their character as a society shaped by almost permanent militarisation and insecurity. Anthony Tuck considers the social and political position of the Percy Earls of Northumberland, offering insight not only into their role in the ‘Otterburn War’, but in northern society more generally. And in a splendidly wide-ranging piece, Barrie Dobson analyses the power, responsibilities and motivations of the bishop(s) of Durham, whose late arrival at the battlefield may have owed as much to local tensions and antagonisms as to cowardice or heavy traffic on the northbound A696. There are also essays on the ballad literature and its relation to its historical ‘source’, the Scottish perspective on the campaign of 1388 and its wider consequences, and Carlisle in the later-fourteenth century, as well as a thorough rehearsal by Colin Tyson of the more immediate issues surrounding the battle itself: when exactly was it fought? (a close call between St Oswald’s Day and St Oswin’s), where? (most likely where local tradition would place it, at Battle Croft, rather than in some of the more adventurous scholarly conjectures), how large were the forces involved?, etc. All of which adds up to an indispensable guide to the events of 1388. Perhaps the most attractive feature of this collection, however, is not its detailed and informative contents, but its tone. Rather than the sort of internecine point-scoring that such events can give rise to, there is evidence in these pages of a genuine and collective attempt to understand Otterburn, and to produce a picture, not simply of the battle itself, or of the war which produced it, but of a whole border society and culture at a crucial juncture in Anglo-Scottish relations. And in this it succeeds admirably. This is a gem ofa book: a small gem perhaps, but a gem nonetheless. Greg Walker University of Leicester
Goodman
and Anthony
Tuck
In August 1388 in the lordship of Redesdale, Northumbria, a Scottish army repulsed an attack by English forces in what became known as the Battle of Otterburn. The encounter, lasting from dusk to dawn and ending in one of the few clear-cut Scottish victories in a long history of Anglo-Scottish conflict, provided the setting for an encounter between James, second Earl of Douglas and Sir Henry Percy (the Hotspur immortalised by Shakespeare), which in turn provided the inspiration for a series of popular ballads, the best known of which is probably the seventeenth century broadside Chevy Chase. The 600th anniversary of the battle was the occasion for a small group of scholars to gather at Otterburn Hall, No~humberland, for what was clearly a good humoured and enthusiastic conference reassessing the events of that night, and their significance in the wider history of the period. That the papers from that conference are now available to a wider public is a matter of considerable satisfaction for medievalists and a tribute to whoever at Routledge decided to support what might initially have appeared a merely specialist or parochial concern. The publishers offer the simple designation ‘history’ on the dust jacket, but this is to do the volume a disservice. For if ever a book merited the overworked and frequently misused description ‘cultural studies’ this is surely it. Despite starting with a specific and modest brief, the essays gathered here range well beyond the merely local and particular significances of Otterburn and its aftermath. In a short but thought-provoking introduction, Anthony Goodman offers reflections on the idea of the Marches as a ‘frontier society’, clearly distinct from their Continental equivalents in Spain or Eastern Europe, but nonetheless sharing something of their character as a society shaped by almost permanent militarisation and insecurity. Anthony Tuck considers the social and political position of the Percy Earls of Northumberland, offering insight not only into their role in the ‘Otterburn War’, but in northern society more generally. And in a splendidly wide-ranging piece, Barrie Dobson analyses the power, responsibilities and motivations of the bishop(s) of Durham, whose late arrival at the battlefield may have owed as much to local tensions and antagonisms as to cowardice or heavy traffic on the northbound A696. There are also essays on the ballad literature and its relation to its historical ‘source’, the Scottish perspective on the campaign of 1388 and its wider consequences, and Carlisle in the later-fourteenth century, as well as a thorough rehearsal by Colin Tyson of the more immediate issues surrounding the battle itself: when exactly was it fought? (a close call between St Oswald’s Day and St Oswin’s), where? (most likely where local tradition would place it, at Battle Croft, rather than in some of the more adventurous scholarly conjectures), how large were the forces involved?, etc. All of which adds up to an indispensable guide to the events of 1388. Perhaps the most attractive feature of this collection, however, is not its detailed and informative contents, but its tone. Rather than the sort of internecine point-scoring that such events can give rise to, there is evidence in these pages of a genuine and collective attempt to understand Otterburn, and to produce a picture, not simply of the battle itself, or of the war which produced it, but of a whole border society and culture at a crucial juncture in Anglo-Scottish relations. And in this it succeeds admirably. This is a gem ofa book: a small gem perhaps, but a gem nonetheless. Greg Walker University of Leicester