De Re Militari | Book Reviews
Stephen Cooper
Sir John Hawkwood: Chivalry and the Art of War
(Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword/Casemate Books Ltd., 2008). 224 pp. $39.95. ISBN-13: 978-184415752-5.
Stephen Cooper’s Sir John Hawkwood: Chivalry and the Art of War is an ambitious attempt to examine the extraordinary life and military career of one of the most famous of the condottieri in late medieval France and Italy. Indeed, the long and storied career of Sir John Hawkwood has been a source of fascination for nearly six centuries. The international character of his life piqued the interest of his contemporaries in the fourteenth-century, and has continued to this day to intrigue military historians and the curious casual reader alike. Following in the daunting footsteps of Dr. William Caferro [1], it is clear that Cooper’s study of Hawkwood is intended for a popular history reading audience who can gain much from its smooth narrative prose, wonderful black and white photos, and interesting asides.
The book is essentially divided into two major sections: the first consists of three chapters outlining the life and military career of Hawkwood- his obscure English origins, service in the Free Companies that traversed France during the Hundred Years’ War, and finally his long and notable career in Italy. The second lengthier section is more analytical in nature, with seven thematic chapters covering a wide array of topics relating to “the art of war” in fourteenth-century Italy and France. These range from “Mercenaries, Condottieri, and Women” (Chapter 4) and “English Tactics and the Notion of Italian Cowardice” (5), to “Strategies, Spies and Luck” (9). Mr. Cooper’s interest in military tactics and strategy is underscored throughout this second section and beginning or intermediate students of medieval military history will find his discussions especially useful. In addition, the author has inserted throughout the book a number of ‘boxed texts’ that provide useful and interesting supplementary information on tangential topics, usually famous Italian cities, rivers, and mountains which are mentioned in the text.
While Mr. Cooper’s enthusiasm and love for the topic is evident, the book as a whole is not sufficiently analytical for the scholarly reader. The narrative chapters read as popular history and will surely appeal to the non-specialist, but the lack of citations will frustrate the inquisitive scholar who wishes to follow the author’s sources. The author also assumes the reader has a certain level of knowledge of English medieval history, as evidenced by the use of a number of comparisons and references to contemporary English events and personages. Unfortunately, some of these comparisons will puzzle any reader. For example, it is difficult to ascertain the value of comparing Hawkwood’s (non-existent) patronage of the arts and learning with that of John of Gaunt, Henry Bolingbroke, or Henry of Grosmont, men of royal blood with markedly higher sociopolitical status and landed wealth (111). A more useful comparison would have been one made with men of roughly similar wealth and station, such as an English banneret or one of Hawkwood’s fellow condottieri.
The limitations of this book are most evident in the section which deals with chivalry. For a book with chivalry in its title, the overall discussion is lacking in depth and comprehension. The author’s difficulty in clearly presenting Hawkwood’s conception of chivalry is compounded by his own somewhat vague discussion of knighthood in general (see the confusion surrounding Hawkwood’s knightly status, 119). Chivalry is seemingly dismissed by the author as simply a means to “boost morale” (109, 119ff.) and “encourag[e] solidarity and loyalty” among soldiers, rather than a complex collection of values and behaviors which was still relevant to knights in the fourteenth-century [2]. Chapter Seven’s title “Leadership and Chivalry” betrays one of the inherent problems in Cooper’s analysis of chivalry: the author equates Sir John’s martial achievements with his ability to command troops on the field of battle and the number of victories won. The only example of Hawkwood’s personal prowess and bravery is given in passing while dealing with the question of whether he led his troops from the front or the back (113). While the centrality of prowess to the chivalric ethos has been the subject of considerable scholarly debate, its importance is not contested by historians; its absence from this study is troubling. Other important facets of the chivalric ethos are also conspicuously absent from the narrative and analysis of Hawkwood’s career: mesuré (restraint), knightly piety, honor, and largesse.
Overall, Stephen Cooper’s book is an enjoyable read which will prove interesting and informative for the non-specialist reader who shares the author’s obvious interest in medieval Italian history. For the scholarly reader, however, this book is not an adequate substitute for Dr. Caferro’s more analytical study of Sir John Hawkwood’s life and career. Nor does it provide a satisfactory examination of the chivalry of Sir John Hawkwood and his contemporaries in medieval Italy.
Notes
[1] William Caferro, John Hawkwood: An English Mercenary in Fourteenth-Century Italy (John Hopkins University Press, 2006).
[2] For the relevance of the ethos of chivalry in the Fourteenth-Century, see Geoffroi de Charney, a French knight of the Order of the Star, and author of the “Book of Chivalry”: Richard Kaeuper and E. Kennedy, A Knight's Own Book of Chivalry (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005).