Of Knyghthode and Bataile

Composed for King Henry VI in the middle of the Wars of the Roses, Of Knyghthode and Bataile adapts the most widely used military manual in the Middle Ages—the late Roman Christian writer Vegetius’s treatise De re militari—into English verse. The poet freely adapts Vegetius’s work to his own historical context, reflecting the changing status of chivalry at the end of the Middle Ages, the introduction of gunpowder and warships to military conflicts, and the poet’s wish that a properly trained military might unify the country under England’s rightful king. Responding to both the evolution of warfare and the historical background of his own time, its anonymous poet produced what one critic has called “one of the most brilliant military poems of the fifteenth century.” The present edition showcases this poetic achievement, including textual variants from all four surviving manuscripts, a contextualizing introduction, and copious notes and glosses.