During this period, new technology on the battlefield posed deadly challenges for the mounted warrior; but they also stimulated change, and the knight moved with the times. Having survived the longbow devastation at Cr cy, Poitiers and Agincourt, he emerged triumphant, his armor lighter and more effective, and his military skills indispensable.

This was the great age of the orders of chivalry and the freemasonry of arms that bound together comrades and adversaries in a tight international military caste. Men such as Bertrand du Guesclin and Sir John Chandos loom large in the pages of this book - bold leaders and brave warriors, imbued with these traditions of chivalry and knighthood. How their heroic endeavors and the knightly code of conduct could be reconciled with the indiscriminate carnage of the 'chevauch e' and the depredations of the 'free companies' is one of the principal themes of this informative and entertaining book.