ABSTRACT
At the outset of the fifteenth century, the rulers of the states bordering on the Channel and the North Sea, principally England, France and the duchies and counties which made up the Netherlands, can easily be represented as largely indifferent to the imperatives of successful naval warfare. This did not mean that the waters which divided them were peaceful and undisturbed, the preserve only of merchant ships and fishermen. On the contrary, it has been argued with justification that the early years of the fifteenth century saw a notable increase in lawlessness and piracy. Royal and other governments spent very little on the building or maintenance of ships, and seemed to have little understanding of the possible strategic value of sea power. If we turn, however, to the final years of the century in many ways the situation seems to have been transformed. Particularly in England the intervening years had demonstrated to at least some of those in power, the value of ships and the ability to use them with drive and imagination. Ships themselves, and the techniques of navigation and ship handling, had developed very considerably. The armaments of vessels also, and consequently the tactics of sea battles, had changed decisively in a way which heralded a new era in naval warfare.
