ABSTRACT
A. H. Thompson, writing on war in the Middle Ages, concluded that "European warfare in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries shews [sic] a somewhat bewildering variety of practice behind which lies no constructive idea." By ingloriously buying off the Duke with the promise of an annual subsidy, King Henry had emerged a doubtful winner, but his military reputation came out of the campaign slightly tarnished at best. Since the conclusion of the Second World War, there has been a revival of interest in medieval military history. The whole area has been subjected to detailed scrutiny, and many valuable studies have been published. From these one important conclusion seems inescapable: the generalship of the Middle Ages was probably no more bumbling and aimless than that of any other comparable era. The conclusion must be that medieval generalship was far more competent than the earlier historians realized, or were willing to admit.
