This subject focuses on the history of the fourteenth–century phase of the Hundred Years War between England and France, and on the social, military, and political preoccupations of the knightly sector of English society that was so deeply involved in it.  This period, which witnessed the great victories of Edward III and the Black Prince at Crécy and Poitiers, the foundation of the Order of the Garter and Richard II’s distribution of his famous white hart livery badge, has been hailed as England’s Age of Chivalry.  Though concentrating on the English side, the subject necessarily has also a continental dimension.  The prescribed texts have been chosen in order to open up and illuminate a series of major themes, and it is expected that those studying the subject will want to concentrate more heavily on some of these than on others, according to individual choice and taste.  A wide selection from the principal chroniclers introduces the basic narrative history, and includes detailed accounts of the major campaigns and battles.  There is a substantial body of material chosen to illustrate the cultural history of the period, the ideals of chivalry and of courtly love, the contemporary concern with heraldry and with tourneying and the abiding interest in the crusades; this includes both literary and iconographic evidence, selections from Chaucer and from alliterative poetry, and artefacts such as the Wilton Diptych, the Black Prince’s tomb and some monumental brass.  Another theme is the organization of war, the problems of recruitment, discipline, provision of horses, the sharing of spoils; and the problem of soldiers’ pay, and of raising of taxes to meet war expenditure.  Diplomatic history, naturally, has its place too and the selection here is designed to introduce questions about the making of truces and treaties and also to open up some important related topics: war propaganda, contemporary views of the morality of war, and of the value as well as the means of making peace.