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So I recently watched a three part British documentary on the 100 yeas war, "Chivalry and Betrayal" , on the BBC iplayer. Which isn't bad as documentaries, go, covering the era, the main players etc. in a way that's accessible for newbies and historically interested people alike. BUT. The introduction speech preceding each episode claims that it's about "plucky little England" taking on "France, the number one superpower of Europe" and "refusing to back down".
The actual documentary is more differentiated than that, but the credits speech had me coughing like a madwoman each time. Aside from the blatant jingoism and playing on current day anti Europe feeling, I mean. First of all, "little"? England under Edward III? Secondly, if you're dong the invading all the time, no matter under which Salic law pretense, you don't get to play the "refusing to back down" card. And thirdly, in which dimension was 14th century France the No.1 European superpower of that era? I mean, not to pull the Empire card, but I'm totally going to pull the Empire card. Seriously though, the Habsburg emperors ruling the Holy Roman Empire which covered today's Germany, Austria, parts of Poland and Checheslovakia as well as parts of Italy would beg to differ.
(Sidenote: 17th century France duking it out with Spain & Habsburg relations for Main European Superpower and winning is a different issue, of course. But in the 14th century? No way.)
Hearing about Edward III the fearsome warrior is also a bit odd if you primarily associate him with Bobby Godwin in Susan Howatch's The Wheel of Fortune, but that's not the documentary's fault. :) It also gets across well how immensly profitable all that pillaging and scorched earth devastating of France was for the English nobility, and why they were aghast when Richard II. made it clear he wasn't interested in following Granddad's footsteps in that one (but still wanted everyone to pay taxes. It also reminded me of something else - the enduring Agincourt complex Henry VIII. later seemed to have, as in: he wanted one, and absolutely didn't get it. One thing the later Shardlake novels bring out well is how ruinous and pointless Henry's French wars were to the English people. Novels aside, they really seem to have been conducted for no better reason than Henry having an Agincourt complex and gigantic penis envy when it came to Francois II. And yet the fact he more or less kept losing, on a personal - that wrestling match with Francois in the Field of Gold - and political level alike doesn't seem to have shaken his public image (which is bad on account of the wife and councellors killings, but not because of his foreign politics). Probably because Edward III. introduced the idea of warring with France as the ultimate test of kingly manliness and everyone kept buying into it for centuries to come?
The actual documentary is more differentiated than that, but the credits speech had me coughing like a madwoman each time. Aside from the blatant jingoism and playing on current day anti Europe feeling, I mean. First of all, "little"? England under Edward III? Secondly, if you're dong the invading all the time, no matter under which Salic law pretense, you don't get to play the "refusing to back down" card. And thirdly, in which dimension was 14th century France the No.1 European superpower of that era? I mean, not to pull the Empire card, but I'm totally going to pull the Empire card. Seriously though, the Habsburg emperors ruling the Holy Roman Empire which covered today's Germany, Austria, parts of Poland and Checheslovakia as well as parts of Italy would beg to differ.
(Sidenote: 17th century France duking it out with Spain & Habsburg relations for Main European Superpower and winning is a different issue, of course. But in the 14th century? No way.)
Hearing about Edward III the fearsome warrior is also a bit odd if you primarily associate him with Bobby Godwin in Susan Howatch's The Wheel of Fortune, but that's not the documentary's fault. :) It also gets across well how immensly profitable all that pillaging and scorched earth devastating of France was for the English nobility, and why they were aghast when Richard II. made it clear he wasn't interested in following Granddad's footsteps in that one (but still wanted everyone to pay taxes. It also reminded me of something else - the enduring Agincourt complex Henry VIII. later seemed to have, as in: he wanted one, and absolutely didn't get it. One thing the later Shardlake novels bring out well is how ruinous and pointless Henry's French wars were to the English people. Novels aside, they really seem to have been conducted for no better reason than Henry having an Agincourt complex and gigantic penis envy when it came to Francois II. And yet the fact he more or less kept losing, on a personal - that wrestling match with Francois in the Field of Gold - and political level alike doesn't seem to have shaken his public image (which is bad on account of the wife and councellors killings, but not because of his foreign politics). Probably because Edward III. introduced the idea of warring with France as the ultimate test of kingly manliness and everyone kept buying into it for centuries to come?
