Clash of arms

Clash Of Arms, Twelve English Battles by Julian Humphrys (English Heritage, £20) Rather than choosing all the usual suspects, Humphrys includes in his selection some of the lesser-known battles, using as his criteria encounters which tell us something important about a particular aspect of warfare.

Along with Hastings and the big league battles, he serves up Myton, Alton and Tresco, the last of which, fought on the Scilly Isles, rarely appears in military history books.

Shrewsbury qualifies on all sorts of grounds, including the fact that it was the first battle in which English longbowmen faced each other in any great numbers.

The power of the longbow was brought home to Prince Henry the hard way when he was hit in the face by an arrow. As Henry V, he used the weapon to deadly effect at Agincourt 12 years later.

As nobody can agree on how many casualties there have been even in a modern war like Iraq, casualty figures and the size of the armies involved in battles fought hundreds of years ago must be treated with extreme caution.

Indeed, nobody can be certain exactly where the Battle of Shrewsbury was fought, although Battlefield Church is obviously a big clue.

The only way to do it really is to attribute things to the various available sources, which Humphrys does assiduously as he recounts the supposed course of the Shrewsbury battle in a clear and concise way.

And for all the featured clashes in his book he digs out some pictures and serves up maps to make it all easier on the eye.

Rating:****
Review by Toby Neal