From a practical start, a general review of battle tactics, the book turns to archival sources (at points enlisting computer analysis) to examine a number of basic issues. These cover the composition of the English army throughout the period, the management of affairs in Aquitaine together with Gascon reaction, the response in England at large to the war and the consequent propaganda and financial burdens, and (reviewing French work) the impact of warfare on local communities.

Archaeological, architectural and documentary evidence is also used, to reveal surprising activity on the English coast, both defensive and offensive; and close study of surviving artefacts - specifically artillery pieces, longbows, nautical remains and church monuments - makes possible realistic assessments of military and naval capabilities and experiences.

These studies of aspects of the Hundred Years War offer a fresh and exiting approach to a fascinating and popular subject; their combined effect is to give a very real insight, drawing on all manner of practical evidence, into the realities of warfare in the middle ages.