This series [pushes] the boundaries of knowledge and [develops] new trends in approach and understanding. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW The essays here provide a series of unusual, varying and complex perspectives on late-medieval society, with a particular focus on the European context. They show how in the north of England the Cliffords and tenants of the honourof Pontefract were forced to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of their conflicting loyalties to local lords and distant kings; how in East Anglia the growing cult of St Margaret was reinforced by dissemination of her life-story [published here from a manuscript in the British Library]; how at Westminster the court of Henry IV was enhanced by his purchase of luxury items, and how the inept rule of his grandson Henry VI led to the "de-skilling" ofhitherto competent bureaucracies in the exchequer and chancery; how in Normandy a fine line was drawn between brigandage and movements for independence; how in Burgundy the classic ideals of chivalry, as presented in the duchy's literature, contrasted with the grim reality of military and political confrontations; and how in Florence infants were nurtured. Contributors: Frederik Buylaert, Christine Carpenter, Vincent Challet, Juliana Dresvina, Jan Dumolyn, Andy King, Jessica Lutkin, Alessia Meneghin, Sarah Rose

Special edition of a volume which has become the leading forum for debate on aspects of medieval warfare, looking at warfare in the fifteenth century. The articles in this volume focus on the fifteenth century. Several draw on the substantial archives of the Burgundian polity, focusing particularly on the Flemish shooting guilds, spying, and the provision of troops by towns. Theurban emphasis continues with a study of the transition from "traditional" artillery to gunpowder weaponry in Southampton, and a comparison of descriptions of military engagements in the London Chronicles and in Swiss town chronicles. Welsh chronicling of the battle of Edgecote (1469) is also reviewed, and there is a re-assessment of Welsh involvement in the Agincourt campaign. English interests in France are pursued in two further papers, one consideringthe personnel of the ordnance companies in Lancastrian Normandy and the other examining the little-known French attacks on Gascony in the early years of the fifteenth century. Contributors: Frederik Buylaert, Jan Van Camp, Bert Verwerft, Adam Chapman, Laura Crombie, Andy King, Barry Lewis, Randall Moffett, Guilhem Pepin, Andreas Rémy, Bastian Walter