7 - The Skirmish: A Statistical Analysis of Minor Combats during the Hundred Years’ War, 1337–1453

Summary

So many notable and perilous adventures have occurred, so many pitched battles and other deeds of arms and prowess, that he and all who've been with him in those battles and exploits … should be deemed and reputed worthy.

This study of the Hundred Years’ War is not concerned with individual battles. Instead the intent is to analyze those “notable and perilous adventures,” “other deeds of arms and prowess,” and “exploits” that the chroniclers found worthy of mention during the conflict between England and France. These small fights, which took place during battles, sieges, and campaigns of devastation, are skirmishes. Such skirmishes have an interesting story to tell because they impact the larger-scale instruments of strategy mentioned above.

In order to analyze the effects of skirmishes in the conduct of warfare during the Hundred Years’ War, it is first necessary to define the term “skirmish.” For the purpose of this study, a skirmish is a small fight, something between a battle and a duel, that is often, but not always, associated with a larger operation. Furthermore, a skirmish does not always take place in the ideal “open field,” but may be fought in any of a variety of locations and environments. For example, at least as much of the total fighting can take the form of smaller combats, including ambushes of foraging detachments, encounters between scouting parties, intermittent clashes of small groups of fighters at the barriers or assaults on walls during sieges – examples which one may not always envisage when one thinks of the term “skirmish.” And, while a skirmish could occur as a direct challenge (for instance in pursuit of battlefield honor), it more often took place as part of a larger operation. Thus, skirmishes affected the strategies of kings and dukes because victory and failure in these small encounters altered the operational picture of army movements. Therefore it is important to understand these smaller actions if we want to understand why armies were organized as they were, which soldiers were most valuable and why, and why the tides of war flowed in different directions at different times.