1. Kemp: The Road to Crécy
Martin Kemp joins Edward III’s army in France to escape execution and is trained as a longbowman in a force advancing through Normandy. His first campaign strips away his expectations of honour as he encounters looting, siege warfare and the panic of battle. The march leads…
2. Kemp: Passage at Arms
In 1347 Martin Kemp serves among the English troops maintaining the siege of Calais after the victory at Crécy. Disease, hunger and raids make the marsh-bound encampment as dangerous as open battle, while the French attempt to relieve the port and restore their damaged military reputation.…
3. Kemp: The Castle in the Marsh
Captured near Calais in 1351, Martin Kemp and his companions are imprisoned in a French stronghold where failed escape attempts are answered with execution. Sir Hugues de Beauconray offers Kemp a bargain: travel to Scotland with a Dominican friar and recover a manuscript, or watch ten…
4. Kemp: Riders of Fury
Martin Kemp enters Brittany as the Breton War of Succession draws English and French interests into a prolonged civil conflict. Seeking employment and plunder, he joins the company of the ambitious freebooter Sir Ranulf FitzWaryn and rises within a band whose private objectives increasingly conflict with…
5. Kemp: An Arrow for the Crown
Martin Kemp returns to Scotland to collect a debt just as warfare breaks out along the border. French men-at-arms encourage resistance to England, while Kemp and Ieuan are compelled to escort a group of civilians through country contested by raiders, royal troops and local lords. Pursuit…
6. Kemp: Warriors in the Snow
In the winter of 1356 Edward III invades Scotland in the campaign remembered as Burnt Candlemas. When an English fleet carrying supplies is scattered and a church is destroyed, Martin Kemp is blamed for the fire and placed in chains as the royal army begins a…
7. Kemp: The Flames of Heresy
Martin Kemp reaches the Gascon frontier intending to regain command of the Company of the Dragon, the mercenary band he once led. The company now serves the Count of Targères, who has taken control of Cazoulat and uses accusations of heresy to divide the population and…
8. Kemp: The Road to Poitiers
In September 1356 Martin Kemp rides with the Black Prince’s chevauchée across France. The English army burns and plunders as it seeks to join the Duke of Lancaster, but destroyed bridges across the Loire and the approach of a larger French force compel a retreat through…