Essex Dogs

The Essex Dogs trilogy follows a small company of archers, men-at-arms and camp followers through the opening campaigns of the Hundred Years’ War. Led by the battle-worn Loveday FitzTalbot, the Dogs include the young archer Romford, the formidable Scotsman, the resourceful Pismire and the former priest known as Father. They fight for pay, but their strongest allegiance is to one another.

The sequence moves from Edward III’s invasion of France and the Battle of Crécy to the siege of Calais, then returns to an England damaged by the Black Death and threatened by Castilian attacks. The novels present medieval war from the level of ordinary soldiers, combining battlefield action with hunger, disease, divided loyalties and the strain that prolonged violence places on friendship and family.