In some ways, the title of this book is a bit misleading, as it deals with far more than simply Crécy and the beginnings of the Order of the Garter — though these two topics, of course, play key roles. Not only do the battles of Poitiers and Najéra, as well as the wider historical landscape on both sides of the Channel, get a good look. Far more importantly, the contemporary sources, and in particular the narrative texts, are engaged with in a more thoughtful and incisive manner than previously, giving new life to well-examined topics, as well as challenging previous interpretations of contemporary texts (including questioning the importance usually given to Edward’s Arthurian interests). This is unsurprising considering Barber’s previous work, including a very useful collection of documents entitled the Life and Campaigns of the Black Prince, and a tradition of intelligent engagement with the narrative sources. In the hands of some scholars, such material would be difficult to pitch to the wide audience aimed at in an Allen Lane/Penguin publication, but, for the most part, Barber does it in a very entertaining and engaging manner.

That said, there are some areas that could do with a bit more thought. Though it is necessary to put his source analysis in the context of the historical events as a whole, Barber’s discussion of the more well-known topics could be trimmed down in places. For instance, the background causes of the Hundred Years’ War have been discussed so many times now in both academic and popular history that perhaps a shorter discussion would work better. Indeed, perhaps this space could instead have been used to build up his discussion of the connection between the nature of the sources and the resulting narrative. In particular, Barber gives a very useful analysis of the background of the various contemporary texts that inform his work at the beginning of the book, but at times in the succeeding chapters he does not really then make the connection between this background and the material he talks about. For instance, when Barber speaks of Thomas Gray’s Scalachronica, and in particular Gray’s condemnation of the creation of six new earls in 1337, it is a point often made (and that he makes himself in the sources chapter) that the writer himself is writing from prison in Edinburgh. This fact, and the underlying cause of the unwillingness of the English to pay his ransom, could perhaps have been weaved more clearly to the connected narrative of the book itself. At other times, Barber overstates his case. Some comments are simply connected with specific discussions, as when he discusses the issue of jousts during “peacetime” (73) — one does wonder how easily the years 1331–32, 1339–40, and 1341–44 fit under such a term. Other comments are more fundamental to the underlying rationale behind the book, as when he refers to England as being “almost irrelevant in terms of military power” in the period prior to Edward III’s reign (463) — surely the Welsh, Irish, and even the Scots would beg to differ. Such context is useful, but at times the commentary could have a more balanced tone.

Nonetheless, this is a lively, thought-provoking book that, while surveying well-charted ground, does so with fresh energy and insight. There is a lot of enlivening detail, much of which rarely if ever gets displayed to a wider audience. Finally, though, one returns to the issue of the title, and especially the use of the word “triumph.” At first glance, one might think it rather odd for a modern author to use such a term in the title of a book (even if he is writing about the Middle Ages). And yet, the more one thinks about fourteenth-century England, the more one could see how “triumph” could be used. Not perhaps, or even mainly, in the sense of conquering enemies and the resulting national braggadocio, but instead in triumphing over adverse circumstances, especially those that had, at the end of the previous reign, included civil war and the first parliamentary deposition of a king (Edward II) in English history. In that way, if not in all others, the title suits admirably.