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The battle of Shrewsbury involved two of the most famous figures in English history, the future Henry V and Sir Henry 'Hotspur' Percy, son of the Earl of Northumberland. It took place against a backdrop of usurpation, and the Glen Dwr revolt in Wales, in the dramatic early years of the reign of Henry IV. Despite its significance the battle and the struggle it was part of are often skipped over, coming between the two main phases of the Hundred Years War and well before the accepted start of civil war in the reign of Henry VI.
The campaign and battle of Shrewsbury itself takes up about one fifth of the text. The bulk of the book looks at the other military events of Henry IV's reign, starting with the early clash with Scotland and Glen Dwr's revolt. Barratt looks at how the pressures that built up during these conflicts slowly eroded the Percys' support for Henry, eventually leading first to Hotspur's short-lived revolt that ended at Shrewsbury, and then for his father's longer, but no more effective rebellion.
While this might make it a stretch to call this a campaign history for the battle of Shrewsbury, it does make it a much more valuable book. Hotspur's rebellion was a short-lived affair, and the battle of Shrewsbury not complex enough to sustain an entire book aimed at the general reader, but they did form an important part of the wider story of Henry IV's reign. By expanding his focus out to look at the entire story of the opposition to Henry, Barratt reminds us that these events were interrelated, with even Glen Dwr's revolt triggered at least in part by dissatisfaction with the new monarch.
Chapters
Background
- Death of a King
- Uprising in Wales
- The Armies
- Pilleth and Homildon Hill
Campaign Chronicle
- The Roots of Rebellion
- The Shrewsbury Campaign
- Approach to Battle
- The Battle of Shrewsbury
- The Price of Rebellion
- Welsh High Tide
- The Glyn Dwr Revolt: Turning Point
- Glyn Dwr's Decline
- Northumberland's Last Throw
- The End of Glyn Dwr
Aftermath
- The Battlefields Today
Author: John Barratt
Edition: Hardcover
Pages: 142
Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
Year: 2010