The Hundred Years War between France and England was one of the bloodiest and longest in history. These books transport you to the battlefield and beyond.
When it comes to medieval drama, the Hundred Years’ War ticks every box. As a voracious reader, I love a book that transports me back in time and allows me to feel as though I’m experiencing what the characters are.
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For me, a great novel combines fact with fiction and blurs the lines seamlessly. After all, it’s impossible to know the content of the conversations that took place in the Middle Ages, but that’s where artistic license comes in, as long as it’s grounded in fact.
We’re heading back to the 1300s into a heady mix of power-hungry kings battling over thrones, cross-border family feuds that refused to die down, and brutal clashes that changed the course of nations.
8 Must-Read Books on the Hundred Years War
I’ve read a lot of books on the Hundred Years War, and let’s be honest, some of them feel like they were written for a history professor’s bookshelf rather than your nightstand. But not the ones I’m sharing today. These books take you into the thick of it, without losing you in ten pages of footnotes or forgetting that real people lived through all this.
The Black Prince: England’s Greatest Medieval Warrior by Michael Jones
Edward of Woodstock, better known as the Black Prince, was born into a world of expectation and glory. Son of Edward III and heir to the English throne, he grew up under the weight of a crown he would never wear. But what he did achieve was legendary.
This book plunges you straight into the thunder of hooves and the clash of steel, with Jones walking us through Edward’s early triumph at the Battle of Crécy when he was just sixteen. From there, it’s a whirlwind of medieval warfare, political power plays, and chivalric codes tested on blood-soaked fields.
We follow Edward through his ruthless raid across France known as the chevauchée, to the stunning victory at Poitiers where he captured the French king, and later into the more complex years governing Aquitaine. His life is painted as much by his ambition and military skill as by the slow decline that followed.
What makes this book so compelling is that Jones peels back the armor to show us a man struggling with illness, loyalty, and the contradictions of medieval kingship. The Black Prince emerges as a real person, not just a war hero cast in bronze. He’s brave, yes, but also brutal. Honorable yet politically cunning, he defies easy categorization, which is exactly what makes his story so fascinating.
Jones brings together contemporary accounts, letters, and chronicles to rebuild the life of a prince whose legacy shaped the Hundred Years’ War but who remains something of an enigma. It’s gripping, well-paced, and rich in character detail, making it a brilliant read whether you’re already obsessed with the era or just dipping your toes in.
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Essex Dogs by Dan Jones
Essex Dogs drops you right into the dirt, chaos, and noise of 1346, as a ragtag group of English soldiers land in Normandy at the start of Edward III’s brutal campaign through France. They’re not knights or nobles. They’re the men doing the real fighting, archers, grunts, and hard-bitten veterans trying to stay alive as the Hundred Years’ War gets underway.
Led by Loveday FitzTalbot, a soldier haunted by his past, the Essex Dogs march, drink, brawl, and bleed their way toward the famous Battle of Crécy. Along the way, they face brutal enemies, bitter weather, and the slow unraveling of what little order they cling to.
You’re in the mud with the men holding the line. Dan Jones gives each of the Dogs a real voice and backstory, so you’re not just following one hero, you’re watching a band of flawed, loyal, damaged, and often funny men try to make sense of the chaos around them. The writing is sharp, the action is gritty, and there’s just enough gallows humor to stop it from getting too heavy. If you like your medieval history with a pulse and a heartbeat, this is a book you’ll race through.
Dan Jones is a historian with serious credentials. He’s written bestsellers on the Plantagenets and the Templars and knows this era inside out. This is his first foray into fiction, and he nails it. Essex Dogs is the first in the trilogy; next is Wolves of Winter, and finally, Lion Hearts.
The Hundred Years War by Jonathan Sumption
This book fully immerses you into one of the most complex and drawn-out conflicts in European history. Sumption doesn’t skim the surface. He takes you into the war room, the royal courts, the crumbling battlefields, and the minds of the people who lived it. The first volume, Trial by Battle, kicks off in 1328 and builds the foundations with political tension, tangled family claims, and shifting loyalties on both sides of the Channel.
He doesn’t only focus on the kings and knights, though. Sumption also includes the merchants, peasants, and lesser-known players who had just as much to lose. His writing is detailed without being dry and thorough without getting lost in itself.
What I loved most about this book is that it never treats the Hundred Years War as one long blur of battles. Every page feels deliberate. It’s not there to entertain for entertainment’s sake, but you’ll still find yourself turning pages like it’s a novel.
Jonathan Sumption is also a former Supreme Court judge in the UK, which gives his writing a real sense of structure and clarity. He has a razor-sharp eye for cause and effect and a talent for explaining the legal and dynastic mess behind the war without losing you along the way. There are five books in his Hundred Years War Series:
- Trial by Battle (1990)
- Trial by Fire (1999)
- Divided Houses (2009)
- Cursed Kings (2015)
- Triumph and Illusion (2023)
Isabella: She-Wolf of France, Queen of England by Alison Weir
I’ve read so many books by Alison Weir; she always draws me in with the first few pages, and this one didn’t disappoint. Alison Weir pulls back the curtain on one of the most misunderstood queens in English history. Born into the French royal family, Isabella was married off to Edward II and quickly found herself stuck in a court where her husband’s affections were very publicly directed elsewhere.
What followed was a tangled mess of politics, betrayals, and one of the boldest coups in medieval history. This is the story of a queen trying to survive and protect her son in a world where women had little say and even less security.
What I loved about this book is how it balances the drama with real, grounded research. Weir doesn’t buy into the tired “she-wolf” stereotype. Instead, she gives us Isabella as a flesh-and-blood person, shaped by impossible choices and political realities. You get the scandal, sure, but you also get the full context.
Alison Weir is a historian with a serious track record when it comes to British royalty. She started out writing nonfiction and later added historical fiction to the mix, but everything she does is rooted in proper research. She has a knack for digging into the lives of women in history who’ve been misrepresented or overlooked and making their stories impossible to ignore.
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The Battle of Crécy, 1346 by Andrew Ayton, Sir Philip Preston
This book is a deep dive into one of the most pivotal clashes of the Hundred Years’ War. It’s a comprehensive look at the events leading up to it, the composition of both the English and French forces, and the aftermath that shaped medieval Europe.
The authors combine a collection of essays that shed light on various facets of the campaign, from strategic decisions to the nitty-gritty of battlefield tactics. It’s detailed, yes, but never dull, offering insights that make you feel like you’re right there amidst the chaos of 1346.
What really struck me about this book is its ability to balance scholarly research with readability. Ayton and Preston don’t just throw facts at you; they weave them into a narrative that makes the complexities of medieval warfare accessible and engaging. It offers a fresh perspective on a battle that often gets overshadowed by others like Agincourt.
Andrew Ayton is a respected historian specializing in medieval military history, having served as a senior lecturer at the University of Hull. Sir Philip Preston is an independent scholar and the founding secretary of the Battle of Crécy Trust, dedicated to researching this significant battle. Their combined expertise brings depth and nuance to the study of Crécy.
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1415: Henry V’s Year of Glory by Ian Mortimer
If you’ve ever wanted to know what it was really like to be in Henry V’s boots during his most legendary year, this is the book to read. Ian Mortimer drops you into the middle of Agincourt and walks you through the entire year, one month at a time, showing how everything built up to that muddy battlefield moment. From palace politics to sea crossings, and sieges to speeches, it’s all here and packed with detail that makes you feel like you’re right there in the thick of it.
Mortimer shows us the man behind the crown. He’s clever, calculated, sometimes ruthless, and not always the golden boy he’s made out to be. The pace is fast but not rushed. Its history told with energy and structure. If you like your medieval history smart and sharply written without glossing over the hard stuff, you’ll get on with this one.
Ian Mortimer is a historian with a real talent for bringing the past to life. You might know him from The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England, which is just as fun as it sounds. His work is all about putting people back into their historical context, not just names and dates but daily life, personalities, and atmosphere.
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The Hundred Years War: A People’s History by David Green
Most books on the Hundred Years War zoom in on kings, commanders, and castles. But what about everyone else? David Green flips the script and gives us a front-row seat to what the war looked like for those who didn’t wear crowns or carry titles.
You get the voices of peasants, townsfolk, merchants, soldiers, widows, clergy, the people whose lives were reshaped by decades of chaos they had no control over. It’s still packed with the key events, but the perspective is refreshingly different. This is the war from the ground up.
Green puts real effort into exploring how communities adapted, how fear and hope played out over generations, and how identities were shaped by constant war. It reads more like a story of survival than a list of campaigns. If you’ve ever wondered what it actually felt like to live through a century-long war, this book makes it real.
David Green is a proper historian focusing on medieval England, especially military and social history. He’s done plenty of academic work, but writes in a way that doesn’t make you feel like you need a degree to keep up.
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Joan of Arc: A History by Helen Castor
This isn’t your usual Joan of Arc story where she appears out of nowhere, hears some voices, wins a few battles, then meets a fiery end. Helen Castor sets the stage first. She takes us through the messy politics of 15th-century France, the fractured loyalties, the chaos, and the desperation before Joan ever enters the scene.
When she finally arrives, you understand just how unlikely and utterly astonishing her rise was. And once she’s in the spotlight, Castor doesn’t romanticize her. She tells Joan’s story straight, powerful, strange, and deeply human.
Castor unpicks the layers, showing how people at the time reacted to her, how her story shifted depending on who was telling it, and how even after her death, history reshaped her. It’s thoughtful and sharp without trying to make Joan something she wasn’t. You get a strong sense of who Joan might have been and how dangerous it was to be a young woman with a voice in a world that didn’t want to hear it.
Helen Castor knows her stuff. She’s a medieval historian who specializes in powerful women and the political forces surrounding them.
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Related posts:
The Hundred Years War Battles That Broke France: Mud, Blood, Dysentery, and a King Taken Hostage
Joan of Arc Was a Trailblazer of the Middle Ages, But Here’s What They Don’t Teach You About Her
The Top 10 Baby Names in the Middle Ages (And Your Medieval Match)
Joan of Arc Was Burned at 19, But Here’s What They Don’t Teach You About Her