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Edward I to the much more mobile, more integrated and smaller armies of Edward III. The key to the transformation lies, as he sees it, in the increasing use of mounted archers and in the welding of dismounted men-at-arms and archers into a single fighting force. The 'proving ground' for these innovations and for the realization of the possibilities of the chevauchée were the Scottish wars after Bannockburn and especially in the 1330s. On all these developments and on other aspects of war-such as victualling, naval transport, the use of contract armies and the appearance of more systematic battle tactics-Dr. Prestwich's book is now much the most clear introduction available. It is only very occasionally that his comments raise doubts. Dr. Prestwich, like most of us, is rather ambivalent in his view of Edward I (though less outspokenly hostile than in his earlier book); but to dismiss Edward's originality in strategy in Wales by referring to the fact that he 'followed almost exactly the route pioneered by the Roman general Suetonius Paulinus' and by claiming that 'his techniques of warfare were foreshadowed by Gerald of Wales' (p. 17) is a distinctly unhelpful version of the appeal to the past. On English military policy (if such it was) after 1369 he is rather uncritically unsympathetic and seems unwilling to concede that a strategy of defence-and ultimately of the defence of England-is much more demanding militarily than one of attack. These, however, are very minor points indeed. The most serious criticism that Dr. Prestwich's book invites is, paradoxically, a compliment to him. As an interpretative essay on its chosen themes, the book could hardly be bettered. Its rather episodic character is occasionally annoying and its tantalisingly capricious use of footnotes can be infuriating; but it is in every other respect an excellent work from which the experienced scholar can learn a great deal-for Dr. Prestwich possesses, amongst his other gifts, an eye for the apposite quotation and the unusual example-and to which the novice can turn confidently. Where, then, the criticism? It is quite simply that one wishes that Dr. Prestwich had persuaded his publishers to let him write a book on War and Society, 1272-1377. Much of that book is here; but so often one wishes that the argument could have been taken further and its premises questioned. The centrality of war as a determinant of social and political change in late-medieval England has come to be accepted as one of the axioms of English historiography in the last twenty years or so. It is an axiom which has greatly enriched our understanding of the period; but it is an axiom which needs to be much more thoroughly investigated, especially in terms of local society. When Dr. Prestwich next receives an invitation from his publisher, perhaps he can take up the challenge. For the present, he deserves to be warmly congratulated on turning a publisher's idea into such a good book. R. R. DAVIES Aberystwyth NEWPORT LORDSHIP, 1317 1536. By A. C. Reeves. Published for Newport Museum and Art Gallery by University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1979. Pp. xviii, 262.$19.00. The lordship of Newport was originally part of the lordship of