War and Society in Medieval Cheshire, 1277-1403 (review)

Reviews 143 Morgan, P., War and Society in Medieval Cheshire, 1277-1403, Manchester, Chetham Society, Third Series, Vol, X X X I V , 1987; pp.ix, 254; 2 maps, 6 tables, R.R.P. A U S $126.50. Cheshire was a major recruiting ground for English armies in the later Middles Ages. In this weU-researched andfinelynuanced book, PhiUp Morgan adds significantly to our knowledge of this militarised, 'frontier' society, and greatly enriches our understanding of the relationship between war and society in fourteenth-century England. The study begins appropriately with Edward I's extensive mobiUsation of Cheshire manpower in his Welsh wars but Morgan challenges the easy assumption that Cheshire's mUitary record in the fourteenth century grew naturally from its involvement in the Edwardian conquest of Wdes. H e rightly highlights new developments in military practice (the mounted archer) and organisation (the retinue), and discusses the locd conditions which enabled new patterns of service to establish themselves. Cheshire was indeed a region in which archery flourished but the basis of its fourteenth-century military importance was its ability to furnish the sorts of men whose proficiency with the longbow was complemented by their ability to serve on horseback. Lacking a resident nobility, however, Cheshire at first lagged somewhat behind in terms of miUtary organisation. Arguing that 'qudity and character of lordship were crucid factors in determining military opportunities', Morgan provides a carefiil survey of landholding in Cheshire. He notes that 'the strength of gentry society within the overaU pattern of lordship and the high percentage of free and leasehold tenure each lay behind the levels of manpower demand sustdned during the campdgns of the Hundred Years War*. Of crucial importance was the status of the earldom of Chester as a royd lordship, and Morgan argues that it was during the vigorous rule of the Black Prince that mititary traditions in Cheshire 'developed out of customary obUgations into the provision of indentured retinues', headed by county notables and composed m d d y of kinsmen and neighbours. It was in defence of the principdity of Aquitdne in the 1360s and 1370s that demands on the mtiitaryresourcesof the lordship of Chester reached a peak. Through a close analysis of patterns and conditions of service Morgan distinguishes two overlapping groupings within the Cheshire 'military community'. Thefirstwas more sociaUy distinguished, with interests to protect and responsibilities to discharge at home. The military service of such men tended to be 'occasiond' and limited to royd expeditions. The second can perhaps be regarded as an emergent class of professiond soldiers, men who, through their particular aptitude for war or their lack of prospects at home, served continuously in lesser commands and garrison work. 144 Reviews Morgan concludes a rich and thought-provoking investigation of the Cheshire 'military community' with a consideration of 'its pivotd role in the factiond warfare' of thereignofRichard II, offering a useful perspective and new detdl on the crisis of 1387, therisingof 1393, the king's Cheshire retinue of 1397-9, the rebeUions of 1400 and 1403. Michael J. Bennett Department of History , , University of Tasmania Ormerod, D. and C. Wortham, eds, Christopher Marlowe, Dr. Faustus: the A-Text, Perth, University of Western Australia Press, 1985; paperback, pp.lxxv, 159. With the possible exception of Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida, Doctor Faustus provides the knottiest problem of textud transmission in the drama of the English Rendssance. The earliest surviving text was published in 1604, more than a decade dter Marlowe's death, though there is some reason to beUeve that this is a reprint of a now lostfirstedition, possibly published as early as 1601. This 1604 version (known as the A-text) is a brisk, almost terse play of just over 1500 Unes, roughly hdf the length of a Shakespearean play, and less than a third of some of Shakespeare's 'monsters'tikeHamlet and Richard HI. It was replaced, dter severalreprintings,by a very different and much longer version of the play in 1616 (the B-text) which, according to the present editors, not only expands the play but dters its substance as well. The relationship between the two and the provenance of each pose puzzles and conundrums to gladden...