Professor Anne Curry

History
School of Humanities
University of Southampton
Southampton
S017 1BJ

Position: Head of the School of Humanities; Professor of Medieval History

Research interests

My research focuses on the Hundred Years War. This began with my BA dissertation on the treaty of Troyes, an amazing peace settlement of May 1420 which made Henry V heir to the throne of France. Had it proved longer lasting, we would have had a double monarchy of England and France, and the history of Europe could have been much different.

My MA was on Cheshire in the reigns of Henry IV and V. This might seem to be a move away from warfare, but I discovered that the Welsh war to put down Glendower's rebellion was partly funded from the revenues of the earldom of Chester, which was of course part of the lands of Henry V as prince. And the financial records I studied even gave the names of the Cheshire archers on the Agincourt campaign.

For my doctorate I studied the English occupation of Normandy between 1422 and 1450 from the military perspective. I was so lucky to find such a rewarding topic. The archival sources are extremely rich, and mainly located in France, so lots of good food too. I have also been able to investigate a wide range of aspects, such as the impact of war on the towns of Normandy, and the sexual activities of the English soldiers. I have even dabbled in the history of accountancy in examining how the English moved from English to French methods of financial administration.

I then began to look in more detail at the conquest of Normandy by Henry V, which brought me to Agincourt. Everyone knows about this because of Shakespeare, but I wanted to strip away the hyperbole of later centuries. This meant working through the mass of surviving financial records in The National Archives at Kew and in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris to reconstruct the sizes of the English and French armies.

My conclusions, to be found in Agincourt: A New History (2005, paperback 2006), are dramatic. The English were undoubtedly 'happy' but by no means 'few'. They had between 8,500 and 9,000 at the battle whilst the French had only a few thousand more at most. The chronicle accounts of the battle are what we would today call 'spin'.  I have analysed this in detail in my The Battle of Agincourt: Sources and Interpretations (2000), which also includes translations of all the key texts.

What now?

When studying for my PhD I began to collect the names of soldiers. They were on file cards in those days, but thanks to an award from the British Academy in 1988 I started to create a computer database. This proved extremely useful in preparing my entries for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and I was also able to supply information on military careers to the History of Parliament Trust, other fifteenth-century historians, and genealogists. But I had not collected the names of the archers because there were so many. My research student, Adrian Bell, was able to look at both men-at-arms as well as archers for his doctorate on the Armies of 1387 and 1388, and showed just how valuable a computer-based study could be. We won three-year research grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council to investigate The Soldier in the Later Middle Ages, 1369-1453. The Research Assistants on the project are Dr Andy King, a specialist on the Anglo-French border wars, and Dr David Simpkin, who has worked on the armies of Edward I and Edward II. The project student, Adam Chapman, is working on the contribution of the Welsh to 'English' armies.

Our aim is to create a database of all known soldiers, not simply those serving in France, and to use it to examine whether we could speak of professional soldiers in this period. There has been a tendency to say that this was something which began in the early modern period.
We are now just over two years into this project, and are revolutionising the subject. We already have a searchable website and are adding more names all the time.

• Visit The Soldier in Late Medieval England site.

We have given many talks on the subject and publications will soon appear. Watch this space.

And more

I have also been returning to my initial studies on the treaty of Troyes, and developing a new project on women and warfare in the middle ages. I am also continuing to publish on the English in Normandy 1415-50, and have been working on the battle of Bosworth in connection with the lottery funded project there.

I forgot to mention that I was also one of the editors of the Parliament Rolls of Medieval England, being responsible for the 1422-53 section. You can buy the CD of this, and it will soon be appearing on-line. I am also currently working on the military experience of the Speakers of the Commons.

More on me

At Southampton I am Deputy Head of the School of Humanities, responsible for Research.

I have been very active in the historical community. I have just been elected President of the Historical Association (2008-9), and am a Vice President of the Royal Historical Society. I am a member of the AHRC Postgraduate Committee and also the RAE 2008 panel.
 I am co-editor of the Cambridge History of Warfare and also edit the Journal of Medieval History, a leading international academic journal.

I have given many academic papers in the UK, Europe, USA and Australia, and gave the Journal of Medieval Military History Lecture at Kalamazoo in 2008. I have also appeared on Radio and TV, and given many lectures to general audiences, including the anniversary lecture at Agincourt. I am always keen to receive invitations to speak.

Areas where I can offer postgraduate supervision

I am very keen to attract students interested in medieval military history, and especially on any aspect of the Hundred Years War. I can also supervise dissertations on late medieval English and French political history, the role of women, and in medieval English local history. I have supervised many students on topics as diverse as: English diplomats 1376-1422; technological change in warfare in the early fourteenth century; logistics under Edward I; the New Forest; Guildford Castle; markets in medieval Berkshire; Isabeau of Bavaria, queen of France; the study of arms and armour in the post-medieval period. My current postgraduates are:

• Adam Chapman - the Welsh Soldier
• Peter Good - Domesday statistics
• Randall Moffett - The Defences of Southampton
• Lynda Pidgeon - The Woodville family

Contact

Room: 1135
Tel:  (+44) 02380 595419
Email: a.e.curry@soton.ac.uk

Key Publications

• Agincourt. A New History (Stroud: Tempus Publishing, 2005, paperback edn 2006).
• The Parliament Rolls of Medieval England, vols X, XI and XII (1422-1453) (Woodbridge: Boydell Press 2005). Also published as CD version.
• 'A game of two halves. The parliaments of Henry VI, 1422-1454', Parliamentary History (2004), pp. 73-102.
• The Hundred Years War (London: Macmillan Press, 1993, Second edition Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2003).
• 'The "coronation expedition" and Henry VI's court in France, 1430-32', in The Lancastrian Court, ed. J. Stratford (Stamford: Paul Watkins Press, 2003), pp. 30-54.
• 'France and the Hundred Years War, 1337-1453', France in the Later Middle Ages, ed. D. Potter (The Short Oxford History of France) (OUP, 2003).
• Essential Histories. The Hundred Years War. (Botley: Osprey Books, 2002).
• Agincourt 1415. Henry V, Sir Thomas Erpingham and the Triumph of the English Archers, ed. A. Curry (Stroud: Tempus, 2000).
• The Battle of Agincourt. Sources and Interpretations (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2000).
• Arms, Armies and Fortifications in the Hundred Years War, ed. A. Curry and M. Hughes (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 1994).
• England and Normandy in the Middle Ages, ed. D. Bates and A. Curry (London: Hambledon Press, 1994).
  

Complete Publications list

Books

The Hundred Years War (London: Macmillan Press, 1993). 183 pp. Second edition (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2003). 168 pp.
 
The Battle of Agincourt. Sources and Interpretations (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2000). 480 pp.

Essential Histories. The Hundred Years War. (Botley: Osprey Books, 2002). 120 pp.

Agincourt. A New History (Stroud: Tempus Publishing, 2005). 319 pp. plus illustrations. (paperback edition, 2006, 357 pp.)

The Parliament Rolls of Medieval England, vols X, XI and XII (1422-1453) (Woodbridge: Boydell Press 2005). 1410 pp.

Electronic Publications

Parliament Rolls of Medieval England on CD Rom (SD-Editions in association with Cambridge University Press, The National Archives and The History of Parliament Trust, 2005). I was responsible for the section from 1422 to 1453. (The whole edition is currently being revised and mounted on the web as a searchable on-line publication)

Edited works

Arms, Armies and Fortifications in the Hundred Years War, ed. A. Curry and M. Hughes (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 1994). 211 pp.

England and Normandy in the Middle Ages, ed. D. Bates and A. Curry (London: Hambledon Press, 1994). 336 pp.

The Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies. Thirty Years of Medieval Studies at the University of Reading, 1965-95. A Celebration, ed. A. Curry (Reading, 1995). 99 pp.

Agincourt 1415. Henry V, Sir Thomas Erpingham and the Triumph of the English Archers, ed. A. Curry (Stroud: Tempus, 2000). 160 pp. (Reissued 2008 as Agincourt 1415. The Archer's Story).

Concepts and Patterns of Service in the Later Middle Ages, ed. A. Curry and E. Matthew (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2000). 185 pp.

Editing of academic journals

Reading Medieval Studies, vol. 12 (1986) to vol. 18 (1992).

Journal of Medieval History, 4 issues per annum from Jan. 2001, ongoing

Journal articles

'Cheshire and the royal demesne, 1399-1422', Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, 128 (1978), pp. 113-35.

'The court rolls of the lordship of Macclesfield, 1345-1485', Cheshire History, 12 (1983), pp. 5-10.

'The impact of war and occupation on urban life in Normandy, 1417-1450', French History, 1, part 2 (1987), pp. 157-81.

'Sex and the soldier in Lancastrian Normandy, 1415-50', Reading Medieval Studies, 14 (1988), pp. 17-45.

'David Hugh Farmer: An appreciation', and 'David Hugh Farmer: A bibliography of published works', Reading Medieval Studies, 16 (1990), pp. 5-14.

'The nationality of men-at-arms serving in English armies in Normandy and the 'pays de conquête', 1415-1450: a preliminary study', Reading Medieval Studies, 18 (1992), pp. 135-163.

'Fifteenth-Century Historical Studies', Reading Medieval Studies, 23 (1997), pp. 135-52.

'Medieval Warfare. England and her continental neighbours, eleventh to fourteenth centuries', Journal of Medieval History, 24 (1998), pp. 81-102.

'Review Essay: "The End of the Middle Ages? England in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries", ed. J. L. Watts', The Ricardian, 11 (1999), pp. 573-6.

'Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. French responses to Agincourt', Proceedings of the Western Society for French History, vol 28 (University of Colorado Press, 2002), pp. 177-87.

'A game of two halves. The parliaments of Henry VI, 1422-1454', Parliamentary History (2004), pp. 73-102.

'After Agincourt, what next? Henry V and the campaign of 1416', The Fifteenth Century, vol. VII (2007), pp. 23-51.

'The battle speeches of Henry V', Reading Medieval Studies, vol 34 (2008), pp. 77-97.

Chapters in books

'The first English standing army? Military organization in Lancastrian Normandy, 1422-1450', in Patronage, Pedigree and Power in Later Medieval England, ed. C.D. Ross (Gloucester: Alan Sutton, 1979), pp. 193-214.

'L'effet de la libération d'Orléans sur l'armée anglaise: les problèmes de l'organisation militaire en Normandie de 1429 à 1435', in Jeanne d'Arc: une époque, un rayonnement, ed. R. Pernoud (Paris: CNRS, 1982), pp. 95-106.

'Towns at war: Norman towns under English rule, 1417-1450', in Towns and Townspeople in the Fifteenth Century, ed. J.A.F. Thomson (Gloucester: Alan Sutton, 1988), pp. 148-72.

'Le service féodal en Normandie pendant l'occupation anglaise, 1417-50', in La France anglaise au moyen age, ed. P. Contamine (Paris: CNRS, 1988), pp. 233-57.

'The English army in the fifteenth century', in Arms, Armies and Fortifications in the Hundred Years War, ed. A. Curry and M. Hughes (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 1994), pp. 39-68.

'Lancastrian Normandy: the Jewel in the Crown?', in England and Normandy in the Middle Ages, ed. D. Bates and A. Curry (London: Hambledon Press, 1994), pp. 235-52.

'Thirty years of Medieval Studies at the University of Reading. A personal view', in The Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies. Thirty Years of Medieval Studies at the University of Reading, 1965-95. A Celebration, ed. A. Curry (Reading, 1995), pp. 1-7.

'Les gens vivans sur le pays pendant l'occupation de Normandie, 1417-1450', in La guerre, la violence et les gens au moyen age. 1. Guerre et violence (Paris: CTHS, 1996), pp. 209-21.

'L'administration financière de la Normandie anglaise: continuité ou changement', in La France des principautés. Les chambres des comptes xive et xve siècles (Paris: CHEF, 1996), pp. 83-103.

'The organisation of field armies in Lancastrian Normandy', in Armies, Chivalry and Warfare in Medieval Britain and France, ed. M. Strickland (Stamford: Paul Watkins Press, 1998), pp. 207-31.

'Domesday Berkshire' and 'The distribution of population and wealth in medieval Berkshire' in An Historical Atlas of Berkshire, ed. J. Dils (Berkshire Record Society, 1998), pp. 18-19, 26-27.

'La Chambre des comptes de Normandie sous l'occupation anglaise, 1417-50 (textes et documents)', in Les Chambres des comptes en France aux xive et xve siècles (Paris: CHEF, 1998), pp. 91-125.

'L'occupation anglaise du xve siècle: la discipline militaire et le problème des gens vivans sur le pais', La Normandie dans la Guerre de Cent Ans, 1346-1450, ed. J-Y. Marin (Milan and Paris: Skira-Seuil, 1999), pp. 47-9.

'Isolated or integrated? The English soldier in Lancastrian Normandy', in Courts and Regions of Medieval Europe, ed. S. Rees Jones, R. Marks and A.J. Minnis (York Medieval Press, 2000), pp. 191-210.

'Henry V: A life and reign' in Agincourt: 1415. Henry V, Sir Thomas Erpingham and the Triumph of the English Archers, ed. A. Curry (Stroud: Tempus, 2000), pp. 9-20.

'Sir Thomas Erpingham. A life in arms', in Agincourt: 1415. Henry V, Sir Thomas Erpingham and the Triumph of the English Archers, ed. A. Curry (Stroud: Tempus, 2000), pp. 53-77.

'Bourgeois et soldat dans la ville de Mantes pendant l'occupation anglaise de 1419 à 1449', Guerre, pouvoir et noblesse au moyen age, ed. J. Paviot and J. Verger (Paris: CTHS, 2000), pp. 175-84.

'Richard II and the war with France', The Reign of Richard II, ed. G. Dodd (Stroud: Tempus Publishing, 2000), pp. 33-50.

'War, peace and national identity in the Hundred Years War', in Thinking War, Peace and World Orders in European History, ed. A. Hartmann and B. Heuser (London: Routledge, 2001), pp. 141-53.

'The loss of Lancastrian Normandy in 1450. An administrative nightmare?', in The English Experience in France, ed. D. Grummitt (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002), pp. 24-45.

'Le traité de Troyes. Un triomphe pour les Anglais ou pour les Français?', Images de la Guerre de Cent Ans, ed. J. Maurice and D. Couty (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2002), pp. 13-26.

'The "coronation expedition" and Henry VI's court in France, 1430-32', in The Lancastrian Court, ed. J. Stratford (Stamford: Paul Watkins Press, 2003), pp. 30-54.

'France and the Hundred Years War, 1337-1453', France in the Later Middle Ages, ed. D. Potter (The Short Oxford History of France) (OUP, 2003), pp. 90-116.

'Harfleur et les Anglais, 1415-1422', La Normandie et l'Angleterre au moyen âge, ed. V. Gazeau (Paris: Publications du CRAHM, 2003), pp. 173-87.

'Henry V's conquest of Normandy 1417-1419: the siege of Rouen in context', Guerra y Diplomacia en la Europa Occidental 1280-1480. XXXI Semana de Estudios Medievales. Estella 19-23 de julio 2004 (Pamplona: Gobernia de Navarra, 2005), pp. 237-54.

'Personal links and the nature of the English war retinue: a case study of John Mowbray, earl marshal, and the campaign of 1415', Liens, reseaux et solidarités, ed. E. Anceau, V. Gazeau and F.J. Ruggiu (Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2006), pp. 153-67

'Les villes normandes et l'occupation anglaise: l'importance du siège de Rouen', Les villes normandes au moyen âge, ed. P. Bouet et F. Neveux (Caen: Presse Universitaire de Caen, 2006), pp. 109-124.

'Pour ou contre le roi d'Angleterre. La discipline militaire et la contestation de pouvoir en Normandie au quinzième siècle (1415-1422)', Images de la contestation du pouvoir dans le monde normand, ed. C. Bougy and S. Poirey (Caen: Presse Universitaire de Caen, 2007), pp. 147-62.

'The military ordinances of Henry V: texts and contexts', War, Government and Aristocracy in the British Isles c 1150-1500, ed. C. Given-Wilson, A. Kettle and L. Scales (Woodbridge, 2008), pp. 214-49.

'Two kingdoms, one king. The treaty of Troyes (1420) and the creation of a double monarchy of England and France', in The Contesting Kingdoms: France and England 1420-1700, ed. G. Richardson (Aldershot: Ashgate Press, 2008), pp. 23-41.

Other output

Eleven entries in the New Oxford Dictionary of National Biography on fifteenth-century chroniclers and soldiers. Group entry on 'Participants in the battle of Agincourt' (forthcoming, October 2008).

Entries in The Oxford Companion to British History, The Oxford Companion to Military History, Le Dictionnaire de moyen âge, The Penguin Atlas of British History.

For wider audiences: articles in BBC History Magazine, and The Historian.
'Joan of Arc', The Great Commanders, ed. Andrew Roberts (Quercus Publishing, 2008), pp. 356-63.

Teaching responsibilities for Professor Anne Curry

Module title	Module code	Discipline	Role
The Soldier in later medieval England	HIST6057	History	Course leader
Renaissance & Reformations : generic skills	CMRC6007	Medieval & Renaissance Culture	Tutor
Renaissance & Reformations: research essay	CMRC6008	Medieval & Renaissance Culture	Tutor
Renaissances and Reformations	CMRC6002	Medieval & Renaissance Culture	Tutor

Publications from e–Prints Soton

	Curry, Anne (2009) Soldiers’ wives in the Hundred Years War. In, Coss, Peter and Tyerman, Christopher (eds.) Soldiers, Nobles and Gentlemen: Essays in Honour of Maurice Keen. Woodbridge, UK, Boydell Press, 198-214.
	Curry, Anne (2008) Two kingdoms, one king: the Treaty of Troyes (1420) and the creation of a double monarchy of England and France. In, Richardson, Glenn (ed.) 'The Contending Kingdoms': France and England 1420–1700. Aldershot, UK, Ashgate, 23-42.
	Curry, Anne (2008) The military ordinances of Henry V: texts and contexts. In, Given-Wilson, Chris, Kettle, Ann and Scales, Len (eds.) War, Government and Aristocracy in the British Isles, c.1150-1500: Essays in Honour of Michael Prestwich. Woodbridge, UK, Boydell, 214-249.
	Curry, Anne (2008) The battle speeches of Henry V. Reading Medieval Studies, XXXIV, 77-98.
	Curry, Anne (2007) After Agincourt, what next? Henry V and the campaign of 1416. In, Clark, Linda (ed.) Conflicts, Consequences and the Crown in the Late Middle Ages. Woodbridge, UK; Rochester, USA, Boydell, 23-52. (The Fifteenth Century VII).
	Given-Wilson, C., Brand, P., Curry, A., Ormrod, W.M. and Phillips, J.R.S. (eds.) (2005) The parliament rolls of Medieval England, 1275-1504, Woodbridge, UK; London, UK, Boydell; National Archives, 9800pp.
	Curry, Anne (2005) Agincourt: a new history, Stroud, UK, Tempus, 352pp.
	Curry, Anne (2005) Henry V’s conquest of Normandy 1417-19: the siege of Rouen in context. XXXI Semana de Estudios Medievales Estella 19-23 de Julio 2004, 237-254.
	Curry, Anne (2005) The Parliament rolls of Medieval England 1275-1504. Henry VI 1422-31, Woodbridge, UK, Boydell & Brewer, 485pp.
	Curry, Anne (2005) The Parliament rolls of Medieval England 1275-1504. Henry VI 1432-1445, Woodbridge, UK, Boydell & Brewer, 508pp.
	Curry, Anne (2005) The Parliament Rolls of Medieval England 1275-1504. Henry VI 1447-1460. In, Given-Wilson, Chris (ed.) The Parliament Rolls of Medieval England 1275-1504. Woodbridge, UK, Boydell & Brewer, 1-325.
	Curry, Anne (2004) ‘A game of two halves': Parliament 1422-1454. (In special issue 10, Parchment and People: Parliament in the Middle Ages edited by Linda Clark). Parliamentary History, 23, (1), 73-102.
	Curry, Anne (2003) The coronation expedition and Henry VI’s court in France 1430-32. In, Stratford, Jenny (ed.) The Lancastrian Court. Donington, UK, Shaun Tyas, 29-52.