The Boke of Noblesse

A vivid window onto the politics of late‑medieval England, this treatise was composed as a rallying call for King Edward IV’s planned 1475 campaign in France. Framed as a guide to “true noblesse,” it blends moral exhortation with a stark appraisal of England’s recent losses—Normandy, Gascony and other territories reclaimed by the French. The author, linked to the veteran Sir John Fastolfe, writes with the urgency of a courtier eager to restore the nation’s honor and to rekindle the chivalric spirit that once made English arms feared abroad.

The work opens by invoking divine grace before laying out a definition of nobility drawn from classical sources, then turns to the practical benefits of renewed conquest for ambitious knights and landowners. Its language is both persuasive and scholarly, reflecting the taste of the elite Roxburghe Club that commissioned its printing. Listeners will hear a compelling mix of historical reflection, patriotic fervor, and the personal motivations that drove England’s elite to consider another venture across the Channel.