The Hundred Years War opposed England and France for over a century and produced some of the most dramatic military changes of the time. Such great changes did not go unnoticed and an abundant literature, dealing directly or indirectly with warfare, was produced in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Thus, there is much original material to be read about warfare in that period of history. In exploring the field of medieval military history, it would be a great mistake to exclude from research-efforts romances written by men such as Jean de Bueil which can at times contain quite a significant amount of information useful to historians and thus support Richard Kaeuper's views on the legitimacy of reading chivalric literature as historical evidence. Jean de Bueil was one of the great French knights of the end of the Hundred Years War. While in retirement, he wrote Le Jouvencel, a treatise written in the form of a roman à clé and as a teaching tool for future knights. This article will suggest that although Le Jouvencel has been used by many medieval military historians and certain passages are widely quoted, the work contains many details of great practical value which have not yet been explored by modern writers. For example, Jean de Bueil includes in his hero's adventures many details which can allow us to reconstitute military marching orders as understood in the later stages of the Hundred Years War.

Jean de Bueil's work is very different from many other manuscripts of the time because he was neither a scholar nor a cleric. As a knight, and eventually as one of the most senior military commanders of France, he lived through the events he reports and he was able to paint a vivid image of fifteenth-century warfare. Le Jouvencel is not precisely a memoir, a fact which has contributed to the text being under-used. Jean de Bueil “wished to give heart and determination to all men, especially those men who engage in the marvelous adventures of war,” rather than aiming to draw attention to his own deeds of arms.