An English-speaking audience might be considered well aware of military activities in the Low Countries in the fourteenth century. After all, this was the region where Edward III conducted most of his campaigns and where English political and economic concerns were paramount. Although the Duchy of Brabant lay further to the north and west than Flanders, so crucial to England's wool trade, it had other important connections with the kingdom, and military ones at that: Brabançon mercenaries had served Henry II, in the twelfth century, although their fame was comparatively short-lived, and in the fourteenth century this role was reciprocated by men-at-arms and archers drawn from England to serve the duchy's rulers and defend its towns.

Yet there has been no detailed study of the military organization of a territorial unit of this size before, in any language. It is therefore most fortunate that Serge Boffa has made Brabant his focus (as evidenced already by a series of articles on the subject) and now is able to draw his conclusions from a study of the duchy over half a century and more, extending the seminal work of H. J. Hewitt, and his co-linguists J. F. Verbruggen and Claude Gaier. He begins with an overview of military activity during the reigns of Wenceslas and Joan. What is particularly useful about this approach is that enables Boffa to examine many different levels of warfare, ranging from interstate conflict to much lower-level disputes including urban rebellions, ducal campaigns against recalcitrant vassals and internecine conflicts and feuds.