Fourteenth Century England, now in its fifth volume, publishes biennially a representative sample of recent and innovative work on the history of the fourteenth century, with particular emphasis on the politics and political culture of England. It is organised under the co-editorship of Chris Given-Wilson (University of St Andrews), Jeffrey Hamilton (Baylor University, Texas), Mark Ormrod (University of York) and Nigel Saul (Royal Holloway, University of London).

Fourteenth Century England does not publish the proceedings of a conference, although some of the contributions naturally originate in conference papers. In particular, a number of the articles published here were first aired at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, and at sessions organised by the Society for Fourteenth-Century Studies at the International Medieval Congress at the University of Leeds. The editors of Fourteenth Century England, some of whom organise sessions at these two conferences, are especially grateful to the Society of the White Hart for its continued support of international research on later medieval English history.

Rather than centring on a single theme, the contributions in the volume represent a cross-section of recent research in fourteenth-century studies and reflect the concerns and trends of current scholarship in the field. The book opens with two complementary studies of big magnate retinues. Alison Marshall offers a sharply focused study of the retinue of Thomas of Brotherton, Edward II's half brother, shedding new light on the following of a magnate not usually regarded as one of the best documented figures of his day.