Roncicre: Histoii'c dc la lifariiie Fraiifaise 547 subject is no doubt in some measure to blame. Indeed M. de la Ron- ciere has so far neglected to equip himself for this part of his task, that throughout the work he makes no distinction between strategy and tac- tics and frequently uses the one word for the other. The fault is also partly due to a certain want of precision in his work. The richest and most illuminating authority on medieval naval warfare is the Victoria! of Diaz de Gomez, and M. de la Ronciere rightly devotes a chapter to it. Yet the inadequacy of his method will be apparent if we consider how he deals with the passage describing the formation of the English fleet in the action off Ambleteuse. The passage as quoted in a note is as follows : — " Ficieron una as a los balleneros mayores e pusieron a los espaldas dos naos grandes e una coca de Alemania e los balleneros pequenos pusieron en medio." On this foundation M. de la Ronciere writes thus : — " Les Anglais se formaient en bataille suivant I'ordre traditionnel (of which he has nowhere told us anything) en premiere ligne les grands baleiniers flanques sur les ailes de deux gros nefs et d'une coque d'AUemagne ; les petits batiments etaient places en soutien." Can this by any stretch of courtesy be called an adequate rendering? The Spanish has nothing about two or more "lines" and nothing about "supports." The real crux of the passage is, like the " herse " at Hastings, what did the au- thor mean by " una as." Yet this is passed over without a word, though an explanation is not far to seek and that a very plausible one and one that excludes the assumption of two or more lines. M. de la Ronciere's paraphrase of the concluding sentence, which relates how the vessels took up their stations in the calm, is equally open to objection. " Esto fa- cian " says the original "con los bateles, e aun avia algunos balleneros de remos e de vela." Of this he writes " Faute de vent les bateaux et quelques baleiniers mixtes a rames et a voile remorquerent les voiliers a leur poste de combat." Yet the original does not say the " ballingers " did the towing. The point of the passage, which M. de la Ronciere en- tirely misses, is that some at least of the " ballingers " were to some ex- tent vessels of free movement, and were able to get into position without being towed. These points may seem minute, but when a passage so rare and invaluable, a true locus classicus on which turns the whole ques- tion of medieval formations and the whole question of free and subservi- ent movement, is found to be so loosely dealt with, the inevitable effect is seriously to prejudice our confidence in the whole work. When at last M. de la Ronciere brings himself to a serious consider- ation of material, the same want of precision continues. Towards the end of the volume he attempts to deal with the Revolution Maritime which he regards as taking place at the end of the fifteenth century ; and here disappointment increases to despair. It is as though we were watching a man hunting for curiosities amongst half-completed excavations and in his eagerness to fill his museum recklessly covering up what the painful labor of others has partially revealed. Indeed after all the work that has been done in his own and other countries there is really no excuse for such a chapter, for instance, as that entitled "Les Vaisseaux." Far
