Runner up in the long article category for: ‘Supplying the army: the contribution of Essex to provisioning the forces of Edward III, c.1337’, Essex Journal vol.54 no.1 (Spring 2019).
This is a stimulating study of the local impact of national events during the Hundred Years War, focusing on the requisitioning of supplies and showing who in Essex provided the resources which the king demanded. One of the assessors, noted that ‘this author writes with infectious enthusiasm ... He sets his topic in context and makes very good use of both secondary and primary sources both in print and manuscript’. The records used are challenging, but Neil Wiffen showed considerable ingenuity in investigating how far the demand for food supplies for the army was fulfilled in Essex. He questions his evidence, but makes solid and sound conclusions. This is an exemplar of how a paper might be used as a model by readers elsewhere seeking to explore the same topic.