This challenge was originally directed to current readers of the soc.history.medieval internet newsgroup, but feel free to join in. There is a small but genuine prize: a copy of "English Verse: The Early Lyrics to Shakespeare" (compiled by W.Peacock for the Oxford "World's Classics" series, 1928, not over-used by its former owner, school student "Smith. W.V. L VI").

The prize will be awarded to the first person to send me an email (click the heading banner at the top of this page) answering the following question correctly with a convincing explanation:

Was the battle list reproduced below written in the late 15th century,
or was it compiled and forged at a later date,
or was it forged at a later date based on a genuinely old original text,
or was it forged at a later date based on a genuinely old original text but with deliberate additions or other changes?

If no correct and convincingly-argued answer is received by the time I get fed up of waiting, the prize will be awarded to the first person who can identify all the battles (either the accepted scholarly name of the battle or some other means of identifying its site to within 10km on a modern map). Again, convincing explanations will be required.

Feel free to cheat as much as you like, of course, but bear in mind that I will not be answering questions which I think might give unfair clues. I have, however, supplied two rather wobbly photographs here.

For the purposes of this exercise, the list may be assumed to have been found among a private collection of antiquarian documents, and to be written on a sheet of paper (not parchment) of the late 15th century, in a hand of the period, using an ink which now appears dark-brown to black. No detailed scientific analyses of the ink have yet been undertaken.

Dashes indicate superscript abbreviations.

Hec sunt bella infra regnu- Anglie ut postmodu- apparet
Allerdaylrayd fuit Anno D-ni mill-mo CCC Lxxxiiij
Homyldonhyll fuit Anno D-ni mill-mo CCCC ij
Schreysbery fuit Anno D-ni mill-mo CCCC iij
Agyncourt fuit Anno D-ni mill-mo CCCC xv
Mawdelynevyn fuit Anno D-ni mill-mo CCCC xix
Ewylweddynsday fuit Anno D-ni mill-mo CCCC xlviij
Seynt Albons ye fyrst fuit Anno D-ni mill-mo CCCC liiij
Northampton fuit Anno D-ni mill-mo CCCC lx
Waykfeld fuit Anno D-ni mill-mo CCCC lx
Seynt Albons ye second fuit Anno D-ni mill-mo CCCC lx
Palmsondaye fuit Anno D-ni mill-mo CCCC lxj
Et ibm interfectu fuer- o- xij mill- & CCCC ho-nes