A Historical Precedent

Poul Anderson, The High Crusade, CHAPTER VIII.

Brother Parvus thinks that the bedraggled villagers look more French than English. (National humor.)

The Wersgorix hesitate to attack this new unknown enemy that has already unprecedently captured a fortress. The prisoners shudder at the camp's wolfish guffaws. Sir Roger will try to parley with the cautiously approaching enemy. He makes a weapon of bluff and also knows a relevant precedent:

"'...my father was at Bannockburn, where a handful of tattered Scottish pikemen broke the chivalry of King Edward II.'" (p. 52)

History is always with us even in Anderson's sf. Even when I had read this far the first time, I did not expect, or suspect, that Anderson would take his Englishmen all the way to interstellar victory, conquest and empire.