Thanks Paul,
Great story and good warning. I'm not sure what's wrong with drinking hard the night before a battle. Sounds properly medieval to me!
Incidentally, that story about the mishap with the bascinet (along with the story of Agincourt) also answers why they didn't fight in the cool season unless they could help it. That reason is mud. Mud was one of the great enemies of infantrymen. That probably trumps the need to get crops planted and harvested.
F