In the year 1345, an alien spacecraft lands in the small English village of Ansby, expecting an easy defeat of the local primitives. Unfortunately for them, the local primitives are preparing to go on Crusade, and their reaction to having one of their number burned where he stands is a disciplined military reaction. That discipline and the aliens' surprise results in the English capturing the ship. Unfortunately for the English, the last alien survivor manages to lock the ship onto an autopilot program that will return it to its base. Unfortunately for the alien empire, that gives the Baron 10 days of travel time to come up with a plan to conquer the garrison on the alien colony planet...

It sounds daft, and it is, but Anderson was a good enough writer to pull it off. Sir Roger may be a mediaeval baron, but he has an open mind, an excellent grasp of tactics, and a sound understanding of practical psychology. That makes him a formidable opponent for an empire that hasn't had to deal with serious opposition for generations. It also makes for a very funny story, particularly when Sir Roger cheerfully lies his way through various negotiations, presenting himself as the representative of a large multi-planet empire.

First published in 1960, this is a short novel by today's standards, but just the right length for the story it tells. It's enormous fun, and well worth a read. ( )

Medieval warriors and villagers vs. aliens! A fun story about Englishmen shipped off to an alien planet, except they are a lot harder to handle than the aliens expect. ( )

An alien ship comes to 14th century Earth, and makes the mistake of landing where there is a clever pommie ruler and his own highly competent military force.

They lose, lose their ship, and the poms are off to the alien planet to take it over instead!

The not too bright sheepish aliens don't do very well, despite technological superiority:
"Nonetheless, dogged almost as Englishmen, they ran on to our very wall. And here our common men-at-arms stood to receive them. The women fired and fired, pinning down a goodly part of the foe. Those who came so close that guns were useless, must face axe, spear, billhook, mace, morningstar, dagger, and broadsword.

Despite their awesome losses, the Wersgorix still outnumbered our folk two or three to one. Yet it was scarcely fair. They had no body armor. Their only weapon for such close-in fighting was a knife attached to the muzzle of the handgun, to make a most awkward spear ... or the gun itself, clubbed. A few did carry pellet-firing sidearms, which caused us some casualties. But as a rule, when John Blueface fired at Harry Englishman, he missed even at pointblank range, in all that turmoil. Before John could fire again, Harry had laid him open with a halberd."

The poms learn fast, and soon it is Galactic Empire time, of necessity.:

3.5 out of 5

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2008/11... ( )

A good, light read, a lot of fun. The copy I read was a from the Carnegie Library Main branch, downtown Pittsburgh. It was dated 1960. A 50-year-old sf book that holds up really well, as long as you don't think too much about how the FTL drive works, etc. Compare this with a more serious treatment of first contact during the Middle Ages in Effelheim by Michael Flynn. ( )

This was probably the first alternate history type story I ever read, although with the introduction of aliens to England circa 1345, it is far from a typical alternate history tale. The aliens, called the Wersgorix, show up in a small English town looking to conquer Earth. Instead, the inhabitants, who had been preparing to go to France in the Hundred Years War with their Baron, Sir Roger, surprise the aliens and take their ship. The entire village tries to use the ship to go to France to aid in the war, but end up on an alien planet ruled by the Wersgorix instead. The rest of the book follows the English as they try to defeat the much more technologically advanced Wersgorix.

Much of the combat between Sir Roger's knights and the Wersgorix soldiers is just barely plausible. For a race with a star-spanning Empire, the Wersgorix prove to be remarkably incompetent at warfare, but that is explained to a certain extent. The plot isn't really meant to be taken seriously anyway, it is a fun "what if" with a dash of exciting implausibility that adds up to a really good story. ( )