Medieval battle
ALARCOS, 19 July 1195
Lying between Christian Toledo and Muslim Cordoba, the plains around Calatrava were strategically crucial during the decades on either side of 1200. That is why the Knights of Calatrava had fortified the site and constructed other castles in the region. In 1195, caliph al-Mansur won a victory at Alarcos, and seized the fortresses; but in 121 2 the combined forces…
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Kingdom of Hungary – Clerical Retinues
The erosion of the royal fisc during the course of the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries made it Increasingly hard for the king to distribute honores to his principal lords. Accordingly, their retention of banderia had to be rewarded not through the gift of offices and lordships but, instead ,…
The Battle of Tannenberg 1410 Part I
Background Two conflicts formed the bookends, so to say, of the fourteenth century in Prussia. The first, which began in the first decade of the century, was the order’s acquisition of West Prussia, originally known as Pomerellia. This was a vital territory in several senses: its eastern border was the…
The Battle of Tannenberg 1410 Part II
The Invasion of Prussia The strategies of the two commanders contrasted greatly. The grand master divided his forces in the traditional manner between East and West Prussia, awaiting invasions at widely scattered points and relying on his scouts to determine the greatest threats, his intention being to concentrate his forces…
The Battle of Tannenberg 1410 Part III
What the grand master did not understand was the need to remain calm and rational. When scouts reported to him that the invaders had gone as far as Gilgenberg and had burned the city, inflicting indescribable outrages on the citizens, Jungingen’s temper flared. No more positional warfare – he would…
BATTLE OF SLUYSÂ 1340
“Battle of Sluys – 24 June, 1340. Naval battle between an English fleet, under King Edward lll and a French fleet under Hugues Quieret, Admiral of France” – Medieval naval battle – ship to ship conflict was acted upon by boarding the enemy vessel and going into melee by Peter…
1293: SEA-BATTLE IN THEÂ CHANNEL
Twenty-one years after King Edward I’s accession, there arose a naval war between France and England. In 1286, Edward was the first who appointed a person to the office of Admiral of the English Seas, as we find William de Leybourne styled “Admiral de le Mer du dit Roy d’Angleterre,”…