Medieval Fight Club - Weapons, armour, & costume

On this day, the 5th of December 771, the King of the Franks Carloman I died a sudden and convenient death. Good news for his brother Charlemagne (who shared the title), for now the entire Kingdom fell under his control.

Carloman's death was set down as natural causes, with a severe nosebleed sometimes claimed as the cause. Must've been very severe.

Carloman and his brother never saw eye to eye, and at the time tensions were close to boiling over into outright war. So while unfortunate, his death came at a fairly good moment for everyone else living in Frankia. And without it, maybe Charlemagne wouldn't have become the greatly recognised figure that he is today...

On this day the 13th of November 1002, King Æthelred the Unready ordered a mass execution of all Danes in England, in response to a perceived threat on his life.

This came after a few decades of yearly Danish raiding, a subsequent "tribute" (protection money) to the Danish King and marriage to a Norman with Danish heritage.

After raids continued in 997 - 1002, it seemed that Æthelred was fed up. He was told that settled Danish men "would faithlessly take his life, his councillors lives, and possess his kingdom afterwards." So, logically, he ordered the deaths of all Danes living in England. Smart move, man. A "most just extermination" occurred in Oxford, and probably many other sites across his territory.

Obviously this didn't take well with the Danes. Some historians believe this event may have contributed to the accession of King Cnut in 1016, after Æthelred's death.

Moral of the story: if you've been threatened, maybe explore other avenues before resorting to racial genocide? Just maybe?

On this day, the 19th of October 202 BC, Hannibal met defeat at the hands of Scipio Africanus on the plains near Zama Regia.

The troop numbers slightly favoured Hannibal, but Scipio possessed a larger and more experienced cavalry brigade. Ultimately they managed to flank the Hannibal's line and end the battle.

What really screwed Hannibal up was Scipio's adaptation to the Carthaginian's tried and true tactic of "Elephant go Smash".

Scipio trained his troops to skirmish in small pockets and allow the elephants to pass before engaging them with missiles and spears.

Who would've thought, eh? Simply move your troops out of the way of the rampaging war-beast and you won't take so many casualties! What an inspired idea, I can see why nobody thought of it sooner...

Today, the 9th of October, is Lief Erikson Day, a celebration of the true first European explorer of North America.

Lief the Lucky is thought to have been a Viking explorer who set foot in North America, around about half a century before Christopher Columbus. Assumed to have been born in Iceland in a Norwegian colony, as his deeds of discovering "Vinland" (somewhere on the northern east coast of Canada) are recorded in Icelandic sagas, and a couple other medieval texts. (Adam of Bremen's work and the Book of Icelanders)

As for primary archaeological evidence, their settlement of Leifsbudir is thought to be a Norse site called L'Anse aux Meadows, found at the tip of Newfoundland, Canada.

The day itself was chosen not as it coincided with any day in Leif's life, but rather because the first Norwegian migrant ship, the Restauration, arrived on the October 9th in 1825.

Happy Lief Erikson Day!

 
On this day the 2nd of June 455, Rome was sacked for the third time. (You think they'd be ready for it, right?)

Gaiseric, the Vandal King, attacked Rome as retribution for his son's broken marriage with the emperor’s daughter. He was begged to not raze the city, and to his credit, he didn't. He did, however, take all the bronze from a temple roof and looted vast amounts of treasure.

Where the previous Visigoths spent only three days, Gaiseric spent fourteen. That's probably why we call it Vandalism eh?.

On this day the 24th of April 1184 BC, (or thereabouts, it's a little unclear) some devious Greeks got into the city of Troy in perhaps the boldest war trick ever attempted. At least, as the legend goes.

We all know the tale of the Trojan Horse - the Siege of Troy was taking too long for the Greeks, so they built a decoy horse, hid some lads inside it, then tricked the Trojans into taking it within the city walls. They opened the gates from within, and the city fell.

That's the story, but as awesome as it is, it may not be true! The Greeks do love to talk themselves up, especially when it comes to warfare, and modern historians speculate that the so called Trojan Horse could have easily been a battering ram or other such conventional siege engine.

In those times it was not uncommon to decorate or theme such engines around animals, either to inspire, cause fear, or show worship to a god. It may be the case that oral historians heard the battle recount, then misinterpreted the meaning. (Either intentionally or not)

It is also equally likely that the "horse" could have been a ship, with its prow decorated in such a manner. Disguised with some benign reason, armed soldiers could easily hide within its decks and cargo. (A boat does seem more practical than a giant, decorative wooden horse, but that's just us speculating.)

If there's any lesson to be learned from this, it's that you don't trust the Ancient Greeks! Firstly with wooden "gifts", but especially when it comes to army sizes: my lord did they ever love to make themselves the underdogs!

On this day the 17th of April 1492, a contract was signed in the intention to find the Indies. The signers were a one Christopher Columbus, King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castille.

The contract detailed what Columbus was to do: discover new sea routes on behalf of Spain, and his reward for doing so: 10% of all plundered riches and governance of the lands he finds.

When Columbus first proposed the idea, it was rejected. Isabella's court of sailors and astrologers found Columbus' calculations of distance and travel time somewhat troublesome, but were convinced that they would lose little if Columbus failed, but would gain much if he succeeded.

It turns out that Columbus somehow failed and succeeded at the same time. While he didn't find a new route to the Indies, he did find new lands, that he, with great hubris, called the West Indies.

This seemed enough. Columbus explored the archipelago for a time, then went back to Spain with good news. He made four trips in total, mostly to the West Indies and later to South and Central America. North America would be found during this period of discovery by Amerigo Vespucci, slightly one-upping Columbus with that one.

On this day the 7th of April 1348, Europe's first uiversity was founded, Prague University, now called Charles University.

Bit of a different story this week, but nonetheless an important one. History's not all swords and death, you know.

It was founded by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, after which it took it's name, and is houses one of the oldest buildings in Europe, the Karolinum.

Prague University has had a tumultuous history, changing hands over the course of regime shifts. It has been a both a Bohemian and a Jesuit institution, split between the Germans and the Czechs, until finally after WWII, it returned to being state owned.

It's easy to forget that without these institutions, much of what we know about our ancestors and their cultures would be far less understood than what it is today.

Cheers, Charles. Love your work.

On this day, 20th of March 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte returned from his island exile and waltzed into Paris unopposed.

He didn't stick around for long though, lasting only 100 Days (Cents Jours) before being booted away to another, different island. Napoleon's rise was quite meteoric, so it only makes sense for his fall to be similar.

Despite being pitted against all his neighbours, Napoleon managed to rebuff his monarchist enemies and even capture land for his Republic. Obviously the sovereigns couldn't have this upstart disrupting the regime! A Coalition of Six Countries finally defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Montmartre and deposed him. He was forced into retirement on the Island of Elba.

Now obviously Napoleon wasn't happy with that, who would be? He lasted just under 10 months on Elba, slipping away on a ship while the Coalition squabbled over the division of land from the war.

He landed on the mainland with some 1000 soldiers, and began to make his way (avoiding royalist Provence) to Paris. French defensive armies were sent to intercept, but ended up only joining his ranks. Napoleon's forced swelled to an army.

From there, he basically just walked into Paris with a warm welcome ceremony. Unbeknownst to Napoleon, this would begin his last 100 days in France.

Clearly this did not sit so well with the Coalition. Another war started almost immediately, and it lasted (as you might have guessed) 100 days. The campaign began and ended with the famous Battle of Waterloo, but that's an article for another day.

Napoleon was shipped of to the Island of Saint Helena, the Monarchy was restored, and order returned to France.

For a little while, at least.

On this day, Ides/March 44BC, Julius Caesar died. As I'm sure you all know.

It was a turning point in Roman history, resulting in the beginning of the civil war that led to the rise of his heir, Octavian (who was known as Augustus later)

Popularised and dramatised by Shakespeare in his play Julius Caesar, the assassination was a sordid affair. As many as 60 of Caesar's enemies partook in the evisceration, as well as some (ex)friends. Et tu Brute?

It's no coincidence that the assassination took place on the Ides of March, as they were a special date by which a Roman should settle their debts. And boy did the senate have a debt to settle with Caesar.

Not all the conspirators were able to get a thrust in, but 23 wounds were managed, and that (unsurprisingly) was enough to finish poor Jules off.

Unanticipated by the conspirators, however, was the ire Caesar's death would invoke with the middle and lower classes of Rome, with whom Caesar was incredibly revered. They didn't take kindly to their beloved leader being sliced up by some aristocrats.

It seemed that Mark Antony (Julius' friend and advisor) capitalised on this grief induced rage, starting a large fire in Rome at Caesar's funeral and laying the groundwork with Octavian for the five civil wars to come.

So, if you've any debts to settle, you'd better do them right now, for The Ides have come, but they have not yet passed. Or, if you can't resolve them today, for the love of Vesta avoid the Theatre of Pompey, please.