Over the thousand years of the period of the Middle Ages many incredible groups of warriors emerged to seize glory on the battlefield and cement their place in history.
Here are my favorites. 🧵
(Artwork by Jama Jurabaev)
1. The Knights Templar: Founded in the early 12th century the Knights Templar were created to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land. They would soon rise in power and wealth and become some of the most elite warriors of their time.
Renowned for their prowess in battle during the Siege of Jerusalem and the Battle of Ascalon in 1099 and 1153 respectively.
2. The Gallowglass: These fierce warriors played a pivotal role in battles and feuds across Ireland. Originating in 1259 they descended from Vikings who had previously settled in Scotland and it's western islands and highlands.
They carried their mighty axes and claymores into battle and sundered their foes, towering over them. They would be paid mercenary's known for their loyalty to whoever hired them. (Art by Joseph Feely)
3. The Varangian Guard: This mighty group of elite warriors come from the Eastern Roman Empire and would come to be known as the Vikings of Byzantium.
Known for their undying loyalty to the Emperor and their ferocity in battle these hulking warriors would cleave their enemies with their powerful dane axes. Revered for the defense of Constantinople in 1043 by a large raid by the Rus.
4. The Teutonic Knights: Originating in the Holy Land in 1190 during the Third Crusade in the city of Acre. Most known for their prowess in battle and their campaigns in the snowy north known as the Baltic Crusades.
They had powerful cavalry units and fortified castles. Becoming a formidable and powerful order. (Art by Territory Studio)
5. Ottoman Janissaries: These were the elite infantry of the Ottoman Empire. This unit originated around 1363 and were likely the first infantry group in the world to be equipped with firearms.
They were the Sultan's household soldiers and played a pivotal role in many victories, most notably the conquest of Constantinople in 1453.
6. English Longbowmen: The longbowmen of England were feared greatly by their enemies during the Hundred Years War. The weapon was a marvel and was unmatched by other archers of other armies.
They played crucial roles in victories at Crecy and Agincourt.
It had a required a force of as much as 150 to 180 pounds (70 to 80 kg) to draw, and shot arrows with an effective range of some 450 to 1,000 feet (140 to 300 meters).
7. The Knights Hospitaller: This order first originated as giving medical care to pilgrims in the Holy Land.
Later becoming a strong and formidable military order known for holding off the Ottomans during the Great Siege of Malta and defeating them at the Siege of Rhodes.
8. Knights of Santiago: Founded in 1170 in Spain, this order still survives to this very day! They fought during the Reconquista and defended Christendom in Iberia from Muslim invaders.
They defended pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago which was a prominent path of pilgrimage.
9. The Catalan Company: The Catalan Company were a group of mercenaries of Catalan and Aragonese origin. They originated in 1302 who most notably fought in the War of the Sicilian Vespers which was a conflict vying for control of Sicily.
10. The Black Army of Hungary: This mercenary army founded in 1458 was one of the most sought after professional fighting forces in the late Middle Ages.
They took part in the war against the encroaching Ottomans in Hungary and were personally employed by the King of Hungary Matthias Corvinus.
I hope you enjoyed my thread about my favorite military units of the Middle Ages! This is not a list in order of best to worst but just the ones I love the most. Thank you for reading!
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From great knights and kings to the dynasties that shaped entire kingdoms and the crusades.
Here are some of my favorite books. 🧵📚
(Bookmark this for later)
Henry V by Dan Jones.
It is no secret that King Henry V of England is my favorite monarch of the Middle Ages and Dan Jones writes an amazing comprehensive biography on England’s greatest warrior king.
Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory
The Arthurian legends and the knights of the roundtable is what sparked my love for the Middle Ages and this book comprises Malory’s work with each tale accompanied by beautiful illustrations.
He was diagnosed with leprosy as a child. It was a certified death sentence.
Yet despite the odds, he went on to become one of Jerusalem's most remarkable rulers.
As legendary in death as he was in life, this is the story of King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem.
The Leper King.
Note that unfortunately, despite looking very very cool. No, Baldwin IV did not wear a silver mask as depicted in the movie "Kingdom of Heaven."
There are no contemporary sources that support the idea of Baldwin wearing a facial covering, especially one depicted in the movie.
Baldwin was born in mid-1161 to Amalric, Count of Jaffa and Ascalon, and Agnes of Courtenay.
His godfather, King Baldwin III, joked that the Kingdom of Jerusalem was his christening gift. At the time, the kingdom was ruled by French-speaking Catholic Franks, despite being surrounded by Muslim states.
When Baldwin III died childless in 1163, Amalric became king, but only after annulling his marriage to Agnes due to noble opposition. Despite the annulment, Baldwin and his sister Sibylla were declared legitimate.
In the 15th century, England suffered a brutal struggle for the throne, as two rival houses plunged the kingdom into decades of war.
What ensued was a cycle of betrayals, shifting allegiances, and blood soaked battlefields.
This is the Wars of the Roses, a thread. 🧵
The Wars of the Roses refer to the dynastic civil wars between the houses of York and Lancaster. From the years 1455 to 1485 this conflict would ravage England, and precede the Tudor government.
Through the sons of Edward III, both houses made claims for the English throne.
Edward III had 5 sons who survived to adulthood, and as a result they were given duchies in the country. This ultimately led to the term of "Bastard Feudalism" coined in 1885 by Charles Plummer.
Saladin’s mighty Saracen host, marched in triumph but soon met an unexpected foe
King Baldwin IV, with his flesh rotting from leprosy, led his outnumbered knights in a charge.
Saladin's army is annihilated in what would be remembered as the Battle of Montgisard 🧵
In 1177, King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Philip of Alsace, who had recently arrived on pilgrimage, planned to form an alliance with the Eastern Roman Empire for a naval assault on Egypt. But these plans never ended up happening.
Instead, Philip chose to join Raymond III of Tripoli in an expedition against the Saracen stronghold of Harim in northern Syria.
Accompanying them was a large Crusader army, including the Knights Hospitaller and many Knights Templar.
As a result, the Kingdom of Jerusalem had few men to defend it back home.
The banners of Christendom flew, a mighty coalition of French knights, Hungarian warriors, Burgundian lords and more marched against the expanding Ottomans.
In the ensuing Battle of Nicopolis, the forces of Sigismund would be almost annihilated.
This is the story 🧵
During the late 14th century, numerous small crusades were waged by individual kings and knights.
One of the most recent had been the failed 1390 crusade against Tunisia.
In Northern Europe, warfare along the Baltic coast continued, while in the Balkans, the Ottoman Empire had steadily expanded.
Following their victory at Kosovo in 1389, the Ottomans had taken most of the region and blockaded Constantinople from 1394 onward.
By 1393, the Ottomans had captured Nicopolis from the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Shishman, reducing him to a desperate position, while his brother, Ivan Stratsimir, became an Ottoman vassal in Vidin.