Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I was a man of great wealth, a man obsessed with chivalry, armor, weapons and everything about knighthood.

Today in museums we have plenty of relics of his noble passion.

Here are some of my favorite relics of The Last Knight of Europe 🧵 Gothic plate armor forged by Lorenz Helmschmid that is housed at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria.

Date: 1492

He narrowly escaped death at fifteen. He became a feared mercenary and later a famed Varangian Guard for the Emperor.

He is Harald Sigurdsson, King of Norway, Burner of Bulgars and the last Viking king.

Known forever as Harald Hardrada or "Hard Ruler"

This is his story. 🧵 Harald Hardrada was born in Ringerike, Norway, in 1015 or 1016 to Åsta Gudbrandsdatter and her second husband, Sigurd Syr.

Sigurd was a wealthy and powerful petty king in the Uplands.

Picture this:

You are a student at the University of Oxford in the 14th century.

You go to the local tavern for a drink to relax.

Next thing you know, riots break out because someone's wine tasted bad! People are slain!

This is the St Scholastica Day Riot of 1355🧵 Academic teaching at Oxford dates back to 1096, and by 1167, the university began to expand rapidly. It received a royal charter in 1248, which formalized its positions and functions.

By 1334, Oxford was the ninth wealthiest town in England, boasting 5,000 residents.

From the spires of Lübeck to the distant shores of Novgorod, the Hanseatic League possessed influence in commerce and power.

Pirates met their doom, and the world’s riches flowed through their gilded grasp.

This is the story of the Hanseatic League MEGA THREAD 🧵 The Baltic Sea was a hub of trading ventures, raids, and piracy. Gotlandic sailors traveled as far as Novgorod to trade goods.

Before the Hanseatic League, Scandinavians dominated Baltic trade, establishing hubs such as Birka, Haithabu, and Schleswig by the 9th century.

Many later Hanseatic ports, including those between Mecklenburg and Königsberg, were originally part of this Scandinavian led trade network.

ALL HAIL KING HENRY!

King Henry V of England was one of it's greatest warrior monarchs.

From a young prince at Shrewsbury to an outnumbered king conquering northern France he stood strong.

From Harfleur to the fields of Agincourt, this is the story of King Henry V 🧵 Henry of Monmouth was born on September 16th 1386 in Monmouth Castle in Wales.

His father was King Henry IV (Henry Bolingbroke) of England and his mother was Mary de Bohun.

The legendary blade Excalibur gleamed. Its edge forged by ancient hands and wielded by the famed King Arthur.

This is the story of the most iconic blade in the history of literature and mythos.

A story everyone should know 🧵 In Robert de Boron's Merlin, written around 1200, the story of King Arthur’s rise to the throne introduces the famous "sword in the stone" motif.

According to this tale, Arthur claims the crown by pulling a sword from an anvil resting on a stone that mysteriously appeared in a churchyard on Christmas Eve.

The act, as foretold by Merlin, could only be performed by the "true king," the rightful heir of Uther Pendragon. This miraculous event is central to proving Arthur’s divine appointment as king.

Armed and armored, and not just in faith.

Warrior bishops were a paradox, shepherds who led their flocks to both prayer and war.

Amid the clash of swords and the tolling of cathedral bells, the warrior bishops went forth to battle. 🧵✝️ Going further back in time, around the 5th century, the Church began to create doctrine that permitted Christians to fight in battle.

The conditions were that the Christian warriors were to fight for the glory of Christ and not for conquest or personal glory.

In the year of 1337, a clash of two of the mightiest kingdoms in Europe began.

The crowns of England and France would be pit against each other in a war that would last over a century.

Their swords clashed and the bloodshed reshaped history.

The Hundred Years' War. 🧵⚔️ In late April of 1337, Philip VI of France chose to not meet an English delegation, and shortly after, he issued the arrière-ban, a kingdom-wide call to arms.

The French Great Council convened in May 1337, deciding to seize Aquitaine from Edward III of England.

The justification of this action by the French was because of Edward's failure to fulfill his duties as a vassal and his sheltering of Philip’s enemy, Robert d’Artois.

The word Crusade sparks thoughts within those who read it of history, faith, and conquest.

The Middle East, Southern France, the Baltics and more saw fighting. But what did it mean to take the cross?

Tales of the Crusades: A Thread. 🧵 The term "crusade" originally referred to the military expeditions launched by European Christians during the 11th to 13th centuries to the Holy Land.

Over time, it was extended to describe other campaigns initiated or supported by the Latin Church, often with religious or political aims.

St. Thomas Aquinas was a 13th-century Dominican friar and theologian.

Renowned for synthesizing Christian doctrine, he is hailed as the most influential thinker of the Middle Ages and the greatest Medieval theologian ever.

This is his story 🧵 Thomas Aquinas was born around 1225 in Roccasecca, near Aquino, which was part of the Kingdom of Sicily at the time.

His father, Landulf of Aquino, was a knight serving Emperor Frederick II, and his family held considerable influence.

Thomas's uncle, Sinibald, was the abbot of the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino, and his family intended for him to follow a similar ecclesiastical path.

In 1095, the Pope himself made the call for a crusade. Promising warriors who embarked to be absolved of their sins.

Countless thousands of people made the journey to Constantinople, seeking to take back the holy land, and Jerusalem itself.

In the First Crusade 🧵 By the 11th century, Europe’s population was growing significantly due to agricultural and technological advances that promoted trade.

Feudalism and manorialism structured society, where nobles provided military service in exchange for land rights.

The Teutonic Knights stand ready, iron-clad figures at the edge of Christendom.

From the windswept fortresses of Marienburg to the dense, unforgiving woodlands where pagan whispers linger, the Teutonic Knights march.

This is their story.. 🧵⚔️ In 1143, Pope Celestine II directed the Knights Hospitaller to oversee a German hospital in Jerusalem, which served German-speaking pilgrims and crusaders unfamiliar with the local language and Latin.

Thunder rolled across the plains of Legnica.

From the east, the ground trembled beneath the Mongol horde, a relentless tide of riders and banners.

Knights and warriors of the Kingdom of Poland, Margraviate of Moravia and the Knights Templar stood in their path... 🧵 In the early 13th century, the Cumans, a nomadic people fleeing the advancing Mongol Empire, sought asylum within the Kingdom of Hungary.

Batu Khan, a prominent Mongol leader, considered the Cumans to have already submitted to Mongol authority and saw their alliance with Hungary as an affront.

King Edward IV was a formidable yet underrated ruler often overshadowed by the tumultuous events of his time.

He was an exceptional military leader, fighting in numerous engagements often fighting on the frontlines.

Here are some of his victories... 🧵👑 Battle of Northampton:

Edward was the Earl of March at the time of the battle.
The Lancastrian forces, numbering around 5,000 and led by the Duke of Buckingham, took up a fortified position at Delapré Abbey near Northampton.

They prepared artillery fortifications with natural watercourses as additional defense.

Warwick attempted negotiations with the king, but Buckingham denied him access, asserting that if Warwick approached, he would be killed. Determined, Warwick declared he would speak to the king at two o'clock or die in battle.

Dawn broke on Easter Sunday over mist-laden fields north of Barnet, casting a pale light over two amassed armies.

The Yorkists, led by the indomitable Edward IV, faced the Lancastrians in the struggle that would decide the fate of England.

This is the Battle of Barnet... 🧵 The Wars of the Roses raged on, a series of dynastic conflicts between the Houses of York and Lancaster for the throne of England.

The struggle reached a major turning point in 1461 when Edward IV of York deposed the Lancastrian king, Henry VI.

Simon de Montfort, the 6th Earl of Leicester. A French born English knight and nobleman.

Simon was a crusader, a cunning statesman, a man of brutality and at one point became the de facto ruler of England.

He would know battle until the very end.. 🧵 Simon was born in 1208 in Montfort-l'Amaury, France. He was the son of a man of the same name, Simon de Montfort, the 5th Earl of Leicester and Alix de Montmorency.

Pierre Terrail, known as Chevalier de Bayard, a man who's resolve was unyielding.

Praised by his contemporaries for his gaiety and kindness he was known as "The Good Knight."

Fearless and unwavering in battle, he'd be remembered as the knight without fear and beyond reproach 🧵 Bayard, a descendant of a noble French family with a strong military tradition, was born at Château Bayard in Dauphiné, near Pontcharra in southern France.

His family had a history of sacrifice in battle, with three generations of his Terrail ancestors falling in combat from 1356 to 1465.

The Knights Hospitaller, born amid the chaos of the Crusades, were protectors of both faith and medicine.

Originating as a small brotherhood tending to sick pilgrims in Jerusalem, they would become one of the most iconic knightly orders ever... 🧵 In 603, Pope Gregory I commissioned Abbot Probus to establish a hospital in Jerusalem for Christian pilgrims. Charlemagne expanded it in 800, but it was destroyed in 1009 by the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah.

Today in history, 609 years ago. King Henry V and his army defied the odds and took fate into their own hands.

They would crush a massive French force in the muddy fields Agincourt

Sealing themselves in history forever... 🧵 In 1415 following failed negotiations with the French, King Henry V of England would claim the title of King of France through his grandfather Edward III and invade France.

John of Gaunt rode forth, the lion of Lancaster, his scarlet banner trailing like blood in the wind.

Hardened by conflict, his eyes held the weight of a kingdom in turmoil.

He'd be one of the most important princes and statesmen in English history... 🧵 John of Gaunt, son of Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault, was born in March 1340 in Ghent, Flanders, likely at Saint Bavo's Abbey.

His name "Gaunt" comes from the anglicized version of "Ghent," his birthplace.

In the heart of Brittany, thirty of France's finest knights would meet thirty English champions beneath storm darkened skies.

Steel met steel in a brutal contest of valor.

Their blood would paint the earth crimson.

No quarter was given...🧵 The Breton War of Succession was a conflict between the House of Montfort and the House of Blois over control of the Duchy of Brittany.

It became part of the larger Hundred Years' War, with England backing the Montfort faction and France supporting the Blois family.