From the heart of a war torn kingdom this band of mercenaries were one of the most sought after.

Created by King Matthias Corvinus, the Black Army of Hungary were brutally efficient, disciplined and powerful.

Their cavalry especially would be renowned for crushing their foes. In the early years of King Matthias Corvinus' reign, Hungary’s military recruitment system was largely based on traditions from the time of Sigismund.

The primary forces came from noble banners and the militia portalis which was a system where nobles were required to provide soldiers based on the number of serf lots (called portae) they held.

The year is 1209, the forces of Christendom march south, driven by zeal and the promise of salvation with their goal to purge the heretical Cathars from the land.

The Albigensian Crusade ensued, a violent extermination that made the hills of Languedoc tremble.

A thread ⚔️ The Cathar people were a Christian sect, the name Cathar comes from the Greek word katharos which means clean or pure.

They believed in God representing good and the demiurge representing evil. A dualistic theology.

They believed the physical world was created by the evil demiurge and was inherently corrupt. In contrast, they viewed God as a pure, disembodied spirit of love, order, and peace.

Jesus, in their view, was an angelic being with only a phantom body, and his New Testament accounts were considered allegorical.

They came from Scandinavia.

Their longships filled with fierce warriors who struck fear into the people who saw them coming.

Seafarers, settlers, raiders, warriors and more.

These are the Vikings.

A thread. The Viking Age spanned from 793 to 1066, began with the first recorded Norse raids and ended with the Norman conquest of England.

Vikings utilized sea routes through the Norwegian and Baltic Seas to expand and raid, leading to widespread influence across northern Europe.

I’m frequently asked for book recommendations!

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.

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.

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.

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.

He was born of noble blood but raised in purity. He surpassed all knights in virtue and skill.

He is Sir Galahad, the Grail Knight, the Sainted Champion of the Round Table.

Known forever as the perfect knight, untarnished and unwavering.

This is his story 🧵 Sir Galahad's story begins with the origins of his mythos.

Galahad's role in the Arthurian legend, particularly his quest for the Holy Grail, is a later addition to the mythos.

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.

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.