• Coexistence and conflict in Asia Minor cities during the first decades of the 14th century

  Martial Culture in Medieval Town Apr 30, 2022 | 17:40 pm

  By the end of the 13th century the Asia Minor territories of the Byzantine Empire were under threat by the incursion of various Turkish tribes. In 1302 the Byzantines were defeated by the early Ottomans in the battle of Bapheus. That was the first pitched battle between Byzantium and the Ottomans. In 1303 the byzantine emperor Andronikos II Paleologos hired the Great Catalan Company, a battletested group of mercenaries, to cope with the Turks in Asia Minor. The Catalans scored a few successes against … Continue reading Coexistence and conflict in Asia Minor cities during the first decades of the 14th century

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• An Englishman at the Siege of Guînes (1558)

  Martial Culture in Medieval Town Apr 17, 2022 | 16:58 pm

  Accounts of warfare became an increasingly popular printed genre in Elizabethan London, yet these reports also provided a platform for authors to revise controversial events. Thomas Churchyard’s 1579 account of the siege of Guînes (1558) illustrates how the English martial values of honour and reputation coincided with London’s public sphere of print.

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• Assault ladders in Geneva and Guebwiller: Rare accounts of two failed attempts to scale city walls with ladders

  Martial Culture in Medieval Town Mar 17, 2022 | 22:06 pm

  The use of assault ladders is well-documented in literary sources from the Middle Ages and the early modern era, including siege accounts, illuminated documents,[1] and various models presented in treatises on siege tactics (fig. 1). However, there are very few extant examples of such ladders [https://blog.mahgeneve.ch/cent-cinquante-ans-avant-lescalade/]. With seventeen segments surviving, the modular ladders used in the attempt by Duke Charles-Emmanuel I of Savoy (1562, 1580-1630) to seize Geneva during the nights of 11 and 12 December 1602,[2] currently in the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire … Continue reading Assault ladders in Geneva and Guebwiller: Rare accounts of two failed attempts to scale city walls with ladders

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• Cursing over the Walls: The case of the Armenian warrior, Kostandin

  Martial Culture in Medieval Town Mar 4, 2022 | 13:03 pm

  Based on an incident described by the historian Nicetas Choniates, the present brief work discusses why the ramparts of fortresses during sieges were an ideal location for hurling abuse and insults, among others, at the enemy.

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• The famine in Constantinople, 1306-1307

  Martial Culture in Medieval Town Feb 14, 2022 | 14:01 pm

  The post briefly deals with the famine in Constantinople due to Andronikos II’s scorched-earth policy in 1306, which was part of his efforts to lead the Catalans out of Thrace.

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