Saint Crispin’s Day and the Battle of Agincourt

 

Saint Crispin’s Day and the Battle of Agincourt

       Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, taking place in 1415 (605 years ago) between the forces of France and her various allies and the invading English forces under the command of King Henry V. Shakespeare, by having his character Henry V repeatedly refer to the day of the battle as St. Crispin’s Day, otherwise saved this obscure saint from being lost, save for experts in hagiography, to the mist of history.

            Agincourt was the third of a trio of famous battles in the course of the 100 Years War; the other two were Crecy (1346) and Poitiers (1356).  The English won all three of these battles.  In the end they lost the war.  If you should want a comprehensive review of the 100 Years War, the four volume treatment by Jonathan Sumption (The Hundred Years War I – Trial by Battle; The Hundred YearsWar II – Trial by Fire; The Hundred Years War III – Divided Houses; and The Hundred Years War IV – Cursed Kings) is authoritative.

      The English forces, likely numbering in the range of 7,000, were compelled to do battle with a numerically superior French force likely numbering in excess of 20,000. All else being equal, the English force should have expected to be annihilated. As is typical in the case of significant historical events, however, all things were not equal. The French and their allies were disorganized, and overall command of the battlefield was never achieved.  Rather, individual nobles led their own contingents forward in a disorganized and sometimes conflicting manner.  The terrain favored the English in several ways.  The French “artillery,” crossbowmen (largely Pisan mercenaries) were not effectively deployed, and they had the unenviable task of shooting uphill.  That same terrain required the French forces, both mounted and on foot, to attack uphill over a recently plowed field that, consequent to the recent rain, was more mud than dirt. The French knights and men at arms, slogging their way uphill, were a “target rich environment” for the rain of arrows let loose by the English longbows; assuming Henry’s forces numbered 7,000, likely 5,800 were longbowmen, each releasing four to six arrows a minute.

      Another factor was that the very size of the French force worked to its disadvantage in that those behind continued pressing forward, hoping for their moment of glory, even while those at the front were being slaughtered. It was not quite the situation suffered by the Romans at the hands of Hannibal at Cannae, but then likely it was not hugely better.

      While comparative casualty figures are effectively impossible to ascertain, it is clear that the French were badly mauled with significantly more casualties than the English. Further, a significant number of French nobles fell in contrast to only two English nobles. Also, a significant number of French knights who has been captured in anticipation of being ransomed were executed.  The validity of the execution order, given by Henry V, is to this day debated.

      For an excellent review of the battle, see Juliet Barker's Agincourt: Henry V and the Battle That Made England. It is also covered in volume four of Sumption’s treatise.

      As invented by Shakespeare in Henry V, Scene iii, the St. Crispin’s Day speech would immortalize Henry V:

WESTMORELAND. O that we now had here

But one ten thousand of those men in England

 That do no work to-day!

 KING. What’s he that wishes so?

 My cousin, Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;

 If we are mark’d to die, we are enow

 To do our country loss; and if to live,

 The fewer men, the greater share of honour.

 God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.

 By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,

 Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;

 It yearns me not if men my garments wear;

 Such outward things dwell not in my desires.

 But if it be a sin to covet honour,

 I am the most offending soul alive.

 No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.

 God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour

 As one man more methinks would share from me

 For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!

 Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,

 That he which hath no stomach to this fight,

 Let him depart; his passport shall be made,

 And crowns for convoy put into his purse;

 We would not die in that man’s company

 That fears his fellowship to die with us.

 This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.

 He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,

 Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,

 And rouse him at the name of Crispian.

 He that shall live this day, and see old age,

 Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,

 And say “To-morrow is Saint Crispian.”

 Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,

 And say “These wounds I had on Crispin's day.”

 Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,

 But he’ll remember, with advantages,

 What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,

 Familiar in his mouth as household words-

 Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,

 Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-

 Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.

 This story shall the good man teach his son;

 And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,

 From this day to the ending of the world,

 But we in it shall be remembered-

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

 For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

 Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,

 This day shall gentle his condition;

 And gentlemen in England now-a-bed

 Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,

 And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

 That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

 

           HERE IS A LINK to Kenneth Branagh’s masterful rendition.

          Not recited in the list of nobles who were part of the battle was Edward of Norwich, the Duke of York (a grandson of Edward III)   He was killed while defending the king.

            In 1420 Isabeau of Bavaria, queen to the incapacitated Charles VI, signed the Treaty of Troyes, granting the French Crown to Henry V and his heirs in place of her son. Further to that treaty, Henry V married Catherine of Valois; she would be the mother of Henry VI with the Valois inherited mental instability that would contribute to the Cousins War (a/k/a the War of the Roses); HERE IS A LINK to a discussion of that situation. Henry V died in 1422. Joan of Arc would join the fray in 1429; while she would be in the field was than a year and a half she helped turn the tide, and the 100 Years War would end with England holding only the region of Calais.  It would be lost in the reign of Mary (a/k/a Bloody Mary).

The Beginning of the End for the Knights Templar

 

The Beginning of the End for the Knights Templar

      Today marks the anniversary of the widespread arrest in 1307 throughout France of the members of the Order of Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and Temple of Solomon, better known as the Knights Templar.

      Founded shortly after the First Crusade as a monastic order, the mission of the Templars was to provide protection to pilgrims coming to the Holy Land and otherwise protect the Latin Kingdom.  Eventually the Order developed a rather sophisticated banking organization.  For example, one proposing to travel from England to the Holy Land could deposit funds with the Templars in England, receiving in return what was essentially a letter of credit against which the individual could make withdrawals as they travelled through Europe and ultimately to the Holy Lands.  The military component of the Order, although not large in actual numbers (never more than 1,500 to 2,000 knights), was considered highly effective – after the Battle of Hattin, Saladin ordered the execution of all captured Templars.

      With the eventual loss of the Holy Land territories by the turn of the 14th century, the Templars were without a reason for existence.  At the same time, Philip IV of France, anxious to address a depleted royal treasury by expropriating Templar property and as well exterminate his substantial debts to the Order, fabricated numerous salacious allegations against the Templars, leading to their mass arrest on October 13, 1307.  Ultimately Pope Clement V, then resident in Avignon and largely a pawn of the French crown, issued a bull directing that Templars, wherever located, should be arrested.  The remnants of the Order, other than those executed on spurious charges of heresy, were eventually either pensioned or absorbed into other military orders such as the Knights Hospitaller or the Teutonic Knights

      A papal finding (a/k/a the Chinon parchment) determined that the Templars were not guilty of the many charges against them including idolatry and heresy.  Their actual failing was having lost their mission while being at least perceived as being wealthy while a king needed funds.  Those assertions are in many instances questionable – a detailed review of the inventories of the English properties of the order demonstrated a far less than extravagant lifestyle. Although the Templars would be found innocent of heresy, as a political concession the Order was dissolved in 1312, its properties turned over to the Knights Hospitaller.

      Notwithstanding the efforts of numerous modern authors, the Templars did not possess the Holy Grail, irrespective of whether that was a physical cup or, as suggested in one particularly fanciful book, an oblique reference to Mary Magdalene and, ultimately, the line of Merovingian kings. Ignore the movies as well – Guy de Lusignan was not, as “The Kingdom of Heaven” would have you believe, a Templar. A well written introduction to the history is The Templars by Piers Paul Read.  The books by Malcolm Barber are as well worthwhile.

        Philip IV's moniker is “the Fair”; who says history does not have a sense of irony?

 

The Fall of Jerusalem

The Fall of Jerusalem

      October 2 marks the anniversary of the fall of Jerusalem in 1187.  Jerusalem had been captured by the Crusader forces in 1099 at the culmination of the First Crusade.

After the catastrophic loss of the Battle of Hattin the defense of the crusader kingdom failed.  As observed by Christopher Tyerman in God’s War: A New History of the Crusades at 372, “The army destroyed at Hattin had demanded had denuded the rest of the kingdom’s defenses.”  With the exception of a few castles and Tyre, the cities and fortresses of the kingdom quickly fell until Jerusalem was invested on September 20.

      For those of you who saw the movie Kingdom of Heaven, well, lets just saw the script writers did not feel themselves bound by the historic record. The movie failed to acknowledge Balian’s wife and children.  Also ignored was the fact that Balian not only fought at the Battle of Hattin but was as well captured; the movie has him staying behind in Jerusalem, coming to the battlefield only after the Crusader army had been destroyed.  At least that part is true; the Crusader army was destroyed, and the Templars were especially hit; all the captive Templers were executed.  Also, the city wall fell not from trebuchet bombardment but rather from being undermined (September 29).  As near as I can tell Balian never visited France.  He should have been in his mid- to late-40’s at the time of the fall of Jerusalem.  And just to show how far the movie departed from reality, he and Sybilla were enemies.

The loss of Jerusalem would precipitate the Third Crusade and there the exploits of Richard the Lionheart.

The Execution of Pompey Magnus

The Execution of Pompey Magnus

          Today is the anniversary of the assassination of Pompey the Great on his (almost) arrival in Egypt.  Having lost the Battle of Pharsalus (48 b.c.) to Julius Caesar, he fled to Egypt hoping for refuge and the opportunity to raise a new army.  The Egyptians, knowing that Caesar would be on Pompey’s heals, arranged for his assassination before he reached the shore.  For those of you who enjoyed the HBO series Rome, while Pompey was killed in sight of his wife, there were more assassins than the one depicted, and it took place in the boat, not as Pompey walked to shore.

            It was an ignominious end to an amazing life.  He almost defeated Caesar earlier in the year at the Battle of Dyrrhachium. Previously, with Caesar and Crassus, he had been part of the First Triumvirate.  He was three times Consul of Rome, and three times he was awarded a Triumph. According to Josephus, The Jewish Antiquities, after conquering Jerusalem and settling a dispute as to local control he entered the Holy of Holies of the Temple, but took nothing of its riches.

Today is also the anniversary in 1066 of the arrival of the troops of William of Normandy (soon to be “the Conqueror”) in England. 

Why Bother?

Why Bother?

On this day in the year 1590, Pope Urban VII passed away. His papacy began on September 15, 1590; he had been Pope for less than 12 days. Prior to his elevation to the Holy See he had a distinguished career as a diplomat throughout Europe, and he was eminently qualified for the position.  He died of malaria.

He did, however, during his short papacy, institute a smoking ban, threatening to excommunicate anyone who “took tobacco in the porch way of or inside a church, whether it be by chewing it, smoking it with a pipe or sniffing it in powdered form through the nose.” The prohibition was ultimately repealed a century later by Pope Benedict VIII.

Urban’s successor, Gregory XIV, would see a pontificate of only ten and a half months.

The Last Viking Invasion of England

The Last Viking Invasion of England

Today is the anniversary of the battle at Stamford Bridge in 1066, it ending, for all intents and purposes, the Viking invasions of England.  Beginning in the 8th century and the famous raid of Lindesfarne (June 8, 793), England had repeatedly suffered both Viking raids and invasions/migrations.  King Canute II (one of only two English kings denominated “the Great”) was an aspect of this chain of events; he was himself Danish.

King Edward the Confessor, who was himself “English” in that he was Anglo-Saxon,  died on January 5, 1066; he was childless.  The crown was assumed by Harald Godwinson.  His dispute with William the Bastard of Normandy over whether Harald had previously agreed to surrender the crown to William would ultimately lead to the Battle of Hastings.  In the meantime, Harald Godwinson had to deal with an invasion from Norway led by another claimant to the throne, Norwegian King Harald Hardrada; Hardrada was supported in this invasion by Tostig Godwinson, Harald Godwinson’s brother. 

Two factors were crucial to the resolution of the Battle of Stamford Bridge.   First, the invading force was dispersed on both sides of the river.  Thus, when the English army attacked the Norse contingent on the south side of the river, they outnumbered their opponent.  Second, the intelligence of the Norse army failed; they did not realize the English army was already present and ready to launch an attack. Another factor whose weight is unknown is that the invading army has days earlier defeated an English army (The Battle of Fulford) led by Earls Morcar (an exiled Northumbrian) and Edwin (Mercia), possibly leading to complacency.

It being a warm day, the invading army had left much of their armor on board their ships.  Initially, the English forces largely massacred the Norse forces on the south side of the river.  They then proceeded to attack over the bridge, an effort that, in what was almost certainly an apocryphal story, was delayed by a single Viking yielding an ax who single-handedly killed some forty soldiers before he was himself slain.  With the English having now crossed the bridge, the two armies again faced one another.  Ultimately, the Norse army would collapse consequent to its lack of armor and the deaths in battle of both Harald Hardrada and Tostig.  The few Normans who survived the battle entered into a truce with Harald agreeing to leave and never return.  While the invading fleet filled some 300 ships, the Norse survivors of the battle were able to return home in only 24 of them.

Harold Godwinson must have welcomed the end of this threat to his seat on the English throne.  Then he learned that the forces of William of Normandy had landed in the south.

The Assassination of Flavias Aetius

The Assassination of Flavias Aetius

      Flavias Aetius was the Roman commander at the Battle of Chalons (451), where along with forces of the Visigothic Empire, it under the command of its King, Theodoric , the Huns under Attila were defeated.  Flavias had been appointed magister militum (essentially “supreme commander” of all Roman military forces) by Valentinian III, a particularly weak (and in this era that is saying something) emperor.  While Boethius is oft identified as the last gasp of the Roman Empire’s (or at least its western components’) intellectual life, Flavius Aetius can equally be described as the last of the great western Roman generals.  Gibbons called him the Last of the Romans

      Only three years after Chalons on September 21, 454, Aetius was assassinated by Valentinian.  Within the year, Valentinian would in turn be assassinated by friends of Aetius while Valentinian’s guard watched; the members of the guard had been followers of Aetius. The shrinking remnants of the Western Roman Empire would finally collapse in 476 with the deposition of the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustus.

Theodore of Tarsus

 

Theodore of Tarsus

      Today marks the anniversary of the death, in the year 690, of Theodore of Tarsus. At the time of his death, he was the Archbishop of Canterbury. Probably you have never heard of him. That’s unfortunate; he led a most interesting life.

      Theodore was born in Tarsus (the same city as was born Paul the Apostle) on the southern coast of what is today Turkey. He grew up at a time of conflict between the Byzantine Empire controlled out of Constantinople and the Sassanid Empire out of what was then referred to as Persia (today’s Iran). At this time, pre-the rise of Islam, most of the Sassanid Empire was Zorastrian (the same religion as Freddy Mercury of Queen).  By the early 600s and the rise of Islam, the Sassanid Empire converted to Islam. As such, through this stage in his life, Theodore had been immersed in classical Persian and then Muslim cultures even as he studied classical Western and Christian studies. Ultimately, he relocated first to Constantinople and then to Rome, where he entered a monastery and continued his studies.

       Following the death, before consecration, of a man intended to be the Archbishop of Canterbury (a certain Wighard), Theodore was chosen by the Pope to fill that vacant See. He was consecrated as the Archbishop of Canterbury in Rome, and at some point thereafter departed for England. Once in England, he took steps with respect to a variety of issues ranging from the calculation on what day Easter should be held to a variety of matters of church discipline. He is well served as a mediator in a number of political disputes. He founded a famous school at Canterbury. Many aspects of his time as the Archbishop of Canterbury are known through Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People.

       Theodore would ultimately die in Canterbury at the age of approximately 88.

      So there you have it. Theodore was born in southern Turkey, lived under both the Persian Sassanid and then the Persian Islamic Empires, studied in Constantinople and then in Rome, and spent over 20 years as the Archbishop of Canterbury. The suggesting the people in the Middle Ages did not travel far from where they were born is simply not accurate.

Athenian Forces Defeat Invading Persians at Marathon

Athenian Forces Defeat Invading Persians at Marathon

      Today might be the anniversary of the great battle, fought in 490 b.c. at Marathon, at which the forces of Athens defeated the Persian invasion sent by Darius the Great. The exact date of the battle is subject to controversy, although there is something of an alternative consensus on the 21st.

      At the time of the battle, the Persian Empire extended from the western boundaries of what is today India across the Middle East, Turkey and to Southwest Europe.  Darius had decided that the land we refer to today as Greece, inhabited by a variety of city-states, would be next incorporated into his empire.  The fact that various of the Greek city-states were supporting rebellious territories in what is today Western Turkey and the Mediterranean probably had a big role in that decision.  An invasion fleet landed its troops some twenty-six miles northeast of Athens at the Bay of Marathon.  Working with collaborators in Athens, it was thought that the army could be drawn away and destroyed even as the collaborators led an internal revolt, taking control of the city and making it available to Darius.  It would not turn out that way.

      At news of the landing, Athens sent word to Sparta seeking its assistance, the Spartan hoplite troops being the strongest force in the region.  Famously, the Spartans were unwilling to send their forces in light of an upcoming religious festival. In consequence, Athens would stand alone.  The Athenian army, well smaller than that of the Persian forces, camped facing their enemy for over a week.  On the 8th day, seeing that the Persians were re-embarking some troops onto ships and fearing that they intended to launch a direct assault on Athens, the Greek forces attacked.  Although outnumbered, by skillful flanking maneuvers the Greeks were able to envelop the Persian forces.  While the historical records recite what must be grossly inflated figures, certainly the Persians lost in excess of 6,000 men while the Greeks lost fewer than 200.

Although not recounted in the contemporary historic record, a runner, Pheidippides, took off to announce the victory to Athens.  Just over 26 miles later, he entered the city, announced “nickomen” (“victory”) and dropped dead from exhaustion.  Meanwhile, the balance of the Persian army embarked on their ships and set out from the Bay of Marathon with the intent of directly attacking Athens.  The Athenian army force-marched itself back to the city, manning its walls as the Persian fleet approached.  The Persians decided that another attack was not in their best interest and they withdrew.  

     A decade after Marathon, the Persian forces under Xerces, son of Darius, would again invade Greece.  They would ultimately fall victim to the Spartan and allied forces at Thermopylae, the Greek naval forces at Salamis and again the allied forces at Plataea.

            As for the famous runner bring news of victory, probably not.  The runner to Athens after the Battle of Marathon is not supported in the historic record, and is first recorded in the writings of the Roman Lucian. Lucian lived in the Second Century a.d., so generously there were six hundred thirty years between the Battle of Marathon and Lucian drafting the first report of this event.

And So Begin the Middle Ages

And So Begin the Middle Ages

        By a certain measure, today marks the anniversary of the date in 476 from which the “Middle Ages” may be dated. On this day, the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustus, who was in his mid-teens and was completely controlled by his father, Orestes, the Magister Militum of the Roman military, was deposed by Odoacer. Orestes had little standing to complain about the over-throw of his son's reign - Orestes had revolted against the prior emperor and put his son on the imperial throne. Odoacer did not bother asserting that he was another Roman emperor; he was to be simply the King of the territories under his control.

        With Romulus' resignation the imperial regalia was packed up and shipped off to Byzantium. With this event, the Western Roman Empire ceased to exist, its fragments now under control of various “barbarian” tribes.

             The “eastern” Roman Empire centered at Constantinople (Byzantium) would survive another millennium until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

And So Is Set in Motion the Cousins War

 And So Is Set in Motion the Cousins War

      Today marks the anniversary of the death, in 1422, of King Henry V of England. His death would set in motion the events that would eventually play out as what was then referred to as the Cousins War and is today referred to as the War of the Roses.

      Henry V, the victor of Agincourt, died young. His only child, also named Henry, was nine months old at the time of his father’s death. Upon his father’s death, and subject of course to a Regency, young Henry, now Henry VI, was elevated to the English throne. Henry VI’s mother was Catherine of Valois, a French princess who after Agincourt married Henry V; under the Treaty of Troyes, Henry V was to inherit the French throne. Of course, that did not come to pass as the civil war aspect of the Hundred Years War was ultimately resolved (the enemy of my enemy is my friend). So now sitting on the throne was Henry VI, whose mother was a member of the house in Valois. That particular house was troubled with some sort (today it cannot be entirely diagnosed) of mental instability. At various times in his life this instability would manifest in Henry VI. In some of the later experiences he would be effectively catatonic while at other times he would appear to have no appreciation of where he was or what he was doing. Regardless of the degree of expression from time to time, these were not characteristics of an effective medieval king. In addition, Henry VI would go on to marry Margaret of Anjou. Being French, she brought no natural allies to Henry’s household and, for herself, was generally disliked.

      And so the stage was set; following the highly effective and well liked war hero Henry V, the country was plunged into a minority kingship with a regency and all of the instability that flows therefrom. The Duke of York, who had aspirations to the throne, served as a regent. A recent review of his life is Matthew Lewis, Richard, Duke of York: King By Right (2016).  Meanwhile nothing to bring stability to Henry VI’s position flowed from his eventual marriage to Margaret of Anjou.

    

Ultimately, the Cousins War would erupt. York would, in one of its earlier battles, be killed (Wakefield in 1460), but ultimately his son, Edward IV, would prevail in that conflict (Towton, 1461), taking the throne and then protecting it (except when he lost it for a short period) through the balance of the War of the Roses.

    

But then after his death the throne would pass to Richard III, it in turn being taken from him at the Battle of Bosworth Field by Henry Tudor, known now to history as Henry VII.

     

If only Henry V had lived longer, a more stable monarchy might have been passed to Henry VI, one that could withstand the travails of his mental condition. Were that the case, England could have been spared the bloodbath that was the Cousins War. But he did not.

The Last Ptolemy

The Last Ptolemy

Today marks the anniversary of the death well, execution, of Caesarion, the last member of the Ptolemiac Dynasty.

Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar was the son of Cleopatra VII and (possibly/probably Julius Caesar. As one of the final acts of the civil war fought between Octavian (ultimately Caesar Augustus) and Mark Antony, Octavian’s forces captured Alexandria and with it Egypt. Thereafter, Mark Antony and Cleopatra each committed suicide.  When subsequently captured by Octavian's forces, Caesarion was executed, thereby bringing to an end the Ptolemaic Dynasty.

Ptolemy had been a companion to and a general for Alexander the Great. When Alexander died in 323 BC, Ptolemy and the other generals fought for control of portions of Alexander’s empire. In 305 BC, Ptolemy declared himself the new Pharaoh of Egypt. His family would rule until the death of Caesarion in 30 BC.

So ended the Ptolemiac Dynasty in Egypt.

The Death of William Wallace

The Death of William Wallace

      Today marks the anniversary of the death (execution), in 1305, of William Wallace.

       Most people in this age, to the extent they know anything about William Wallace, learned it from the movie Braveheart in which Mel Gibson played the role of William Wallace. The movie is entirely correct that William Wallace lived and fought for an independent Scotland in the First Scottish War for Independence. The movie is correct in that the he was opposed by King Edward I, who was known by the nickname “long shanks” (he was quite tall for the age). It is true, as depicted in the movie, that William Wallace was executed by being drawn and quartered, that being the accepted method of execution for traitors.

       Almost everything else in the movie is incorrect. For example:

►        Wallace was from a minor noble family; Wallace was not a peasant farmer.

►        Wallace’s father was not executed by the English and may well have been alive when Wallace was appointed Protector of Scotland.

►        Piers Galveston, the “friend” of Edward II, was never thrown from a window by Edward I. Rather, Galveston lived well into the reign of Edward II, although he was ultimately killed as a component of a revolt of the nobles upset about their relationship and Piers’ access to royal largess.

►        In all likelihood, William Wallace and Robert the Bruce (the 7th) never met.

►        Isabella of France did not marry Edward II until 1308, well after the death of William Wallace.

►        The depiction of the Battle of Sterling Bridge omitted the namesake bridge.

►        Isabella of France never negotiated with William Wallace for the treatment of York or anything else; she was born in 1295 and in consequence would have been less than 10 years old at the time of Wallace’s death.

►        Edward I died in July, 1307.  While the movie suggests he was on his deathbed at the time Wallace was executed, in fact he outlived Wallace by almost two years.

►        It is suggested that Isabella of France was secretly “involved" with Wallace and carried his baby at the time of Wallace’s execution. Edward III born November 13, 1312. Wallace could have been his father only if Isabella was able to pull off a pregnancy of more than seven years.

►        The moniker “Braveheart” was attributed not to Wallace, but rather to Robert the Bruce. In fact, after his death, his heart was cut out and carried in a chest by Scottish forces going into battle.

A Horse, a Horse, My Kingdom for a Horse

A Horse, a Horse, My Kingdom for a Horse

      Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Bosworth (1485), the final major battle of that English civil war titled The War of the Roses (this conflict was at the time sometimes referred to as the Cousin’s War).  It was at this battle that King Richard III, variously identified as the last King from the House of Plantagenet or the House of York, was killed. He was the last English King to die in battle.  Henry Tudor, the victor at Bosworth, then became King Henry VII.

      Henry’s victory in battle was if anything surprising.  Richard’s forces outnumbered those of Henry.  Meanwhile, William Stanley held back his own force; if combined with that of Henry, that of Richard would have been out-numbered.  Conversely, if Stanley joined with Richard, the weight of the forces arrayed against Henry would have been overwhelming.  Richard held William Stanley’s nephew George (Lord Strange) as a hostage. That nephew’s father, Lord Thomas Stanley, was married to Henry Tudor’s mother Margaret Beaufort.   As battle was about to commence, Richard sent word to Thomas Stanley that if the Stanley forces did not join with his, he would execute Lord Strange (Henry Tudor’s step-brother).  Stanley replied, “I have other sons.” 

       To provide but a taste as to why this conflict was referred to as the Cousins War, consider that Thomas Stanley was the brother of William Stanley, husband of Margaret Beaufort, she being the mother of Henry Tudor.  Ergo, William Stanley was the brother-in-law to Henry’s mother.  Thomas Stanley had previously been married to Eleanor Neville, sister to Warwick the Kingmaker and aunt to Richard III’s recently deceased wife Anne Neville. Anne Neville was a daughter of Warwick.

      Richard’s attack upon Henry’s position nearly succeeded; Henry’s standard-bearer William Brandon was killed at Henry’s side.  Polydore Virgil, a contemporary historian/chronicler, recorded that Richard fought well.  However, Richard’s fate was sealed when the William Stanley and his troops, having until then not committed to either side, rode against Richard’s infantry as his cavalry was separately moving against Henry. Thomas Stanley would place the coronet (crown) of Richard III on Henry Tudor’s head.

      William Brandon’s son Charles, ultimately Duke of Suffolk, would become the best friend of Henry VIII.

       In 2012, Richard’s remains were located in the course of excavations under a parking lot that now covers part of what was the Blackfriars (Dominican) Church in Leicester, England; early 2013 saw the announcement that testing had confirmed the remains were those of Richard.  In sad testimony to the modern age, litigation ensued as to whether Richard should be re-buried in Leicester Cathedral, apparently consistent with the terms of the agreement by which the archaeological work was performed and other British law, or in York where certain claimed descendants of Richard assert he would want to have been buried.  That question was resolved in favor of Leicester, and in 2016 Richard III was laid to rest in Leicester Cathedral.

       Notwithstanding Polydore Virgil’s positive comments as to Richard III (many of which are now disputed by historians), in proof of the adage that the winners write the history, his reputation was besmirched by various Tudor affiliates such as St. Thomas More and William Shakespeare.   The quote above, “A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse,” is from Shakespeare’s play Richard III,  Act V, Scene IV.  He is currently being reassessed by historians who are not so indebted to supporting the legitimacy of the House of Tudor. The “standard” biographies of Richard III are those of Paul Murray Kendall and Charles Ross, each titled Richard III.

Battle of Thermophylae

Battle of Thermophylae

            Today, by one reckoning, is the anniversary of the commencement of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C.  The record is not clear – the battle may be dated to August 7-9, August 18-20 or September 8-10.

         Darius, King of the Persians, had invaded Greece in 490 B.C.  Meeting an almost exclusively Athenian force at Marathon, his army was decimated while the Athenian force suffered relatively few casualties.  A runner (so it is said) took off to announce the victory to the population of Athens.  Just over 26 miles later he entered the city, announced “Nikomen” (victory) and dropped dead from exhaustion.  Meanwhile, part of the Persian fleet had broken off to attack Athens.  The force at Marathon marched back to the city, manning its walls as the fleet approached.

       The Persian fleet and army withdrew from Greece.

       A decade later Xerces had succeeded Darius as the Persian King, and he resolved to subdue the Greeks.  Gathering a huge army (said to be over a million but likely not larger than 100,000), he invaded Greece. Those overwhelming numbers were, however, the basis of Dienekes’ boast, as reported by Herodotus, in response to the assertion that the Persian arrows will block out the sun, “Good, then we will fight in the shade.” Herodotus, The Histories, Book 7, 226. A force led by 300 Spartan hoplites (heavy infantry) and several thousand others Greek troops, all under the command of King Leonidas, resolved to block the Persians at Thermopylae.

      For two days the Greek forces, taking advantage of the small front, it minimizing the advantage in numbers of the Persian forces, fought them to a standstill while suffering minimal casualties.  Ultimately, the Persians were shown how to outflank the Greek forces. Knowing that they were to be outflanked, most of the Greek forces withdrew while the Spartan forces, along with certain others, stayed as a rear guard to hold off the Persians as long as possible.  In the last day of fighting the Spartans were annihilated; some of the other Greek troops surrendered. Still, knowing that they were to that day fall in battle, they gave better than they got: "The Hellenes knew that they were about to face death as the hands of the men who had come around the mountain and so they exerted their utmost strength against the barbarians, with reckless desperation and no regard for their own lives.  By this time most of their spears had broken, so they were slaying he Persians with their swords."  Herodotus, The Histories, Book 7, 223-24. Two of Xerces brothers and two of his sons were killed on that final day.

      Notwithstanding the movie “The 300,” Leonidas did not fight in the final segment of the battle – he had already been killed.  Herodotus, The Histories, Book 7, 224.

The Ninth of Av

The Ninth of Av

            Today is the anniversary of the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 c.e. The Jewish revolt against Rome began in 66 c.e. By 70 the revolt was largely restricted to Jerusalem where the rebels took refuge behind its walls.  Roman forces under the command of the future Roman Emperor Titus (son of the then reigning Vespasian) encircled the city and laid siege, breaching the successive walls.  Josephus, in The Jewish Wars, provided a near contemporaneous and often eyewitness account of the war.  Still, there are basis for challenging some of his conclusions on the basis of pro-Roman bias.

            But back to the destruction of the Second Temple.  Likely it was not intended.  Rather, it is credibly thought that Titus looked forward to rededicating the complex to Roman gods, and that the destruction came about as a small fire quickly spread.  Almost certainly the Roman forces did enter the Temple before its destruction; the Arch of Titus in Rome features reliefs of Roman soldiers carrying the Menorah and the offering table that would have been in the Holy Place (just outside the Holy of Holies).  Regardless of intent, the destruction of the Temple (possibly the largest single building in use at that time) would forever change the path of Judaism, shifting it from a priest led and sacrificial faith to one of rabbinical study of the Torah and related commentary. 

             

          By the way, there is some dispute as to the dating of the destruction of the Second Temple; some put it at July 30, which is as well the anniversary of the effective date of the 1492 Alhambra Decree expelling the Jews (and the Muslims) from Spain.

My Revenge

My Revenge

On this day in 1343 the French king, Philip VI, arranged for the execution on possible trumped up charges of treason of Oliver de Clissons IV, a Breton noble. While Jonathan Sumption appears to believe the charges were legitimate (Sumption, The Hundred Years War I: Trial By Battle at 411-12), the execution of Oliver was a big mistake.

Oliver’s wife, Jeanne, sold off her property and with her two sons in tow purchased a fleet of three ships. With which she began pirating in the English Channel, targeting the ships of Philip and assisting the English in the Hundred Years War. The name of her flagship: My Revenge. She is reported to have made a practice of killing the entire crew of a captured ship save one so that he could report back to Philip who had captured the ship. This she did for some 13 years.

Eventually her small fleet was lost.  She would marry one last time, this time to an English commander, Walter Bentley.

Winning the Battle but Losing the War, the Battle of Cannae

Winning the Battle but Losing the War, the Battle of Cannae

Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Cannae, fought in 216 b.c. between the Roman Republic and the Carthaginian army under the command of Hannibal Barca. Having led his forces from Spain over the Alps into Italy (including with his famous elephants), Hannibal had continued to prevail. Cannae was the third in a series of battles including Trebia (218 b.c.) and Lake Trasimene (217 b.c.). After the disaster of the Battle of Lake Trasimene, the Romans had appointed a dictator, Fabius. Well aware of how the Roman armies had done in direct opposition against the forces of Carthage, he developed a plan of attrition, minor strikes against the Carthaginian forces while avoiding set piece battles, all in an effort to wear out the foreign forces. While the program was of itself successful, the Romans grew tired of a purely defensive position and sought once again a direct conflict. That would take place at Cannae, on the Eastern (Adriatic) coast of Italy, in the region of the “ankle” of the “boot.”

The Romans, who enjoyed numerically superior forces, expected a resounding victory, finally bringing Hannibal and his army to heal. The opposite would take place. Through carefully arranged his forces in opposition to the Romans and what appears to have been a well managed strategic retreat in the front line troops, the Romans were drawn into a pocket and ultimately encircled by the Carthaginian forces. Hemmed in from all sides, it is reported that the Romans did not have the space within which to swing their weapons, and the still commonly used long spears of the Roman phalanx (technically a maniples) were rendered ineffective.

Casualty figures from ancient battles are notoriously unreliable. The Roman historian Polybius reported a casualty rate at the battle in excess of what he reported as the initial count of the Roman forces. Regardless, all eight legions were rendered militarily ineffective. Adrian Goldsworthy, in his book Cannae, suggests that probably 50,000 corpses littered the battlefield.

In response, numerous communities, particularly in Southern Italy, threw off their allegiance to Rome and shifting it to Hannibal. For all intents and purposes, the Second Punic war should have been over with Carthage victorious. Rome, however, refused to negotiate with Hannibal, and set about raising new armies. Those armies, ultimately under the command of Scipio Africanus, would attack Carthage itself. The war ended with a negotiated peace after the Battle of Zama in 202 b.c.

The Third Punic War would break out about fifty years later, and in it Carthage was finally destroyed. Almost certainly its fields were not salted.  An excellent review of the Punic Wars is Richard Miles, Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization.

The First Defenestration of Prague

The First Defenestration of Prague

Today is the anniversary of the First Defenestration of Prague, an event that took place in 1419 in the midst of the Hussite rebellion.  When a march of the Hussites was met (it is alleged) by a rock thrown from the city hall, the building was stormed, and seven members of the towns leadership were tossed from the windows to their respective deaths.  The Hussite Wars, which lasted until 1436, would as a direct result follow.

         Why the “First” defenestration?; there were also the Second (1483) and the Third (1618).    

The Execution of Thomas Cromwell

The Execution of Thomas Cromwell

       Today is the anniversary of the execution by beheading of Thomas Cromwell, which event took place in 1540.

      Cromwell's life is a story of rags to riches. Born to an apparently abusive father in the hamlet of Putney, Thomas fled to Europe where he pursued a career as a mercenary, later joining an Italian trading/banking house as a clerk. Upon his return to England he worked with Thomas Cardinal Wolsey, then Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII. Notwithstanding Woolsey's fall consequent to his inability to secure from the Pope an annulment of the marriage to Katherine of Aragon, Cromwell remained in Henry’s good graces. Even as Sir (later Saint) Thomas More became Lord Chancellor in succession of Wolsey, Cromwell continued an apparently preconceived program of accumulating senior offices and with those offices increasing authority. Ultimately, he became the fulcrum through which Tudor policy under Henry VIII was implemented, including effecting the downfall of Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn on spurious charges of adultery. It was, however, another of Henry's wives, Anne of Cleves, who would precipitate Cromwell's fall. Cromwell had promoted the cause of a marriage with Anne as a way of making an alliance with the Lutheran league in Europe, thinking they would serve as a counterbalance to both France and the Holy Roman Empire (and expected treaty of cooperation between them never came to pass). That marriage was, at best, a disaster, Henry having no attraction to Anne and allegedly never consummating the marriage. Anne had the good sense to accept an annulment of the marriage, a transaction supported by Cromwell in letters requested of him while already in the Tower of London. Anne of Cleves was not, however, the sole reason for Cromwell's fall. Rather, he as well fell victim to jealousy of members of the nobility who disliked the fact that a commoner had risen so high (conveniently ignoring that he had been made Earl of Essex and Lord Great Chamberlain) and charges of Protestant/Lutheran sympathies by Catholic counselors including the Duke of Norfolk (Thomas Howard) and Stephen Gardiner (Bishop of Winchester). 

      After the fall (there was no trial; he was attainted) and execution of Cromwell, Henry lamented his loss and accused various of his counselors of misdeeds and stripping him of one of his greatest advisors.

     In recent years Cromwell's fame has increased exponentially by reason of the three-part biographical novel of him written by Hillary Mantel, the first volume having been Wolf Hall. The first and second installments of the “biography,” the second being Bring Up The Bodies, were as well made into a TV series by the BBC. The third volume, The Mirror and the Light, was released earlier this year. While those books are incredibly well written and are quite enjoyable, the true study of Cromwell's life is Diarmaid MacCulloch’s magisterial biography Thomas Cromwell: A Revolutionary Life (2018).