#medieval battles

[momotonescreaming]

Has anyone considered science and nature documentary lover Buck vs history documentary lover Tommy

[illustratus]

Battle of Agincourt by Alphonse de Neuville

[comic-covers]

(1954)

[peaches2217]

We as a society need to lean into Mario and Peach’s noblewoman-and-knight dynamic way more than we presently are.

The tenderness! The chivalry! The elegant nobility eased by comfortable familiarity! These two are the living embodiment of all those fancy paintings of 13th century knights and their lovers and I for one want more.

[bricktoygrapher]

The battle dwarf and his trusty steed 🐴

[surfingkaliyuga]

“Montjoie, Saint Denis!” Giuseppe Rava 2003 Charge of the French cavalry at the Battle of Patay, 18 June 1429.

[oldschoolfrp]

From haircut to wrapped leggings, an accurate Norman knight circa 1066 (Jim Holloway, Dragon magazine 40, August 1980) -- OK the bearded axe is more "Viking," but maybe it's a battlefield trophy, or maybe it belonged to his grandfather.

[suzannahnatters]

PSA: Sieges Are Awesome

so I just watched ANOTHER TV show where the characters could have simply barricaded themselves inside a VERY cosy and defensible fortress instead of heading outside to get killed/maimed/captured by the baddies

I call this Television Abhors a Siege and it is EVERYWHERE and I hate it

I HATE IT

yes, I know the writers look at each other and say, well, if our characters retreat to their stronghold then how will we fulfill our Swords Go Clang quotient for this episode?

this is only because the writers lack both imagination and education

you see, I've been reading medieval military history in exhaustive detail now for 8 years and SIEGES ARE AWESOME, both tactically and dramatically!

tactically, sieges make sense, because there is no way to thwart an enemy and buy time like HIDING SAFELY BEHIND A STONE WALL. the only time you would not do this is when a) you have a realistic chance of pulling off a surprise attack (the TV characters are never smart enough to do this) AND b) there is no realistic hope of circumstances altering to favour you in the near future (the TV characters never consider this either).

also historically speaking, whenever people looked at each other and said "this siege has no realistic hope of success" they did not march out to throw themselves on the enemy's swords: they negotiated and usually with great success (the TV characters never consider this either). but let's say you're in one of the VAST MAJORITY of situations where a siege DOES make sense and only the most unhinged mental gymnastics would justify leaving your fortifications to fight (see: the majority of TV shows and movies that deal with this scenario)? does this mean that your characters must sit inside their walls twiddling their thumbs?

pfft don't be silly

sieges are totally dramatic!

it's not about LEAVING your fortifications to fight, it's about USING your fortifications to fight.

your baddies could try everything to get in and there might be fighting over a gate, a breach, or a tunnel/mine?

your characters might sally out under cover of night to destroy the enemy or their weapons?

one of your characters might escape the fortress in a desperate journey to find help?

your characters might turn out to have a traitor or saboteur in the group?

there might be injured people who need urgent attention, or supply shortages?

a FRICKING METEOR might fall out of the sky onto the heads of your enemies, sending them running and allowing you the opportunity to regain the initiative? (and if you think this couldn't possibly have happened, something very close to this literally happened at Antioch in 1098 during the First Crusade)

anyway this is just to say that I am begging you all to reconsider the dramatic potential of the noble siege. for one thing, it makes the characters look like total imbeciles if you ignore it. and for another, sieges are AWESOME. eta: I learned all this doing the study for WATCHERS OF OUTREMER, my historical fantasy epic of the medieval crusader states! Book 4, A CONSPIRACY OF PROPHETS, puts my own magical spin on the 1098 siege of Antioch ;)

[himmelgrauart]

[agreatartist1]

armurred heerohs

In little medieval times

[aegonomics]

incorrect house of the dragon 11/?

[quayrund]

"Battle of Didgori" monument, Georgia

[illustratus]

Graf Albrecht von Heigerloch, Codex Manesse

[yeoldegodzilla]

A medieval painting of Godzilla at the battle of Liegnitz in 1241, between the Mongol horde and European Knights.

[wonder-worker]

this is a Princes in the Tower and Edward of Lancaster stan account btw