Awake the Iron! - the Almughavars

 A notable feature of the Aragonese and, to some extent, the other Iberian armies was their use of the almughavars (or almogavars). These were infantry who, despite a lack of armour, soon gained a reputation for their fighting ability. They formed part of the armies used in the conquest of Valencia and were a major component of the Aragonese forces in Sicily. After the treaty of Caltabellota, a large number left Sicily and became the Catalan Company, working for various employers in and around Greece. Eventually they carved out their own state. Not all almughavars joined the Company though - some, for example, seem to have been part of della Ratta's mercenaries in Florence. These were paid for by their old enemy, the Angevin king in Naples. Dego della Ratta turns up as a character in the Decameron, an interesting read though decidedly more worldly than Dante's Divine Comedy.

 The 13th century chronicles have a great deal of detail about the Almughavars, especially Muntaner's Chronicle.

A pretty modern good summary of their career is here, with many sources listed. There is also a more general review of Spanish tactics which includes the almughavars here.

In wargaming terms they are difficult to portray since their lack of armour would make them very vunerable in many sets of rules. Sometimes they are categorised as if they were more protected to give them a chance of standing up to knights as they did on occasion such as the Battle of Falconaria. The circumstances in which they fought may also have helped, so it makes for much discussion.

As I write this, the DBMM lists which covers the Sicilians and the Catalan Company are being looked at before the publication later this year.. In the armies with Almughavars which have been published they have been categorised as superior auxilia. There has been discussion about them being fast blades in the new list, which may mean a change to the Book 3 almughavars.

In 15mm, the companies which make almughavars that I know of are Essex, Eureka, Irregular and Touller. I only have the first two - there are various pics of the Touller ones around such as here.

EDIT: Touller are no longer available. However, Lurkio figures (now available from Gripping Beast) also provide a large number of variations in the Almughavar pack. Donnington do Bidet javelinmen in the Feudal Europe range. March to Hell do 3d prints and the Medieval unarmoured militia with javelins look like they would work well.

This is a comparison shot of my Essex (on the left) and Eureka figures. There are, I think, 3 variations in the Essex range and an impressive 18 or so in the Eureka range. The Essex ones are perfectly decent but are a bit two-dimensional. Some of my figures have had arms bent so that the upright spears in particular are at more varied angles.

Some of the Eureka figures are a bit taller than the others but nothing which can't be explained by normal height differences.

Both ranges have the cap as the dominant headgear, as in the Heath books. This is mentioned in a description by Desclot as being leather, possibly red despite my painting. Other descriptions mention a sort of net for the hair which may have been metal. Some of the Eureka figures have this.

 The flags carried by the Catalan Company are described in Muntaner (p.409 in the edition linked to above). He mentions that the foot carried 'pennons' of the King of Aragon and King Fadrique - i.e. the King of Sicily. I haven't looked to see what the original Catalan word translated as pennons was, but it is likely pendon which had a pretty broad meaning rather than just the small triangular flags.

The Pope and the Papacy

The history of the Popes in this period is far too complex for me to go into detail here. In short, the period began with struggles against the Hohenstaufens which led to the Pope selling the claim to the Kingdom of Sicily. Henry III of Engand bought it for his son but this resulted only in Henry getting severely into debt, helping to create the circumstances for the Barons' War.


Charles of Anjou then obtained Papal backing for a claim to Sicily and finished off the Hohenstaufens.


With Ghibelline influence on the wane, the Papacy was able to extend its power further north, gaining lands which it then held fairly continously until the 19th century. Bologna was a major acquisition.


Relations with the Angevins and the French monarchy varied over the period. The populace of Rome were not always welcoming to the Pope and the danger of riots was used as a reason for the papacy moving to Avignon, although it also allowed the French monarchy to have more control over Papal policy. Rule of Rome itself was actually in the hands of the Senator. Sometime this was the Pope, at other times a native Roman of one of the great families but for some time the post was held by Charles of Anjou. Henry of Castile was a notable Senator - more of him another time.


Various Popes are mentioned by Dante. He finds Nicholas III in the 8th circle of the Inferno, buried head down with his feet on fire as a punishment for simony. This pope foresees the arrival in hell of Boniface VIII and Clement V - both being political enemies of Dante.






In DBMM, the Pope is represented by a Bge(S) element. One of the benefits of this is that it gives room for a vignette and this is my attempt. The Pope is probably the most ambitious conversion I've made - he started as a mounted Hungaraian archer from Mirliton. The figure had a fur lined cap which was easy to make into a mozetta. The rest of the papal garb was made from Milliput. The litter and bearers are fantasy figures from Black Raven Foundry. They are moulded with nothing but a loin cloth so I used Milliput to give them a tunic. The throne is plastic card.
The two guardsmen at the front are from Mirliton as are the figures carrying the flabella fans and the umbraculum. The various monks are from Donnington. My original plan was to use these and their nice priest figure with the papal litter placed on the ground.




The Papal armies were, in this period, more often controlled by the Captain General of the Church (not the Gonfaloniere, apparently). This was, at times, an allied king but I have painted mine as Guillaume Durand, Captain General and governor of various Papal territories in the last two decades of the 13th century. His arms are copied from his tomb.
The figure is Mirliton, modified with a bishop's mitre of Milliput.
The figures in the background are Papal guards. I think the DBMM list is quite generous in classifying these as Sp(S) since the picture on which they are based seems to be pretty similar to other pavise carrying spearmen of the 14th century.

The DBA list for the Papacy doesn't, in my opinion, work well for this army. Normally, allies are added to the normal 12 elements but for this particular army the allies are a far more integral part of the army so should be represented as part of the normal army.

If you have access to JSTOR articles, you can download D. Waley's "Papal Armies in the Thirteenth Century". This has a lot of detail about the way in which the tributary cities owed service.
The 19th century "History of the City of Rome" by F. Gregorovius is available as a partial preview on Google books or as a pay download from here . There isn't very much military detail but it puts a lot of the events in context.

The Emperor and the Empire

Dante's "Divine Comedy" features a number of the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire.
Frederick II is shown as a heretic, burning in a tomb on the sixth level of the Inferno. Henry VII was reserved a seat in Paradise. These two are the only ones in this period who were technically emperors, since they had travelled to Rome to be crowned. Henry's journey is shown in a splendid set of pictures made by his brother about twenty years after the event. They can be seen here
It is a great resource for heraldry although the armour is more representative of the time it was made (c.1340) rather than the period it depicts (c.1310). Fashions changed fairly quickly at this time.

Those who had been elected as ruler of the Empire bore the title "King of the Romans". Others were appointed or proclaimed as King of the Germans (rex teutonicorum), such as the sons of Frederick who had been left in control while the Emperor was campaigning in Italy and beyond. Frederick's opposition to the Pope led to the creation of Anti-kings such as Willian II of Holland.
See the sentence of deposition here

The period from 1257 to the mid 1270s was known as the Great Interregnum. There were two claimants to the throne - Richard of Cornwall and Alfonso X of Castile - but neither had any effective power in the Empire. Once Richard had died, Rudolf von Habsburg was elected as King of the Romans. He later renounced any claims in Italy and referred to himself as King of the Germans. Dante put him amoungst the negligent rulers at the base of Mount Purgatory.

He who sits highest, and the semblance bears
Of having what he should have done neglected,
And to the others' song moves not his lips,

Rudolph the Emperor was, who had the power
To heal the wounds that Italy have slain,
So that through others slowly she revives.
(Purgatory, Canto VII)

Dante's disdain aside, I decided to paint a figure as Rudolf. Charles Oman's "Art of War in the Middle Ages" has a description of the battle of the Marchfeld in which Rudolf defeated his rival Ottokar (another of Dante's negligent princes). Oman quotes from the Salzburg Chronicle which gives some useful information for painters. Rudolf was accompanied by a large red flag with a white cross, carried by the Burgrave of Nuremburg, Frederick of Hohenzollern.

Figures are Mirliton 15mm, from CC29 - Frederick II command group. Usefully, the standard bearer in this pack has the right 'horned' crest for Hohenzollern. Note the single headed eagle - the double headed eagle was used earlier but is not always used, even by Emperors.



This is a picture from Villani. The picture is supposed to be of Heinrich IV, Emperor at the end of the 11th century, but is a better representation of an emperor in Villani's time - the early 14th century.

In DBA and DBM much of the German cavalry of this period is based with double depth. (EDIT - this has changed). Various discussions on the TNE and DBMM groups suggests that this depth is not appropriate until later in the Middle Ages so the new Medieval German list is likely to lose 13th century double based elements. If it does, I shall probably rebase mine although I do like the look of them. Luckily I haven't many of them.








This represents the German mercenaries sent by Manfred of Sicily to support Siena against Florence in 1260. The story was that he initially only sent a small number with his banner (probably the eagle on white). The Sienese were dismayed by the small numbers but, according to Villani, they got the Germans drunk, promised them double pay and persuaded them to attack the Florentine camp. The Germans initially did well, catching the Florentines by surprise, but were eventually overwhelmed and Manfred's banner was dragged through the dust back to Florence.
When Manfred heard about this he sent a further 800 knights to support Siena. One of these was Walter von Astimberg, who demanded that he be allowed to lead the charge against the Guelphs at Montaperti. The figure at the front shows him, followed by his wyvern standard. Note how the wyvern faces the flagstaff - arms on the reverse of flags were reversed like this. The figure carrying Manfred's eagle is based on one of the plates from the Manesse Codex, the opponent in this plate.

EDIT: Since doing these, I have read an account of the Germans armouring their horses with leather

dettero a comperare quante cuoia erano in Siena, da fare scuola di scarpette, delle quali fecero armadure di cavagli, e similmente testiere da cavagli; e per tutti i luoghi di Siena stavano i banchi per cambiare fiorini e altre monete, e similmente orafi e dipentori; ogni gente attendeva a contentare questi soldati tedeschi, tanto erano valenti e avevano buone armi e buoni cavagli, e tutti piacevoli e da bene, sicché ogni uno si sforzava di fare cosa, che lo′ fusse a piacere, per lo grande servizio e buono aiuto, che aspettavano avere da loro.

 they immediately set about buying as much leather as there was in Siena, to make shoes, of which they made horse armour, and likewise horse headstalls; and in all the places of Siena there were banks for changing florins and other coins, and likewise goldsmiths and painters; every people tried to please these German soldiers, so valiant were they and had good weapons and good horses, and all pleasant and good, so that each one tried to do something that would please them, for the great service and good help, that they expected to have from them.

e capitano era lo franco cavaliere missere Gualtieri, con trecento cavalieri tedeschi, che parevano trecento draghi o fortissimi lioni scatenati, li quali cavalli per la maggiore parte erano coperti d′armadure. Or pensate come li loro animi erano arditi, quando erano armati e cavagli, che bene pareva a vedere uno monte d′armadura che andasse, e così seguiva l′altre schiere, non molto di lunga l′una da l′altra.

Sir Gualtieri, with three hundred German knights, who seemed three hundred dragons or very strong lions unleashed, which horses for the most part were covered with armor. Now think how bold their spirits were, when they were armed and on horseback, that it seemed very well to see a mountain of armor that was going, and so followed the other lines, not far from each other.

Allora missere Gualtieri richiese lo suo destriere delli speroni per farsi innanzi. Lo suo destriere era armato tutto d′ un′armadura di ferro, e di sopra una vesta di zendado vermiglio, tutta raccamata a draghi di seta con raggi d′oro fino, e veramente quello cavallo pareva uno drago che volesse divorare chi innanzi se li parasse, ed era lo più valoroso cavallo e ′l più forte, che a quelli dì si trovasse, e quello che più denari valeva; e missere Gualtieri era giovane e valente e bene armato e bellissimo della persona il più che fusse in fra quelli tedeschi

Then Sir Gualtieri called for spurs on his steed to go forward. His steed was fully armed with iron armor, and over it a robe of vermilion zendado, all embroidered with silk dragons with rays of fine gold, and truly that horse seemed like a dragon that wanted to devour anyone who stood before it, and it was the bravest and strongest horse that could be found that day, and the one that was worth the most money; and Sir Gualtieri was young and valiant and well armed and the most handsome of the person that there was among those Germans

https://web.archive.org/web/20190809230603/http://www.classicitaliani.it/duecento/battaglia_montaperti.htm

The leader of this group, Albrecht von Heigerloch, is again from the Manesse Codex. One of the interesting points in the original plate is that the banner bearer holds the staff in his left hand, allowing him to wield a sword. Perhaps a figure manufacturer might oblige!
There is a problem with this paint job. Like many of the plates, the arms are shown as including black. I'd already noticed that arms I knew included white had black instead - apparently the colour had oxidized and there probably aren't many places in the Codex where black is right. However, I only recently thought to check this one and the Heigerloch arms should be white over red. Checking the plate, a couple of traces of white can be seen. I like the look of the red and black combo so may leave it, but it will nag at me!
The character at the rear with the very bucket shaped helm carries the arms of Frankenstein.



This is the Archbishop of Cologne with his standard bearer Adolf of Nassau, later King of the Romans. Adolf was the Archbishop's brother in law and carried his standard at the Battle of Woerringen.
The figure of the Archbishop is a slight conversion - I added a mitre made from Milliput to the top of his helm. The story of Medieval bishops avoiding the use of swords seems to have been apocryphal - there is a picture of the Bishop of Trier splitting a man's head in two with a sword in the pictures of Henry VII journey to Italy linked to above.

EDIT: Since I posted this, DBMM has changed the classification of these Germans. They are now single based, so I have rebased them.

I have repainted Haigerloch's arms too.