Fighting for the Faith: The Many Fronts of Crusade & Jihad 1000-1500 AD by David Nicolle

Author:David Nicolle [Nicolle, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Battles & Campaigns, Crusades, Medieval, Religion, Strategy & Tactics
ISBN: 9781781594568
Amazon: B00BCOW4EI
Publisher: Pen & Sword
Published: 2007-09-20T04:00:00+00:00

The Later Crusades in Southeastern Europe

One of the most ambitious, and most dramatically unsuccessful, of the later Crusades was the Burgundian-led expedition which came to grief in 1396 and came to be known as the Crusade of Nicopolis. Its composition, organisation and tactics reflected profound changes which were taking place within Western European society and its armies. By then the feudalism of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries had given way to so-called ‘bastard feudalism’ under which knights and squires of the feudal aristocracy served in return for payment. Warfare nevertheless remained a route by which the brave, capable and lucky could win social and economic advancement.

Burgundy was now emerging as one of the most powerful regions of Western Europe. Its duke rivalled the king in military might, and his acquisition of Flanders gave him huge wealth. Within Burgundy the duke’s army was built around his ‘household’. The nucleus consisted of heavily armoured, professional men-at-arms capable of fighting on horseback or on foot. There were also smaller contingents of mounted archers and crossbowmen, both of which were really mounted infantry, plus some light cavalry.

The current tactical emphasis on men-at-arms reflected Burgundian society where the old aristocracy remained deeply entrenched. Furthermore, the strongly aristocratic ideology of this Crusade discouraged the use of archers and crossbowmen, resulting in overwhelmingly offensive tactics which were ill-suited to cope with Ottoman warfare. Unfortunately many of the participants regarded both ‘schismatic’ Orthodox Christians and Muslims as their foes, and even the famous Italian humanist poet Petrarch had written:

The Ottomans are merely enemies but the schismatic Greeks are worse than enemies. The Ottomans hate us less, for they fear us less. The Greeks however, both fear and hate us with all their soul.

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