Knights and chivalry of three centuries. Knights of Outremer

25
Who wants to save his life,
The saint does not take the cross.
I am ready to die in battle
In the battle for the Lord Christ.
All those whose conscience is unclean,
Who hides in his land,
The gates of paradise are closed,
And God meets us in paradise.
Friedrich von Hausen. Translation by V. Mikushevich)


It does not matter how or why, but it turned out that in 1099, the Western European knights found themselves in the East (Lower Lands, Outremer, as they said), where they created their own states. There were many of them and they occupied a fairly vast territory in Syria and Palestine, in Cyprus (after its conquest by English Richard I) and in the Latin Empire with its capital in Constantinople after 1204, and also from its successors in Greece. Well started story Crusader states in Syria, Palestine and Lebanon with the arrival of the participants of the first crusade to the Middle East in 1098. It had an end, which was marked by the fall of Acre and coastal cities held by the crusaders in 1291, although the Templars owned the coastal island of Arwad before 1303 of the year. The Latin Empire existed from 1204 to 1261 a year, but the princedoms of the crusaders in southern Greece persisted until the 15th century. And the Kingdom of Cyprus was annexed by Venice only in 1489 year.




Crusaders at the walls of Antioch. The Story of Guelmo de Tire (William of Tire), Acre, 1275-1300 (National Library of France, Paris)


Sand, heat and Muslims ...



The small size, the hostile environment of non-Christians, the unfamiliar climate — all this made the states of the Crusaders sufficiently vulnerable, with the exception of the island of Cyprus. And it is clear that this vulnerability simply could not have an impact on their military affairs. Let's start with the fact that there was, for example, the problem of lack of horses. It was evident in the early years and remained a source of weakness in the Knighthood of the “Lower Land” and later. It would seem that Arabia was close by, all the Mamluks rode beautiful horses, which was not so difficult to get, but ... these horses were not suitable for heavily armed knightly cavalry, and the heavy large horses from Europe were not only very expensive their transportation by sea, still not withstand the local climate. There were not enough warriors either, although the Crusaders, quite possibly, strongly overestimated the number of their Islamic opponents. On the other hand, the problem of “personnel” became particularly acute after the creation of the Crusader states in Greece in 1204, when a large number of knights from Syria and Palestine went there.


Knights of Outremer. History of Outremer, Jerusalem, 1287 (Municipal Library of Boulogne-sur-Mer, France)


When to borrow is very helpful



The tactics of the Crusaders and their military organization were well studied, although more attention was traditionally paid to the first stage of the conquest than to the second, defensive. Here we must emphasize the vital role of military orders, such as the Templars and the Hospitallers, and the role of the urban military communities. Generally speaking, the Crusaders did little to teach the soldiers of the eastern Mediterranean, but they themselves adopted a lot of what they saw in Byzantium and their opponents Muslims. The Crusaders actively took over equipment from them, although this most likely was only the tradition of using captured trophies, and not by deliberately copying the military achievements of the enemy. The most notable examples of this phenomenon were light cavalry, using spears with reed or bamboo poles, infantry planted on horses (it was used for high-speed raids) and archers. The latter were necessary to fight the enemy cavalry, since it was she who was the main opponent of the crusading armies in the East. It was here that the knights finally realized that success on the battlefield can only be achieved by using their forces in a comprehensive manner. And if they lacked some warriors, then ... the latter could always be hired from local Christians and even Muslims of a different sense than this enemy!

Knights and chivalry of three centuries. Knights of Outremer

The knights of Outremer fight Muslims and ... play chess with them. History of Outremer, Jerusalem, 1287 (Municipal Library of Boulogne-sur-Mer, France)


The main thing is the layering



Here it is time to consider, and how the knights dressed for battle, who fought in Syria and Palestine, dressed in general. Well, first of all, as it should be, and how it was done at this time everywhere, the knights put on linen - wide, bra-like lower pants that reached to the knees and tied at the waist and legs. Wearing a brae, the knight wrapped his feet in the Shossi - an extremely curious type of medieval clothing, which was a separate leg, cut and sewn in such a way that they were as if stockings were tightly wrapped in each leg. They were also tied to the brae belt. Chainmail mails on a lining of thin leather were worn over the fabric chassis and, again, were tied to a belt. The chainmail footprint replaced the shoes, although it also happened that the sole of the chainmail was leather. Sometimes, on top of the chainmail shawls, some mods also tightened colored fabric chauses. Under them the chain mail was not visible, but nevertheless she was there. It became customary to protect knees with forged cup-shaped kneecaps attached to quilted “tubes” of linen. Sometimes they were short. Sometimes they protected the whole thigh to the very top, similar to the armor of the Italian knight Colaccio Beccadelli.


Warriors in the scaled armor. Psalms Millisenda (cover, bone carving), Jerusalem, 1131-1143 (British Library, London)


The shirt, also linen or even silk, with ties on the sleeves and neck was loose-cut. A quilted kaftan gambizon was worn over the shirt under a chain coat. The hair on the head was removed under the same quilted cap, protecting the head from contact with the rings of the chainmail hood. The mail was worn on the gambizon, the mail hood - aventyle over the mail. Sometimes he had a face flap that covered the lower part of his face, with leather lining and with ties, or with a crochet hook, with which he clung avantyle. Thanks to all this, the valve could be thrown back and freely spoken. To fix the topfhelm cylindrical helmet, a leather cushion filled with wool wool was put on his head. The helmet had a suede trim inside and a “petal stop” inside for the crown. All this made it possible to firmly fix the helmet on the head, which was important because of its narrow viewing slots. Helmets were often painted to protect against rust.


Equipment knight 1285 g. Christa Hook.


Since it was very hot in Syria and Palestine, the cappel-de-fer helmets, that is, the iron hat, became fashionable. Moreover, they were worn not only by ordinary infantrymen, but also by noble knights. A coat of coat of arms or a white canvas, as well as a helmet sack (a kind of "tire" for a helmet made of cloth), also spread here to prevent the armor from heating up in the sun. Brynandin - metal plate armor, which was worn over the chain mail, was also sheathed from the outside, often quite expensive, for example, with velvet, since in this case it replaced surcoat. It is known that such armor as a joserant or hauberk of two layers of chain mail of different weaving with a layer of fabric was also widely spread. Warriors of the West began to use the purely oriental developments of this time - lamellar, lamellar, armors, which were borrowed from Byzantines and Muslims, as well as metal scales.


Equipment knight 1340 g. Christa Hook.


As you can see, the equipment has become much more diverse and rich. The Surcoat is decorated with embroidery, chainmail Shoss is covered with plates of embossed leather, leather shoulder pads and plate gloves appear. Compulsory weapons it also becomes a dagger, and gold (or at least gold-plated) chains going to the handles of the dagger, sword, and to the helmet is an indicator of wealth. In fashion come cap helmets - servilera, and the "big helmet" gets rising up the visor. Swords blades and shields, which are now often made concave and provided with a recess for the spear shaft, become a different form.

Weapon Decoration - Oriental Fashion


The weapons of the knights of the Outremer were diverse, and in addition to the knight's spear included a sword, an ax, and a mace or shester. Handles of swords, as well as the sheath, at this time begin to decorate. The knights in this case clearly copied the fashion of the East, where the custom of decorating weapons by this time has long become a tradition. The guides of all these innovations, according to D.Nikol, were Armenians. Their role as random allies and the source of mercenaries for the Crusader states in Syria is obvious and far more important than the role of any other Eastern Christian population.


Top of the sword (obverse) of the era of the Crusades, found in the Middle East. The unidentified heraldic shield on the back of the disk was probably a sign of its original owner or noble family to which it belonged. The lion on the obverse is clearly made later. (Metropolitan Museum, New York)


Top of the sword (reverse)


The heads of the sword Pierre Moklerka de Dreux (1190 – 1250), Duke of Breton and Count of Richmond. OK. 1240-1250 Material: copper, gold, enamel, iron. Diameter 6,1 cm, thickness 1,2 cm), weight 226.8 g. Obverse. (Metropolitan Museum, New York) It is interesting that in his coat of arms in the upper left corner we first depicted ermine fur and the same fur is shown on the shield of his effigy. But having been in a crusade and, apparently, having suffered there from thirst, he ordered to put in the coat of arms on the top of the sword an image of waterskins with water, symbolizing participation in the crusade.

Turkopuly - Muslim mercenaries in the service of the Knights of Christ



But perhaps the most interesting people in the Outremer, who were arriving from Europe, were surprised by the Crusaders most of all, were Turkopules - Muslim troops with their national weapons in the service of Christians. They were not homogeneous in their ethnic and religious composition, and besides included both cavalry and infantry, archers and spearmen, although most of them were apparently light-riders using the bows in the Byzantine style or the Mamluk style of Egypt . That is, in the first case, they shot through the heads of their troops, being in the second line of knightly cavalry, and in the second - attacked the enemy as skirmishers, trying with a false retreat to bring him under the blow of his heavy cavalry. It is worth noting that Turkopolis appeared under the Crusaders in Cyprus, the Balkans or in Greece, and perhaps even in Normandy after the return of King Crusader Richard I from Palestine.

Использованная литература:
1. Nicolle, D. Knight of Outremer AD 1187-1344. L .: Osprey (Warrior series # 18), 1996.
2. Nicolle, D. Saracen Faris 1050-1250 AD. L .: Osprey (Warrior series No. 10), 1994.
3. Nicolle D. Knight Hospitaller (1) 1100-1306. Oxford: Osprey (Warrior series # 33), 2001.
4. Nicolle D. Arms and Armor of the Crusading Era, 1050 - 1350. UK L .: Greenhill Books. Vol. 1.


To be continued ...
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25 comments
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  1. +6
    April 28 2019 05: 15
    An interesting analysis! Thank!
    Regards, Vladislav!
    1. +2
      April 29 2019 05: 25
      Vyacheslav, thanks for the next article.
      As always very interesting.
      good
  2. +4
    April 28 2019 08: 31
    Christ is Risen!

    Very interesting.
    I don’t know if there are any serious works considering the transformation of clothes and weapons under the influence of climate. But what a promising direction.
  3. +5
    April 28 2019 09: 09
    Chain foot replaced shoes
    Can sources on this fact? That is, on chain-necked highways with chain-foot.
    chain hood - aventile over chain mail
    In the modern Russian-language segment of weapons science, the terms are quite well-established:
    The chain hood is a koif.
    Aventile is a barmica. That is, a neck protector attached to the helmet.
    Separate neck protection, worn on its own - it is burning. For the mentioned period, it could be either ringed or scaly. But more often it was ringed.
  4. +4
    April 28 2019 09: 26
    Quote: abrakadabre
    Can sources on this fact? That is, on chain-necked highways with chain-foot.

    Everything is possible. You just need to search. Because the same Nicolas has more than 600 pages in his monograph (volume 1) and in the second as well. Somewhere there it is "buried" ...
  5. +8
    April 28 2019 09: 56
    The culture of Christian chivalry, especially military chivalry, is unique.
    In any conditions and circumstances!
  6. +3
    April 28 2019 11: 09
    Unusually, constructively, in detail. The author is well done :-)
  7. +2
    April 28 2019 13: 37
    It does not matter how or why, but it turned out that in 1099 the West European knights found themselves in the East (Lower Lands, Outremer, as they said then), where they created their own states. There were a lot of them and they occupied a fairly vast territory in Syria and Palestine, in Cyprus (after its conquest by the English Richard I) and in the Latin Empire with its capital in Constantinople after 1204, as well as among its successors in Greece. Well, the history of the crusader states in Syria, Palestine and Lebanon began with the arrival of the participants of the first crusade in the Middle East in 1098.
    I’ll try to slightly localize the article’s events in space and time.
    Just according to the results of the First Crusade (1099) in Levant (the common name of the countries of the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea (Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, etc.), in relation to this article - Syria, Palestine and Lebanon) four Christian states:
    Edessa County is the first state founded by the Crusaders in the East. It was founded in 1098 by Baldwin I of Boulogne. It existed until 1146. Its capital was the city of Edessa.
    The Principality of Antioch - was founded by Bohemund I of Tarento in 1098 after the capture of Antioch. The Principality lasted until 1268.
    Kingdom of Jerusalem, existed until the fall of Acre in 1291.
    County Tripoli is the last of the states founded during the First Crusade. It was founded in 1105 by Count of Toulouse Raimund IV. The county lasted until 1289.
    These four states are called the term Utremer.
    On the map it looks like this.
  8. 0
    April 28 2019 16: 27
    Brinandina

    Eh ... was that what it was called or was it "brigantine"?
    1. +3
      April 28 2019 17: 47
      From the word "brigand" the name comes "tina" this ship.
      1. +2
        April 28 2019 23: 34
        But the question is not so simple and unambiguous, because at the end of the XNUMXth and beginning of the XNUMXth centuries, what you describe, Vyacheslav Olegovich, was called in special literature chain mailbrigantine armorin which she dressed on top of chain mail brigantine - "a kind of sleeveless jacket made of iron or steel plates, sewn onto leather or fabric, like a tile, one on top of the other. Outside the brigantine was usually covered with velvet or silk, through which separate plaques decorated with gold notching protruded. By the XNUMXth century, the brigantine began to be made with sleeves Brigantine was preferred over white armor, as it was lighter and cheaper. " (Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron, Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon).
        А brigandine was called "a shirt made of steel scales, tightly fitting to the body and was in general use in the West in the Middle Ages and even later. In Italy, it was worn by many in peacetime, as a defense against the dagger of assassins."
      2. +1
        April 29 2019 09: 19
        Yeah thanks.
  9. 0
    April 28 2019 22: 35
    Yeah, Vyacheslav Olegovich! You only have to go down to the 5th century. Nonsense, so, five drops on the asphalt. Although, I think, it is worth starting the analysis with Uther and Ingrains (I write as a keepsake, because in the name of Arthur's mother, maybe she was a little mistaken.)
    WAITING FOR.
    1. +3
      April 29 2019 06: 38
      I remember. Found the right book. I read ...
      1. +1
        April 29 2019 08: 37
        Oh what a dispute? They decided to discuss the history of medieval literature?
        1. 0
          April 29 2019 10: 34
          Quote: Undecim
          Oh what a dispute? They decided to discuss the history of medieval literature?

          unfortunately, it’s impossible to look at which comment whose comment. If there are more than one.
          If you come to me, then I am trying to "stir up" V.O. For a series of articles about Arthur
          He can. (Not Arthur, of course;))
          1. 0
            April 29 2019 10: 56
            Yes, the topic is such that you can turn around. Moreover, in all nine octaves - from fantasy to criticism of an unprofessional approach to history.
            1. +1
              April 29 2019 12: 52
              Quote: Undecim
              Yes, the topic is such that you can turn around. Moreover, in all nine octaves - from fantasy to criticism of an unprofessional approach to history.

              I don’t even know what to say to you, if you’re talking about an "unprofessional" approach to history - I don’t consider myself close to historians. And if I am interested in something, then the Internet will help me. No more.
              1. +1
                April 29 2019 12: 56
                About "non-professional hold" is not about you. It's just that there is a point of view among professional historians that some of them are ready to distort the past for the sake of preserving its romance or obtaining dividends, and King Arthur is just the result of such activities.
                1. +1
                  April 29 2019 13: 07
                  Quote: Undecim
                  About "non-professional hold" is not about you. It's just that there is a point of view among professional historians that some of them are ready to distort the past for the sake of preserving its romance or obtaining dividends, and King Arthur is just the result of such activities.

                  That is why I asked Shpakovsky to write about Arthur. After reading his books, (partly downloaded, partly honestly bought)
                  I know that he can. Without any distortion of history.
  10. +1
    April 29 2019 03: 56
    Predators, robbers came to a foreign land, grabbed what they could, and then received the first number.
    What is interesting is this territory since the time of the pharaohs at the junction of the interests of great powers and who only has not trampled it so far!
  11. +1
    April 29 2019 10: 42
    Alexey! He stirred, most interesting, but ... I was not used to "finger to forehead" and went ... Therefore, it will not work out quickly. Do not be offended ...
    1. +1
      April 29 2019 13: 33
      Quote: kalibr
      Alexey! He stirred, most interesting, but ... I was not used to "finger to forehead" and went ... Therefore, it will not work out quickly. Do not be offended ...

      (Grumbling)
      YOU got agitated.
      anyway
      Someone raves about Star Wars.
      Someone Spartacus (a good topic) and others like him.
      Cleopatra .. (oh, what a woman, where to find one ....)
      And mnu bzik about Arthur
      (C) To each his own.
      Waiting
  12. 0
    April 29 2019 15: 28
    Quote: Grim Reaper
    Someone Spartacus (a good topic) and others like him.
    Cleopatra .. (oh, what a woman, where to find one ....)

    They have already been considered here. Well, Arthur, yes - the topic is very interesting. Now I finished reading what David Nicole wrote about him, tomorrow we can start writing. Pictures, by the way, I already picked up!
  13. 0
    April 30 2019 23: 45
    Quote: kalibr
    Quote: Grim Reaper
    Someone Spartacus (a good topic) and others like him.
    Cleopatra .. (oh, what a woman, where to find one ....)

    They have already been considered here. Well, Arthur, yes - the topic is very interesting. Now I finished reading what David Nicole wrote about him, tomorrow we can start writing. Pictures, by the way, I already picked up!

    David Nicole? Well, nothing you dug .... If I am not mistaken, this is the very beginning of the collapse of the USSR. And it seems only in English?
    From SW.
    Forward.

"Right Sector" (banned in Russia), "Ukrainian Insurgent Army" (UPA) (banned in Russia), ISIS (banned in Russia), "Jabhat Fatah al-Sham" formerly "Jabhat al-Nusra" (banned in Russia) , Taliban (banned in Russia), Al-Qaeda (banned in Russia), Anti-Corruption Foundation (banned in Russia), Navalny Headquarters (banned in Russia), Facebook (banned in Russia), Instagram (banned in Russia), Meta (banned in Russia), Misanthropic Division (banned in Russia), Azov (banned in Russia), Muslim Brotherhood (banned in Russia), Aum Shinrikyo (banned in Russia), AUE (banned in Russia), UNA-UNSO (banned in Russia), Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People (banned in Russia), Legion “Freedom of Russia” (armed formation, recognized as terrorist in the Russian Federation and banned)

“Non-profit organizations, unregistered public associations or individuals performing the functions of a foreign agent,” as well as media outlets performing the functions of a foreign agent: “Medusa”; "Voice of America"; "Realities"; "Present time"; "Radio Freedom"; Ponomarev; Savitskaya; Markelov; Kamalyagin; Apakhonchich; Makarevich; Dud; Gordon; Zhdanov; Medvedev; Fedorov; "Owl"; "Alliance of Doctors"; "RKK" "Levada Center"; "Memorial"; "Voice"; "Person and law"; "Rain"; "Mediazone"; "Deutsche Welle"; QMS "Caucasian Knot"; "Insider"; "New Newspaper"