The Middle Ages was a convulsive period both in the East and in Europe, due to the fact that a series of war conflicts continually took place that pitted the different Christian kingdoms against each other, such as the 100-year War between England and France or the continuous confrontations that begin in the twelfth century between the crown of Aragon and France for the domination of Italy, or the Muslims against the Christians throughout the world, as we could see in Constantinople, the Crusades or in the Iberian Peninsula itself.
Contrary to what is popularly believed, with some exceptions, the armies that faced each other in the Middle Ages used to be few in number, especially in the High and Full Middle Ages, and mostly had non-professional soldiers or mercenaries. For example, in the period known as the Reconquest in the Iberian Peninsula, the nobles and the cities had to provide military assistance to the king when he needed it, however, the warrior elite of the cities were the villainous knights, those who could afford the maintenance of a war horse. However, in addition to the famous military orders such as the Templars or the Teutonic Knights, there were military units specialized in combat that served certain kingdoms that functioned as mercenaries, fighting for anyone who hired and paid them. Today, in Archives of History, we are going to list several of the most famous specialized groups of the time.
the black guard
During the 11th and 12th centuries, the Almoravid invasion of the Iberian Peninsula took place, a North African tribe that had carried out a new reading of Islam and that embodied a stricter religious movement, undertaking a religious cleansing against Christians and the Muslims themselves who they had deviated from the doctrine they held to be true.
Due to the fact that the occupation carried out by the Almoravids of territories mainly in the south of the peninsula was strictly military, due to the fact that they did not have sufficient human capacity to dominate the territory, the emir Yusuf ibn-Tasufin created the Black Guard to guarantee that military supremacy.
One of the curiosities of this military unit was that it was mostly made up of black slaves who came from Sudan and from the central part of North Africa. These warriors were accustomed to traveling long distances on foot and their battle equipment was made up of lances, bows and bovine skin shields, at the same time that they undertook ceremonial dances before the fights, in the style of the famous Maori haka, they rang their drums and painted their faces in order to frighten their enemies.
This contingent turned out to be a serious obstacle for the rival armies since they carried out group attacks and the most legendary sources (obviously questioned) say that they chained themselves to each other or to the same ground to prevent their lines from being broken by their enemies, since they were the emir’s own personal guard. However, the Black Watch actually used to surround the palenque in which their leader was in a formation of men on foot protected with large spears placed or stuck in the ground and supported by groups of archers or crossbowmen. With this strategy they tried to partly repel the light cavalry of their rivals.
His actions stand out in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212) and in the Battle of Uclés (1108).
The Almogavars
The origin of the designation of these combat forces dates back to the 10th century, when it was thus called small groups of armed Saracens who carried out looting raids on the peninsular kingdoms. However, later the strategies and tactics techniques of the Saracen groups were adapted and a series of important military units were formed, fundamentally light infantry, and spies in most of the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula that played a particularly relevant role. during the 13th and 14th centuries in the Mediterranean company of the Aragonese Crown, sending the Catalan Company, made up of Almogavars and under the command of the German Roger von Blum, better known as Roger de Flor, as mercenaries to the Byzantine Empire in the XIV to fight the different Turkish sultanates that infested Anatolia from Manzikert. It is believed that their service to the Christian kings dates back to the times of Alfonso I the Battler during the early twelfth century.
The Almogavars were basically infantry shock forces that fought with short weapons, such as short throwing spears (azconas) and spears (also used as a throwing spear), a knife of different dimensions (known as a coltell) and with a small wooden shield. size and, specifically, a coat of mail and a helmet called capells de rets, wearing light equipment that facilitated its versatility on the battlefield. However, the most characteristic weapon of these was the short sword or cutlass.
It is said that one of the most outstanding features of an Almogávar, in addition to his humble clothing, his large beard and his developed ability to survive, was his staging, as they carried a flint against which they rubbed their weapons before entering. battle causing large sparks to fly, which added to their screams as Wake up ferro, Aragó, Aragó! (“Wake up iron” in Catalan), a specific slogan of the Almogáraves of the Aragonese Crown, instilled a terrible panic among their rival hosts.
However, both the equipment, as well as the clothing or appearance of the Almogávares varied greatly depending on the territory in which they were found, since that was the name given to the groups that departed from the kingdom of Granada, practicing riots against the surrounding territories.
For the Almogavars, war was a way of life, as they fought in exchange for payment from nobles and kings and, when they were not fighting, they could easily be located in border territories, from which they undertook looting on Muslim soil. They also used to do business with the sale and ransom of prisoners captured in battle. His qualities came to be gathered in the Seven Games of Alfonso X, among which were agility, resistance and strength.
In addition, these were structured in a hierarchical manner, with the champion, who was the guide of these forces, for which he required extensive knowledge of the terrain and the means he could find in it to supply the troops. He also had to be a good tracker, in order to find his enemies. He had the rank similar to that of a knight and was in charge of organizing the expeditions and the riots. The man who held this rank was chosen by twelve champions. After his appointment, he had to swear an oath before the king to whom he was going to serve, some of them becoming part of his personal escort. From the fourteenth century, this rank became hereditary, equating the figure of the champion to that of the hidalgo. Although the Almogavars were basically infantry troops, they could ride a horse. These also directed their troops on the battlefield.
Beneath the champions stood the Almogavars who fought on horseback and the almocaten, who acted as a kind of captain of small groups on the battlefield. It seems that they could also ride on horseback and, to reach this rank, he had to have great experience in combat and be accepted by the rest of the Almogavars in the group he was going to lead.
Finally, at the base of the hierarchical pyramid we find the almogávar, who worked as a pawn and made up the bulk of the infantry troops. In order to reach champion, you must have started at this rank and have gone through all previous ranks in increasing order.
On the battlefield, they positioned themselves at the front and on the flanks of the army of which they were part, divided into small units of between 10 and 15 men, in addition, they practiced guerrilla warfare, attacking enemy camps and their supply lines by surprise. Despite fighting mainly on foot and without needing the support of a significant number of horsemen, as was required in most medieval armies, they were able to prepare the battlefield to render the enemy cavalry ineffective while charging. against it, being equipped only with light weapons, which was all innovation in Europe. They were capable of fighting knights, throwing their spears at them and cutting through rival riders, attacking animals or cutting down the mounts that supported the rider. In hand-to-hand combat they were lethal, even attacking rivals with their bare hands if the situation required it.
The Varangian Guard
Another of the especially effective regiments that should be mentioned in this top is the famous Varega Guard. These were men of Scandinavian origin who formed an elite unit adapted in the Middle Ages as the personal guard of the emperor of Byzantium.
As mentioned above, this Varangian Guard, originally were Viking peoples from the Scandinavian Peninsula who settled in certain areas of Russia, coming into contact through a series of trade routes between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea with the Byzantine Empire. Etymologically, the word Varego refers to a series of warriors who were linked to a leader who lent loyalty by oath to a series of tribal chiefs. In the same way, they established a series of behavioral norms, among which was the hierarchical distribution of the spoils they obtained. All these norms were deeply rooted in the Germanic towns that, in the times of the Roman Empire, were established beyond the limes.
During the first half of the 9th century, reference is already made in Byzantine sources to a series of attacks by Scandinavian peoples, coming from Russia, known as rus. Over time, the Byzantine authorities would reach an agreement with these peoples so that they would join the ranks of their army in exchange for good remuneration and with the aim of ending hostilities on their part. However, the Varangian Guard would not be a consolidated unit until 988, at which time Vladimir II of kyiv sent a force of 6,000 Rus to the Byzantine Emperor Basil II “the Bulgarochthon”.
Despite being men who professed a strong bond of loyalty to the highest Byzantine authority, the emperor, on many occasions they abused vices such as alcohol as well as being fans of brawls. In addition, on several occasions, the heads of the Varega Guard committed abuses and took advantage of moments of weakness of the empire, even being accused of attacking emperors such as Miguel VII or Nicéforo III.
During the Norman invasion of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror, a large number of men of Anglo-Saxon origin found their way to the Byzantine court just as warriors had centuries before…