News and updates 15 August 2014
This weekend the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre and Country Park will be the stage of the 2014 Battle of Bosworth anniversary re-enactment festival. As most (if not all) of you know, the Battle of Bosworth Field basically determined the outcome of the War of the Roses, with Henry of Lancaster being victorious and becoming the first Tudor. His Yorkist opponent, Richard III, was killed in battle. Bosworth is one of the largest medieval re-enactment events in Europe, so if you’re in the area (Leicestershire), make sure to swing by. For more information, click here for the Heritage Centre’s website (picture by Geoff Oliver).
The first phase of the War of the Roses is one of the many options in our poll for the themes of Volume V. If you haven’t voted yet, make sure you do before 15 October (click on the link to be forwarded).
For those of you who find themselves in Switzerland in the next few weeks: The Old Armory in Solothurn, Switzerland, will close in September for renovations until 2016 and thus is currently offering free entry during the last days. Here’s a faded St. George and the dragon white and light-blue banner of one of Charles the Bold’s companie. More information on the Old Armory can be found here. The campaigns of Charles the Bold during the Burgundian Wars are covered in detail in our latest issue, Medieval Warfare IV-4.
Also of note in the coming days:
- On 15 August in 778, 1236 years ago (according to the sources, at least), the Battle of Roncevaux Pass was fought between the rearguard of Charlemagne’s army and a large force of local Basque warriors. The battle would mean the end of the famous warrior Roland, who, when surrounded by enemies and being the only Frankish soldier left on the field, blew his horn so hard that his temple burst, leading to his death. The battle itself, as well as the part it plays in the legends around Roland, is covered by Patrick Baker in Medieval Warfare III-6. As it happens, the campaigns of Charlemagne is also the theme for upcoming issue V-2, for which you can still send in a proposal.
Basil II
- Next Sunday, it will be 1028 years ago that the Byzantine Emperor Basil II was soundly defeated by a Bulgarian army under Samuel and Aron, at the Battle of the Gates of Trajan (17 August 986). Basil barely escaped, but he would soon return with a new army to crush the Bulgarian threat once and for all. Well, until the 12th century that is, as a Second Bulgarian Empire would emerge in 1185 after Byzantium was slowly dwindling due to a rising Seljuq power in the east, Normans in the west, and civil conflict within their own borders. Basil’s campaigns against the First Bulgarian Empire is also one of the options in our poll for Volume V. Furthermore, Basil’s campaigns in the east are covered in Medieval Warfare II-6, while the military setbacks of the Byzantine Empire in the 11th and 12th centuries are part of the theme of Medieval Warfare III-3.
