Just a quick post to tie together the three “1066“ armies and a static page with more information on how I assembled the armies.
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Norman, is that you?
The Normans, as you may know, were descendants of Vikings (Northmen =>Norman) in France. They spoke French but were basically vikings on big ass horses (for the time) with state of the art arms and armor. One charming account of their diplomacy is mentioned by John Julius Norwich:
Calling a halt, [the Byzantine Catapan] sent a messenger across to them, offering the choice: either they could leave Byzantine territory peaceably and at once, or they must face his own army in battle on the morrow.
The Normans had heard communications of that sort before, and knew how to deal with them. During the harangue one of the twelve chiefs, Hugh Tuboeuf, had approached the messenger’s horse, and had been stroking it approvingly; now, as the man finished, he suddenly turned and struck it one mighty blow between the eyes with his bare fist, laying the luckless animal unconscious on the ground. At this, according to Malaterra, the messenger in a paroxysm of fear fainted dead away, but the Normans, having with some difficulty restored him to his senses, gave him a new horse, better than the first, on which they sent him back to the Catapan with the message that they were ready.
—–Source (more…)
