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Tomorrow is siege day! A group of enthusiastic medievalists from King's College (with reinforcements from all around London and even Oxford University) are chasing down the early history of the 1215 barons' war all the way to Rochester. We plan to set camp outside the castle, in expectation of a day-long siege. First stop, the... Continue Reading →
I love those siege stories which end in the capture of the fortification without neither battle nor bloodshed. The capture of the poitevin city of Niort (between La Rochelle and Poitiers) is one of these histoires de ruse that I delight in recounting, not only for the story itself, but also for the reason that... Continue Reading →
Rex iterum refectis copiis armatorum, V idus Octobris (Sunday, 11 October 1215), die Dominica, Roffensem civitatem improvisus occupavit et ingressus castellum obsedit, machinis multimodis obsessos infestans. Erant autem in castello praecipui Willelmus de Albegni, et Reginaldus de Cornhulle, Willelmus de Amesforde, et alii plures nobiles cum plus quam centum militibus et servientibus, ac balistariis stenuis... Continue Reading →
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