An account of the German attack on the city of Głogów (August /September 1109)

[davidb]

After this exchange the emperor gave orders for equipment to be prepared, arms donned, the legions divided, a rampart to be to be raised around the city, and the standard-bearers to sound the trumpets; he then launched an assault upon which the city from all sides with iron, fire and siege engines.  The townsfolk in turn deployed themselves upon the gates and towers, fortified the battlements, made ready their equipment, and stored rocks and water above the gates and towers. [The emperor first tries and fails to use hostages to have the city surrender] The emperor ... decided to win by force of arms what he had been denied by guile. So the castle was assaulted from all directions, and from both sides ringing cry went up. The Germans charged the castle, the Poles kept them at bay, engines on all sides hurled boulders, crossbows twanged, spears and arrows flew through the air. Shields were shattered, armor pierced, helmets smashed apart. The dead fell, the wounded retired, fresh men took their place. The Germans cranked their crossbows, the Poles replied with engines and crossbows. The Germans fired arrows, the Poles arrows and spears as well. The Germans whirled stones from slings, the Poles hurled mill-stones along with sharpened stakes The Germans tried to approach the walls under the cover of wooden beams, but the Poles prepared them a bath of boiling water and scorching flames. The Germans brought up iron rams to the towers, but the Poles rolled down wheels bristling with iron spikes. The German placed ladders and tried to climb up, but the Poles gaffed them with iron hooks and left them suspended in mid-air.

-From the Gesta principum Polonorum (The Deeds of the Princes of the Poles)

[aligern]

OK David who won?.
I love the idea of the defenders gaffing the besiegers on hooks!
Roy

[davidb]

 The Poles. Evidently there was a large number of Saxon and Bavarian nobles being sent home in body bags or as the Gesta says "For every day noble men perished there, and their eviscerated bodies, preserved in salt and spices, were loaded onto carts to be sent back by the emperor to Bavaria or Saxony...'

The emperor went to attack Wroclaw. Boleslav cut down stragglers and foragers . Finally, due to lack of supplies, the emperor had to return to Germany," "taking as tribute nothing but the corpses."