13th century Castilian military regulations

[Erpingham]

The Siete Partidas: A Repository of Medieval Military and Tactical Instruction by Jürg Gassmann

Another interesting piece by one of the Gassmann brothers.

As well as those with medieval Spanish interests, this is of more general interesting for its set of descriptions of formations for infantry and cavalry.  It contains another cavalry wedge, if a somewhat flat one (the sort made by doubling the number of men in subsequent ranks).  The role of the wedge (which will please Justin) is given as

and the other body, called a wedge, was invented, in order that when the ranks of  the enemy were strong and thick they could break and divide them, and conquer them more readily, for, by this means, few could overcome many.

The Castilians also had an interesting spoil division process based on what equipment the soldier turned up with - the better your kit, the more you got.

[Duncan Head]

Interesting - and confusing - that the Siete Partidas uses the term almogauar for light cavalry!

And infantry with their feet tied, again, in the "wall" formation. Do we dismiss this as a literary topos, as people are inclined to do with chained Sasanians?

[Erpingham]

Interesting - and confusing - that the Siete Partidas uses the term almogauar for light cavalry!

IIRC, Muntaner also speaks of Almogavar cavalry but more rarely than infantry. 

[Jim Webster]

Interesting - and confusing - that the Siete Partidas uses the term almogauar for light cavalry!

And infantry with their feet tied, again, in the "wall" formation. Do we dismiss this as a literary topos, as people are inclined to do with chained Sasanians?

don't know about the chained feet, but almogauar is supposed to come from Arabic "Al-Muqafir," a "raider, devastator."
As a job description it could cover a man on horseback every bit as a man on foot.

[Swampster]

I though the same, though it seems that there is the "almogauar de cauallo" (Almogavar a llom cavall in Catalan apparently). The wikipedia articles in English and Spanish put this as a grade of rank between almocaden (infantry captain, though apparently sometimes mounted it seems) and adalid (highest rank). I think that is what the Spanish quote on p.5 refers to, not that all moogs are on horses.

Whether the 'llom cavall' emphasises that they are riding on horses when the men they are with are on foot, or that these were a separate tactical entity acting like ginetes is another matter.

I think the adalids description as guides is only a small part of their role, and some were members of the Castillian and Aragonese royal guards while others were commanders of various sorts - which doesn't help to to establish the role of horse back almughavars.

[Erpingham]

And infantry with their feet tied, again, in the "wall" formation. Do we dismiss this as a literary topos, as people are inclined to do with chained Sasanians?

I suspect this may reflect accounts of Navas de Tolosa, where the Emir is in his "corral", surrounded by chained men in just the way described.  Whether this was a common formation, we might doubt, if only that Christian kings tended to be on horseback with their knights, not in a fortified camp.  Whether this is describing a real thing, or simply echoing another account whose literalness has been doubted, is a complicated question, which would need a better scholar of Spanish sources than me to determine.

[Anton]

A very interesting read.  Thank you.

[Jim Webster]

I though the same, though it seems that there is the "almogauar de cauallo" (Almogavar a llom cavall in Catalan apparently). The wikipedia articles in English and Spanish put this as a grade of rank between almocaden (infantry captain, though apparently sometimes mounted it seems) and adalid (highest rank). I think that is what the Spanish quote on p.5 refers to, not that all moogs are on horses.

Whether the 'llom cavall' emphasises that they are riding on horses when the men they are with are on foot, or that these were a separate tactical entity acting like ginetes is another matter.

I think the adalids description as guides is only a small part of their role, and some were members of the Castillian and Aragonese royal guards while others were commanders of various sorts - which doesn't help to to establish the role of horse back almughavars.

Whilst we are talking almughavars. Were they shieldless, sheilded or mixed?
I know at one point they were supposed to be shieldless but I notice that Fireforge have a kickstarter and a lot of them seem to have round shields

[Swampster]

I though the same, though it seems that there is the "almogauar de cauallo" (Almogavar a llom cavall in Catalan apparently). The wikipedia articles in English and Spanish put this as a grade of rank between almocaden (infantry captain, though apparently sometimes mounted it seems) and adalid (highest rank). I think that is what the Spanish quote on p.5 refers to, not that all moogs are on horses.

Whether the 'llom cavall' emphasises that they are riding on horses when the men they are with are on foot, or that these were a separate tactical entity acting like ginetes is another matter.

I think the adalids description as guides is only a small part of their role, and some were members of the Castillian and Aragonese royal guards while others were commanders of various sorts - which doesn't help to to establish the role of horse back almughavars.

Whilst we are talking almughavars. Were they shieldless, sheilded or mixed?
I know at one point they were supposed to be shieldless but I notice that Fireforge have a kickstarter and a lot of them seem to have round shields

Muntaner reckons the citizens of Messina complained about the poor equipment of those who were there to help the city:
""Ah, God, how we have wasted our joy! And what people are these who go naked and stripped, who wear nothing but a shirt and carry neither adarga nor buckler? "

Later on, he says something about the horsemen being ready to go by grabbing their shield and the foot being ready by picking up their spear and javelins. This isn't decisive, since it doesn't mention the horsemen getting any weapons, so if these are assumed then perhaps the foot have shields by then.

There is also the picture of Spanish foot in the Salo del Tinell which is often cited as being almughavars, though it was made around 1360 and they look a lot more civilized than Muntaner's description.

I didn't let the shields put me off getting Eureka's and Lurkio's 15mm almughavars. Eureka have 16 variants (plus officer, hornist and standard bearer) and Lurkio have 24 variants.