IN THIS ISSUE: The Magyar invasions in Europe

The steppe warrior defeated: Otto I versus the Magyars

With: • The Other Saxon Revolution • The fi nal clash: the

Also: • Byzantine fortresses on the Bosporus • The Battle of Bryn Glas, 1402

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MW juli 2012.indd 1 11-07-12 18:46 MW juli 2012.indd 2 11-07-12 18:46 CONTENTS

4 NEWS AND LETTERS 33 Byzantine pragmatism vs. imperial prejudice Publisher: Rolof van Hövell tot Westerflier The Armenians and Maurice’s Editor in chief: Jasper Oorthuys Strategikon Editorial staff: Dirk van Gorp (editor ), THEME Andrew Brooks (copy-editor) Otto I versus the Magyars Marketing & media manager: Christianne C. Beall 6 Historical introduction: Contributors: Carl Pyrdum, Curtis Szmania, Kay Boers, Migration, confrontation and Andrei Pogăciaş, Kai Grundmann, David Balfour, Armen Ayvazyan, Konstantin Nossov, Owen Rees, Tim Newark, transformation Stephen Bennett, John Clements, Sidney Dean, Ronald Delval, Gareth Williams, Raffaele D’Amato. Illustrators: Giorgio Albertini, Graham Sumner, Johnny 37 Strife over the straits Shumate, Carlos Garcia, Rocio Espin, Milek Jakubiec, Matthew Ryan, Christianne C. Beall. Fortresses on the Bosporus and the Special thanks goes to Andrei Pogăciaş for his assistance. Dardanelles (1): the Byzantine Empire

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Editorial office 9 From Pannonia to PO Box 4082, 7200 BB Zutphen, The Netherlands the west Phone: +31-575-776076 (NL), +44-20-8816281 (Europe), The growth of Magyar +1-740-994-0091 (US) power in Europe Glyn Dwr’s finest hour E-mail: [email protected] 43 Customer service: [email protected] The Battle of Bryn Glas (1402) Website: www.medieval-warfare.com

Contributions in the form of articles, letters, reviews, news and queries are welcomed. Please send to the above address or use the contact form on www.medieval- warfare.com.

Subscriptions 14 “Not quite straight fly Subscription price is €33,50 plus postage surcharge where the arrows” applicable. Subscriptions can be purchased at shop.kar- Liudprand of Cremona on the wansaraypublishers.com, via phone or by email. For the 49 A warrior prejudice address, see above. Magyars The use of the bow by medieval

Distribution Medieval Warfare is sold through retailers, the internet and by subscription. If you wish to become a sales out- let, please contact us at service@karwansaraypublishers. com. Copyright Karwansaray B.V. All rights reserved. Nothing 19 The Other Saxon in this publication may be reproduced in any form without Revolution prior written consent of the publishers. Any individual pro- 53 Reviews viding material for publication must ensure that the cor- Simple arms and complex strategy Books and games rect permissions have been obtained before submission to us. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders, but in few cases this proves impossible. The editor and publishers apologize for any unwitting cases of copyright transgressions and would like to hear from any copyright holders not acknowledged. Articles and the opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views 26 “A cruel encounter” of the editor and/or publishers. Advertising in Medieval On the cover Warfare does not necessarily imply endorsement. Otto I’s destrution of the 58 Magyars, Augustus 955 Medieval Warfare is published every two months by Karwansaray B.V., Rotterdam, The Netherlands. PO Box 1110, 3000 BC Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

ISSN: 2211-5129

Printed in the European Union. Medieval Warfare II-4 3

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Otto I – How lucky can one guy get?

It might seem a bit absurd to suggest (as the headline above this Magyars arrived. The Slavs weren’t the only revolting peoples column does) that Otto the Great, whose exploits at Lechfeld are Otto had had to contend with recently. In fact, the fortress at the subject of one of this issue’s articles, owed his success to a run which the Magyars had come to lay siege to was only of blind luck. But that’s precisely what I intend to do! remotely ‘siegeable’ due to damage it had incurred during Otto’s Consider his unlikely timing. The pivotal battle at which Otto recent campaigns against his own rebellious barons. Typically, routed those pesky Magyars fell in the first half of August, when the Hungarian light avoided siege warfare, as mobility nature (and the debris field of the comet Swift-Tuttle) just so was their biggest asset, but the damaged fortress was just too happens to fill the skies with shooting stars – or, as they were tempting a target. And, they could assure themselves, they known in those days, “fiery portents of the fortunes of kings”. wouldn’t really need their usual advantage, as word had spread ILM couldn’t have put together a better light show to mark the of Otto’s troubles in the west. He could hardly muster the troops arrival of the soon-to-be conquering hero. needed to face them, at all. Granted, those shooting stars did go by another name in Even once the battle began, Otto’s improbable luck contin- Otto’s day: ‘the tears of St. Lawrence’, named after the lachry- ued to hold. Even though they quickly outflanked Otto’s forces, mose third-century martyr who was not exactly the saint you’d so that the Germans were faced with enemies at both the front invoke before a martial encounter; he was more the ‘tending to and the rear, the overconfident Magyars foolishly overextended the sick’ and ‘suffering Roman persecution with dignity’ sort than themselves, by diverting a sizable portion of their troops to the ‘smiting your heathen enemies and their mobile light cavalry pillage Otto’s unprotected baggage train – a train he would nor- regiments’ sort. But here, too, Otto’s timing was fortunate, for mally have protected, but, without sufficient troops to divide his it was precisely in Otto’s day that a different version of the St. men, had been forced to leave exposed. Once again, Otto suc- Lawrence myth was starting to catch on. One in which the saint, ceeded where, by all rights, he should have been overrun. sentenced to die by roasting on a gridiron, taunted his enemies After the dust had settled, Otto, weakened and occupied by from the flames by telling them to be sure to “turn me over – this the clean-up, might have had some trouble with further rebel- side is already done.” Just the sort of bravado a man could use to lions, but, once again, he ‘lucked out’, as his biggest potential rouse his troops – and Otto’s forces, as they rolled into Augsburg, rival, Conrad, had been killed in that very campaign. With Conrad were in particular need of rousing. out of the picture, Otto was free to consolidate his power and But even without the saint-cum-action-hero to invoke, the fix his ambitions upon a coronation in Rome. It helped that the reduced numbers and diminished battle readiness of Otto’s current Pope, John XII, was a dissolute lush who had managed forces at Lechfeld each proved oddly fortunate for the future to enrage so many of his previous supporters that he had no emperor. Revolting Slavs on the western front had kept most choice but to throw his lot in with Otto to survive, granting him of Otto’s loyal Saxon forces from accompanying him to face the the throne of ancient Rome and inaugurating the Holy Roman Magyar invaders, forcing him to rely on a mixed collection of Empire. impressed divisions composed of Bavarians, Swabians, Franks, Rewind history, run it back one hundred times, and Otto Thuringians, and Bohemians. Once the were sent would probably come out on top only once, without that lucky packing, Otto would later argue that they might as well just go confluence of breaks that all went exactly the way he needed ahead and crown him emperor, as he had already united the them to go. different peoples of Germany on the battlefield, proving that his authority extended beyond his close kinsmen. Carl Pyrdum’s column On the margins appears every two Of course, before he could brag, he still had to send those months in each issue of Medieval Warfare magazine. Hungarians packing. At that, Otto largely succeeded, precisely He also maintains a blog, Got Medieval, at because his kingdom was already so beleaguered when the www.gotmedieval.com.

Themes and deadlines

The upcoming themes are as follows:

- II.5: Turmoil in Northern : The War of the League of If you have a proposal that fits our themes, you are welcome to Cambrai (1508-1516) – published end of September 2012. send it to [email protected], along with your ideas - II.6: The Byzantine Empire strikes back: Basil II against the for illustrations, artwork and pictures, and a note of your quali- Fatimids – published end of November 2012. fications. We can then discuss the possibility of publishing an - III.1: The Hundred Years War in Spain: The War of the Two article in an upcoming issue of Medieval Warfare. Do make sure Peters – proposal deadline August 15, 2012. to send the proposal before the deadlines listed above. - III.2: The clergy at war: Warrior bishops – proposal deadline October 15, 2012.

4 Medieval Warfare II-4

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