VOL V, ISSUE 5 OM // KArwANSArAy PUbLIShErS KArwANSArAy OM // .c www.MEdIEVAL-wArfArE NOV / DEC 2015 US/CN $10.99 €7,50 05 fighting on the 3 high seas Naval warfare in the Middle Ages 25274 80639 7 Theme - The VicTual BroThers // roger of lauria saVes malTa // raid on Thessalonica specials - roBerT The Bruce’s ploT againsT The english queen // The firsT firearms mw_5-5.indd 1 17/09/15 18:24 mw_5-5.indd 2 17/09/15 18:24 mwMEDIEVAL WARFARE Publisher: Rolof van Hövell tot Westerflier Managing director: Jasper Oorthuys Editor: Erin van der Pijl Proofreaders: Christy Beall and Marc DeSantis Design & Media: Christy Beall Design © 2013 Karwansaray Publishers Contributors: Erich B. Anderson, Arnold Blumberg, theMe: Naval warfare and piracy in the middle ages Ian Brandt, Scott Forbes Crawford, Ronald Delval, Filippo Donvito, Robert Holmes, Sean McGlynn, The medieval era is not usually known for its naval battles, but the Vikings, Lucas McMahon, Alex Querengasser, Paul Walsh, William E. Welsh, Thomas Williams Byzantines and many others showed the value of taking to the waves. Illustrators: Shen Fei, Luke Forwoodson, Carlos García, Julia Lillo, Mirco Paganessi, Giuseppe Rava, Fabrice Weiss 6 Yesterday pirate, today privateer 24 aragon’s naval hero Print: Grafi Advies Historical introduction Roger of Lauria’s victory at Malta Editorial oce iron-studded dragons 29 Besieging an island-city PO Box 4082, 7200 BB Zutphen, The Netherlands 8 Phone: +31-575-776076 (NL), +44-20-8816281 The viking war-ship The Viking siege of Paris, 885-886 (Europe), +1-740-994-0091 (US) E-mail: [email protected] 13 The Victual Brothers 36 floating citadels Customer service: [email protected] Website: www.medieval-warfare.com God’s friends and the world’s enemies Medieval ship castles Contributions in the form of articles, letters, re- 18 The hand on the rudder 38 smoke on the water views, news and queries are welcomed. Please Murtaugh ‘The great’ and Irish naval power The Emirate of Crete send to the above address or use the contact form on www.medieval-warfare.com. Subscriptions etures Subscriptions can be purchased at www.kp-shop.com, via phone or by email. For the address, see above. 44 To catch a queen 49 The first firearms Distribution The Battle of Myton Handgonnes & hand cannons Medieval Warfare is sold through retailers, the in- ternet and by subscription. If you wish to become a sales outlet, please contact us at service@karwan- saraypublishers.com Departents Copyright Karwansaray B.V. All rights reserved. 4 news & letters 58 on the cover Nothing in this publication may be reproduced Opinions and recent developments Storming the walls of Constantinople in any form without prior written consent of the publishers. Any individual providing material for publication must ensure that the correct permis- 53 reviews sions have been obtained before submission to us. Books, games and media Every e§ort has been made to trace copyright hold- ers, 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. 14 38 49 Articles and the opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the editor and/ or publishers. Advertising in Medieval Warfare does not necessarily imply endorsement. 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. Brother pirate they caMe froM crete guns and glory Starting in the late 14th century, In the late 9th century, the island Unlike in later periods, early the Victual Brothers terrorized of Crete became the base for handguns were primarily used Northern European shipping. raids on the Byzantine Empire. in siege warfare. Medieval warfare V-5 3 mw_5-5.indd 3 17/09/15 18:24 News & letters News & Leers There’s something in the water Is it a bird? Is it an airplane? No, it is the newest Crabbe, for instance, used to be a pirate but issue of Medieval Warfare. I have been editor of was granted pardon to fight during the Hundred this magazine for two months now, and I’m fi- Years War. Sometimes you have to break the law nally starting getting used to the daily grind. After in order to do good, or in this case: get food. all, I have done most of the work at least once But the most famous medieval sea raiders and that helps a lot. However, it didn’t go entirely were, and still are, the Vikings. With their unex- smoothly, nor without me doubting everything pected raids and longships, they were famous bar- would be done on time. Well, if you’re reading barians then, and of course they still very much this, that means the magazine is out and it ended exist in today’s popular culture with the TV-show up being fine, but it didn’t go quite as planned. ‘Vikings’ and numerous films, games and (comic) © Ruben Meuwese But the show must go on and, ultimately, the books. In this issue, they show up in Filippo Don- magazine has to go to the printers. So you stop vito’s article on the siege of Paris and in an article complaining and start working to make it happen. about their famous ships written by Thomas Wil- This doesn’t mean that I want to quit or liams. In Paul Walsh’s article about the Irish king don’t appreciate your emails and posts on Fa- Murtaugh the Great, they have an important part cebook with your reactions. I love reading your to play as well. But in the end even they weren’t suggestions and ideas for the next themes and just raiders who showed up, pillaged, destroyed I’m looking forward to see which ones will end and left again. They settled down, at first only dur- up becoming the themes of next year. But that ing the winter but later permanently, and founded is all in the future. This issue features no air- famous cities such as Dublin and Cork. The Vi- planes and maybe a only few birds, but it defi- kings didn’t just destroy, they were creators too. nitely has a lot of ships in store, as the theme is So not everything is what it seems on the ‘Naval Warfare and Piracy’. These are two phe- surface and people may always surprise you. This nomena that neither live with nor without each doesn’t only apply to modern times, but to medi- other throughout the Middle Ages. eval history as well. The latter wasn’t always what As you’ll read in the historical introduction it seems on the surface, but contains a lot of inter- written by Scott Crawford, the perceived gap esting surprises when you dig a little deeper. between these two concepts was minimal. Pi- rates could be, or were, soldiers and the other — Erin van der Pijl way around. The article’s main character, John Editor, Medieval Warfare Vikings - in it for more than just the money On January 6, 793, the monastery on the island glory were also important reasons for travel- of Lindisfarne, o§ the east coast of England, ling long distances to attack faraway lands. was raided by the Vikings – the first recorded In his article, ‘What really caused the Vi- attack by the Norse on the British Isles. The king Age? The social content of raiding and Vikings killed many of the monks, enslaved exploration’, Steven P. Ashby, a medieval others, and looted their religious relics. archaeologist and lecturer at the University Historians have put forward many ideas of Cambridge, outlines the many factors that on why the Vikings began raiding throughout would have prompted Norsemen – both the Western Europe in the late eighth-century, in- elites and the regular men – to conduct their cluding a reaction against encroaching Chris- raids across Europe. He believes that while tianity, a desire for land overseas, or just to economic reasons were important, “one must make money in order to pay for the cost of consider the possibility that the rationale was marrying women back at home. While mak- the desire not for wealth that was falling into ing a fortune was certainly a factor for the short supply in Scandinavia, but rather for a Vikings, one historian suggests that fame and form of wealth or prestige that had not been – 4 Medieval warfare V-5 mw_5-5.indd 4 17/09/15 18:24.