Feudal Castilian, Leonese or Portuguese
Historical Overview Section
1037-1350
Castile and Leon were briefly united after Ferdinand, Count of Castile beat Vermudo III, King of León at the Battle of Tamarón in September 1037. As a result, Ferdinand succeeded Vermudo on the thrones. According to tradition, Ferdinand was the first to have himself crowned Emperor of Spain (1056), and his heirs carried on the tradition.
Stuff then got busy and messy - in 1054 Ferdinand defeated his elder brother GarcÃa at the Battle of Atapuerca and reduced Navarre to a vassal state under his late brother's young son, Sancho GarcÃa IV. Over the next decade, he gradually extended his control over more of the western territory of Navarre at the expense of Sancho IV, although this was accomplished peacefully and is only detectable in the documentary record. In 1060, according to the Historia silense, Ferdinand invaded the taifa of Zaragoza, and The Taifa Andalusian emir, up until then paying tribute to Sancho IV of Navarre, submitted to Ferdinand and agreed to pay parias. Although probably originally meant to be temporary, Ferdinand managed to enforce the tribute until his death. Ferdinand the turned his attention to Yahya ibn Ismail al-Mamun, Taifa Andalusian emir of Toledo and invaded then in 1062, again forcing them to pay a tribute. In 1063, using the new income from these tributes (or parias) Ferdinand organised a "great raid, or razzia" into the Taifa Andalusian states of Seville and Badajoz. In 1065, Ferdinand embarked on his last military campaign. He invaded the Taifa Andalusian state of Valencia and got as far as the vicinity of the city itself, where he defeated the emir Abd al-Malik al-Muzaffar late in the autumn. The Taifa Andalusian emir's father-in-law, al-Mamun of Toledo, seized control of Valencia, and the frightened emir of Zaragoza renewed his tribute payments to León. Ferdinand fell ill in November and returned to his kingdom.
By his will, Ferdinand divided his kingdom between his three sons: the eldest, Sancho, received Castile; the second, Alfonso, León; and from the latter the region of Galicia was carved off to create a separate state for GarcÃa. Ferdinand's two daughters each received cities: Elvira that of Toro and Urraca that of Zamora. In giving them these territories, he expressed his desire that they respect his wishes and abide by the split. However, soon after Fernando's death, Sancho and Alfonso turned on GarcÃa, and defeating him. They then fought each other, the victorious Sancho reuniting their father's possessions under his control in 1072. However, Sancho was assassinated (oops!) that same year and the territories passed to Alfonso. Alfonso drew his kingdom nearer to the Papacy, a move which brought French crusaders to aid him in the reconquest, although he was also open to Arabic influence, protecting the Taifa Andalusian Muslims among his subjects and struck coins with inscriptions in Arabic letters. He also admitted to his court and to his bed the refugee Muslim princess Zaida of Seville (saucy!).
Alfonso's designated successor, his son Sancho, was slain after being routed at the Battle of Uclés in 1108 between the Christian forces of Castile and León under Alfonso VI and the forces of the Muslim Andalusian Almoravids under Tamim ibn-Yusuf, leading to his sister marrying Alfonso I (1073/1074), called the Battler or the Warrior (Spanish: el Batallador), who ended up as king of Aragon and Navarre from 1104 until his death in 1134. Alfonso was basically up for a bit of a ruck whenever he got the chance, and fought twenty-nine battles against both Christians and Moors. eing a much better soldier than any of his opponents he won the Battle of Candespina and the Battle of Viadangos, but his only trustworthy supporters were his Feudal Navarrese and Aragonese Aragonese, who were not numerous enough to keep Castile and León subjugated. In 1122 he founded a confraternity of knights to fight against the Andalusian Almoravids - the start of the military orders in Aragon.
In 1118 the Council of Toulouse (a religious body, not the local government organisation responsible for street cleaning and installing directional signage around the local area to aid tourists in finding the local hotels and tourist attractions) declared a crusade to assist in the reconquest of Zaragoza. Many Frenchmen consequently joined Alfonso at Ayerbe. They took Almudévar, Gurrea de Gállego, and Zuera, besieging Zaragoza itself by the end of May. The city fell on 18 December, and the forces of Alfonso occupied the Azuda, the government tower. The great palace of the city was given to the monks of Bernard. Promptly, the city was made Alfonso's capital. Two years later, in 1120, he defeated a Muslim army intent on reconquering his new capital at the Battle of Cutanda. In 1119, he retook Cervera, Tudejen, Castellón, Tarazona, Ãgreda, Magallón, Borja, Alagón, Novillas, Mallén, Rueda, Épila and repopulated the region of Soria. He began the siege of Calatayud, but left to defeat the army at Cutanda trying to retake Zaragoza. When Calatayud fell, he took Bubierca, Alhama de Aragón, Ariza, and Daroca (1120). In 1123, he besieged and took Lleida. Basically he was everywhere - and as a result he was the first person ever to attain double-gold status on the domestic airlines loyalty scheme.
His succession was a dogs breakfast and ended up as a major reshuffle of the peninsula's kingdoms: the separation of Aragon and Navarre, the union of Aragon and Catalonia and the affirmation of 'Castilian hegemony' in Spain. The next big King was again an Alfonso - this time, VI. He also kicked off against the Andalusians, as did a couple of Ferdinands, the odd Sancho and even more Alonso's after him. And then it was 1350 !
Using the army in FoG
- Knights - don't bother with ordinary ones, always go Superior.
- There are a reasonable number of LH here - but take the javelin armed ones in 6's if you can as then they have more durability in combat against the inevitable sword armed (ie better) opponents they will face.
- The Military Order foot are almost too few to be worthwhile, as the in-list foot are a bit limited being Def spearmen and not armoured. So, whilst you can get some half decent Military Order spear, you don't get much more to support them with.
- Perhaps better to just go with Knights, LH and LF ?
Tournament Results with this army
Have a look for them on the Official FoG Database on the FoG site
Useful Links
User-contributed links about this army:
- Fanaticus history a more potted history of Feudal Spain
- Some nice Feudal Spanish troops on the SOA site
- put the link text readers will see in here write some more detail about the link here
Allies
Put information on allied contingents here - including recommendations on which to use, and why.
Painting and Collecting the Army
- Paint schemes, insignia, shield designs? Put it here.
15mm Manufacturers supplying figures for this army
Quite a long period this one, from 1027 to 1230. This listing focuses on Norman-style knights and infantry. You can see some of the figures in the Ancients Photo Gallery also on this site. You can also use loads of Arab troops too for the poor infantry.
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- Essex Miniatures Slightly small compared to some other manufacturers for their Normans
- Donnington - 13 Normans
- Gladiator Miniatures by Fighting 15's (Gladiator Games) - extensive Norman & similar era ranges
- Old Glory 7 Norman figure codes, Spanish Norman range
- Museum Small number of figures in a Norman range
- Minifigs UK Dark Ages & Norman Range, Medieval Spanish range
- Irregular Minis Norman mounted are one piece castings - also have Medieval Spanish
- Lancashire Games 8 Normans
- QRF models (Feudal Castings & Friekorps ranges) Anglo Normans from feudal castings - separate arms for multipose lancers
- Alan Touller Some in their Byzantine range
- Tin Soldier 9 Normans
- 2 Dragons Tremendous variety of Carolingians & Normans
- Isarus (more former TTG figures) 6 cavalry, 8 foot
- Khurasan New Norman range, looks pretty good
- Viking Forge
- Battle Line (NZ) former TTG Ranges - as above
Army Lists
Sample army lists for this army
Name of Army / Date
- Using asterisks inthe edit mode creates a bulleted list in the actual site
- This is a lot easier to do than easier than setting up tables
- For FoG I suggest listing your army in order or march
- with troop desctiptions on each line, for example
- 4 HF Armoured Average Drilled Impact Foot Swordsmen
- 8 LG Undrilled Unarmoured Poor Bowen
- Dont forget to include your Generals !!!
Include any notes you want here, including comments on how to use - or play against - the army.
Remember to leave a line before you copy the above section as a template for your own list
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