Miliman's military orders

[kuauik]

I would think Order of Santiago could use some work in. Give Spain some more love!

thats a must

[miliman]

Order of santiago

Where: The order of santiago was the largest of the spanish orders. They had huge possesions in spain and potugal with over 80 commanderies hundreds of villages and even two cities in thier possesion. Their main base was ofcourse in Santiago where their origional task was to protect the pilgrims on the road to Santiago. But during the reconquista they increased their property by capturing moorish settlements and some christian kings granted them border castled for their bravery and valiance during the war against the moors but they also fought wars against fellow christian states and military orders.

How many?: The order could field about four to fivehundred knights and a few thousand of infantry and light cavalry also mercenaries of spanish kingdoms would be used when the order picked a side at one of the many local conflicts.

Warriors: The knights were armoured in standard european way clad in mail with plate cuirases and a white surcoat featuring the red dagger-cross emblem of the order. Weaponry would vary but mainly it would consist outof a sword or mace, a lance and a wooden shield.
The orders sergents would be clad in mail or just in leather armour and would furfill almost all combat roles depending on the different units ofcourse. Crossbows werent as widely used in these parts, the bows usually used were of a more arrabic kind. Spearthrowers were also used alot more here then in most other western european countries something that is probably because of the past arab presence in these parts.

[Ith]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Orders will only be represented by the player from their manor. So including the minor Orders which could only field a few dozen knights would still be fine from a historical standpoint, as these knights would only be in the player's army (or garrisons), and not spread throughout Europe as a major power, more as a supplement to the player's standing army.

Theoretically the player could just hire and train a few hundred knights of the obscure order if he wanted to, but that's breaking the course of history no more than the option to also create your own kingdom/conquering North Africa as a vassal of Scotland/Lithuania sacking London/etc. (i.e. a player-made discrepency)

[DrTomas]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Orders will only be represented by the player from their manor. So including the minor Orders which could only field a few dozen knights would still be fine from a historical standpoint, as these knights would only be in the player's army (or garrisons), and not spread throughout Europe as a major power, more as a supplement to the player's standing army.

Yeah, however including every single small order seems like a pain in the but. My sketch(which I did not finish) to enact an order in a player monestry was to talk to the grandmaster of the orders and ask if he would want to do something like that(which he would if you would donate some coins). But I'm thinking of doing a bit diffrent aproach now having monestries as a seperate upgradable manor, something like a lesser version of the players manor. But that's still just in thinking stage.

[miliman]

DrThomas could you give me any feedback on my work up and until now so I know whether I have to change something or not and maybe you have some extra points that you want me to research.

[DrTomas]

So far so good - keep it up! 

[miliman]

Here's the next order.

The order of calatrava

where: Mainly at the borders of the kingdom of castille, there they had castles they had been granted by the kings of castille for their fierce and brave fighting against the moors. Their headquaters were in the city of calatrava. They had large possesions all over the spanish peninsula and all across spain and portugal they had commanderies and chapter houses. They also had a headquater near Acre for their conquest against the saracens in the holyland.

How many?: Calatrava had developed abundant resources of men and wealth, with lands and castles scattered along the borders of Castile. It exercised feudal lordship over thousands of peasants and vassals. Thus, more than once, we see the order bringing to the field, as its individual contributions, 1200 to 2000 knights, sergents and man at arms (who fought as knights but are non), a considerable force in the Middle Ages. But this could only be doen when they riskt full war and noone was left in their castles. Just as the other orders they also used native mercenaries during their campaigns.

Warriors: Just as the other spanish orders the knights were armoured in standard european way clad in mail with plate cuirases and a white surcoat featuring the red cross emblem of the order. Weaponry would vary but mainly it would consist outof a sword or mace, a lance and a wooden shield.
The orders sergents would be clad in mail or just in leather armour and would furfill almost all combat roles depending on the different units ofcourse. Crossbows werent as widely used in these parts, the bows usually used were of a more arrabic kind. Spearthrowers were also used alot more here then in most other western european countries something that is probably because of the past arab presence in these parts. Loan-troops from  neighboring countries would bear their own coat of arms depending on the kingdom they came from.

[miliman]

Is there anyone who can help me with the knights of the holy sepulcher because all I can find about them is that they had considerable political power but I can find almost nothing about their military power. The only thing I could find was that they had knights but I can find anything about them or about batles they were involved in. If nobody can help me then I am afraid that I will have to skip them. 

[kuauik]

Is there anyone who can help me with the knights of the holy sepulcher because all I can find about them is that they had considerable political power but I can find almost nothing about their military power. The only thing I could find was that they had knights but I can find anything about them or about batles they were involved in. If nobody can help me then I am afraid that I will have to skip them. 

because Knight of holy sepulchre  was like title of honor,it was an order,but more like a fellowship ,they are not mentioned participating in any battle

[miliman]

Well never mind about them then
Here's the next order

The knights of saint thomas of acre

Where? Their headquaters were in acre where they had a commandery and a hospital. But because this order is origionally english most of their monestaries and other possesions were in england wales and ireland. The largest part of their recruits and knights also came from the british Iles. Thei possesions in the holyland were quite small, apart from their possesions in the city of acre they also owned some farms to supply food for the knights and a monestary in the fields surrounding acre.

How many?: The order was quite small, in the holyland they had about a hundred of knight and two to three times as much sergents and archers. In thw British Iles they had about fifty knights who governed their possesions and were resposible for the recruitment and training of new recruits and knights. Just as with the other orders a lot of monks that were also member lived in the orders monestaries. This order also contained a certain number of officials. This is because even before the order was militerised it was involved in the paying of ransoms for captured christian knights, soldiers and pilgrims and it continued this work after their militarisation though at a lesser scale.

Warriors: The knights of this order were armed as normal english knights, with chainmail, platecoats, and great helmets. They were armed with lances, swords and battle axes, some knights also carried bows or small types of crossbows. Yes, they used bows and that wasnt really strange. Bows and crossbows were used by knights during these times of the middle age on a much lager scale then generally thought. Their sergents were armed as english soldiers, wearing chainmail and helmets and carriing spears and low to moderate quality swords or daggers. The order also used welsh mercenary bowmen on a regular scale which they have used a few times quite effectively in small batles against the arabs.

[miliman]

Here's the last order of my small list.

The Livonian knights

Where: After being defeated by the Samogitans (a pagan people that lived in modern day lituania and Latvia) the order of the sword had been decimated. The remaimder of the order joined the teutonic order as an autonomous branch. They could keep their own grandmaster, who was only outranked by the grandmaster of the teutonic order, and they kept their own territories, that in 1257 included almost whole of Latvia and the largest part of southern estonia. Their headquaters were at the castle of Cesis (which is in present day latvia) and from there they coordinated their attacks on the lituanians and the novgorodian republic. This wasnt their only castle because just as the teutons they forced the local population of newly conquered areas to build castles for them that they used to protect their territories.

How many?: With about half the strength of the teutonic order they were a consirable force in the area. They had about and around 300 knights and a few thousand of the usual ground troops and mercenaries. About the mercenaries: It was not uncommon in these parts for the military orders to hire pagan mercenaries and together with fight other pagan tribes. A strange idea to fight for christ against the pagans together with your own group of pagans, but then you often saw that these troops were used as akind of meatshield and most of them wouldnt usually sirvive the battle.

Warriors: The knights riding into battle and wanting to avange their fallen comrades in the large defeates of the past decades, they wore heavy chainmail with ofcourse their own coat of arms and helmets They wielded maces,swords, pances and battleaxes were feared by many pagan tribes for their fierce fighting. Their foot soldiers were also clad in mail and used swords and pikes to fights their enemies. They also used the famed teutonic crossbows that served them well in keeping the enemy horsearchers at bay. The equipment of the mercenaries varied, depending on the tribe or country they were from so I cant give you a general idea about that.

Well DrThomas this was my last summary of a military order. Do you maybe have a next task for me to do for example finding more info about a certain aspect of the orders or finding images? Because Im a large " fan " of the middle ages a I have information about almost every aspect of them. Well you do please tell me. Furthermore, I also had a question myself: What are the ranks underneath your username and how can you increase them?
Please let me know if there is anything to do for me

Miliman

[miliman]

DrThomas have you read my last post?
I also had a suggestion to make. Would you like it if I also do the Islamic order of the assassins or Hashashin as they were called in those days because maybe it would be nice to also have an Islamic order.

[DrTomas]

Good work - this will be quite useful. I can't think of anything more for you to do.

I also had a suggestion to make. Would you like it if I also do the Islamic order of the assassins or Hashashin as they were called in those days because maybe it would be nice to also have an Islamic order.

I really doubt were going to implant Assassins/Hashashins and things like that.

[Joker86]

I really doubt were going to implant Assassins/Hashashins and things like that.

Why is that?

In my opinion you would skip quite an interesting aspect of the game. Although it is a battle game of course, I think religion, economics and hence assassinations would represent additional measures to defeat an enemy faction.

[DrTomas]

Why is that?

"because we are not paid to do so" (c) kuauik
 

I should start using that quite more often actualy