Era II · 476 to 1500
The Middle Ages
From the Gothic wars of the sixth century to Bosworth Field in 1485, medieval battles were fought by armored knights, longbowmen, steppe horse archers and the armies of great empires. Byzantium, the crusaders, the Mongols and the kingdoms of Europe all left their mark on these fields.
61 battles · 17 commanders
Image: Battle of Grunwald, Jan Matejko, 1878, National Museum in Warsaw. Public domain.
Where the battles were fought
Every battle of the era with a story in the Field Dispatch. Tap a dot to read it.
Europe in close-up
Not on the map: Battle of Civetot, Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa.
Basemap: Natural Earth, public domain. Modern coastlines.
The battles in order
- 552Battle of Taginae
In 552 the Byzantine general Narses defeated and killed the Ostrogothic king Totila at Taginae, the decisive battle of Justinian's reconquest of Italy.
- 627Battle of Nineveh
On 12 December 627 the emperor Heraclius destroyed a Sasanian Persian army near Nineveh, the decisive battle that ended the long Byzantine-Persian war.
- 636Battle of Yarmouk
In August 636 Khalid ibn al-Walid's Arab army destroyed the Byzantine field army at Yarmouk after six days, ending Roman rule in Syria. Map, numbers, date.
- 732Battle of Tours
In October 732 Charles Martel's Franks halted the Umayyad advance into Western Europe near Tours, one of the most cited turning points of the Middle Ages.
- 751Battle of Talas
The Abbasids, in July 751, after the Karluk Turks switched sides and hit the Tang rear, ending China's push west.
- 917Battle of Anchialus
On 20 August 917 Tsar Simeon of Bulgaria routed a Byzantine army at Anchialus on the Black Sea coast and cut it down as it fled.
- 937Battle of Brunanburh
In 937 Æthelstan crushed the kings of Dublin, Alba and Strathclyde at Brunanburh. Who fought, what the sources say, the Wirral debate and why it mattered.
- 955Battle of Lechfeld
On 10 August 955 Otto I routed the Magyar army besieging Augsburg. Who fought at the Lechfeld, why the raiders lost, and why Hungary remembers it differently.
- 1014Battle of Clontarf
On Good Friday 1014 Brian Boru's army beat a Norse-Gael and Leinster coalition at Clontarf, a victory won at the cost of the old High King's life.
- 1014Battle of Kleidion
On 29 July 1014 the emperor Basil II crushed the Bulgarian army at Kleidion, a victory whose terrible aftermath later earned him the name Bulgar-Slayer.
- 1066Battle of Hastings
William's Normans. How King Harold fell, the feigned retreats and why it changed England.
- 1066Battle of Stamford Bridge
England's King Harold crushed Harald Hardrada's Norwegian invasion at Stamford Bridge on 25 September 1066, days before William landed for Hastings.
- 1071Battle of Manzikert
Alp Arslan defeated and captured Emperor Romanos IV at Manzikert on 26 August 1071, opening Anatolia to the Turks. The betrayal, the losses, the terms.
- 1096Battle of Civetot
The People's Crusade marched toward Nicaea into a Seljuk ambush, and almost the whole army was killed or enslaved.
- 1136Battle of Crug Mawr
The princes of Gwynedd and Deheubarth crushed the Normans and Flemings at Cardigan. See how the Teifi bridge broke under them.
- 1139Battle of Ourique
Afonso Henriques defeats a Muslim army, and a later legend of Christ's appearance turns it into Portugal's founding myth.
- 1141Battle of Lincoln
Matilda's party won at Lincoln on 2 February 1141, and King Stephen, fighting on foot with sword and axe, surrendered. The castle trick and the sack.
- 1187Battle of Hattin
Saladin won at the Horns of Hattin on 4 July 1187, trapping a thirst-crippled Crusader army in Galilee. The march, the True Cross and Jerusalem's fall.
- 1187Siege of Jerusalem
How Saladin took the holy city and ended 88 years of crusader rule. Balian of Ibelin's defense, the ransom and the clemency.
- 1191Battle of Arsuf
Richard the Lionheart beat Saladin at Arsuf on 7 September 1191, holding his column under fire until the Hospitallers charged. Why it did not win the war.
- 1192Second Battle of Tarain
In 1192 Muhammad of Ghor defeated Prithviraj Chauhan at Tarain, a year after losing there, opening northern India to what became the Delhi Sultanate.
- 1212Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa
Castile, Aragon and Navarre won at Las Navas de Tolosa on 16 July 1212, storming the Almohad caliph's camp. Why the Almohads lost, the maps, the legends.
- 1241Battle of Legnica
At Legnica in 1241 a Mongol army destroyed a Polish-German force under Henry II the Pious, then turned south to join the main army in Hungary.
- 1241Battle of Mohi
Batu and Subutai's Mongols, by the Sajó in April 1241, destroying King Béla IV's army. How the bridge and the camp were lost.
- 1242Battle of the Ice
On 5 April 1242 Alexander Nevsky's Novgorodians defeated the Livonian Order on frozen Lake Peipus, halting the crusaders' push east.
- 1260Battle of Ain Jalut
Qutuz and Baibars routed a Mongol army under Kitbuqa, a defeat that halted the Mongol advance.
- 1265Battle of Evesham
Prince Edward's royal army won at Evesham on 4 August 1265, killing Simon de Montfort and perhaps 4,000 of his men. The trap, the banners, the aftermath.
- 1278Battle on the Marchfeld
Rudolf of Habsburg defeats King Ottokar II of Bohemia, who is killed after the battle.
- 1282Battle of Orewin Bridge
English troops broke the Welsh line near Builth and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd was killed. See how his death ended the principality.
- 1297Battle of Stirling Bridge
At Stirling Bridge in 1297 William Wallace and Andrew Moray destroyed an English army as it crossed a narrow bridge, the first great Scottish victory.
- 1298Battle of Falkirk
On 22 July 1298 Edward I broke William Wallace's schiltroms at Falkirk: why the Scots stood, how the archers won it, the cost, and where it was fought.
- 1314Battle of Bannockburn
At Bannockburn in 1314 Robert the Bruce's Scottish spearmen routed a much larger English army under Edward II and won Scotland de facto independence.
- 1331Battle of Płowce
On 27 September 1331 King Władysław the Elbow-high attacked part of a Teutonic army at Płowce, a hard fight that became a symbol of Polish resistance.
- 1346Battle of Crécy
On 26 August 1346 the English longbowmen of Edward III destroyed the flower of French chivalry at Crécy, opening a new age of infantry firepower.
- 1356Battle of Poitiers
England won at Poitiers on 19 September 1356, when the Black Prince's outnumbered army broke the French with the longbow and captured King John II.
- 1369Battle of Montiel
How Henry of Trastámara and Du Guesclin surprised Peter of Castile, and how the king died in a tent nine days later.
- 1371Battle of the Maritsa
An Ottoman night attack destroys the army of King Vukašin and Despot Uglješa and opens Macedonia.
- 1385Battle of Aljubarrota
A small army on foot, with English longbowmen, destroyed a far larger Castilian invasion and kept its crown.
- 1389Battle of Kosovo
Prince Lazar and Sultan Murad I both died; the Ottomans held the field. How the battle became Serbia’s founding myth.
- 1395Battle of Rovine
Mircea the Elder of Wallachia fights Sultan Bayezid I, and even the date and winner are disputed.
- 1396Battle of Nicopolis
Bayezid I's Ottomans, on 25 September 1396, destroying King Sigismund's crusader army. Why the knights' uphill charge failed.
- 1402Battle of Bryn Glas
Owain Glyndŵr's rebels routed an English army near Pilleth and took Sir Edmund Mortimer. See why his own archers changed sides.
- 1403Battle of Shrewsbury
On 21 July 1403 Henry IV beat Hotspur's rebels near Shrewsbury: why the Percys rose, the archery duel, Hotspur's death, Prince Hal's wound, the cost.
- 1410Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg)
On 15 July 1410 Poland and Lithuania under Jagiełło and Vytautas destroyed the Teutonic Knights at Grunwald, one of medieval Europe's largest battles.
- 1415Battle of Agincourt
England won at Agincourt on 25 October 1415, when Henry V's outnumbered longbowmen cut down the French knights in the mud. The odds, losses and legend.
- 1422Battle of Německý Brod
How the blind Hussite general Jan Žižka broke out at Kutná Hora and chased King Sigismund's crusaders across the ice.
- 1424Battle of Verneuil
Bedford beat a larger French and Scottish army, and Douglas and Buchan died. Why the Scots got no quarter.
- 1444Battle of Varna
Murad II's Ottomans crushed the crusade of Władysław III and John Hunyadi. Armies, the king's fatal charge, losses and legacy.
- 1453Fall of Constantinople
Giant guns, ships hauled overland into the Golden Horn, a dawn assault. With maps.
- 1456Siege of Belgrade
Hunyadi breaks the Danube blockade, Capistrano's crusaders charge, and a wounded Mehmed II retreats.
- 1459Rout of Ludford Bridge
The Lancastrians won at Ludford Bridge without a battle: on 12 October 1459 Trollope's Calais men went over to Henry VI and the Yorkist lords fled.
- 1461Battle of Mortimer's Cross
Edward of March routed Jasper Tudor's army from Wales and became Edward IV. See what the sky really showed.
- 1461Battle of Towton
How Edward IV beat the Lancastrians in a snowstorm, why the 28,000 dead are disputed, and what the mass grave revealed.
- 1471Battle of Barnet
On Easter Day 1471 Edward IV beat Warwick the Kingmaker in thick fog north of Barnet: why they fought, the star and sun mix-up, Warwick's death and the cost.
- 1471Battle of Brunkeberg
Sten Sture the Elder defeats King Christian I on a ridge in what is now central Stockholm and keeps power in Sweden.
- 1471Battle of Tewkesbury
Edward IV catches Queen Margaret's army at the Severn, Somerset's flank attack fails and the Lancastrian Prince of Wales is killed.
- 1474Battle of Héricourt
The Swiss and their allies beat a Burgundian relief army of about 12,000 at Héricourt on 13 November 1474, opening the wars that ended Charles the Bold.
- 1476Battle of Valea Albă
Sultan Mehmed II storms Stephen the Great's fortified camp in Moldavia but cannot conquer the country.
- 1485Battle of Bosworth Field
On 22 August 1485 Richard III was killed at Bosworth, the last English king to die in battle, and Henry Tudor took the crown to found the Tudor dynasty.
- 1493Battle of Krbava Field
On 9 September 1493 Ban Emerik Derenčin led a Croatian army into the open on Krbava Field and was destroyed by the Ottomans. Course, losses and memory.
- 1495Battle of Fornovo
Charles VIII of France fights his way past the army of the League of Venice on the Taro and escapes from Italy.
Wars and nations
Wars of this era
Each war told in full: its causes, its course and all its battles in the Field Dispatch.
Nations
Countries and peoples that fought the battles of this era, by number of battles. Each page tells that country's military history across every era.
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