Field of Blood

 

Speaking of Accidental Pirates, I was on The Spaceman and the Hafling podcast/show Saturday. We recorded yesterday; the show should go up on youtube in a couple weeks. Naturally, I will post a link when I get it.

I finished reading Sharpe's Sword. The end made up for the slow middle. The end reflects the ending of the first book in the series with the hero slaying and taking the overalls of the French Imperial Guard cavalry colonel. -- Foreshadowing Sharpe fighting at Waterloo as a colonel? I don't know. I can't remember if he was a colonel at Waterloo, but I think he was. I used to have a very nice matched set of the original series but parted with them during one of our moves when I thought I would never read them again--that was 20 years ago. Now I read them in ebook if I find one that's an exceptionally good price and I feel the yearn to revisit Sharpe and the light company.

Fun Fact History:

During the summer of 1111, a Muslim coalition under Mawdud, atabeg of Mosul, laid siege to Turbessel near Edessa and forced the crusader leader there, Joscelin of Courtney, to pay tribute. The following year, King Baldwin failed in besieging Tyre after the siege machines were burned and a relief army threatened. The next year, 1113, Mawdud and Tughtakin briefly captured Baldwin. The crusader king escaped, and in October, Mawdud was assassinated by one of the Nizari Ismaili sect--also known as the Hashashin. In fighting among the Muslim leaders prevented organized action against the crusaders for a few years. 

Ilghazi ibn Artuk commanded an army of Turcoman warriors and controlled the fortress town of Mardin, between Aleppo and Mosul. Aleppo and Edessa bordered his region of influence. Roger of Salerno was the regent of Antioch on behalf of the 11 year old Bohemund II. Battles for succession in Constantinople left Roger free of potential hindrance from the west. He seized the opportunity to take control of Aleppo's satellite castles. The citizenry made pleas to Ilghazi for help against the invader. Ilghazi, with his father-in-law, Tughtatin of Damascus, began assembling a huge army.

Roger's fb page began to fill with warnings of the massive hostile build up and he responded with #livingmybestlife and began raising his own army. His force even included Armenian mercenaries and light cavalry from Northern Syria and Asia Minor. 

On June 28, 1119, Ilghazi posted #lightyouup and attacked at a location that became know as Ager Sanguinis: Field of Blood. He triumphed after a battle of only an hour, in which Roger suffered a sword thrust through the nose and into his brain. Having left his Excedrin behind, he expired with a splitting headache. One chronicler reported that the Christians who were not flayed or beheaded on the spot were chained like dogs and led away. Many of those lucky prisoners were tortured the next day and slain, while others were taken to Damascus for ransom, death, or slavery. Ilghazi had destroyed Antioch's regent, army, and regional dominance in a single battle.

The above is summarized from Crusaders by Dan Jones.

Wikipedia indicates that Roger had camped in the pass of Sarmada at a wooded valley with steep sides and few avenues of escape; Ilghazi surrounded him during the night.  Roger's 700 knights, 500 light cavalry, and 3,000 infantry assembled in a V formation and initially prevailed in an archery duel and attacked on their right. However, the crusader left collapsed under an aggressive attack, confusing the rest of the force at the same time a dust storm blinded them. The slaughter followed.