|
I was also wondering about those 8 or so St.
Clairs that were along on the invasion. I suppose some of them are not
recognizable to us because they might be now called something else like
William's 1/2 brother Odo has the French spelling of Eveque de Bayeaux
Eude.
A little Trivia from
"Massacre at Montsegur" by Zoe´ Oldenbourg. pg 104: The
vagueness which most chroniclers of the period (1109) display with regard to the
effective strangth of this (this was a full-fledged Crusade against the Cathars
in southern France) or any army is due to the fact that for the most part they
calculated an army's size from the number of knights it contained. But a
knight was somewhat unpredictable as a unit of military strength: the
retinue which followed him might be anything between four men and thirty.
Every knight was accompanied by a small troop of foot-soldiers and cavalry,
generally drawn from among his friends and relations, and always vassals whose
loyalty was tried and certain. These men fought at their lord's side in
battle, squires and sergeants alike; and though in the 12th century notions of
military discipline were somewhat rudimentary, there was a military camaraderie
between a knight and his followers which still preserved an almost mystical
quality about it. Many men who remained totally indifferent to the cause
which they were defending accomplished prodigies of bravery simply to maintain
the reputation of that particular seigneur (liege lord) they happed to be
liegemen to. The knights, then, formed a military "corps
d'elite" in every army; and for this reason an army's strength was judged
by the number no less than the mettle of its knights."
Does this remind us of what was said in the second part of the
PBS Bagpipe show that told about the Scottish units being made up of related
clan members that fought so bravely together following their piper into
anything. The knight was sort of the bagpiper of that era. HA How's
that for stretching things?
Laurel
Portland, OR
l
Message-----
From: Donald Sinclair <dmsin@mpx.com.au> To: Sinclair Mailing List <sinclair@zilker.net> Date: Monday, January 18, 1999 12:03 AM Subject: 1066 website
|