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.
45 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 army destroyed the Byzantine field army at the Yarmouk, ending Roman rule in Syria and opening the Muslim conquests.
- 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 annihilated a Byzantine army at Anchialus, one of the bloodiest and most disastrous defeats in Byzantine history.
- 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
On 26 August 1071 the Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan defeated and captured Emperor Romanos IV at Manzikert, opening Anatolia to the Turks and dooming Byzantium.
- 1096Battle of Civetot
The People's Crusade marched toward Nicaea into a Seljuk ambush, and almost the whole army was killed or enslaved.
- 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
A castle seized by trickery, a swim across a flooded river and a king who fought on foot with an axe until he was captured.
- 1187Battle of Hattin
Saladin trapped and destroyed the army of the Crusader states in the hills of Galilee and opened the road to Jerusalem.
- 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
On 16 July 1212 three Christian kings broke the Almohad caliph's army below the Sierra Morena: the armies, the legends, both sides and the aftermath.
- 1241Battle of Legnica
At Legnica in 1241 a Mongol army destroyed a Polish-German force under Henry II the Pious, the westernmost Mongol victory in Europe.
- 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 traps and kills Simon de Montfort on Greenhill and ends the baronial revolt against Henry III.
- 1278Battle on the Marchfeld
Rudolf of Habsburg defeats King Ottokar II of Bohemia, who is killed after the battle.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
How a small, sick English army and its longbows destroyed a much larger French force in the mud of northern France.
- 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's English army destroys the Dauphin's Franco-Scottish army, and the Army of Scotland in France is wiped out.
- 1453Fall of Constantinople
On 29 May 1453 Sultan Mehmed II's Ottomans stormed Constantinople after a 53-day siege, killing the last emperor and ending the Byzantine Empire.
- 1459Rout of Ludford Bridge
Facing Henry VI below Ludlow, the Yorkists lose Trollope's Calais veterans overnight and their leaders flee.
- 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
How the Swiss and their allies beat a Burgundian relief army and opened the war on 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.
Test yourself
This era in the app
Echoes of Battle tells the battles of this era scene by scene, from every side, with a map and a quiz. The app is in closed testing: enlist below and we will send word to your inbox the day it launches.