We want to entertain people with history which is visually pleasing, grounded in scholarship, and properly researched at the same time.
Our golden rules:
1) We only use academic sources and always try to stick to the consensus opinion.
2) We always list our sources in description of our videos.
3) We make clear when we deviate from the prior two rules.
Education: Between the two of us we hold two Master's degrees in history from the university of Bern, Switzerland and one degree as a history teacher from the Bern University of Teacher Education. Both of us worked at the University of Bern as teaching assistants.
We wrote an article about our experience as content creators which was published in a collective volume edited by Dr. Kilian Baur and Robert Trautmannsberger: www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110792898-005/html
We also held a few talks about our journey on KZread at the universities of Eichstätt (Germany), Fribourg and Zürich (Switzerland).
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Then during the siege, a mysterious flying object from the year 1969 AD appeared out of nowhere. The soldiers mistook it for a dragon and attempted to shoot it down.
Firearms were more cheaper to make.
your subtitles do not match the video. seems like you uploaded a draft script to the subtitles and your final script trims down some info
Older video, so I don't hold this against you, but just in case no one else has mentioned it: at 10:56, "amused" is used, where I think "enthused" was meant. "Enamored" also would have worked. Not a big deal, though.
I think the byzantines should've given free fking reign to the catalans and Roger de la Flor "conquer all of Anatolia for all i care", maybe the only demand would be conversion to Orthodoxy.
Great video, and very informative. But calling them the first mercenaries in history staggers belief. History is full of mercenary companies going back to ancient Greece and even before. They weren't even the first mercenary companies that fought in the Iberian Peninsula or were from Spain.
we didn’t call them the first mercenaries. we say they are considered the first mercenary COMPANY also known as Free company.
They weren't spanish nor come from spain , at that time spain did'nt exist yet
As Germany, Italy, France or Greece did not exist. They were called Spanish because they came from Spania or Hispania, the territory.
On the regards of their knives, which can also have the names of 'Cortel', 'Cultro', etc. It's been hard to find information or any archeological finds about them, but they seem to be wide single-edged knives, that were shortsword-sized, but could be still called 'knives'. I'd say they were similar to Falchions or something akin to another obscure weapon around 8-13th century in Lithuania, from the tribe of Semigallian a particular type of very wide combat knives. Which was a type of unique seax around the Baltics (Also arguably similar type in Finland/Finnish tribes, along with 'narrow' Baltic-styled seaxes), which they used against crusaders from Swedish crusades, Germany's Templars and the Rus' Orthodox Crusaders. The guerilla-type of warfare is similar, though in the Baltics/with Vikings, they used also axes/Dane-styled axes and bow (and arrow), whilst the Almogavarans used slings. Those tribes also didn't really use armor. I'd bet they used a Falchion-esque, Semigallian-type of war knife, that was useful also for utility, like a machete (They also carried them sideways through a 'latch' system). However, as I've mentioned, there doesn't seem to be any information about Spanish/Iberian finds, from between the Roman period to the later Medieval Period with rapiers (Besides usual arming swords), so it's hard to say.
d'artagnan was there
If only someone during the 1204 siege of the crusades on Constantinople had an ounce of back bone these defenders had the city would've been saved and maybe still be around
I belive humans have a violent nature, but also a lazy nature. Thus they unlikely fight without a reason.
great content
I hope we get a vid about the Navarrese Company next, despite the little info they have
Great video. Thx. Fantastic.
It's never wise to antagonize professional killers..
I wish it was longer
Visca Catalunya!!!
Aupa Navarra!!
Up until very recently, catalan men were banned from entering the holy mountain Mt Athos in the Chalkidiki Peninsula in Macedonia, Greece, which is an autonomous region controlled by the orthodox church, due to the destruction caused by them to the area during their sacking of the greek countryside.
Could you do a video on Latin Greece? It is an often overlooked period of greek history...
This deserves a miniseries.
Hmmm dishonored and having your mercenary band persecuted by your former employer... In which manga and anime have I seen this 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
Very exciting adventure of such a company. Great work!
Finally!!!
I love it how you shown the iner boarders of Hungary as a Croatian that made me VERY happy.
DESPERTA FERRO!
- Roger de Flor's real name was Rutger von Blum. He was a former Knight Templar born in Brindisi, son of a german knight and an italian woman. He never put a foot in Catalonia in all his life. - Roger's second-in-command, and his succesor as comander of the Catalan company after Roger's murder, was Berenguer de Entenza, who was an aragonese knight. - The third in the chain of command, who later become commander of the Company after Berenguer's death, was Bernat de Rocafort, who was a valencian almogavar. - The only real catalan in the entourage was Ramon Muntaner, the treasurer of the Company, who also happened to be the only one who knew how to write, and who later wrote the company's grand chronicle. Contrary to the popular saying, History was not written by the victors, but by the ones who knew how to write. - The Almogavars were actually aragonese in origin, in the XI-XII century, but then spread across all the christian-muslim frontier in Iberia. By the time of the "Catalan Grand Company", they had settled in Portugal, Castile, Aragon and Valencia. They had been present in Catalonia for a while, but got out of there as the Frontier moved south in the XIII Century. They were organized practically as nomadic tribes whose way of life was frontier warfare. "Grand Catalan Company" was actually a derogative term used by the company's enemies in Italy, because the italians at the time used "catalan" as a derogative term to refer to any spaniard they depised (centuries later, italians called the Borgia family "the catalan pigs", despite the family being actually of valencian origin). The company was actually refered by the Byzantines as "The Frankish Company", because the byzantines regarded all westerners as "Franks". As Ramon Muntaner was the one who wrote the chronicle of the company, and was a catalan, and thus had no reason to feel insulted for being called a catalan, he stuck to the name "Catalan Company". Francisco Franco, the famous spanish dictator, was very fond of the Almogavers, and praised them in the movie "Raza" ("Race"), the most prominent propaganda film of Francoist Spain. Later, he baptized a spanish paratrooper brigade with the nickname "Almogavares", which the brigade keeps to this day. After Franco's demise, catalan separatists inherited the mystique around the "Catalan Company", regarding it as a source of regional pride. The irony of all this usage of the "Grand Catalan Company" as a source of "national" pride, is that the Company was universally depised by the peoples of all lands which it passed through, earning a reputation of thieves and murderers. Though, to be fair, that's the kind of reputation all mercenary companies tend to earn.
bernat rocaford is basicly catalan, valencian and catalan is the same language and similar culture
Go away troll, and take your revisionist history with you. The division and separation of the Catalan-Valencian-Balearic shared medieval history is a revisionist stance introduced by Franco and only defended by Spanish Nationalist Nostalgics. It has always been a ruse to actually destroy Balearic and Valencian identity, culture and language (see what happened to Valencian TV, Newspapers, Magazines, Schools and such when it was ruled by the Popular Party, who said it was "defending Valencians from imperialist Catalans... They lost it all.) Most Catalans, Valencians and Balearics acknowledge and rejoice in their shared language, history and culture.
Berenguer d'Entença. Móra d'Ebre - Gallípoli, 1307. Nobody at the time made distinction between Catalans proper and Valencians anyway. All were just CATALAN. Division is a posterior development. Anyway, the fact that Athens and Neopatria were ruled by the Usatici Barchinone (Usatges de Barcelona), and not by some Aragonese law should tell you something... If you want to tell lies, you will need to try HARDER.
@@joseppiera718 English and American are the same language and similar culture, yet nobody says Franklin D. Roosevelt was an englishman.
@@phosphorusgold2391 The fact that you exclude ARAGON from the "shared medieval history" of the territories of the crown of ARAGON, clearly shows that your opinions have nothing to do with History but with fringe contemporary politics.
Please more videos
I'm impressed the Catalan Company managed to keep its cohesion after the assassination of their leader.
Hollywood siege: whole army immidiatly storms forward and punch the walls with fists. Vauban: "Gentlemen..."
Capable characters then. They got a lot of similarities with hajduk and uskok guys(think highwayman+skirmisher/raider in same package) of ottoman border wars. Say, that could be a good topic for a video. Ubisoft used these guys' name in the assassin's creed revelation game. Only problem, they gave it to the wrong enemy type, explanation - byzantine enemy type with heavy armor and 2h axe was called almogavar(instead of being called the varangians that they named their polearm counterpart after).
Thank you for shedding some light into medieval catalan history which often gets overshadowed by later periods of history after unification with Castile
Funny how any of the clown popes believe they speak for God. Bunch of persecuting murderers.
the only faction to defeat these iberians are more iberians😂
Could be the world's first PMC ?
amazing how close this is to ww1 fought 200 years later
The Almogavars weapons and tactics sound a lot like the Aiel from Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. I wonder if they were an inspiration.
I don't think the idea of an irregular skirmishing force that does hit and run tactics is unique enough to warrant thinking this is what inspired the Aiel.
@@valentinbezdan570 I was talking more about the specific gear. Jordan described the Aiel as carrying several short spears, occasionally with a small round shield and their only edged weapon was a "heavy bladed knife" that looked closer to a short sword than a normal knife.
Thank you. I have been asking this theme to many historical channels
Yes
Paradise, War? I think both stoneage theories are true. Environment is the key, look at Chimps and Bonobos.. so similar yet one peaceful and one violent. In times of abundance we were peaceful, and in times of survival we were not.
I do want to point out, and i know im late, but i really love the mixed media animation style. It is so old school and i love it, so much.
My favorite is the one trope that monty python of all people called out. They assault the french castle by just running at it, grouping at the curtain wall (?) And hitting the battlements with their swords before running away. Trivia, im fairly sure they got in trouble for hitting a legitimate castle with metal swords 😂
im a history buff and ive honestly barely heard of star forts why dont we talk about them more often?
What an intriguing glimpse into history! 🏰 The story of the Almogavars and their rise to power showcases the importance of adaptability and strategic thinking, qualities that resonate even in today's fast-paced world of business and leadership.
Many people in the comments fail to understand a "mercenary company" is a very specific term. It doesn't mean any kind of mercenary band or army.
30:45 How did the cavalry almost break the tercio? I thought it was nigh-impervious to cavalry attack. Were the Protestants using the caracole?
the Ai generated portraits look so lifeless and bland.. shame
Yeah cause the portraits of that time look so alive and realistic. Do you really use ur neurons for that?
ai?
@@Kurumi_Kazuha way better than ai SandRhoman uses hand drawn art of whatever he talks about making his videos very lively and accurate to the topic but now he is adding ai portraits that add no information about the ruler its trying to depict for that he could just put a random stickman and would convey the exact information.
@@STV240 You know that's bull, it's better to add a picture if there's not one and better if it is a decent AI one
AWESOME
Thank you! Cheers!
How is this company, and not Xenophon's 10.000, the first mercenary company in history?
I think it comes down to the razor thin margin of difference between an actual mercenary company, and foreign volunteers. It's down to semantic hair splitting, though.
mercenary companies, or free companies are specifically medieval. the term is used correctly here. we made an entire video on that. earlier groups are referred to as bands, groups, routiers or just mercenaries.
another day, another byzantine emperor cant stop sabotaging himself and his empire
in what way are they the first though? Because mercenaries have been a thing for centuries, this seems clickbait
A merc COMPANY, not just merc
he capitalized COMPANY, which seems to be more specifically about the style of organization?
watch his previous video about mercenary companies
mercenary companies, or free companies are specifically medieval. the term is used correctly here. we made an entire video on that. earlier groups are referred to as bands, groups, routiers or just mercenaries.
Well of course they lose the territory because after 70 years all the original men are either dead or old men all their new recruits and sons would be nothing like their founders.
the land was later given to the crown of aragon, their king