Southern European Military History
- Jun 14, 2023
- 7 min read
Notes from the Field
Hi everyone, Joseph here! We are back after a 1-month break from our monthly newsletter because I have been busy at work traveling to some pretty awesome sites coving warfare from the 12th to the 20th Centuries. Starting in New York City, I explored the NYC sites associate with the 1st Rhode Island Regiment whose story serves as the centerpiece of my historical motion comic. I spend a whole day navigating the streets of New York first finding the Manhattan neighborhood from where they stood guard as one of George Washington's aides-de-camp read the new Declaration of Independence to the city's residents. From there, I hopped a train to Brooklyn to Fort Greene where the regiment stood watch as American militias failed to halt a British invasion. From there, I headed to Kip's Bay to see where British forces launched their amphibious assault on New York City before retreating to Harlem where I tracked down the battlefields of the Battle of Harlem Heights.
After New York, I headed to Belfast and saw first hand the scars of the Troubles where the remains of bombed out houses continue to scar the cityscape. After that, I next headed to Stirling, Scotland where I walked the battlefield of the Battle of Stirling, explored Stirling Castle, and gazed upon the William Wallace Monument. Next I visited Kidwelly Castle in Wales outside of Swansea where Medieval warrior princess Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd died fighting Norman English invaders. Finally, I headed to Belgium to visit the remains of the battlefield at Waterloo to see the lion-topped monument and the remains of Hougoumont. Now I'm back in Germany where I have a bit more time to focus on writing these newsletters.
Sacred Music in a Religious War
While the 30 Years War may have roots in Central Europe, it's impact would forever change the religious landscape of continental Europe. The war would involve nations from Spain to Bohemia and as far north as Denmark origins of the conflict centered around the political implications of the religious divide created by the Protestant Reformation when a Holy Roman Emperor attempted to enforce a "Catholicism only" policy across the German states and the Bohemians responded by electing a Calvinist king. The role of the Papacy in Rome and the armies of France muscling their way into Central Europe caused a major shift in the music of the German states once dominated by Latin liturgical hymns.
During the war, Lutheran composers began pushing their new music to establish a musical culture distinct from that of Southern Europe. While the music was popular early in its birth among Protestant German states, it was not as widely popular among the Catholic Germans, the French, or the Papacy. The new music genre's critics labeled it with an insulting nickname used only to describe something incredible grotesque, bizarre, or preposterous. That word was Baroque.
Immortalized Through Bread
It's probably not the way someone would like to be remembered in history, but- occasionally- unpopular political figures get their names attacked to anything from toilet paper to food so their critics can poke fun at their political rivals in create ways. That's exactly what happened to 17th Century French cardinal Jules Mazarin. In a series of conflicts known as "The Fronde," Cardinal Mazarin found himself at the center of intense political and religious scapegoating. A series of civil wars popped up across France during the Franco-Spanish War between 1648-53 as the result of seven edicts French King Louis XIV proposed including six related to increasing taxes.
But while the Parliament of France and the nobility of France raised their own armies to combat the king and attempt to force him to submit to a constitutional monarchy, the peasants of France launched their own campaign. Far from the highly trained musketeers of the Royal Army or the knighted nobles stacking the French cavalry, French peasants had little means of martially checking their king's power. When Cardinal Mazarin- right hand of the king- began issuing orders to arrest members of the French aristocracy on charges of treason, middle-class citizens of France began fighting back through peaceful protest.
While some Parisians smashed windows of those who supported the king and his cardinal side-kick, French tailors began baking bread with emblems based on the nickname for the conflict into their gloves, hats, and fans; and they weren't alone. Bakers singed the emblems into their bread as well. And now, you can make that anti-royalist bread in your own kitchen. Below is a recipe for 17th Century French bread courtesy of Robert May's 1660 cookbook The Accomplisht Cook, The Art and Mastery of Cooking.
Ingredients
250 g unbleached all purpose flour
250 g white whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat)
6 g instant yeast
10 g salt
2 egg whites, whisked until just frothy
255 g water
85 g milkEgg yolk and a tsp. of water, whiskedMixture of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dried onion, dried garlic, and sea salt, to taste
Instructions
Whisk the flours, yeast, and salt together in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Add the egg whites, water, and milk, and stir with a large spoon until the flour is moistened.
Mix with the dough hook for about 5 to 7 minutes.
Form the dough into a ball, and place it in a greased bowl or dough rising bucket, cover, and let rise until doubled, about an hour.
Remove the dough from the bowl and shape it into a boule, place it on a piece of parchment paper on a peel or baking sheet, cover with oiled plastic wrap, and let it rest until puffy and nearly doubled.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. I baked mine on a baking stone, but you can bake it on a baking sheet if you don't have a baking stone or quarry tiles.
With a pair of scissors, snip a crown onto the top of the loaf (or not), brush lightly with the egg yolk mixture, and top with the seed mixture.
Place the loaf on the baking stone (parchment and all) and shut the oven door. Alternatively, place the baking sheet with the loaf on the lower middle rack.
Bake for about 30 minutes, tenting with foil about halfway through to prevent over browning and burning the seeds. The interior of the bread should be about 200 degrees.
Cool on a wire rack.
An "Erousing" Narrative
Catalina Erauso was born in San Sebastian, Spain sometime between 1585-92 to a Spanish army captain, Miguel de Erauso who trained his children from early ages in the arts of art. While little Catalina found herself assigned to a nunnery at four years old, that didn't stop her from growing up to become a "strong" and "stocky" young woman. Refusing to take the vows of becoming a nun, Erauso found herself in nunnery prison until she managed to swipe the keys to her cell and staged a papal prison break. Once outside of the nunnery, Erauso dressed in mens clothes and adopted several masculine names including Antonio de Erauso and Alonzo Diaz.
For years, Erauso seemed finally free from a feminine fate- maintaining a new life as a shop keeper. But things deteriorated rapidly after the shop's owner caught Erauso "fondling" his sister-in-law. To avoid blowing their cover, Erauso quickly joined an army company to disappear into the army- leading Erauso far from home to combat deployment in Chile. There, Erauso displayed their brutal military skill and became famous as a heartless conquistador and mass-killer of indigenous peoples. Erauso was welcomes as a hero to the then regional governor of the area- Don Miguel de Erauso... and Catalina's brother.
Alonzo Diaz however never aroused any suspicion from their own brother, and for years was one of Don Miguel's favorite territorial residents- that was until Don Miguel too walked in on Alonzo in a sensitive position with a woman. Don Miguel banished Alonzo to the the far frontier to the already frontier Chilean province where Alonzo scored major battlefield victories against indigenous peoples, gained rank in the army to Second Lieutenant, but even the Spanish were uneasy with their new NCO's violent discrimination against indigenous peoples. Passed up for a promotion, Alonzo challenged to a duel the man responsible for not receiving a promotion to an officer's position. That person was Don Miguel, and the brotherly duel led to Don Miguel's death at Alonzo's hands.
Alonzo served time in prison, then fled into the Argentina wilderness where they found refuge among indigenous nations- the very people they were on trial for brutally mass-murdering. After years in exile, Alonzo returned to colonial settlements, killed a man in a drunken brawl, escaped the noose, then spent time in sanctuary with a local church to avoid a jealous husband who found Alonzo in bed with his wife. After getting arrested on an entirely new crime in 1623, Erauso avoided execution by begging a bishop to let them return to Spain because Alonzo was actually a woman who belonged to a nunnery back in Basque country. Erauso managed to negotiate clemency and made petitions for compensation as a soldier before hopping a new boat back to the New World to work as a muleteer (transporter of goods via pack mule) in modern-day Mexico where Alonzo died soon after.
Heretics of the Wars of Castro
In 1611, a botched assassination attempt on the life of Parma Duke Ranuccio led to intense suspicion and paranoia. Ranuccio's paranoia led him to persecute countless women and even his own peers of witchcraft and conspiracy until his death in 1622. That paranoia had consequences lasting beyond his own death however. Ranuccio's persecutions alienated his duchy's allies and rapidly spun out of control when they made enemies with the Papacy itself. Ranuccio's grandson attempted to fend off Papal armies through guerila tactics, but could not stop of the armies of Pope Innocent X whose forced defeated Ranuccio II's forces in 1649, had the family's home destroyed, and absorbed most of the family's land into Papal territory.
Expensive Mediocrity
While 2006's Alatriste may only be the second-most expensive Spanish-language film ever made, it certainly did not make up its budget from opening-weekend revenue. Alatriste tells the story of a 17th Century Spanish soldier caught up in the events of the 30 Years' War based on a series of novels by author Arturo Perez-Riverte. Unfortunately the films incredible battle scenes fail to liven up the flatlined film's attempts at bringing the novels to life with critics giving low reviews of the film for ultimately attempting to tell too many stories in a single narrative. Perhaps a better attempt will occur in the future in which these novels can be brought to life through a mini-series rather than a single-story movie. Until then, it maybe be necessary to hold off any any hopes for a successful war film set in 17th Century Southern Europe.
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