Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Näverlur

Sorry no AAR yet... But some more Swedish Leidang soldiers for my Baltic Crusade project.

I painted the Trumpet as a traditional Swedish "Näverlur" or in english Birch Trumpet.

The birch trumpet (Swedish: näverlur) is a type of natural trumpet made of spruce covered with birch bark, native to Sweden. The oldest recovered näverlur in Sweden dates back to the 10th century, and resembles earlier bronze trumpets.


Even cruder and less durable versions were made of plain birch bark. They are associated with the early European Chalet culture, where it was presumably used to intimidate predators, frighten supernatural enemies, and convene council meetings. 


The näverlur, as a natural horn, thus has no fingerholes or valves. Normally, a player can play 10 tones from the natural harmonic scale on the instrument. In the modern era, the näverlur is primarily a cultural curiosity, used for the occasional fanfare.


Here a short clip so you can here the sound of it.


Want one for your self ? go to the Lurmakaren and place a order:)

Monday, October 29, 2012

300...


No... not the 300 Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae...

No... not the 300 Warriors in Y Gododdin...

YES... the 300 Swedish Knights that heroic fought a invading Union force of some 3000 men in 1455... :)

Ofcourse you all can the story, but if some one have forgot...

During the autum/vinter or spring 1455-1456 a force of 3000 Union troops (Norwegian allmoge soldiers) under command of the Norwegian Knight and High Council menber Kolbjorn Gerst, advanced from Norway against the Swedish town of Lödöse...

The Swedish Lord High Constable, the Kings cousin and Hero Tord Karlsson from the house of Bonde, that was in the area assembled all available Knights, Knechts and Squires in total 300 mounted men to meet the invaders...

On the approach of the Swedish force the Union invaders formed up a defensive waggon lager and repulsed the first fierce Swedish attack. See the Swedish knights "flee" the undiciplined norwegian allmoge soldiers left the waggon lager and started to pursue...

Tord Bonde wasn´t just a hero leading his men from the front, he was a cunning man to, that had a plan...

Now the real battle could begin...


This is just a prelude of tonights game that I will run at the club. We will use the Hail Caesar rules and I hope there will be a nice evening with a good game and may be a beer or so...

Some more pictures of the gaming table.







AAR at the end of the week...I hope...


Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Knights #1

Here comes some groupe pictures of my Crusading Knights so far. I´m working at some more ledung infatry at the moment and then there will be one group of Knights more.

My first goal with this Crusader force are to get enought minis to be able to migrate the Dux Britanniarum rules to a Swedish Baltic Crusade setting.

The force composition are planed to be:
1x Commander (Bishop with Bannermen/Champion), 2 minis
2x Sub-Commanders (Mounted/Dismounted Knights), 2 minis
2x Knights (Elit Heavy Cavalry), 2x4 minis
3x Ledung Infantry (Warriors with a few integrated missle troops i.e 2 dice of shooting), 3x6 minis
1x Missile troops (Ledung archers/crossbow or Suomi tribal hunters...), 1x4 minis





The forces so far...


Sunday, October 21, 2012

House of Ulvåsa

Here are one more Swedish Knights on a Baltic Crusade.

Representing Magnus Larsson Boberg of the House of Ulvåsa and later the son Gudmar Magnusson.

The House of Ulvåsa had their main estates in the Province of Västergötland in the, back then, central parts of Sweden.






The CoA are realy a little to early, probably not in use untill late 13th century after the House, by marriage, joined up with the House of Ulv that was relatives to the Royal House of Bjälbo....




Thursday, October 18, 2012

AAR Dux Britanniarum, Viking vs. Anglo-Saxons

Here comes a short AAR from my and Jonas M´s latest Dux Britanniarum game. The 3rd part of our 9th century cronicle about Gutorm the Coward, the unliked son of a Viking King. Gutorm tries to carve out a kingdom for himself and his seariders on the other side of the northsea...

Tha Defenders of the Anglo-Saxon realms have repulsed two of the attacks and are in a good spirit, to protect their property Aethelbald the Cruel have decided to move it all to the old roman fort...

By the work of a Viking spy in the Saxon camp, Gutorm the Coward get the workd of this convoy and sets up an ambush...

 -Now we don´t have to go around gathering the loot, they just packed it all up for easy transport to our ships, he banter...

Somewhere in Northumberland july 794AD, the stage is set for a new saga to be writen...











Gutorm the Coward and the remaining Sea-riders manage to get back to theirs ships with a small amount of loot...

Taking moderate losses they will be back in october for a last time during this season to get some more loot...

This was one more very entertaining game of Dux Britanniarum, BUT still I think it takes a little to long, we played for about 3 hours and still didn´t get to end the game properly. Would realy love to get the time down to be about 2 hours from start to finish...

Besides that little issue I love Dux Britanniarum, gives me very entertaining games that looks good on the gaming table, more games will be played !

Please take a look at my friend Jonas M´s exellent blog "A Conflict of Interests"


Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Chaplain Wilhelm in arms...

During the weekend I been painting some Knights for the Bishops Retinue. The first one are Chaplain Wilhelm that was granted land by Bishop Thomas in 1234.

As I realy don´t know if poor Chaplain Wilhelm ever bear arms I made up his CoA inspired by the Ox of St. Luke. (No historical bearing what so ever;) ) hope you like it anyway...








Thursday, October 11, 2012

Bishop Thomas of Åbo

Here comes a bunch of pictures of Bishop Thomas of Åbo in Finland or as it was during the 13th century a part of Sweden:)

Miniature from Curteys Miniatures, the Mounted Bishop pack.

Unfortunally ther is´t much historical information about Bishop Thomas. For sure he wasn´t a Finn... more likely a Swedish nobleman or according to Swedens most renowned historians Bishop Thomas was a Englishmen that served in Uppsala before he was apointed Bishop of Åbo/Turku.


The only reference to Bishop Thomas during his episcopate in Finland is a letter signed by him in Nousiainen in 1234, which granted certain lands around the parish to his chaplain Wilhelm. The lands may be related to the papal permission from Pope Gregory IX in early 1229 that authorized the church to take over all non-Christian places of worship in Finland. The letter is said to be the first surviving letter ever written in Finland.


No further information on the bishop's activities has survived before he was granted resignation by Pope Innocent IV on 21 February 1245. According to the Pope, Thomas had admitted committing several felonies, such as torturing a man to death, and forging a papal letter. Church representatives to oversee the resignation were the Archbishop of Uppsala and the Dominican prior of the Dacian province. Thomas donated his books to the newly established Dominican convent in Sigtuna and went on to live his last years in the Dominican convent in Visby, Gotland. He died there in 1248.

During Thomas' episcopate, Finland is listed among the lands under the papal legate in the Baltic region, originally the Bishop of Zemgale, Baldwin, and then William of Modena, first on 28 January 1232 and last on 15 July 1244. This was a radical realignment of the bishopric's position, since the Pope had earlier used Swedish bishops to assist the Finnish church, as evident from papal letters from 1171 (or 1172), 1221 and 1229. On 24 November 1232, the Pope even asked the Livonian Brothers of the Sword to provide forces for the unnamed Bishop of Finland to defend the country against the Novgorodian attacks...but it seems that they were busy elsewere;)


After Thomas had resigned in 1245, there was no immediate successor to him. The diocese continued to be overseen by William at least until 5 June 1248. Finland is not listed among the Swedish dioceses in surviving documents from 1241 and 1248, but appears among them in 1253. 

Even though Thomas is the first known Bishop of Finland, it is certain that he was not the first bishop overall. An unnamed Bishop of Finland is mentioned dead in a letter by Pope Innocent III already in 1209. A 15th century chronicle names bishops Henry, Rodulff and Folquinus before him, but no indisputable records survive of them.


Most commonly, Thomas is speculated to have been the unnamed Bishop of Finland to whom Pope Gregory IX replied in January 1229 with several letters of great importance to the church, in the aftermath of major Finnish losses in the battle against the Republic of Novgorod. Church representatives ordered by the Pope to assist the unnamed bishop were the Bishop of Linköping and the Cistercian abbot in Gotland. 

Thomas' identification with the bishop remains doubtful. A surviving letter by Pope Gregory IX directly to the chaplain of Nousiainen on 20 October 1232 makes the Finnish see appear vacant. The letter handled the same land dispute that Thomas himself addressed two years later. In some copies of the letter, the Bishop of Finland is also referred to as "N.", while not directly saying whether he was still in office or not. 

A papal letter to an unknown Bishop of Finland was also sent already in 1221.


Violent anti-church clashes in Tavastia, central Finland, mentioned in a letter by Pope Gregorius IX in 1237, have been attributed to Thomas' harsh methods of Christianization, but without direct evidence for that conjecture. The letter, addressed to the Archbishop of Uppsala, does not mention the Bishop or Diocese of Finland in any way. Information about the uprising had also originated from the temporarily sidelined Archbishop, who seems to have used the occasion to remind the Pope about Uppsala's earlier contributions to the missionary work in the north. The Pope had clearly not known where Tavastia exactly was, and eloquently urged the Archbishop to send in a crusade.

The Livonian Brothers of the Sword had been all but annihilated in the Battle of Saule in 1236. Even if there is no other evidence of their presence in Finland than the earlier papal letter from 1232, both the Archbishop and the Tavastians seem to have been on the move right after their demise. There had also been a revolt against the Germans in Estonia in 1236. 

Based on the letter, some historians have tried to date the so-called Second Swedish Crusade to 1238 or 1239, listing it as Thomas' accomplishments as well.


Thomas is also speculated to have been one of the driving forces behind the Battle of the Neva, a Swedish-Novgorodian conflict that took place in 1240.

The speculation is based on the 14th-century Russian Primary Chronicle mention of Finns and Tavastians fighting on the Swedish side, which according to some historians would have been organized by the bishop.

In hoc signo vinces



Tuesday, October 9, 2012

The Bishops Stambo

I have now finished the Bishop of Åbo/Turku Stambo/Bannerman. The Bishop will follow closely...



The Coat of Arms on the Banner and Shield are the one for Archdiocese of Åbo/Turku, a red Georgian cross with concave tips in a field of gold.



Archdiocese of Åbo/Turku was established in the late 12th century. First at Nousis but moved in 1229 to Korois in Räntämäki. Below a scale model of the Bishopric at Korois...might have to build me one of those...


17th June 1300 the new Åbo/Turku Cathedral was open and the Bishopric moved for a last time from Korois to Åbo/Turku, but thats another story...