6th Units Preview: The Kingdom of Jerusalem
models by Shogo and dragases 1453, 4 textures by shogo and the rest by dragases 1453
HISTORY:
Baldwin II was succeeded in 1131 by his daughter Melisende, who ruled jointly with her husband Fulk, the former Count of Anjou. During their reign Jerusalem exercised its greatest economic and artistic expansion. Fulk, a renowned military commander, was faced with a new and more dangerous enemy - the Atabeg Zengi of Mosul. Although Fulk held off Zengi throughout his reign, William of Tyre criticized Fulk for not securing the borders; the northern crusader states were also beginning to resent Jerusalem's suzerainty and fought back against Fulk. Fulk died in a hunting accident in 1143, and Zengi took advantage of his death by successfully conquering the County of Edessa in 1144. Queen Melisende, now regent for her elder son, Baldwin III, appointed a new constable, Manasses of Hierges, to head the army after Fulk's death, and a Second Crusade arrived by 1147.
Meeting in Acre in 1148, the crusading kings Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany decided to attack the friendly Emir of Damascus, with whom peace had been established during the reign of Fulk in order for both states to avoid the advances of Zengi and his son and successor Nur ad-Din. The western crusaders saw Damascus as an easy target, and young Baldwin III, perhaps eager to impress the famous European monarchs, agreed with their plan. This was in direct opposition to the advice of Queen Melisende and constable Manasses, as they and the other crusader states saw Aleppo as the main target that would allow for the recapture of Edessa. The crusade ended in defeat by 1148 with the disastrous Siege of Damascus.
Melisende continued to rule as regent long after Baldwin came of age, until her government was overthrown by Baldwin in 1153: the two agreed to split the kingdom in half, with Baldwin ruling from Acre in the north and Melisende ruling from Jerusalem in the south, but both knew that this situation was untenable. Baldwin soon invaded his mother's possessions, defeated Manasses, and besieged his mother in the Tower of David in Jerusalem. Melisende surrendered and retired as regent, leaving Baldwin the sole monarch, but Baldwin appointed her his regent and chief advisor the next year. Baldwin III then conquered Ascalon from the Fatimids, the last Egyptian outpost on the Palestinian coast. At the same time, however, the overall crusader situation became worse, as Nur ad-Din succeeded in taking Damascus and unifying Muslim Syria under his rule.
Baldwin now faced formidable difficulties. He was chronically short of men and resources with which to defend his realm, and to make matters worse the supply of help from the west had dried up almost completely. Therefore, he turned to the only other source of aid available: the Byzantine Emperor. In order to bolster the defences of the Kingdom against the growing strength of the Muslims, Baldwin III made the first direct alliance with the Byzantine Empire in the history of the kingdom, marrying Theodora Comnena, a niece of emperor Manuel I Comnenus; Manuel also married Baldwin's cousin Maria. As crusade historian William of Tyre put it, the hope was that Manuel would be able "to relieve from his own abundance the distress under which our realm was suffering and to change our poverty into superabundance". Although Baldwin died childless in 1162, a year after his mother Melisende, the kingdom passed to his brother Amalric I, who renewed the alliance negotiated by Baldwin. The value of the alliance was soon demonstrated in 1164 when, the crusaders suffered a very serious defeat at the Battle of Harim just outside Antioch. The Prince of Antioch, Bohemund III, was captured by Nur ed-Din along with many other important barons. As Amalric was away campaigning far to the south at the time, there seemed every chance that Antioch would fall to Nur ad-Din. The emperor Manuel immediately sent a large Byzantine force to the area, and Nur ad-Din retreated. Manuel also paid the ransom to release the Prince of Antioch. The new alliance had saved the kingdom from disaster.
Amalric was forced to divorce his first wife Agnes of Courtenay in order to succeed to the throne. Amalric's reign was characterized by competition between himself and Manuel on the one hand, and Nur ad-Din and his wily some-time subordinate Saladin on the other, over control of Egypt. Amalric's first expedition to Egypt came in 1163, and a long series of alliances and counter-alliances between Amalric, the viziers of Egypt, and Nur ad-Din led to four more invasions by 1169. The Egyptian campaigns were supported by Emperor Manuel, and Amalric married a great-niece of the emperor, Maria Comnena. In 1169, Manuel sent a large Byzantine fleet of some 300 ships to assist Amalric, and the town of Damietta was placed under seige. However, due to the failure of the Crusaders and the Byzantines to co-operate fully, the chance to capture Egypt was thrown away. The Byzantine fleet sailed only with provisions for three months: by the time the crusaders were ready, supplies were already running out, and eventually the fleet retired. Each side sought to blame the other for failure, but both also knew that they depended on each other: the alliance was maintained, and plans for another campaign in Egypt were made, which ultimately were to come to naught. Amalric ultimately failed in his bid to conquer Egypt. In the end, Nur ad-Din was victorious and Saladin established himself as Sultan of Egypt. The death of both Amalric and Nur ad-Din in 1174 ensured the dominance of Saladin, whose power soon spread over Nur ad-Din's Syrian possessions as well, completely surrounding the crusader kingdom. And with the death of the pro-western Emperor Manuel in 1180, the Kingdom of Jerusalem also lost its most powerful ally.
Amalric was succeeded by his young son, Baldwin IV, who was discovered at a very young age to be a leper. Baldwin nevertheless proved an effective and energetic king and military commander. His mother, Agnes of Courtenay, returned to court, but her influence has been greatly exaggerated by earlier historians. Her role in appointing Eraclius, archbishop of Caesarea, as Patriarch of Jerusalem, followed the precedent of Queen Melisende: however, it sparked a grudge in Eraclius's rival, William of Tyre. His writings, and those of his continuators in the Chronicle of Ernoul, damaged her political and sexual reputation until recent years.
Count Raymond III of Tripoli, his father's first cousin, was bailli or regent during Baldwin IV's minority. Baldwin reached his majority in 1176, and despite his illness he no longer had any legal need for a regent. Since Raymond was his nearest relative in the male line, with a strong claim to the throne, there was concern about the extent of his ambitions (although he had no direct heirs of his body). To balance this, the king turned from time to time to his uncle, Joscelin III of Edessa, after he was ransomed in 1176: as his maternal kin, the Courtenay family had no claim to the throne.
As a leper, Baldwin would never produce an heir, so the focus of his succession passed to his sister Sibylla and his younger half-sister Isabella. Baldwin and his advisors recognised that it was essential for Sibylla to be married to a Western nobleman in order to access support from Europe in a military crisis. In 1176, he married her to William of Montferrat, a cousin of Louis VII and of Frederick Barbarossa. Unfortunately, William died only a few months later in 1177, leaving Sibylla pregnant with the future Baldwin V. Meanwhile, Baldwin IV's stepmother Maria, mother of Isabella, married Balian of Ibelin.
Baldwin defeated Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard in 1177, giving Jerusalem a brief respite from Saladin's continual attacks. The succession, however, remained a difficult issue. In 1180 Baldwin blocked moves by Raymond of Tripoli to marry Sibylla off to Baldwin of Ibelin by arranging her marriage to Guy of Lusignan. Guy was the younger brother of Amalric of Lusignan, who had already established himself as a capable figure in the kingdom, supported by the Courtenays. More importantly, internationally, the Lusignans were useful as vassals of Baldwin and Sibylla's cousin Henry II of England. Baldwin also betrothed Isabella (aged 8) to Humphrey IV of Toron, stepson of the powerful Raynald of Chatillon - thereby removing her from the influence of the Ibelin family and her mother. Guy was appointed bailli during the king's bouts of illness.
In 1183 Isabella married Humphrey at Kerak, during a siege by Saladin. Baldwin, now blind and crippled, went to the castle's relief on a litter, tended by his mother. He became disillusioned with Guy's military performance there (he was less competent than his brother Amalric), and was reconciled with Raymond. To cut Sibylla and Guy out of the succession, he had Sibylla's son Baldwin of Montferrat crowned Baldwin V, as co-king, although the boy was only 5.
The succession crisis had prompted a mission to the west to seek assistance: in 1184, Patriarch Eraclius travelled throughout the courts of Europe, but no help was forthcoming. The chronicler Ralph Niger reports that his enormous retinue and opulent dress offended the sensibilities of many westerners, who felt that if the east was so wealthy, no help was needed from the west. Eraclius offered the kingship to both Philip II of France and Henry II of England; the latter, as a grandson of Fulk, was a first cousin of the royal family of Jerusalem, and had promised to go on crusade after the murder of Thomas Becket, but he preferred to remain at home to defend his own territories. However, William V of Montferrat did come to support his grandson Baldwin V
Baldwin IV died in spring 1185, and Baldwin V became king, with Raymond of Tripoli as regent and his great-uncle Joscelin of Edessa as his guardian. However, he was a sickly child and died in the summer of 1186. The kingdom passed to his mother Sibylla, on the condition that her marriage to Guy be annulled; she agreed, if only she could chose her own husband next time. The annulment did not take place: after being crowned, Sibylla immediately crown Guy with her own hands. Raymond and the Ibelins attempted a coup, in order to place Baldwin IV and Sibylla's half-sister Isabella on the throne, with her husband Humphrey of Toron. Humphrey, however, defected to Guy. Disgusted, Raymond returned to Tripoli, and Baldwin of Ibelin also left the kingdom.
Guy proved a disastrous ruler. His close ally Raynald of Chatillon, the lord of Oultrejourdain and of Kerak, provoked Saladin into open war by attacking Muslim caravans and threatening to attack Mecca itself. To make matters worse, Raymond had allied with Saladin against Guy and had allowed a Muslim garrison to occupy his fief in Tiberias. Guy was on the verge of attacking Raymond before Balian of Ibelin effected a reconciliation in 1187, and the two joined together to attack Saladin at Tiberias. However, Guy and Raymond could not agree on a proper plan of attack, and on July 4, 1187, the army of the Kingdom was utterly destroyed at the Battle of Hattin. Raynald was executed and Guy was imprisoned in Damascus. Over the next few months Saladin easily overran the entire Kingdom, save for the port of Tyre, which was ably defended by Conrad of Montferrat, the paternal uncle of Baldwin V, lately arrived from Constantinople.
The subsequent fall of Jerusalem essentially ended the first Kingdom of Jerusalem. Much of the population, swollen with refugees fleeing Saladin's conquest of the surrounding territory, was allowed to flee to Tyre, Tripoli, or Egypt (whence they were sent back to Europe), but those who could not pay for their freedom were sold into slavery, and those who could were often robbed by Christians and Muslims alike on their way into exile. The capture of the city shocked Europe, resulting in the Third Crusade, which was launched in 1189, led by Richard Lionheart and Philip Augustus (Frederick Barbarossa died along the way).
Guy of Lusignan, who had been refused entry to Tyre by Conrad, began to besiege Acre in 1189. During the lengthy siege, which lasted until 1191, Patriarch Eraclius, Queen Sibylla and her daughters, and many others died of disease. With the death of Sibylla in 1190, Guy now had no legal claim to the kingship, and the succession passed to Isabella. Her mother Maria and the Ibelins (now closely allied to Conrad) argued that Isabella and Humphrey's marriage was illegal, as she had been underage at the time; underlying this was the fact that Humphrey had betrayed his wife's cause in 1186. The marriage was annulled amid some controversy. (The annulment followed the precedents of Amalric I and Agnes, and - though not carried out - Sibylla and Guy - of succession dependent on annulling a politically inconvenient match.) Conrad, who was nearest kinsman to Baldwin V in the male line, and had already proved himself a capable military leader, then married Isabella, but Guy refused to concede the crown.
When Richard arrived in 1191, he and Philip took different sides in the succession dispute. Richard backed Guy, his vassal from Poitou, while Philip supported Conrad, a cousin of his late father Louis VII. After much ill-feeling and ill-health, Philip returned home in 1191, soon after the fall of Acre. Richard defeated Saladin at the Battle of Arsuf in 1191 and the Battle of Jaffa in 1192, recovering most of the coast, but could not recover Jerusalem or any of the inland territory of the kingdom. Conrad was unanimously elected king in April 1192, but was murdered by the Hashshashin only days later. Eight days later, the pregnant Isabella was married to Count Henry II of Champagne, nephew of Richard and Philip, but politically allied to Richard. Guy was sold the Kingdom of Cyprus, after Richard had captured the island on the way to Acre, as compensation.
The crusade came to an end peacefully, with the Treaty of Ramla negotiated in 1192; Saladin allowed pilgrimages to be made to Jerusalem, allowing the crusaders to fulfill their vows, after which they all returned home. The native crusader barons set about rebuilding their kingdom from Acre and the other coastal cities. Shortly after Richard left, Saladin died and his realm fell into civil war, leaving the Crusader lords further embittered at what could have been accomplished had the European princes remained to help rebuild.
For the next hundred years, the Kingdom of Jerusalem clung to life as a tiny kingdom hugging the Syrian coastline. Its capital was moved to Acre and controlled most of the coastline of present day Palestine including the strongholds and towns of Arsuf, Ceasarea, Jaffa, Sidon, and, at times, Ascalon and some interior fortresses. At best, it included only a few other significant cities, such as Beirut and Tyre, as well as suzerainty over Tripoli and Antioch. The new king, Henry of Champagne, died accidentally in 1197, and Isabella married for a fourth time, to Amalric of Lusignan, Guy's brother. A Fourth Crusade was planned after the failure of the Third, but it resulted in the sack of Constantinople in 1204 and the crusaders involved never arrived in the kingdom.
Both Isabella and Amalric died in 1205 and again an underage girl, Isabella and Conrad's daughter Maria of Montferrat, became queen of Jerusalem. In 1210 Maria was married to an experienced sexagenarian knight, John of Brienne, who succeeded in keeping the tiny kingdom safe. She died in childbirth in 1212, and John continued to rule as regent for their daughter Yolande. Schemes were hatched to reconquer Jerusalem through Egypt, resulting in the failed Fifth Crusade against Damietta in 1217; King John took part in this, but the crusade was a failure. John travelled throughout Europe seeking assistance, and found support only from Emperor Frederick II, who then married John and Maria's daughter, Queen Yolande. Frederick II led the Sixth Crusade in 1228, and claimed the kingship of Jerusalem by right of his wife, just as John had done. Indeed, the sheer size of Frederick II's army and his stature before the Islamic world was sufficient to regain Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and a number of surronding castles without a fight: these were recovered by treaty with the Ayyubid Sultan Al-Kamil. However, the nobles of Outremer, led by the regent John of Ibelin, not only felt more could have been recovered militarily, but also resented his attempts to impose Imperial authority over their kingdom, resulting in a number of military confrontations both on the mainland and on Cyprus. The recovery was short-lived - not enough territory had been ceded to make the city defensible, and in 1244 the Ayyubids invited the Khwarezmian clans displaced by the Mongols to reconquer the city. In the resulting siege and conquest the Khwarezmians completely razed Jerusalem, leaving it in ruins and useless to both Christians and Muslims. The Seventh Crusade under Louis IX of France was inspired by this massacre, but it accomplished little save to replace the Ayyubids and Khwarezmians with the more powerful Mamluks as the Crusaders' main enemy in 1250.
Because the monarchy was now directly tied to powerfull sovereigns in Europe, for the period from 1229 to 1268, the monarch resided in Europe and usually had a larger realm to pursue or take care of, thereby leaving governance to the Haute Cour. Kings of Jerusalem were represented by their baillis and regents. The title of King of Jerusalem was inherited by Conrad IV of Germany, son of Frederick II and Yolande, and later by his own son Conradin. With the death of Conradin the kingdom was inherited by King Hugh III of Cyprus. The territory descended into squabbling between the nobles of Cyprus and the mainland, between the remnant of the (now unified) County of Tripoli and Principality of Antioch, whose rulers also vied for influence in Acre, and especially between the Italian trading communities, whose quarrels erupted in the so-called "War of Saint Sabas" in Acre in 1257. After the Seventh Crusade, no organized effort from Europe ever arrived in the kingdom, although in 1277 Charles of Anjou bought the title of "King of Jerusalem" from a pretender to the throne. He never appeared in Acre but sent a representative, who, like Frederick II's representatives before him, was rejected by the nobles of Outremer.
Despite their precarious geopolitical situation, the Frankish realm managed to maintain an economically viable and influential power. Frankish diplomats aimed to keep the Muslim powers divided against each other, utilizing the feared Assassins as much as other Islamic rulers. In their later years, faced with the threat of the Egyptian Mamluks, the Crusaders' hopes rested with the Mongols, who were thought to be sympathetic to Christianity, and the Frankish princes were most effective in gathering their help, engineering their invasions of the Middle East on several occassions. Although the Mongols successfully attacked as far south as Damascus on these campaigns, the ability to effectively coordinate with Crusades from the west was repeatedly frustrated thereby leading to Mongol defeat on each occassion by the Mamluks, most notably at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260. The Mamluks eventually made good their pledge to cleanse the entire Middle East of the infidel Franks; in 1291, Acre, the last stronghold, was taken by Sultan Khalil. This conquest was far less merciful than that of Saladin one hundred years before; much of the Frankish population was massacred or sold into slavery, such that Khalil could proclaim "A pearly white Frankish women couldn't sell in the bazaar for a penny!"
Thereafter, the Kingdom of Jerusalem ceased to exist on the mainland, but the kings of Cyprus for many decades hatched plans to regain the Holy Land. For the next seven centuries, up to today, a veritable multitude of European monarchs have used the title of King of Jerusalem. See Kings of Jerusalem.
UNITS:
Infantry:
Volunteer spearmen: These soldiers came from Europe to the holy land to fight against the evil infedels and to mantain jerusalem a Christian city; they aren't well armoured but they are a good line infantry.
Sergeants: these soldiers are medium armoured, but they are professional fighters ready to die for the kingdom; they carry an axe and a small shield; good to broke the enemy line.
Royal spearmen: These troops are formed with the cadets of the most important feudal families of the kingdom; they are heavily armoured, good against cavalry and other infantries.
Saint Sepulcher spearmen: These profesional spearmen are adpets of the order of the saint sepulcher; they are excellent armoured and trained, ready to fight against every type of enemy.
Foot knightsuring the High Middle Ages, it was technically possible for every free man to become a knight, but the process of becoming (and the equipping of) a knight was very expensive; thus it was more likely that a knight would come from a noble (or wealthy) family. The process of being knighted began before adolescence, inside the prospective knight’s own home, where he was taught courtesy and appropriate manners. Around the age of 7 years, he would be sent away to train and serve at a grander household as a page. Here, he would serve as a kind of waiter and personal servant, entertaining and serving food to his elders. He would learn basic hunting and falconry, and also various battle skills such as taking care of, preparing, and riding horses, as well as use of weapons and armor. At about fourteen years of age, the page was assigned to a knight to serve as his personal companion and aide, as a squire. This allowed the squire to observe his master while he was in battle, in order to learn from his techniques. He also acted as a servant to the knight, taking care of his master’s equipment and horse. This was to uphold the knight’s code of Chivalry, which promoted generosity, courtesy, compassion, and most importantly, loyalty. Once the squire had established sufficient mastery of the required skills, he was dubbed a knight. There was no set age for this, but it usually occurred between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one. In the early period, the procedure began with the squire praying into the night. He was then bathed, and in the morning he was dressed in a white shirt, gold tunic, purple cloak, and was knighted by his king or lord. As the Middle Ages progressed, the process changed. The squire was made to vow that he would obey the regulations of chivalry, and never flee from battle. Then women would buckle on his armor. A squire could also be knighted on the battlefield, in which a lord simply struck him on the shoulder and said, “Be thou a knight.” Dismounted Knights on the battlefield are the pinnacle of warrior prowess with man being heavily-armored and well-trained, even without the warhorse for a mount. A knight’s typical weapon is the steel broadsword for hacking at the enemy up close. They are layered in chain-mail, some with crafted, steel plates to protect the vitals. The shield signifies the family or order in Europe, but by ‘Taking on the Cross,’ the knights bear the Holy Cross over their tunics and on their shields. These powerful warriors take on the might of Islam (and sometimes each other) for the Christian faith.
Cavalry:
turcopoles: The Teutonic Order called its own native light cavalry the "Turkopolen". Mercenary knights are sometimes hired for a campaign, during which they will ride as confreres of the Order. Mercenary engineers, crossbowmen, and other infantry might be rushed in to a city that was expected to stand siege. But these cases are temporary and of comparatively small scale. The Order has a permanent force of mercenary 'turcopoles'. Turcopoles are for the most part natives of Outremer, raised and trained locally. They serve as light cavalry: skirmishers, scouts, and mounted archers, and sometimes ride as a second line in a charge, to back up the knights and sergeants. Turcopoles have lighter, faster horses than knights or even sergeants, and they wear much lighter armor usually only a quilted aketon and a conical steel helmet.
mounted sergeants: these soldiers are medium armoured, but they are professional fighters ready to die for the kingdom; they carry a spear and a small shield.
Royal cavalry: During the High Middle Ages, it was technically possible for every free man to become a knight, but the process of becoming (and the equipping of) a knight was very expensive; thus it was more likely that a knight would come from a noble (or wealthy) family. The process of being knighted began before adolescence, inside the prospective knight’s own home, where he was taught courtesy and appropriate manners. Around the age of 7 years, he would be sent away to train and serve at a grander household as a page. Here, he would serve as a kind of waiter and personal servant, entertaining and serving food to his elders. He would learn basic hunting and falconry, and also various battle skills such as taking care of, preparing, and riding horses, as well as use of weapons and armor. At about fourteen years of age, the page was assigned to a knight to serve as his personal companion and aide, as a squire. This allowed the squire to observe his master while he was in battle, in order to learn from his techniques. He also acted as a servant to the knight, taking care of his master’s equipment and horse. This was to uphold the knight’s code of Chivalry, which promoted generosity, courtesy, compassion, and most importantly, loyalty. Once the squire had established sufficient mastery of the required skills, he was dubbed a knight. There was no set age for this, but it usually occurred between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one. In the early period, the procedure began with the squire praying into the night. He was then bathed, and in the morning he was dressed in a white shirt, gold tunic, purple cloak, and was knighted by his king or lord. As the Middle Ages progressed, the process changed. The squire was made to vow that he would obey the regulations of chivalry, and never flee from battle. Then women would buckle on his armor. A squire could also be knighted on the battlefield, in which a lord simply struck him on the shoulder and said, “Be thou a knight.” Knights on the battlefield are the pinnacle of Western heavy cavalry with man and horse both being heavily-armored and well-trained. A knight’s typical weapons are a 15-foot lance for dismounting opponents and piercing armor and a steel broadsword for hacking at the enemy up close. They are layered in chain-mail, some with crafted, steel plates to protect the vitals. The shield signifies the family or order in Europe, but by ‘Taking on the Cross,’ the knights bear the Holy Cross over their tunics and on their shields. These powerful warriors take on the might of Islam (and sometimes each other) for the Christian faith.
Knights of the order of the Saint Sepulcher: These kinghts are the most powerful cavalry of the kingdom; it's formed by the adpets of the order of the saint sepulcher.
Skirmish:
foot turcopoles: The Teutonic Order called its own native light cavalry the "Turkopolen". Mercenary knights are sometimes hired for a campaign, during which they will ride as confreres of the Order. Mercenary engineers, crossbowmen, and other infantry might be rushed in to a city that was expected to stand siege. But these cases are temporary and of comparatively small scale. The Order has a permanent force of mercenary 'turcopoles'. Turcopoles are for the most part natives of Outremer, raised and trained locally. They serve as light cavalry: skirmishers, scouts, and mounted archers, and sometimes ride as a second line in a charge, to back up the knights and sergeants. Turcopoles have lighter, faster horses than knights or even sergeants, and they wear much lighter armor usually only a quilted aketon and a conical steel helmet.
archers: A composite bow is made from different materials laminated together, usually applied under tension. Archers of the European factions typically prefer these bows because they have been used for centuries. Europeans, by their view of chivalrous Knights as the purest form of nobility, disdain archery as the weapon of peasants, brigands, and cowards. Archers, however, are necessary to support the infantry and cavalry units of Crusader armies, as the Moslems cannot be matched in speed by the Knights. However, the composite bowmen are able to shoot them from afar, which the noble Knights cannot.
Crossbowmen: Crossbowmen are effective range units of the European armies. A crossbow consists of a prod, similar in appearance to a bow, mounted on a stock, which has a mechanism to wind and shoot its bolts. These bolts are typically called quarrels, and do not depend upon lift as arrows do. Crossbow bolts must be made to have consistent weights as the mechanical process of engaging a bolt forces a more uniform process than that of using a bow and arrow. The prod ("bow") and stock of a crossbow were made of good hardwood, such as oak or hard maple. The central European bows were rather exotic as they were constructed of inlays as well as specialized woods. The prod is attached to the stock with hemp rope, linen, whipcord, or other strong cording. This cording is called the bridle of the crossbow. This consistent performance was part of what made the crossbow historically a significant force in warfare. Crossbowmen are meant to pierce through enemy armor and flesh at range and ease the way for the knights.
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