The Kingdom of Castile, at the turn of the century. It is 1100 AD.
Castile has been fighting a war of attrition with the French to the North, who make incessant raids through the passes of the Pyrennes, and against the Moors to the south. The towns and villages of Castile are under constant alert as bands of marrauding muslim cavalry sweep the countryside. The brave knights of Castile have a job that is seemingly too great for the might of their sword-arms alone.
In the year 1101, the French launched a major attack, with the clear intention of capturing the stronghold of Burgos. King Garcia of Castile was warned only too late, and the French cavalry had already cut off the road of retreat. The French laid siege, and all hope for the King seemed lost. The only approach by which General Sancho with the army of Leon could take would be straight up a hillside against the prepared force of the French, with their archers and siege engines firing down upon him. So, thwarted in his plan of attack, he looked elsewhere. To the North, along the coast of the Bay of Biscay, there was a road which would lead around behind the French camp. The year was growing old, and the winter cold was setting in already. Sancho began an ambitious move. He would march his ragged army around the mountains and strike the French from behind.
The French however, had two or three thousand troops strung out along this path. As the Army of Leon approached, they were caught by surprise, but still assembled in their divisions, each numbering roughly four hundred men. These however, were destroyed in detail, as they could not gather together fast enough to stop the mass of Castile.
King Garcia watched desperately for the sign of Sancho's army, from a tower in Burgos. The French trebuchets pounded steadily away at the walls, which were crumbling about the king. Finally, on the third day of December, the banners of Sancho appeared, afar off. The army came over a slight ridge, and met the French to do battle. King Garcia rallied his force of seventy knights and gallopped out a sally-port to meet his rescuers. The battle raged for some time, with neither side gaining an advantage. The Spanish however, were being cut off in small parties, and surrounded. General Sancho tried in vain to rally his troops together, but one group at a time they were cut off and destroyed. As the tide turned against the Spaniards, reinforcements of seven hundred men poured in for the French from the South where they had been encamped in a town. Garcia was riding fast with his men to try and save the Spanish, but he was stopped by hundreds of French cavalry. They swarmed around his brave knights, and thirty of these were slain before he could break through. When he reached Sancho, the general was forming a small mass of troops to fight to the last; three hundred archers, one hundred men at arms, and a handful of knights. Garcia thundered up to them, and drove off some French knights, but the French continued to charge them time and again, and when the archers fled, Garcia was surrounded by the French and finally slain.
Sancho, seeing that all was lost, rode swiftly for the capital to bring news of the King's death and the loss of the battle.
In 1102, a new army was formed, with Sancho again in command. These troops passionately hated the French who had slain their King and captured their city. They were off to retake the stronghold and gain vengeance.
In the South, the war against the moors was still a stalemate. Portugal had been swept by the Moors, and the last two strongholds of Castile were under siege. No hope was left for them, as the only significant force under the banner of Castile was Sancho's army, which had just formed after beating a Moorish army away from the capital.
By Right of Conquest - Castile AAR
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Originally Posted by BNS
