Battle of Magdeburg (1086)

The Battle of Magdeburg was a siege fought in 1086 (part 2).

## Background

Wanting to expand more into Northern Europe, King Knud orders Prince Charles to continue to conquer loosely defended territory held by Rebels, with promise of 2,500 Florins from local nobles. After conquering Hamburg, Charles, with Danish Captain Haakon, march onto Magdeburg in the summer of 1084. On Hamburg's frontier, Charles orders that a watchtower be built, and shortly moves his own army directly to the Rebel castle. Haakon's small accompanying force merges as the castle is put under siege.

## Pre-Battle Preparation

Without a spy to open the gates, Charles finds it necessary to build siege equipment, albeit against wooden walls. He orders: 1 battering ram, 1 siege tower, and 2 siege ladders. By the winter of 1086, the siege equipment is fit for use. Just after Christmas, Charles is ready to return to his more ungodly profession. He starts the assault on Magdeburg Castle.

The siege equipment is assigned to the bulk melee force of Spearmen. The Militia are given the ram and one set of ladders. The mercenaries are handed the tower and the other set of ladders. With uncertainty of enemy positions in mind, Charles evenly spaces the Spearmen in the front of his line, which leans towards the right flank due to the apparent lack of archer towers in its vicinity, with an exception. The ram is placed on the far left, in front of the gate, with the mercenaries close to its right. The other unit of Militia is placed on the left flank, in case that it is left undefended or if a flanking maneuver is needed.

## Engagement

### Start of the Battle

Kurt's initial deployment is revealed with the Peasant Archers on the wall, to the right of the gate. He also

places a unit of Town Militia on the wall, much farther to the left of the gate, and evenly spread out. He wishes to defend his precious towers while they can still halt any enemy advance. Kurt and his bodyguard, as well as the final unit of Town Militia, stand directly behind the gate, anticipating a Danish rush for the gate. As a response, Charles takes his mercenaries and pushes toward the upright militia. He also feels confident in the ability of his own Spear Militia, and takes puts those with the ladders against the archers, but far enough on their flank to avoid an early engagement with them.

As Charles' Spear Militia advance, Kurt's Peasant Archers are ordered to fire on them, trying to weaken them as much as possible before the inevitable fighting. Archers inside of the two gate towers are ordered to fire flaming arrows to sabotage Charles' siege tower. They stop, as soon as it makes contact with the walls. The towers resume their fire against the advancing Militia Spearmen, who still have not successfully docked their ladders. Soon after, the mercenaries engage the Town Militia with two entry points: the middle, and its left flank.

### Bloodshed on the Walls

As the Militia Spearmen get closer and closer to spilling onto the walls, Kurt makes a split-second decision to move his own grounded Town Militia onto the walls, in place of the archers, who move from their position and onto the walls above the gate. By the time the Militia Spearmen engaged the Peasant Archers, their numbers had fallen by a third due to the excessive tower and archer fire. The mercenaries are making swift progress against the Town Militia, but the archer towers divert their attention to them. Kurt's Town Militia cannot take the onslaught of the Mercenary Spearmen, and break. In response, (and for his own safety), Kurt himself retreats with his knights to the plaza, along with the band of broken spearmen. Charles, seizing the opportunity, orders his mercenaries to charge across into the archers. In a fluke of orders, many of them are too busy capturing the remaining spearmen instead of attacking the archers, who are now engaged in melee.

On the other side of the walls, Charles' Militia Spearmen break after intense melee combat with Town

Militia. They run back down the ladders from which they came, and Charles yells profusely at them for retreating from such an honorable cause. The Town Militia come to reinforce the archers in the fight against the mercenaries. Charles disengages his Militia Spearmen from the ram and sends them back up the ladders, which were left by the broken spearmen. One of the mercenary captains realizes that much of his men have been left standing still on the walls, and finally brings along the rest of the troops to help capture the walls. In the chaotic mess, the Peasant Archers try to retreat from the walls, but only a few make it out at a time, leaving many to the merciless fervor of the spearmen. With enough "encouragement" from Charles, the broken group of Militia Spearmen regroups, and stands by his side until further orders are given. At the same time, the morale of both the Town Militia and the Peasant Archers is completely shattered, and they retreat to the plaza en masse.

### Seizing the Plaza

With the Peasant Archers firmly out of Denmark's grasp, they begin to pepper some of Charles' troops with flaming arrows. Charles sees that the walls are his, and moves two units of his own archers forward onto the walls, as well with the regrouped Militia Spearmen. Charles himself takes him and his own bodyguard to the gate to prepare for a charge against Kurt. He orders the gates be opened, and lines up very closely in front of Kurt. While the Peasant Archers are still reloading, Charles starts to charge into the remaining enemies. With lances down, he produces an absolutely devastating blow against the Peasant Archers, but not completely destroying them. To avoid any risk against his life, Charles retreats his bodyguard back out of the castle proper. Seeing this as an opportunity to face death or glory, Kurt orders himself and his knights to charge against the retreating Danish. Although the Peasant Archers have started to mount the tower, a miscommunication error in orders has had the Norse Archers stop slightly in front of the walls. Charles shouts at them to climb in order to give covering fire as he rides back out to the snow. He also sends quick orders to his other set of archers to fire upon the knights. After riding a slight distance, Charles turns his back and directly engages Kurt. The knights fall one by one to quivers full of arrows.

In what looked like an obvious retreat, Kurt takes his knights and stampedes into Charles' precious Norse

Archers, who had still not received Charles' previous urgent order. Although some die in the initial charge, Knut is abruptly halted, and Charles storms into his reverse flank. Knut is ironically killed by one of the archers he had hope to slice through. Charles' bodyguard and his archers pick off all of the knights, and he turns his attention back to the plaza. He attempts another cavalry charge into the archers, which is less successful, and then retreats back out of the fray. One unit of Peasant Archers starts to unload into the plaza, and Charles returns for another cavalry charge. Anticipating a final engagement, Charles moves all of his units off of the walls, into the fortress. With his spearmen in front, the archers start to put their remaining shots into crushing everyone in the plaza. The cowardly rebels make it clear that they wish for no last stand, and eventually, all of them fall to arrow fire.

## Conclusion

With all of the Rebels killed or captured, Charles is able to give Denmark ownership to Magdeburg with futile resistance.

### Battle Statistics

 237 Lost
 896 Remaining
 415 "Enemies Killed"
 61 Captured

Battle Statistics (Per Unit)

(Statistics are after casualties have healed)

### The Fate of Magdeburg

The people of Magdeburg virtually embrace Charles and his men after hearing of his chivalrous actions in Hamburg. Charles takes 156 florins from the coffers and occupies the castle. His acceptance of the Magdeburg people have made him Noble in Rule, showing his chivalry wherever he goes.

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