Give Point! Armour at the Battle of Benevento in 1266

This essay got started as a forum thread in 2020. My thanks to Mart Shearer and Michael Zimmermann for finding sources and research and asking questions.

As of 28 November 2022, the transcriptions have not been proofread, so check the links to be sure!

Sir Charles Oman tells the tale of the Battle of Benevento in 1266, and Ewart Oakeshott remembered when he wrote The Sword in the Age of Chivalry.¹ Factions backed by the Pope and the Emperor were fighting for control of southern Italy, and one of the claimants, Manfred of Sicily, had a force of German knights.

Assailed now by double their own force, the Germans still held out gallantly, and it appeared at first as if they were about to drive the foe back. They seemed invulnerable in their double harness to the French swords. But the enemy ere long noticed the weak points of their equipment; plate armour was still in its infancy, and the pieces were not protected by the scientific superposition of part to part which was perfected in the next century. Some sharp-eyed French knight noticed that as the Germans lifted their great swords to strike, an undefended opening was visible at their armpits. A cry ran down the Crusaders’ ranks to ‘give point’ (à l’estoc) and stab under the arm. Closing in, and wedging themselves between the somewhat shaken ranks of Manfred’s men-at-arms, they grappled with them, and thrust their blades, which were shorter and more accutely pointed than those of their enemies, into the undefended gaps.

(Charles Oman, Art of War in the Middle Ages, Vol. 1 pp. 502 and 503)

People have used this anecdote to argue that pairs of plates and particular forms of sword blade were used at this battle. Sir Charles even cites and quotes his sources for some facts about this battle, which is unusual for him (even the most careful historians of his day tended to be light on footnotes, and Charles Oman was not careful). It turns out that just who says what takes quite a lot of work to uncover.

Detective Work

Oman cites “Primatus in Bouquet, xx.28” and “Clericus Parisiensis in Mon. Germ. xxvi.582”.

Primatus seems to be Primat of St-Denis who has a Wikipedia article. His chronicle of contemporary events ended suddenly in 1277 so he probably died around that time. His lost Latin chronicle was translated into French by a Jean de Vignay, and Vignay’s translation survives in a single manuscript (Arlima). The translation was printed in Monumenta Germaniae Historica SS 26 and in Martin Bouquet’s Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de France Tome 23 (Gallica). The passage of ‘Primatus’ which Oman quoted is in Monumenta Germaniae Historica SS 26 p. 652 lines 20-22.

Original	Translation
Et quant les nos gens (652.xxi) virent que l’espoissete des armes de ces Theuthoniens, desquelles il estoient garniz forment, (652.xxii) deboutoient les coupes de nos qui branloient en l’air, adonc les François boutoient (652.xxiii) les espees grelles et agues souz les esselles d’iceulz, ou il apparoient touz desarmes, et les (652.xxiv) tresperçoient si tost comme il levoient les bras pour ferir, et leur boutoient les espees parmi (652.xv) les entrailles jusques aus espaules, et plungoient dedens aussi les glaives, si que la testerie (652.xvi) et la forsenerie des Theuthoniens fu dantee et trebucha par la soutillite des François; et (652.xvii) touz ces Theuthoniens furent occis des glaives, se ne furent par aventure aucuns qui par (652.xviii) fuite ou par trebuchement eschiverent le peril de mort.	And when our men saw the thickness of the arms of those Teutons, with which they were strongly equipped, beating back the blows of our men which they brandished in the air, at once the French thrust their small and pointed swords under their shoulders, where they appeared completely unarmed, and ran them through when they raised their arms to strike, and thrust the swords through the innards up to the shouders, and also stabbed spears (glaives) into them, so that the hot-headedness and fury of the Teutons was damned and overthrown by the cleverness of the French, and all those Teutons were killed with spears, unless there were by chance some few who escaped the peril of death by fleeing or falling.

Et quant les nos gens (652.xxi) virent que l’espoissete des armes de ces Theuthoniens, desquelles il estoient garniz forment, (652.xxii) deboutoient les coupes de nos qui branloient en l’air, adonc les François boutoient (652.xxiii) les espees grelles et agues souz les esselles d’iceulz, ou il apparoient touz desarmes, et les (652.xxiv) tresperçoient si tost comme il levoient les bras pour ferir, et leur boutoient les espees parmi (652.xv) les entrailles jusques aus espaules, et plungoient dedens aussi les glaives, si que la testerie (652.xvi) et la forsenerie des Theuthoniens fu dantee et trebucha par la soutillite des François; et (652.xvii) touz ces Theuthoniens furent occis des glaives, se ne furent par aventure aucuns qui par (652.xviii) fuite ou par trebuchement eschiverent le peril de mort.

And when our men saw the thickness of the arms of those Teutons, with which they were strongly equipped, beating back the blows of our men which they brandished in the air, at once the French thrust their small and pointed swords under their shoulders, where they appeared completely unarmed, and ran them through when they raised their arms to strike, and thrust the swords through the innards up to the shouders, and also stabbed spears (glaives) into them, so that the hot-headedness and fury of the Teutons was damned and overthrown by the cleverness of the French, and all those Teutons were killed with spears, unless there were by chance some few who escaped the peril of death by fleeing or falling.

A few lines earlier, Primat says that the Germans “were all covered and armed with the covering of double hauberks” (touz couvers et armes de la couverture de doubles haubers). That would normally imply double mail (a 6:1 mesh, or heavier rings, for heavier and stiffer but more protective armour) but could also mean two layers such as a sleeveless corset over a sleeved hauberk.

There is a fun story about the battle in Martin Bouquet, Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de France, XX which is the volume which Oman cites, but its on page 424 and by a Guillaume de Nangis not on page 28 or author 28. Guillaume de Nangis does talk about the difference between the swords of the German horsemen and the swords of the French horsemen, and says that the Germans were “tough horsemen, and almost all armoured with a double covering” (erant enim robusti milites, et quasi omnes duplice tegmni loricati) which could only be defeated when the French stabbed them under their shoulders.

The Clericus Parisiensis does appear on the page and in that volume which Oman cites:

(582.iii) et il illo primo conflictu magnam penam passi sunt nostri, et nisi succursus (582.iv) ex parte regis eis cito venisset, in pericolo mortis erant. Sed adveniente domino (582.v) rege, episcopo Altissiodorensi, Petro marescallo Francie cum exercitu eorum, clamatum (582.vi) est a parte nosta, quod in hostes de ensibus percuterent destoc; quo clamato et facto, (582.vii) occisi sunt hostes et ad perditionem ducti. Maior pars hostium mortua est in campo. Alia (582.viii) terga fuge; quam insequitur pars ecclesie et in fugiendo multos occidit.

But in that first clash our men suffered greatly, and unless aid had quickly come from the side of the King, they were in danger of death. But when the lord King, Bishop of Auxerre (Altissiodorensis), and Peter the Marshal of France arrived with their army, a cry rose on our side, that they should smite the enemy “with the point” (destoc) of the sword; which cry having been made, the enemy were slain and sent to destruction. The greater part of the enemy were killed in the plain. Others turned their backs, and the party of the Church pursued them and killed many in flight.

Oman does not cite Andrew of Hungary, but he also tells this story (MGH SS 26 p. 577):

62. De modo prelii.

Ch. 62 On the Method of Fighting

Et sicut torniamentum percutiendo, non eciam infringendo, iuxta solitum exercetur, (577.x) sic Theotonici sociique docti ab eis gladiis suis longioribus, securibus atque clavis percutiendo prelium exercebant, distantes ab adversariis spacio longitudinis gladiorum; sed nostri Gallici velut se agiliter infigentes, aut velut caro cum ungue se suis hostibus uvientes, ex brevibus spatis suis eorum latera perfodebant, ut vitam delerent corde tacto. Clarum est etenimm quod infra ipsos exerciti belli strepitus ductor belli Dei, scilicet illustris rex Karolus (577.xv), tamquam brachium Domini virtutum fortis in prelio ac potens ex sapientia pariter et audacia, quas a voce tonitrui magni contraxerunt, milites suos ad insudandum prelio sic ore rege hortabatur: 'Punctim infigite, milites Christi, punctim transfigite!' Nec mirum, circumspectus etenim militum adiutor et doctor legerat in libro de arte militari, quod nobiles Romani nullum alium meliorem modum pugnandi adinvenerint quam punctim ferire hostes.

And striking just as in a tournament, but not doing serious harm, just as they were accustomed to practice, in this way the German allies trained by these (tournaments and exercises) did battle striking with their longer swords, axes, and maces, separated from their enemies by the space of the length of a sword; but our French, nimbly thrusting, or coming as close to the enemies as to their own fingernails, pierced their flanks at close quarters, so that they took their lives with a touch to the heart. ... the illustrious king Charles, strong of courage in battle like the arm of the Lord and equally strong in wisdom and boldness, ... was urging his own knights with the royal voice to work up a sweat in battle: "thrust the point, Christian soldiers, run them through with the point!" Nor is it to be wondered, seeing that this advisor and teacher of soldiers had read in the book on the military art (ie. Vegetius) that noble Romans considered no other method of fighting better than to strike enemies with the point.

Humility defeats Pride in a leaf from a Speculum Virginum painted around the year 1200 and now in the Museum August Kestner in Hannover https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Speculum_virginum.jpg

Summing Up

Primat, Guillaume de Nangis, and the Clericus Parisiensis say that the Germans wore armour which was only vulnerable to thrusts under the shoulders. Primate calls it double hauberks, so mail, the others use vague language. The Cleric of Paris writes in classicizing Latin, so he may be using tropes of Romans with small swords defeating Celts with great swords.

In 2013, Mart Shearer found one modern historian who noticed that Oman's version of the battle has some differences from the sources:

John France, Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades, 1000-1300 (2002), Chapter 13, Note 24:

The tactic of stabbing under the armpit recurs in Primatus’s account of the Battle of Tagliacozzo of 1268, and Delbrück, Medieval Warfare, pp. 353-7, criticized the notion as the invention of a later writer on the basis of soldiers’ tales, but Delbrück did not know the sources himself: in particular, he did not know that the story is found in Andrew of Hungary, and was relying on the studies of others. Oman, Art of War, vol. 1, pp. 502-3, studied the battle of Benevento at length and supposed that this tactic was designed to avoid German plate armour. Runciman, Sicilian Vespers, pp. 109-11, follows Oman and repeats this myth. However, there is no mention of plate-armour at Benevento: the accounts stress the close order of the Germans.

Primatus’ story about the Germans being tired by their armour at the Battle of Tagliacozzo so the French could grab them by the arm and pull them from their horses is in MGH SS 26 p. 662 lines 2 through 9 (retold in Oman p. 513). When Oman says that the French grappled with the Germans, he seems to be using his imagination or confusing the battle of Benevento with the battle of Tagliacozzo two years later.

Many types of armour worn in the 13th century have a weak spot under the arm, including corsets (sleeveless coats) of mail, cuiries (leather body armour), pairs of plates (pieces of iron strapped around the body), and sleeveless aketons (quilted armour). An aketon over a hauberk, or a corset over a hauberk, could easily be called a “double covering” by Guillaume de Nangis. It seems like the chronicles describe the differece between the German and French swords, but are vague about the German armour.

As far as I can see, Oman is wrong to say that “Manfred’s … German mercenary horse … as the chroniclers note, were armed with the plate armour which was just beginning to come into fashion, and not with the usual mail-shirt and gambeson of the thirteenth century” (Art of War in the Middle Ages, vol. 1 p. 499). The chroniclers whom he cites say no such thing.

Other Places to Investigate

There is a published translation of some of the Latin sources: Louis Mendola, The Battle of Benevento According to Andrew of Hungary and Saba Malaspina. Trinacria Editions Ltd., 2021 ISBN 9781943639120.

I had a quick look at the two other writers who Oman mentions in his study of this battle. Saba Malaspina is printed in Ludovico Antonio Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores viii. Ricordano Malaspina is printed in Muratori, RIS viii. They don’t seem to describe how the two sides fought.

There is a long study of the battle of Tagliacozzo in:

Peter Herde, “Die Schlacht bei Tagliacozzo.” Zeitschrift für Bayerische Landesgeschichte, Bd. 25, 1962, pp. 679–744 https://periodika.digitale-sammlungen.de//zblg/kapitel/zblg25_kap26

Changes to this Page

Edit 2022-12-23: Added translation of Andrew of Hungary.

Edit 2024-03-03: fixed typo ("send to destruction")

Not just them, see eg. dowen-development-of-plate-armour p. 24 or Strickland and Hardy, The Great Warbow (2005) p. 270 / ch. 15 note 39 who cite Oman. Paolo Grillo, L’aquila e il Giglio, 1266: La battaglia di Benevento (Rome: Salerno Editrice, 2015) p. 84 also repeats that the Germans wore plate armour while the French wore mail (I tedeschi, invece, forse anche grazie ai lauti stipendi versati da Manfredi, potevano disporre di protezioni piú sofisticate, con piastre metalliche o placche di cuoio bollito aggiunte alle cotte di maglia per riparare il petto e il ventre.). Steven Runciman, The Sicilian Vespers (1960) p. 110), Ian Almond, Two Faiths, One Banner: When Muslims Marched with Christians Across Europe’s Battlegrounds (2009), and Charles D. Stanton, Roger of Lauria (c.1250–1305) 'Admiral of Admirals' (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2019) pp. 22, 23 also retell Oman’s version (although none of these are focused on the battle per se). Williams, Knight and the Blast Furnace, p. 53 is more careful to repeat what the medieval sources say not what Oman says.↩︎