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These Times History Took a Turn for the Batty

Khalid Elhassan November 3, 2019 34 min

John of Bohemia’s coat of arms. Wikimedia

30. A Celebrated Warrior

John of Bohemia was one of the most celebrated warriors of his era, having campaigned and fought across Europe from the Mediterranean to the Baltic. He gained the nickname John the Blind in 1336, when he lost his eyesight from ophthalmia while crusading against the pagan Lithuanians. However, blindness did not stop him from jumping at the chance to do battle when the opportunity came.

King Philip VI of France asked John the Blind for help against the English, and despite his blindness, John answered the call. He led his men to Paris, where they joined the French army in 1346, and marched off in pursuit of an English army. The enemies met at the Battle of Crecy, on August 26^th, 1346, in which John was nominally in command of the French vanguard and a big chunk of the French army.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.