1. The Caliph Who Dined Over His Enemies
As seen in a previous entry, the Mongols liked to make examples out of their defeated foes. After their victory at the Battle of Kalka River, captured enemy commanders were laid on the ground. A huge board was then laid over their bodies, over which the victorious Mongols sat to eat, drink, and celebrate their triumph. Meanwhile, the men beneath were slowly crushed and suffocated to death. The Mongols’ feast over the bodies of defeated commanders was not the first time that vanquished leaders had faced such a fate.
The first Abbasid Caliph Abul Abbas (722 – 754), nicknamed Al Saffah (“Blood Shedder”), did the same after he defeated and displaced the Ummayad Dynasty of Caliphs. Al Saffah initiated a revolt against the Ummayads, and crushed them in a climactic battle in 750. He then tracked down and killed as many members of the defeated dynasty as he could. In 751, Al Saffah declared an amnesty, and eighty surviving Ummayad princes emerged from hiding to receive their pardons at a banquet. Mid-feast, he had them seized, stabbed, and covered their quivering bodies with leather rugs. He then bade the other guests to sit down and enjoy their food and drink atop them.
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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading
Ancient Origins – Vikings in Byzantium: The Varangians and Their Fearless Conquests
BBC History – Alfred the Great
Britain Express – Edward the Elder
Brown, Reginald Allen – English Castles (1976)
Cracked – The Medieval Italian Battle Seemingly Fought Over a Bucket
Devries, Kelly – Joan of Arc: A Military Leader (2003)
Encyclopedia Britannica – Alfred, King of Wessex
Encyclopedia Britannica – Rurik
Gabriel, Richard – Subotai the Valiant: Genghis Khan’s Greatest General (2004)
Glubb, John Bagot – A Short History of the Arab Peoples (1969)
Grunge – How One Camel Caused a Ruthless 40-Year War
Hall, Richard Andrew – The World of the Vikings (2007)
Hanley, Catherine – Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior (2019)
Hildinger, Erik – Warriors of the Steppe: Military History of Central Asia, 500 BC to 1700 AD (1997)
History Collection – Medieval Practices That Seem Too Strange to be True
Lamb, Harold – Tamerlane: The Earth Shaker (1929)
Liddiard, Robert – Castles in Context: Power, Symbolism, and Landscape, 1066 to 1500 (2005)
Love British History – 9 Times the Empress Matilda Was a Total Badass
Manz, Beatrice Forbes – The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane (1999)
Marozzi, Justin – Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World (2006)
Medieval Chronicles – Castle Murder Holes
Military History Now – Beyond the Pail: The Unbelievable War of the Oaken Bucket
New World Encyclopedia – Kievan Rus
Richey, Stephen Wesley – Joan of Arc: The Warrior Saint (2003)
Robinson, Paul – Military Honour and the Conduct of War (2006)
Sawyer, Peter Hayes – The Age of the Vikings (1972)
