The Burgundians

 This weighty volume (500+ pages) by Bart Van Loo caught my eye in our local Oxfam bookshop. My knowledge of the Burgundians (other than their wine😏) is limited chiefly to Charles the Bold, whose army opens George Gush's book on Renaissance armies, which got me into the period. However, the Burgundians existed as a state for 1111 years, and the subtitle A Vanished Empire seems appropriate. 

The Burgundians probably originated in Scandinavia and moved into central Europe in the 2nd to 3rd century. They moved closer to the territory we associate with them in the 4th century, and became Roman foederati. The Romans resettled them in eastern France in the 5th century, and they converted to Arian Christianity. Their new kingdom was based in Geneva, Lyon and Vienna. The early Kings had some wonderful names, starting with the mythical Gebicca, and included my favourite, Gundobad. In the 6th century, they were conquered by the Merovingians, but retained a strong regional identity. 

The high point of the Burgundians came in the Middle Ages. The Valois Dukes of Burgundy created one of Europe’s wealthiest and most influential states. Burgundy became a major centre of art, music, monastic reform (Cluny, Cîteaux), and courtly culture. Much of this was funded by their expansion into Flanders, a region of prosperous towns engaged in manufacturing and trade. This formerly swampy region was drained, allowing cities like Ghent to develop. Their town militias were also feared on the battlefield.

Yes, there is a Balkan link! John of Burgundy was one of the French-Burgundian leaders responsible for the disaster at Nicopolis in 1396. Instead of using the experienced Transylvanian troops in the vanguard, the western knights impetuously charged and crumbled to Ottoman firepower, as they had against the English longbow. Burgundy was an English ally at various points during the Hundred Years' War.

Burgundy, as an independent state, reached its high point and then its crash under Charles the Bold, or Charles the Rash, as he is also known. Charles was a vassal of both the King of France and the Holy Roman Emperor, but he developed a centralised independent state with a standing army. However, he didn't use this force effectively, and it all came crashing down against the Swiss at the battles of Grandson, Murten, and Nancy in 1476-77. Charles was killed at Nancy, leaving no male heir. 

It is a long book to tell a long story. Translations are not always easy reads, but the author has an engaging writing style; his background in theatre probably helped make this readable. 

I don't have a specific Burgundian army, but in the medieval period, they would look like any other knights.

Happy New Year!

A happy New Year to everyone. This is a traditional time to reflect and look forward. 2025 was a busy year on the hobby and history front, with never enough time despite being semi-retired. 

I have maintained a good pace with the blog. Two posts a week on average, 109 posts in total, with a decent mix of book reviews, travel and wargaming. My website, Balkan Military History, gets about 2,000 visits a month and generates interesting conversations with people across the world interested in the region. I would like to read more into the blog and website statistics, but sadly, AI bots and the categories Google uses make it less than helpful.

My Nigel Tranter re-reading project has come to an end, with my bookshelves a little lighter and Oxfam's a little heavier. More than fifty of his historical novels have been covered since I started the project back in 2021. Apart from being a great read, it has reawakened my interest in Scottish history, as it did for so many. My latest DNA analysis, to my surprise, places my Scottish ancestors in the West Highlands and islands, so I must dig a bit deeper in 2026.

My book reviews and reading add up to almost one a week, probably more when you add in research for my books. My main publication, The Struggle for the Pontic Steppe, published in October, has been selling better than I expected for an obscure conflict. I am about a third of the way through my next book, and the Christmas holiday is a good time to make progress. I have also managed several journal and magazine articles this year. I have given more than 20 book talks covering all my publications this year, both in person and online. I really enjoy the questions and the feedback. There are book presentations on my YouTube channel.

On the wargaming front, my main project matched the book: the Russian army of the late 18th century in 28mm and 6mm. This was also reflected in the three participation games at the Scottish wargame shows. I was very pleased to get an award for our game at the Claymore show. Other than that, it has been a year of rebasing and adding to my 18th-century 6-8mm collection, as well as small fill-in projects. Not that there has been much of a dent in the lead pile. Additional Ottoman units, including Niẓām-i Jedīd (New Order) infantry and Tatars, aircraft for Blood Red Skies, Jacobite wars, Balkan irregulars, Swiss WW2 and Carthage in 2mm. 

Potemkin Russians in 28mm

I have been my usual butterfly when it comes to rules. I have been playtesting Lust for Glory, the latest iteration of Simon Miller's To the Strongest game system. These should be published this year. I have also been playtesting an interesting Balkan Warband skirmish game, Faithforged. At the Glasgow club, we have mostly played Black Powder and Bolt Action. Similarly, at the Irvine club, I also play at. Midweek games have covered just about everything, including Midgard, Strength and Honour, Blitzkrieg Commander, Rebels and Patriots, Lion Rampant, and others.

My main project for the coming year will be 18th-century Austrians in 28mm. Less-than-subtle hints for Xmas presents have already started the lead pile. My addiction to Turkish TV historical dramas has already sent me down the rabbit hole of Libya during the Italian-Turkish War, 1911-12. I am currently watching a series on Alp Arslan and the Seljuks, but thankfully, I already have those armies. I also want to return to the Korean War. I have a couple of Turkish books on the reading shelf, which I have been putting off until my Turkish gets better. After 470 days on Duolingo, I am still way short of the language skills I need!

I travelled extensively last year. Three trips to the Balkans - Romania, Moldova and Corfu, plus a great stop-off in Istanbul, my favourite city. There were also several trips down south, often linked to book talks, wargame shows, work, or watching Fulham FC. I almost always manage plenty of museums, castles and battlefields on these trips. Nothing planned for 2026 as yet. My daughter is getting married early in the year, which will take up some time. 

All the best for 2026!

Memoirs of John Lindsay, Earl of Crawford

 This is a reprint of the Memoirs of the Life of the Late Right Honourable John Lindesay, Earl of Craufurd, written by Richard Rolt. The modern spelling is Crawford and Lindsay, but these memoirs cover the life of the 20th Earl (1702-1749), a soldier who fought in the Russian and Austrian wars against the Ottomans between 1736 and 1739.

The title was granted in 1398, although there was a Baron Crawford well before that. Crawford is a short drive from where I live, and most visitors to Scotland driving up the west coast will pass the ruined castle just off the M74 in Lanarkshire. 

The young Earl's father was a soldier in Queen Anne's army, and his mother died when he was in his infancy. He was privately tutored and then studied at the University of Glasgow and the Vaudeuil Military Academy, Paris. History was his favourite subject, and his memoirs include many references to ancient campaigns, even though they add very little to the narrative. A classical education has to be demonstrated! In 1726, he was commissioned into the North British Dragoons and in 1734, he commanded a company of the 3rd Regiment of Foot Guards. His father had died, so he inherited the title and was one of the 16 Scottish peers entitled to sit in the House of Lords under the Treaty of Union. 

18th-century European armies had foreign officers and even commanders. The young Earl got permission to travel to join Prince Eugene's army fighting the French in the War of the Polish Succession. He met the Irish general, Peter Lacy, who was commanding the Russian Corps supporting the Austrians. I assume they avoided politics, as Lacy was a Jacobite! While Crawford was hardly slumming it, with four servants and eleven horses, he wasn't just an observer. He saw action in a couple of skirmishes.

When war broke out between the Russians and the Ottomans in 1736, he travelled to St Petersburg, where he met Admiral Gordon, another Scot in Russian service. He then had a long journey (a month) to join Field Marshal Münnich's army, which was preparing to invade Crimea. He skirmished with the Russian auxiliary Kalmyks against the Tatars. What they made of a Scottish Earl attempting horse archery is not recorded.

After that, he travelled to join the Austrian army commanded by George Wallis, another Irish officer. This ended at the Battle of Grocka on 21 July 1739. The Austrians were defeated by the Ottomans, who then besieged Belgrade before a peace treaty was agreed. The Earl was severely wounded in the thigh, and you may want to skip the details of 18th-century surgery and treatment. The wound never properly healed and probably contributed to his death ten years later. Not that this stopped him from fighting with the British army. He fought at the Battle of Dettingen on 16 June 1743. He gained the rank of Brigadier-General in 1744 and Major-General in 1745. He fought in the Jacobite rising of 1745 (on the government side, of course) and at the Battle of Fontenoy on 30 April 1745.

18th-century memoirs are not easy reads, with their language, repetition, and unnecessary commentary. However, this is a primary English-language source on the wars against the Ottomans, even if the Earl is not exactly an objective observer. Even allowing for the privileges of rank, he was a brave soldier, and the story is fascinating.

Some of my 28mm General officers of the period

The Flockmasters

This is the final novel in my Nigel Tranter project, fifty books re-read. The shelf is now bare, well, not quite, as I have simply filled it with other titles😉. Oxfam is hopefully a few quid better off. This novel is set during the Napoleonic Wars and explores the Highland clearances of that period.

The painting on the cover is Sir John Sinclair by Raeburn and is in the National Galleries of Scotland. While Tranter's tale is not directly about him, he was based in Caithness, while this story is set in the West Highlands, there is a link. Sinclair established, in Edinburgh, a society for the improvement of British wool and was notorious for clearing his tenants' land to make way for sheep. His family was also the owners of enslaved persons in the West Indies. All told, not a good person, even by the standards of the times.

We tend to think of the Highland clearances as being a later 18th-century practice. However, it started in the 1750s. The eviction of tenants went against dùthchas, the principle that clan members had an inalienable right to rent land in the clan territory, although this was never recognised in Scots law. It was gradually abandoned by clan chiefs as they began to think of themselves simply as commercial landlords, rather than as patriarchs of their people.

Tranter's story involves the MacRory clan, which I assume is a nod towards Clann Ruaidhrí, who were based in the West Highlands. The hero is a tacksman of the clan who had been wounded serving in a Highland regiment in the Peninsular War. He came home to discover the clearances in operation with houses being burned and the people being forced to barren land on the coast, before being shipped off to Canada. I won't spoil the story, but he organises some resistance against the factor of the clan chief, who is also the colonel of his regiment.

It is a grim tale, but well told by a master storyteller.

Some of my 28mm Napoleonic Highlanders. 

Armies of Justinian the Great

 This new Osprey MAA by Raffaele D'Amato is an overview of the Byzantine (arguably Late Roman) armies of Justinian the Great, 527-565 AD. He led a Roman recovery, including ambitious reconquests of lost Western territories, with outstanding generals such as Belisarius, Narses and Iohannes Troglita. This is a popular subject at present, with Helion publishing a two-volume study. 

He inherited an army structure that had changed little since the time of Constantine the Great. The Comitatenses was the field army, providing a defence in depth and for expeditionary forces. The Limitanei defended the borders, although Justinian turned it into a semi-regular force of soldier-settlers. The author describes the different troop types. While the heavily armoured cavalry is the iconic picture of his armies, the infantry remained important. Heavy infantry supported by light troops and archers could defeat cavalry charges. The cavalry included horse archers, increasingly hired, and heavy lancers. The elite Imperial Guard was based in Constantinople and organised into nine units. 

The recruitment of individual soldiers, along with their equipment and weapons, is covered in some detail. The types of scale and lamellar armour have been the subject of some debate, and the author takes us through the most recent archaeological evidence, including some remarkably well-preserved examples found in Türkiye. The old oval shield was still used by the infantry. This is all covered in fine colour plates, as you would expect in this series. The variety of troop types makes this a popular tabletop army to paint.

For the wargamer, this MAA has all you need to collect and paint these armies. You will need another book on the campaigns, of which there are several. The main primary source is The Wars of Justinian by Prokopios, and there is a modern translation. It has been many years since I painted my 15mm army of the period, in the days when Ian Heath's book was just about all that was available.

Some of my early Byzantine cavalry in 15mm

The Stone

 The latest in my Nigel Tranter project isn't really a historical novel, but it has a historical subject. The Stone refers to the Stone of Destiny, Stone of Scone or the Coronation Stone, which used to be under the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey and now resides in a museum in Perth.

The stone in Perth is an oblong block of red sandstone that was used in the coronation of Scottish monarchs until the 13th century, when it was seized by Edward I during the First War of Scottish Independence and taken to England. Thereafter, it was used in the coronation of English and later British monarchs.

Or was it? The alternative story is that the monks at Scone, knowing that Edward was coming for it, hid the real stone and substituted this lump of sandstone. They knew that if they simply hid the stone, Edward would be none too gentle in extracting it. There is some evidence that Edward knew he was being duped, as searchers returned later to hunt for the hidden version.

This is the premise of Tranter's entirely fictional story. He has a modern-day relative of the landowners, whose land the real stone was hidden on, returning to the scene when he discovers that Oxford University archaeologists are coming to dig it up. Obviously, no self-respecting Scot could allow that to happen, so he enlists the help of a group of Glasgow nationalists and the local farmer and his daughter. They work out the real site and uplift it. The story tells how they do that and the efforts of the police and others to stop them. I won't spoil the story's details, but it's an entertaining read.

Tranter wrote this book in 1953, no doubt inspired by the audacious act on Christmas Day 1950, when a group of four Scottish students (Ian Hamilton, Gavin Vernon, Kay Matheson, and Alan Stuart) removed the stone from Westminster Abbey. However, if you go back to his historical novels of the period, it is clear that he believed that this was not the real stone. 

There are various theories about the stone's history, and I recommend an episode of the Gone Medieval podcast featuring an interview with Professor Dauvit Broun on the subject. He makes the valid point that it doesn't really matter if it is the real one. After all, there are no documented sources until 1249 for the coronation of Alexander III. What matters is the idea of the stone.

Personally, I find it hard to believe that such an essential part of the coronation process would use a roughly hewn piece of sandstone. I prefer the idea that it would have been a distinctive piece of engraved stone. However, as they say, the jury is out.

State Builders from the Steppe

This book about the First Bulgarian Empire is by Eric Halsey, who hosts the excellent Bulgarian History Podcast. It is the first English-language book on the subject since Runciman's classic, first published in the 1930s.

Unlike most of the Steppe tribes that burst into the Balkans, the Bulgarians did something different - they built a state that has survived until today. The long-standing assumption was that they first dominated the Slavs who had infiltrated the Byzantine Empire in the Balkans and then assimilated with them. While that happened, the author points to recent studies that have found greater commonalities between Thracians and Proto-Bulgarians than between Thracians and Slavs, based on DNA comparisons of archaeological samples with contemporary Bulgarians. Nonetheless, Slavs did integrate into Bulgarian society, and the Bulgarians gradually allowed them into the elite strata.

The Byzantines, while often distracted, resisted the attempts to build this Bulgarian state. The Battle of Ongal in 680 became the first of 45 named battles between the Bulgarians and the Byzantines. The final one would only come 652 years later. The first state was created between the Danube and the Balkan Mountains with its capital at Pliska. With his victory at Ongal, Khan Asparukh now had a Byzantine-recognised state and the legitimacy which came with it.

The Bulgarians struggled to defeat Byzantine armies on the plains, so they developed a battle tactic which would serve Bulgaria well for centuries: ambush in the passes of the Balkan Mountains. These mountains will long serve as a border between the empires and make for perfect places to funnel invading armies before attacking them in areas where they cannot escape. The sources are limited for significant periods of the story, or rely on less than objective Byzantine chronicles. The author examines these and makes some best estimates, which is a reasonable approach. 

The Bulgarians broke out of the mountains and at different times occupied large swathes of the Balkans. They even threatened Constantinople on several occasions, but lacked the siegecraft to capture it. The Byzantines relied on paying tribute and stirring up trouble on the Bulgarian flanks to keep them at bay. Bulgarian Khans had some great names, my favourite being Krum. He killed a Byzantine Emperor and forced the abdication of another. He achieved this with few resources, rarely commanding more than a few thousand soldiers.

The adoption of Orthodox Christianity was less of a religious conversion than an exercise in state-building. Under Boris, Bulgarian monarchs became Tsars, marking the completion of Bulgaria’s gradual transformation from a pagan steppe empire to a European power. Cyril and Methodius took the Slavic language and added Greek words and grammar to form Old Church Slavonic. This was later converted into modern Cyrillic. Tsar Simeon was so successful that he was almost a co-emperor with the Byzantine Empire. However, pressure from the Kievan Rus and a rejuvenated Byzantine state weakened them. The empire was pinned back to a small area and defeated by Basil the Bulgar Slayer at the Battle of Kleidon (1014). The up to 15,000 Bulgarians who had been captured at Kleidon were divided into groups of 100 and blinded, with the 100th man left with a single eye with which to lead his brothers in arms back home.

Bulgaria would make a comeback, but that is another story. This is a fascinating history, well told by an author emersed in the history of his adopted country.

Some of my Bulgarian light horse in 15mm.