Sir Charles Oman Missed This Too
One of the most frustrating things about Charles Oman is that he ignores when his medieval sources were alluding to famous ancient texts. At the battle of Benevento in 1266, the army of Charles of Anjou crossed the Apennines in February only to find themselves trapped between the mountains and the swollen River Calore with Manfred of Sicily and his army on the other side. Charles’ men were already reduced to eating fallen pack animals, and it was hard to see how they could go forward or back. But then fortune intervened:
Ricordano Malaspina wonders why Manfred crossed the River Calore at all since if he had waited a day or two, King Charles and his people would have been killed without a blow of a sword through lack of vittles (columns 1002, 1003). Oman wonders whether Manfred was worried about treachery or desertion, and asks whether “perhaps in the spirit of the mediaeval knight, he preferred to beat his adversary by the sword rather than hunger.” But any attentive reader in the 13th century would have seen that beating the enemy with hunger rather than the sword is a strategic principle from the third book of Vegetius on military matters. He mentions it three times: 3.3.1, 3.9.8., 3.26.32. It seems to me that Malaspina was just as unimpressed with Manfred’s strategic decisions as Oman was.
snippet cut from a forthcoming piece in Medieval World (Karwansaray Bv)
Writers with rhetorical training were usually more interested in showing off their reading and language than in finding and communicating the facts. Vegetius on military matters was one of the most common secular books in Latin Christendom. So its wise to pay close attention whenever you think a Roman or medieval author is alluding to an earlier text.
I really wish there was someone, anyone, with the patience and language skills to retell the stories of as many medieval battles with a little bit more thought and care.
Further Reading: Allmand, Christopher T. The De re militari of Vegetius : the reception, transmission and legacy of a Roman text in the Middle Ages (2011)
(scheduled 25 April 2023)