"Siege of Algeciras 1342. 'Cronica' of Alfonso XI" Topic

Greetings- I was wondering if there is anyone here who interested in this phase of the reconquista and is perhaps familiar with the Cronica de don Alfonso el onceno. Many thanks.

Something's up with my keyboard. Or something.
Title caption should read 'Alfonso XI'

If you read Spanish, you can find the text of the Chronicle here:
link
You can download the text in two parts, in PDF.
Also you can find the text here:
link
I have read the Chronicle many years ago, but my main interest was the battle of El Salado. What I remember of the siege of Algeciras is that there were present some foreign crusaders.

Feldgrau- thanks very much. I am familiar with the Cronica (selected passages), and also had a look at the less accessible'Gran Cronica' so-called (ditto)

Intuitively, it seems, you have identified my present area of interest, 'foreign crusaders' and Algeciras.

Foreign knights featured in many campaigns of the re-conquista. My curiousity had focussed on a German knight identified in the cronicas as the 'conde de Lous ', who came to a bad end early in the siege after rashly riding out in advance of the host to confront the enemy with a handful of German knights and, when lured into an unwary pursuit, died in the proverbial counterattack.

I have been trying to establish what the historical origin of this 'count of Lous' might have been- assuming that the identification was essentially correct; it's possible a tendency to slap the title of conde on any half-remembered foreign nobleman. My knowledge of the German nobility is limited and a morning's searching has not turned is a likely candidate. Loos in Flanders seemed a possiblity but it seems not. The spelling might of course be approximate.

I may, however, have missed something glaringly obvious. It would be interesting to know if anyone familiar with mid-C.14th German nobility has any suggestions.

PS in the second and last mention of the German count in a summary of notables who died at Algeciras, his title is rendered 'Lons.' This would appear to be a typographical error from the 1787 edition, substituting 'n' for 'u' but since 'Lous' and 'Lons' each appear only once in the Cronica, a grain of doubt exists to which is the correct version.

Given that in the same Cronica the Earl of Derby is rendered 'Conde De Arbi' and Earl of Salisbury 'Conde de Salusber, in the search for the original of Lous/Lons the range of options will likely be quite broad.

If the modern Calle Conde Lous in Algeciras is named for this German then it does at least show which spelling has been preferred for naming the street.

Indeed. That would appear to be the case.

Curiously, I have since found that the earliest printed versions from 1551 & 1595 both refer to him as 'Conde de Bous que es en alemaña' in the key entry describing his death, but then go on to list him as 'Conde de Lons' in the summary of notable dead.
No 'Lous' to be seen.

The 1787 edition mentioned above, being the source of 'Lous' is the most accessible version. I think it may have drawn on different manuscripts.

@42flanker

We seem to have crossing interests.
I've started a 'rebuild' for 25mm DBMM of some mid-medieval fictional army; given the core of something Burgundian but with many ad-hoc 'companies' either Spanish, Italian or 'Flemish types'. Or perhpas its a reconquista with foreign troops, I'm not sure myself!

Can you throw anything my way for variety of units and features?
cheers dave

My apologies, SHaT. I lost sight of this thread. I am not really sure I understand the question, but I am not aware of units as such in the campaigns of Alfonso XI. All I know at present is that Christian cavalry varied between an Iberian version of heavier caballeros armados and Berber-style ginete light cavalry.

For those waiting with baited breath for a solution to the identity of the unfortunate Conde de Lous who died at the siege of Algeciras in 1342, the mystery appears to have been solved.

Turning to the 'Vraie Chronique' of Jean le Bel (I should have thought of this sooner) we find he refers to
"le jœune chevalier messire Godefroy de Los, filz au conte Therry de Hinseberge et de Blanghenberge."

'Godfroy de Los' (Godfroi/Godfrey) turns out to have been the young knight Gotfried whose father Dietrich (or Diederich; or Thierry; or Dieter) lord of Heinsberg and Blankenberg, had recently inherited from his uncle Louis the title of 'Comte de Looz' (as it was rendered in Walloon French) that is to say Graaf van Loen (in the local Limburger Dutch)

All of which, personally, is a load off my mind.

Hence the title of 'Lous'/'Los' being attached- erroneously- to the young Godfried who died far away in the warm south aged perhaps 22

Cronica de D. Alfonso el Onceno
CAPITULO CCLXXIII

"There followed a period of skirmishing and scouting between the two armies. One day as dawn broke, a force of three hundred cavalry and a thousand foot sallied out from the city towards that part of the encampment occupied by the Master of Santiago, Juan Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, Pero Ponce de León, and the city of Seville contingent.
Also encamped there was the count of Lous, which is in Germany.*[1] So it was that those in the camp were readying themselves to fight; but the count and his party sallied out against the Moors before the others in the camp were ready. And the Moors, when they saw that the Christian troops were coming out to meet them, turned back towards the city. And the count and his men, coming out ahead of the rest, charged in among the Moors, not wanting to wait until the others joined the fight… they fought fiercely but the Moors, who were in great numbers, overwhelmed them. They killed the count, and those with him too would have been killed, had the Christians not come riding to their aid.
And so it was that this fight took place [in the ditch] close to the city, from where the Christians were subjected to a hail of arrows from bows and crossbows, but they fought so fiercely that they drove the Moors back into the city and brought to safety the count's companions, while the Moors took the count's body back with them into the city where it was set fire to and burned. The king felt the death of this count deeply, and he sent for those other knights who had been with the count and requested that they should not go out to fight on their own, since they had no experience of fighting the Moors and might make serious errors, and that they should take heed of those who had command of the host, and they agreed to do so."


[1] que es en alemaña
The Heinsberg family lands lay in modern Netherland, Belgium and Germany. Looz/Loon, being cognate with place names like Loos or Waterloo, is represented today by the region of Limburg straddling the border of Netherland and Belgium