GERMAN WARRIOR BISHOP, 13th CENTURY

An extract from Armies of Feudal Europe 1066-1300
by Ian Heath

102. GERMAN WARRIOR BISHOP, 13th CENTURY

Armed bishops, archbishops and abbots, fighting at the head of their own retinues, were a common sight throughout this period, starting with Odo of Bayeux at Hastings in 1066. Though they featured in the armies of most European nations as far apart as Scotland and Hungary they were especially numerous in those of Germany. The Concordat of Worms (1122) had made all of Germany's bishops princes of the realm and expected them to serve in person when summoned to provide troops, but even this was little more than formal confirmation of a state of affairs that had existed since the 10th century. By the late-12th century, in fact, it was claimed that nearly all German bishops were soldiers, or politicians, or both. (For further details of episcopal contingents in German armies see page 34.) The particular figure depicted here, from a late-13th century Swabian ms., wears full mail armour, a red surcoat and a gilded heaume worn under a mitre. Arms comprise the usual knightly combination of shield, sword and lance.

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