Bestonet - Middle Ages

Vandals!
by Claes & Lotta Leijonhufvud

(461-632) It is the 5th century, the barbarians are pouring over the borders of the once mighty Roman Empire. In the west the Visigoths are building a kingdom in Hispania. From the North the fearless Franks push back the Romans from the towns close to the Rhine...
The Arab Conquests
by Aleksei Andrievski
634-749) In 632 AD, the Prophet Muhammad died, after spreading his teachings of the One True God in the Arabian peninsula. In 634 AD, the second Caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab, initiated the spreading of Islam outside Arabia, eventually to cover the civilized world from the Atlantic Ocean to India.

Mediterranean Dark Age
by Exile & Eric Hartzell
(699-1099) As the Arabs spread across the Mahgreb, the Mediterranean civilization collapsed. The inland sea became an oceanic battleground, contested by the Byzantines and the saracens. The Dark Age kingdoms in Europe struggled with each other over the prostrate ruins of the once mighty Empire (download the sounds here).
Charlemagne
by Mr. Temba
(768-814) It is the Fall of 768 AD, born to Pepin the King of the Franks is a young boy named Charles. Pepin decides to split his kingdom between Charles and his elder son, Carloman. Carloman receives the prosperous country of Nuestria, while his son receives the surrounding areas.

Hammer of the North v2.2
by Morten Blaabjerg
(793-1177) In the year 793 AD, heathen Norse raiders plundered and destroyed the monastery of Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumbria (present day Scotland). A wave of shock and terror ran like a fire through all of Christian Europe (download the sounds here and the optional tiles.dll here).
Vikings: Across the Oceans
by Mathias Köster
(793-1066) To set sail and conquer is what many believe to be the Viking nature. There is no single cause for the sudden Viking attacks against the shores of medieval Europe... (download the sounds here, here, and here).

Fire and Roses
by Stefan Härtel
(908-1186) During the early middle ages, Iran was subject of little regard to the great arab empire, as in earlier ages, when the center of empire lay in today's Iraq. The arab Caliphs passed the executive power to certain Emirs, who were to govern their land in own measure. Several of these Emirs became largely independent, as the Caliph of the Abassids was more concerned with closer and more urgent matters, for example a revolt of slaves in southern Iraq in the 9th century that evolved into a large-scale war, lasting a decade...
The Vikings
by Harlan Thompson

(850-1048) Europe has settled down to a period of several hundred years of relative peace and stability. All that is about to drastically change. The Vikings have begun a two hundred year period of pillaging that will leave almost no part of the West untouched.
Harald Fairhair
by Markus Eklund
(860-900) In the middle of the 9th century, Norway is divided in many small kingdoms. But one king, Harald of Vestfold has vowed not to cut his hair untill all Norway is united. Is this the beginning of the kingdom of Norway?
Cross and Crescent
by Bernd Brosing
(936-1244) The powerful empire of Charlemange has split long ago, and its successor states are weak. While the Franconian empire as well as Britain suffer heavily from Viking raids, Germany trembles from continuing Hungarian invasions...

The Holy Roman Empire
by Jesús Muńoz

(962-1250) The Holy Roman Empire was the political entity that originated at the coronation as emperor of German king Otto I in 962. It was the successor state to the empire founded in 800 by Charlemagne who claimed legitimate succession to the Roman Empire.
The Muslim Invasion of India
by Gabriele Quaglia
(962-1261) At the beginning of the second half of the Xth century, India was divided into many warring kingdoms. The three main empires, Gurjara-Pratihara, Rastrakuta and Pala, were dividing, as their feudatories gained more and more autonomy...

The Omeyan Caliphate
by Zenehegí

(964-1164) After emir of Córdoba, Abd al-Rahman III proclaims himself Caliph, Al-Andalus begins an uncompared golden age; his capital city, Córdoba, will be its symbol. His son al-Hakam II creates the biggest library in the world and follows his father dities fighting against fatimids in the south and christian kingdoms in the north... (download sounds here and here). This scenario is in spanish and requires MPGE.
Age of the Crusades
by Exile
(1000-1250) "Be it known to you that we have certainly conquered for Our Lord two hundred cities and castles. May our Mother Church in the west rejoice that she has borne men who have won for her such a glorious name and have succorred the Church in the east in such a Marvelous fashion." --Anselm of Ribemont, writing to Manasses, archbishop of Reims, November 1097 during the siege of Antioch. Download sounds here and here (MPGE required).
Four Sea Republics
by Paul Hanti
(1000-1500) At the turn of the millenium, the maritime city-states of Amalfi and Pisa monopolize trade with the Far East. Their superiority however is being declined due to the increasing competition of two new extremely aggressive rivals: Venice and Genoa.
Reconquista!
by Stephan Otto

(1049-1447) The reconquest of Spain from Arabic rule begins with the battle of Covadonga in the Asturias in the year 722. The last phase of the Reconquista begins in 1250. Although begun as national liberty war, the Reconquista will soon become a crusade.
The Great Crusades
by Joel André
(1095-1290) After a fast Seljuk expansion in Asia Minor, the Byzantine emperor Alexis cries for military help from the west. On a church meeting the 27 of August 1095, Pope Urban II exhorts the Christian kings to help the Byzantines and retake the holy land from the heathens.

Holy Wars
by David Morovan

(1095-1333) "From Jerusalem and the city of Constantinople comes a grievous report. An accursed race has violently invaded the lands of those Christians and has depopulated them by pillage and fire" (Pope Urban II).
The Holy War
by Stefan Härtel

(1097-1270) At the end of the 11th century AD, the emperor of the Holy Roman empire, France and the rest of the Roman Catholic Church, and not to forget the Pope, decide that the 'Holy Land' of Palestine must be 'cleaned' from Islam and the Jews.
Seize the Crown!
by John Ellis
(1139-1189) Autumn A.D. 1139. The Empress Matilda lands in Arundel to press her claim for the throne of England. Although she is the only surviving child of the last undisputed King of England, her cousin Stephen has seized the crown. Download the sounds here.

Death and Resurrection of an Empire
by Mathias Köster

(1204-1453) The siege of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire, took place in 1453. The Turks used huge cannon to destroy the walls, warships to cut the city's sea defense, and an extensive infantry to engulf the city. The fall of this city marked the beginning of a new era in humankind.
The Empire of Thessalonike
by Kyriakos Chalkopoulos

(1205-1381) After the fourth crusade the "Romaion Basileia", once the strongest kingdom in Europe, but declining after 1071 and the defeat in Matzikert, had broken up into many different kingdoms. The strongest of those were the empire of Nicaea, in Anatolia, and in Epiros the Despotate of Epiros. The Despotate was the weakest of the two, however it almost got to become the new Byzantine Empire, reaching up to Constantinople. Thus it became the Empire of Thessalonike.
The Mongols
by Harlan Thompson

(1211-1281) In 1211 Genghis Khan and his Mongols swept down from the steppes of Mongolia onto the pages of history. In less than a century the became the masters of the largest land empire in the history of the world.
Cathars - The Albigensian Crusade
by Miquel Puigdevoll
(1214-1453) Three medieval Christian kingdoms fight for their survival: Catalan-Occitan, Basque-Navarrese, and Castilian-Leonese. The French organized a crusade against Catalan-Occitans under religious pretexts, but in fact it was a military and political occupation, and some time later, a cultural absorption.

The Teutonic Knights (Die Ordensritter)
by Stephan Otto
(1251-1449) The Teutonic Knights were a religious military order formed by German Crusaders in 1190 in Palestine. Restricted to German nobles, the order conquered the Slavs of Prussia between 1229 and 1279. By 1329 the Teutonic Knights held the whole Baltic region.
Fading Lights
by Maciej Czyz
(1261-1462) The last stronghold of the ancient world almost collapsed after the fourth Crusade. But it has found enough strength to survive and now it is the time Emperors have been waiting for more than half of a century: Constantinople returns to their hands.
Moscow - The Third Rome
by Michael Daumen
(1263-1598) Russian hero Aleksandr Nevsky willed to his son Daniel a backwater village on the north banks of the Moskva River. The village of Moscow rose to become the capital of a mighty state that claimed the holy mantle of empires past.

The Hundred Years War
by John Ellis
(1337-1456) On 24th May, 1337, King Phillip de Valois of France, declared that Guyenne had been forfeited by King Edward. Edward responded by asserting a long-standing claim to the French Crown. Slowly, the two kingdoms lumbered into war... download sounds here.
The Turks
by Markus Eklund
(1338-1600) In 1300, the Ottoman Turks were just a small tribe in western Anatolia. In 1400, they were the most powerful state in the Balkans and Asia Minor. They captured Constantinople in 1453. About 1550, they had conquered most of the Middle East, Hungary and besieged Vienna.

The Hundred Years War
by Gary Longo
(1369-1568) The Year is 1369 in Europe. The English have begun their invasion of France under Henry V. The Holy Roman Empire is set on reclaiming the Papal lands for the old Roman Empire, and must stop an impending invasion from the Ottoman Turks into their lands.
Timur Khan
by Markus Eklund
(1370-1405) In 1370, a man named Timur Lenk och Tamerlane made himself khan of the area around Samarkand, the largest city in Central Asia. During the following 30 years, he conquered most of Central Asia, the Middle East, Northern India and Southern Russia.

The War of the Roses
by Nick Clark
(1455-1485) England has split into five city-states, one being neutral in the upcoming conflict. The House of Lancaster holds its numerous forces and ships while the House of York continue their preparation. The white rose of Lancaster and the red rose of York will soon engage in a thirty-year combat.
Danube Empire
by Michael Jeszenka
(1461-1500) May 29, 1453, Constantinople fell into Turkish hands. Clearly the Turks wouldn't stop there. They were going to spread Islam in accordance to the will of their god. Lucky for the Hungarians, one of their greatest warlords ever was in power at the time. His name was János Hunyadi... download sounds here.