History of the Crusades

the Crusades Episode 147, the Crusade against the Cathers Muray Analysis.

Hello again.

Last week we saw a massive setback for the southern French with their crushing defeat at the Battle of

Muray at the hands of Simon de Monfor's much smaller army. Of course the most devastating

aspect of this blow to the rebel cause was the death on the battlefield of

King Peter the second of Aragon.

Now before we move on to the ramifications of the Battle of Muray

we're going to take another look at the battle itself and try to work out why it

unfolded as it did.

In a nutshell, the Battle of Muray, can be summarized as follows.

King Peter II of Aragon invades Long dock and joins the Army of Aragon to the forces of the

three rebel southern counts.

They proceed to the small fortified town of Muray and besiege it.

Their plan is to wait for Simon de Monfort to come and rescue the besieged garrison,

lure him and his army into the town, then defeat the Crusader forces.

The plan works.

Simon and his army make their way to Muray and are allowed to enter the town unhindered. The Toulousin militia surround the town unhindered. The Chalusan militia surround the town and Simon and his

army are besieged. Then the rebels formulate a new plan. This plan involves the Knights of Aragon and

southern France lining up in battle formation on a field outside Muray with the aim of tempting Simon to leave the relative safety of the town

and face down the rebel army in the field.

Once again, the plan works.

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