Im interested in the general look of the knights and foot soldiers specifically around the year 1230/40. What specific weapons are they using? what kind of armour/clothing? do they have any special visual elements that would make them particular in any way?
Thank you very much in advance.
If you are looking for some visual references, there is a circle of frescoes that depict the conquest of Mallorca (1228-1229). These were painted a few decades after the campaign, ca. 1285-1290, in the Caldes Palace (now the Picasso Museum; the frescoes are in the National Museum of Catalan Art, MNAC) and in the ceremonial hall in the Kings-Counts palace in Barcelona. You can view the surviving set in the MNAC both [on their website] (http://www.museunacional.cat/sites/default/files/071447-CJT_17516.JPG) and via the [Google Art Project] (https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/asset/GAGsYa76RQ1ImQ). Some of the royal palace frescoes are on [Wiki commons] (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Pinturas_murales_de_la_conquista_de_Mallorca).
Note that the knights are depicted wearing heraldic devices of their lords who took part in the campaign (other than the royal colours that are all over the place in the frescoes). For instance, the troop in the the bottom row in the MNAC photo is the host raised by Guillem de Montcada, viscount of Bearn and they all are shown wearing his colours (the two horned cows of Bearn and the Montcada balls). Now this scene is the battle of Portopí, an important one in the campaign, with Montcada himself getting killed on that day, which may very well be the reason the painter identified him and his knights by this easily recognisable device. In other words, I'm not really sure they actually wore their lord's colours into battle.
EDIT: fixed a word. Damn you, autocorrect
/u/manlymen
Are you doing research in order to write a game or a historical fiction?
Consider two books from Osprey Publishing:
