The Battle On The Ice - Lake Peipus April 5, 1242

Let's go back to the time of the Mongols, Lord Novgorod The Great, and the Teutonic Knights. To the frozen landscape and icy lakes fo a medieval spring. To a time when the Pope in Rome wanted nothing more than to force the known world to follow the Latin Creed. To a time when Russia was nothing more than a dream, far in the distant future. In this episode of Cauldron, let's go back to the Battle On The Ice April 5th, 1242.

This has been one of the more exciting battles I have covered in Cauldron to date. The high drama of Teutonic Knights crashing into the brave Russian peasantry suddenly crashing, man and horse alike, into the icy waters of Lake Peipus, is so cinematic it belongs on the bog screen (likely the only place it has ever existed.) The real battle was so unimportant at the time that one contemporary chronicler noted of the year 1242, "Nothing happened." The real fight was a brutal, deadly little melee on the side of the lake that ended abruptly when the Crusaders broke under heavy flanking horse-archery. There was a chase on the ice, and some horses and men may have broken through the ice, but Esientsien's vision is not likely to have been the result.

Producer's Note: This episode was recorded without a script in an attempt to speed up the production process. Working just from notes and ideas was a new and stressful experience, but scriptwriting takes days, this episode took days from record compiling to release. Not sure how I like it yet, any constructive feedback is appreciated - cburke111@gmail.com or DM in on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook. Thank you for listening and for your help!

Maine Source - Lake Peipus 1242: Battle of the Ice (Osprey Military Campaign Series, #46) by David Nicolle

Artwork by terrybogard392 on Fiverr

Music - from Youtube's Free Library

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