21 August 2026
TRACKLIST
01 The Horn Resounds Too Late
02 The Wolf Has Come
03 The Sea Will Call My Name
04 Crécy
05 Chevauchée
06 Come Black Death
07 Bear And Ragged Staff
08 Combat Of The Thirty
09 Le Dernier Duel De France
10 Where The White Company Rides
11 Barron Will Not Answer
12 Longshanks
13 Bannockburn
14 La Mer Ne Rend Rien
15 Beneath The Tyrant’s Frozen Throne
16 No One Wrote His Name
What it’s about
01 The Horn Resounds Too Late:
778 – The Battle of Roncevaux Pass (Spanish: Roncesvalles, as used in the lyrics). To read: Chanson de Roland (11th century, Old French – translations available).
02 The Wolf Has Come:
1066 – The Battle of Hastings. Duke William of Normandy (The Wolf) vs. King Harold Godwinson. The beginning of the Norman Conquest of England.
03 The Sea Will Call My Name:
~1000 – Uhtred the Bold, Earl of Northumbria. Bernard Cornwell, I salute you.
04 Crécy:
1346 – The Battle of Crécy. English archers vs. the pride of French chivalry. Well.
Part of the Hundred Years‘ War.
05 Chevauchée:
1355 – A mounted raid under the command of Edward of Woodstock, The Black Prince, devastating the French countryside. Part of the Hundred Years‘ War.
06 Come(,) Black Death:
1346-1353 – The Plague killed about half of the European population, peasants and kings alike.
07 Bear And Ragged Staff:
1356 – The Battle of Poitiers. Edward, the Black Prince vs. Jean II, le Bon, roi de France (captured in the battle). POV: Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, who commanded the English vanguard and made the best use of the terrain, a landscape of hedges and marshland. The Bear and Ragged Staff refers to his heraldic badge. Did you hear of the English longbow? Well.
Part of the Hundred Years‘ War.
08 Combat Of The Thirty:
1351 – Combat of the Thirty: Well, here’s a funny story: why send an entire army when the 30 best fighters from each side can settle it? The stakes: the Duchy of Brittany. Thirsty from all that fighting? Just drink your own blood and fight on. Franco-Bretons win, Anglo-Bretons lose. Who brings a destrier to a melee?
Part of the Hundred Years‘ War.
09 Le Dernier Duel De France:
1386 – Trial by combat: Sir Jean de Carrouges vs. Jacques Le Gris, for the honour of Marguerite de Carrouges. Le Gris lost. And yes, the real last judicial duel in France was fought in 1547. To read: Eric Jager: The Last Duel. A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France. 2004.
10 Where The White Company Rides:
1361–1377 — The White Company under Sterz, then Hawkwood, was the most famous of the free companies roaming Italy in the 14th century, serving city-states under contract and pillaging the countryside between jobs. Special ability: dismounted combat. Also: getting there faster than anyone expected.
11 Barron Will Not Answer:
1440 — The death of Gilles de Rais, executed on 26 October for heresy, sodomy and the murder of a great many children. Hanged and burned. According to his confession, he and the cleric François Prelati tried to summon a demon called Barron in his search for wealth — a demon who spoke only to Prelati and never to de Rais. Prelati claimed it demanded the body parts of children in exchange for riches. Confessed under threat of torture, in a trial whose chief beneficiary was the Duke of Brittany. Make of that what you will.
12 Longshanks:
1239–1307 — Edward I, called Edward Longshanks in his lifetime, and the Hammer of the Scots long after it. King of England from 1272 until his death.
13 Bannockburn:
1314 — Bannockburn. Robert the Bruce against Edward II, who had inherited his father’s war but not his father’s talent for it. Henry de Bohun charged the Scottish king on a warhorse. The Bruce was on a palfrey, carrying an axe. De Bohun’s helmet did not help. The Bruce complained afterwards that he had broken his axe.
14 La Mer Ne Rend Rien:
1343–1356 — Jeanne de Clisson. Philip VI had her husband beheaded for treason on evidence nobody has ever seen. She sold the estates, bought three ships, painted them black, and spent thirteen years hunting French shipping in the Channel. Special ability: leaving one man alive to carry the news. Or so the story goes.
15 Beneath The Tyrant’s Frozen Throne:
c. 1431–1476 — Vlad III. He signed his letters Dracula, son of the Dragon. The Impaler came later, from people who had counted.
16 No One Wrote His Name:
1066 — Stamford Bridge. Harold Godwinson’s army fell on Harald Hardrada, who also wanted to be king of all Englaland. One Norseman held the bridge alone while Harald’s army died behind him. He killed some forty men before an Englishman floated under the planks in a barrel and speared him from below. Nineteen days later none of it mattered, because the Wolf had come.