Top ten medieval battles in the movies!

You’re a Knight Templar at the movies and want to see some great medieval battles while chomping on your popcorn and slurping on your Diet Coke.

Well, one great depiction of a medieval bust up can be found in the 2018 movie, Outlaw King. Here we have the Scots under Robert the Bruce fighting the English. At this time, the Scottish cause seemed doomed as England advanced north of the border. However, Robert triumphed at the Battle of Loudon Hill, fought in 1307 – the same year the Knights Templar were crushed.

In terms of medieval battles at the movies, it doesn’t get much better than the depiction of the disastrous defeat of the crusaders at the Battle of Hattin in 1187. This was when the Saracen leader Saladin finally got his revenge for the Templar victory at Montgisard a few years earlier. The battle depicted here in Ridley Scott’s medieval epic, Kingdom of Heaven.

Then we have that 2004 attempt to go all realistic on King Arthur – earnestly depicting him as a late Roman military officer trying to maintain a semblance of imperial rule in Britain as the barbarians surge across the landscape. The result was a movie that plodded in places and lost the magic of the Arthurian romances. But hey ho – different approach always to be applauded. Here’s Roman Arthur having a spot of barbarian trouble.

Let’s go off the deep end next with a movie so bad it was really rather good. The 13th Warrior is about a Muslim young man forced to live among the Vikings in the Dark Ages. This movie has its fans and detractors in equal measure. I loved it. It’s trashy and confused but I come back to it again and again. The battle, set in the early medieval period, are hectic, insane, and a bit trippy.

DISCOVER: Best medieval video games

England and France were at war for a century in the Middle Ages. October 1415 saw the Battle of Agincourt and a stunning English victory, thanks in large part to the archers and bowmen. Well, this is how Hollywood saw it in the 2019 movie, The King.

Fifteen years after that battle, France had found an unstable and charismatic hero in the form of a peasant girl, Joan of Arc. She certainly transcended gender roles though was not the only notable female warrior of the medieval period. Her life wouldn’t end well. Captured by the English, put on trial, and burned to death – a punishment reserved for heretics. Claiming to have conversations with God didn’t help her legal defence team 🙂

Milla Jovovich does a great take on Joan in the 1999 movie – The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc.